Gettysburg Times - Apr 14, 1926
THE CRUST OF CHARACTER
By GEORGE MATTHEW ADAMS
Who can tell how a house is furnished by looking at its exterior? Who can tell the manner of a man by looking him over from the outside? Can a soul be translated as the school boy does his Latin? Why is it that people are so misjudged? And why is it that imperfect men and women take such storming pleasure in picking out and glorying in the faults and imperfections of their own kind?
There are hard questions to answer. The outside of a man or woman after all, is but the curtain that hides nobility, beauty and great heroism.
There is nothing more coward in the world than to impugn the motive of a human being or to cast a shadow of reproach upon one whose inner life you know nothing about.
Life is hard enough at the best. Imperfect people in an imperfect world do not make for perfection.
That's why we have God to whom we may all go and open our silent hearts. Into whose perfect heart we may pour all our problems and our griefs.
The crust of character is for the world, but the inner heart that is so often bathed with tears is only for the eye and love of the Great Father of us all.
It takes the courage of a conqueror to pass through some of the byways of this world.
But we know that there are plenty of this sort—else from where do out older friends come?
