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diff --git a/old/56020-0.txt b/old/56020-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 7d02325..0000000 --- a/old/56020-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2558 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Power of Truth, by William George Jordan - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Power of Truth - Individual Problems and Possibilities - -Author: William George Jordan - -Release Date: November 21, 2017 [EBook #56020] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POWER OF TRUTH *** - - - - -Produced by Larry B. Harrison, Turgut Dincer and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -book was produced from images made available by the -HathiTrust Digital Library.) - - - - - - - - - -The Power of Truth - - - - - THE - POWER·OF·TRUTH - - INDIVIDUAL·PROBLEMS - AND·POSSIBILITIES - - BY - WILLIAM·GEORGE·JORDAN - - NEW YORK - BRENTANO'S - - - - - _Copyright, 1902, by Brentano's_ - - _Published August, 1902_ - - _Second Edition, April, 1904_ - _Third Edition, February, 1908_ - _Fourth Edition, November, 1908_ - _Fifth Edition, August, 1911_ - _Sixth Edition, February, 1913_ - _Seventh Edition, February, 1916_ - - THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, MASS., U. S. A. - - - - -Contents - - - _The Power of Truth_ 1 - - _The Courage to Face Ingratitude_ 23 - - _People who Live in Air Castles_ 41 - - _Swords and Scabbards_ 59 - - _The Conquest of the Preventable_ 75 - - _The Companionship of Tolerance_ 95 - - _The Things that Come too Late_ 115 - - _The Way of the Reformer_ 133 - - - - - The Power of Truth - WILLIAM GEORGE JORDAN - - - - -The Power of Truth - - -Truth is the rock foundation of every great character. It is loyalty to -the right as we see it; it is courageous living of our lives in harmony -with our ideals; it is always—power. - -Truth ever defies full definition. Like electricity it can only be -explained by noting its manifestation. It is the compass of the soul, -the guardian of conscience, the final touchstone of right. Truth is the -revelation of the ideal; but it is also an inspiration to realize that -ideal, a constant impulse to live it. - -Lying is one of the oldest vices in the world—it made its début in -the first recorded conversation in history, in a famous interview in -the garden of Eden. Lying is the sacrifice of honor to create a wrong -impression. It is masquerading in misfit virtues. Truth can stand -alone, for it needs no chaperone or escort. Lies are cowardly, fearsome -things that must travel in battalions. They are like a lot of drunken -men, one vainly seeking to support another. Lying is the partner and -accomplice of all the other vices. It is the cancer of moral degeneracy -in an individual life. - -Truth is the oldest of all the virtues; it antedated man, it lived -before there was man to perceive it or to accept it. It is the -unchangeable, the constant. Law is the eternal truth of Nature—the -unity that always produces identical results under identical -conditions. When a man discovers a great truth in Nature he has the key -to the understanding of a million phenomena; when he grasps a great -truth in morals he has in it the key to his spiritual re-creation. For -the individual, there is no such thing as theoretic truth; a great -truth that is not absorbed by our whole mind and life, and has not -become an inseparable part of our living, is not a real truth to us. If -we know the truth and do not live it, our life is—a lie. - -In speech, the man who makes Truth his watchword is careful in his -words, he seeks to be accurate, neither understating nor over-coloring. -He never states as a fact that of which he is not sure. What he says -has the ring of sincerity, the hallmark of pure gold. If he praises -you, you accept his statement as "net," you do not have to work out -a problem in mental arithmetic on the side to see what discount you -ought to make before you accept his judgment. His promise counts for -something, you accept it as being as good as his bond, you know that no -matter how much it may cost him to verify and fulfil his word by his -deed, he will do it. His honesty is not policy. The man who is honest -merely because it is "the best policy," is not really honest, he is -only politic. Usually such a man would forsake his seeming loyalty to -truth and would work overtime for the devil—if he could get better -terms. - -Truth means "that which one troweth or believes." It is living simply -and squarely by our belief; it is the externalizing of a faith in a -series of actions. Truth is ever strong, courageous, virile, though -kindly, gentle, calm, and restful. There is a vital difference between -error and untruthfulness. A man may be in error and yet live bravely by -it; he who is untruthful in his life knows the truth but denies it. The -one is loyal to what he believes, the other is traitor to what he knows. - -"What is Truth?" Pilate's great question, asked of Christ nearly two -thousand years ago, has echoed unanswered through the ages. We get -constant revelations of parts of it, glimpses of constantly new phases, -but never complete, final definition. If we but live up to the truth -that we know, and seek ever to know more, we have put ourselves into -the spiritual attitude of receptiveness to know Truth in the fullness -of its power. Truth is the sun of morality, and like that lesser sun -in the heavens, we can walk by its light, live in its warmth and life, -even if we see but a small part of it and receive but a microscopic -fraction of its rays. - -Which of the great religions of the world is the real, the final, the -absolute truth? We must make our individual choice and live by it as -best we can. Every new sect, every new cult, has in it a grain of -truth, at least; it is this that attracts attention and wins adherents. -This mustard seed of truth is often overestimated, darkening the eyes -of man to the untrue parts or phases of the varying religious faiths. -But, in exact proportion to the basic truth they contain do religions -last, become permanent and growing, and satisfy and inspire the hearts -of men. Mushrooms of error have a quick growth, but they exhaust their -vitality and die, while Truth still lives. - -The man who makes the acquisition of wealth the goal and ultimatum of -his life, seeing it as an end rather than a means to an end, is not -true. Why does the world usually make wealth the criterion of success, -and riches the synonym of attainment? Real success in life means -the individual's conquest of himself; it means "how he has bettered -himself" not "how he has bettered his fortune." The great question of -life is not "What have I?" but "What am I?" - -Man is usually loyal to what he most desires. The man who lies to save -a nickel, merely proclaims that he esteems a nickel more than he does -his honor. He who sacrifices his ideals, truth and character, for mere -money or position, is weighing his conscience in one pan of a scale -against a bag of gold in the other. He is loyal to what he finds the -heavier, that which he desires the more—the money. But this is not -truth. Truth is the heart's loyalty to abstract right, made manifest in -concrete instances. - -The tradesman who lies, cheats, misleads and overcharges and then -seeks to square himself with his anæmic conscience by saying, "lying -is absolutely necessary to business," is as untrue in his statement as -he is in his acts. He justifies himself with the petty defence as the -thief who says it is necessary to steal in order to live. The permanent -business prosperity of an individual, a city or a nation rests finally -on commercial integrity alone, despite all that the cynics may say, -or all the exceptions whose temporary success may mislead them. It is -truth alone that lasts. - -The politician who is vacillating, temporizing, shifting, constantly -trimming his sails to catch every puff of wind of popularity, is a -trickster who succeeds only until he is found out. A lie may live for -a time, truth for all time. A lie never lives by its own vitality, -it merely continues to exist because it simulates truth. When it is -unmasked, it dies. - -When each of four newspapers in one city puts forth the claim that -its circulation is larger than all the others combined, there must be -an error somewhere. Where there is untruth there is always conflict, -discrepancy, impossibility. If all the truths of life and experience -from the first second of time, or for any section of eternity, were -brought together, there would be perfect harmony, perfect accord, union -and unity, but if two lies come together, they quarrel and seek to -destroy each other. - -It is in the trifles of daily life that truth should be our constant -guide and inspiration. Truth is not a dress-suit, consecrated to -special occasions, it is the strong, well-woven, durable homespun for -daily living. - -The man who forgets his promises is untrue. We rarely lose sight -of those promises made to us for our individual benefit; these we -regard as checks we always seek to cash at the earliest moment. "The -miser never forgets where he hides his treasure," says one of the old -philosophers. Let us cultivate that sterling honor that holds our word -so supreme, so sacred, that to forget it would seem a crime, to deny it -would be impossible. - -The man who says pleasant things and makes promises which to him -are light as air, but to someone else seem the rock upon which a -life's hope is built is cruelly untrue. He who does not regard -his appointments, carelessly breaking them or ignoring them, is -the thoughtless thief of another's time. It reveals selfishness, -carelessness, and lax business morals. It is untrue to the simplest -justice of life. - -Men who split hairs with their conscience, who mislead others by -deft, shrewd phrasing which may be true in letter yet lying in spirit -and designedly uttered to produce a false impression, are untruthful -in the most cowardly way. Such men would cheat even in solitaire. -Like murderers they forgive themselves their crime in congratulating -themselves on the cleverness of their alibi. - -The parent who preaches honor to his child and gives false statistics -about the child's age to the conductor, to save a nickel, is not true. - -The man who keeps his religion in camphor all week and who takes it out -only on Sunday, is not true. He who seeks to get the highest wages for -the least possible amount of service, is not true. The man who has to -sing lullabies to his conscience before he himself can sleep, is not -true. - -Truth is the straight line in morals. It is the shortest distance -between a fact and the expression of it. The foundations of truth -should ever be laid in childhood. It is then that parents should instil -into the young mind the instant, automatic turning to truth, making it -the constant atmosphere of the mind and life. Let the child know that -"Truth above all things" should be the motto of its life. Parents make -a great mistake when they look upon a lie as a disease in morals; it -is not always a disease in itself, it is but a symptom. Behind every -untruth is some reason, some cause, and it is this cause that should -be removed. The lie may be the result of fear, the attempt to cover a -fault and to escape punishment; it may be merely the evidence of an -over-active imagination; it may reveal maliciousness or obstinacy; it -may be the hunger for praise that leads the child to win attention and -to startle others by wonderful stories; it may be merely carelessness -in speech, the reckless use of words; it may be acquisitiveness that -makes lying the handmaid of theft. But if, in the life of the child or -the adult, the symptom be made to reveal the disease, and that be then -treated, truth reasserts itself and the moral health is restored. - -Constantly telling a child not to lie is giving life and intensity -to "the lie." The true method is to quicken the moral muscles from -the positive side, urge the child to be honest, to be faithful, to -be loyal, to be fearless to the truth. Tell him ever of the nobility -of courage to speak the true, to live the right, to hold fast to -principles of honor in every trifle—then he need never fear to face -any of life's crises. - -The parent must live truth or the child will not live it. The child -will startle you with its quickness in puncturing the bubble of your -pretended knowledge; in instinctively piercing the heart of a sophistry -without being conscious of process; in relentlessly enumerating your -unfulfilled promises; in detecting with the justice of a court of -equity a technicality of speech that is virtually a lie. He will -justify his own lapses from truth by appeal to some white lie told to -a visitor, and unknown to be overheard by the little one, whose mental -powers we ever underestimate in theory though we may overpraise in -words. - -Teach the child in a thousand ways, directly and indirectly, the -power of truth, the beauty of truth, and the sweetness and rest of -companionship with truth. - -And if it be the rock-foundation of the child character, as a fact, -not as a theory, the future of that child is as fully assured as it is -possible for human prevision to guarantee. - -The power of Truth, in its highest, purest, and most exalted phases, -stands squarely on four basic lines of relation,—the love of truth, -the search for truth, faith in truth, and work for truth. - -The love of Truth is the cultivated hunger for it in itself and for -itself, without any thought of what it may cost, what sacrifices it may -entail, what theories or beliefs of a lifetime may be laid desolate. -In its supreme phase, this attitude of life is rare, but unless one -can _begin_ to put himself into harmony with this view, the individual -will only creep in truth, when he might walk bravely. With the love of -truth, the individual scorns to do a mean thing, no matter what be the -gain, even if the whole world would approve. He would not sacrifice the -sanction of his own high standard for any gain, he would not willingly -deflect the needle of his thought and act from the true North, as he -knows it, by the slightest possible variation. He himself would know of -the deflection—that would be enough. What matters it what the world -thinks if he have his own disapproval? - -The man who has a certain religious belief and fears to discuss it, -lest it may be proved wrong, is not loyal to his belief, he has but a -coward's faithfulness to his prejudices. If he were a lover of truth, -he would be willing at any moment to surrender his belief for a higher, -better, and truer faith. - -The man who votes the same ticket in politics, year after year, without -caring for issues, men, or problems, merely voting in a certain way -because he always has voted so, is sacrificing loyalty to truth to a -weak, mistaken, stubborn attachment to a worn-out precedent. Such a -man should stay in his cradle all his life—because he spent his early -years there. - -The search for Truth means that the individual must not merely follow -truth as he sees it, but he must, so far as he can, search to see that -he is right. When the Kearsarge was wrecked on the Roncador Reef, the -captain was sailing correctly by his chart. But his map was an old one; -the sunken reef was not marked down. Loyalty to back-number standards -means stagnation. In China they plow to-day, but they plow with the -instrument of four thousand years ago. The search for truth is the -angel of progress—in civilization and in morals. While it makes us -bold and aggressive in our own life, it teaches us to be tender and -sympathetic with others. Their life may represent a station we have -passed in our progress, or one we must seek to reach. We can then -congratulate ourselves without condemning them. All the truths of the -world are not concentrated in our creed. All the sunshine of the world -is not focused on our doorstep. We should ever speak the truth,—but -only in love and kindness. Truth should ever extend the hand of love; -never the hand clenching a bludgeon. - -Faith in Truth is an essential to perfect companionship with truth. -The individual must have perfect confidence and assurance of the final -triumph of right, and order, and justice, and believe that all things -are evolving toward that divine consummation, no matter how dark and -dreary life may seem from day to day. No real success, no lasting -happiness can exist except it be founded on the rock of truth. The -prosperity that is based on lying, deception, and intrigue, is only -temporary—it cannot last any more than a mushroom can outlive an oak. -Like the blind Samson, struggling in the temple, the individual whose -life is based on trickery always pulls down the supporting columns of -his own edifice, and perishes in the ruins. No matter what price a man -may pay for truth, he is getting it at a bargain. The lying of others -can never hurt us long, it always carries with it our exoneration -in the end. During the siege of Sebastopol, the Russian shells that -threatened to destroy a fort opened a hidden spring of water in the -hillside, and saved the thirsting people they sought to kill. - -Work for the interests and advancement of Truth is a necessary part -of real companionship. If a man has a love of truth, if he searches -to find it, and has faith in it, even when he cannot find it, will he -not work to spread it? The strongest way for man to strengthen the -power of truth in the world is to live it himself in every detail of -thought, word, and deed—to make himself a sun of personal radiation of -truth, and to let his silent influence speak for it and his direct acts -glorify it so far as he can in his sphere of life and action. Let him -first seek to _be_, before he seeks to teach or to do, in any line of -moral growth. - -Let man realize that Truth is essentially an _intrinsic_ virtue, in his -relation to himself even if there were no other human being living; -it becomes _extrinsic_ as he radiates it in his daily life. Truth is -first, intellectual honesty—the craving to know the right; second, it -is moral honesty, the hunger to live the right. - -Truth is not a mere absence of the vices. This is only a moral vacuum. -Truth is the living, pulsing breathing of the virtues of life. Mere -refraining from wrong-doing is but keeping the weeds out of the garden -of one's life. But this must be followed by positive planting of the -seeds of right to secure the flowers of true living. To the negatives -of the Ten Commandments must be added the positives of the Beatitudes. -The one condemns, the other commends; the one forbids, the other -inspires; the one emphasizes the act, the other the spirit behind the -act. The whole truth rests not in either, but in both. - -A man cannot truly believe in God without believing in the final -inevitable triumph of Truth. If you have Truth on your side you can -pass through the dark valley of slander, misrepresentation and abuse, -undaunted, as though you wore a magic suit of mail that no bullet could -enter, no arrow could pierce. You can hold your head high, toss it -fearlessly and defiantly, look every man calmly and unflinchingly in -the eye, as though you rode, a victorious king, returning at the head -of your legions with banners waving and lances glistening, and bugles -filling the air with music. You can feel the great expansive wave of -moral health surging through you as the quickened blood courses through -the body of him who is gladly, gloriously proud of physical health. You -will know that all will come right in the end, that it _must_ come, -that error must flee before the great white light of truth, as darkness -slinks away into nothingness in the presence of the sunburst. Then, -with Truth as your guide, your companion, your ally, and inspiration, -you tingle with the consciousness of your kinship with the Infinite and -all the petty trials, sorrows and sufferings of life fade away like -temporary, harmless visions seen in a dream. - - - - -The Courage to Face Ingratitude - - - - -The Courage to Face Ingratitude - - -Ingratitude, the most popular sin of humanity, is forgetfulness of the -heart. It is the revelation of the emptiness of pretended loyalty. The -individual who possesses it finds it the shortest cut to all the other -vices. - -Ingratitude is a crime more despicable than revenge, which is only -returning evil for evil, while ingratitude returns evil for good. -People who are ungrateful rarely forgive you if you do them a good -turn. Their microscopic hearts resent the humiliation of having been -helped by a superior, and this rankling feeling filtering through their -petty natures often ends in hate and treachery. - -Gratitude is thankfulness expressed in action. It is the instinctive -radiation of justice, giving new life and energy to the individual -from whom it emanates. It is the heart's recognition of kindness that -the lips cannot repay. Gratitude never counts its payments. It realizes -that no debt of kindness can ever be outlawed, ever be cancelled, -ever paid in full. Gratitude ever feels the insignificance of its -instalments; ingratitude the nothingness of the debt. Gratitude is the -flowering of a seed of kindness; ingratitude is the dead inactivity of -a seed dropped on a stone. - -The expectation of gratitude is human; the rising superior to -ingratitude is almost divine. To desire recognition of our acts of -kindness and to hunger for appreciation and the simple justice of a -return of good for good, is natural. But man never rises to the dignity -of true living until he has the courage that dares to face ingratitude -calmly, and to pursue his course unchanged when his good works meet -with thanklessness or disdain. - -Man should have only one court of appeals as to his actions, not "what -will be the result?" "how will it be received?" but "is it right?" Then -he should live his life in harmony with this standard alone, serenely, -bravely, loyally and unfalteringly, making "right for right's sake" -both his ideal and his inspiration. - -Man should not be an automatic gas-machine, cleverly contrived to -release a given quantity of illumination under the stimulus of a -nickel. He should be like the great sun itself which ever radiates -light, warmth, life and power, because it cannot help doing so, -because these qualities fill the heart of the sun, and for it to have -them means that it must give them constantly. Let the sunlight of our -sympathy, tenderness, love, appreciation, influence and kindness ever -go out from us as a glow to brighten and hearten others. But do not -let us ever spoil it all by going through life constantly collecting -receipts, as vouchers, to stick on the file of our self-approval. - -It is hard to see those who have sat at our board in the days of our -prosperity, flee as from a pestilence when misfortune darkens our -doorway; to see the loyalty upon which we would have staked our life, -that seemed firm as a rock, crack and splinter like thin glass at the -first real test; to know that the fire of friendship at which we could -ever warm our hands in our hour of need, has turned to cold, dead, gray -ashes, where warmth is but a haunting memory. - -To realize that he who once lived in the sanctuary of our affection, -in the frank confidence where conversation seemed but our soliloquy, -and to whom our aims and aspirations have been thrown open with no -Bluebeard chamber of reserve, has been secretly poisoning the waters of -our reputation and undermining us by his lies and treachery, is hard -indeed. But no matter how the ingratitude stings us, we should just -swallow the sob, stifle the tear, smile serenely and bravely, and—seek -to forget. - -In justice to ourselves we should not permit the ingratitude of a -few to make us condemn the whole world. We pay too much tribute to a -few human insects when we let their wrong-doing paralyze our faith -in humanity. It is a lie of the cynics that says "_all_ men are -ungrateful," a companion lie to "_all_ men have their price." We must -trust humanity if we would get good from humanity. He who thinks all -mankind is vile is a pessimist who mistakes his introspection for -observation; he looks into his own heart and thinks he sees the world. -He is like a cross-eyed man, who never sees what he seems to be looking -at. - -Confidence and credit are the cornerstones of business, as they are -of society. Withdraw them from business and the activities and -enterprises of the world would stop in an instant, topple and fall -into chaos. Withdraw confidence in humanity from the individual, and -he becomes but a breathing, selfish egotist, the one good man left, -working overtime in nursing his petty grudge against the world because -a few whom he has favored have been ungrateful. - -If a man receives a counterfeit dollar he does not straightway lose his -faith in all money,—at least there are no such instances on record in -this country. If he has a run of three or four days of dull weather he -does not say "the sun ceases to exist, there are surely no bright days -to come in the whole calendar of time." - -If a man's breakfast is rendered an unpleasant memory by some item of -food that has outlived its usefulness, he does not forswear eating. If -a man finds under a tree an apple with a suspicious looking hole on -one side, he does not condemn the whole orchard; he simply confines -his criticism to that apple. But he who has helped some one who, -later, did not pass a good examination on gratitude, says in a voice -plaintive with the consciousness of injury, and with a nod of his head -that implies the wisdom of Solomon: "I have had my experience, I have -learned my lesson. This is the last time I will have faith in any man. -I did this for him, and that for him, and now, look at the result!" - -Then he unrolls a long schedule of favors, carefully itemized and -added up, till it seems the pay-roll of a great city. He complains of -the injustice of one man, yet he is willing to be unjust to the whole -world, making it bear the punishment of the wrong of an individual. -There is too much vicarious suffering already in this earth of ours -without this lilliputian attempt to extend it by syndicating one man's -ingratitude. If one man drinks to excess, it is not absolute justice -to send the whole world to jail. - -The farmer does not expect every seed that he sows in hope and faith -to fall on good ground and bring forth its harvest; he is perfectly -certain that this will not be so, cannot be. He is counting on the -final outcome of many seeds, on the harvest of all, rather than on the -harvest of one. If you really want gratitude, and must have it, be -willing to make many men your debtors. - -The more unselfish, charitable and exalted the life and mission of the -individual, the larger will be the number of instances of ingratitude -that must be met and vanquished. The thirty years of Christ's life was -a tragedy of ingratitudes. Ingratitude is manifest in three degrees of -intensity in the world—He knew them all in numberless bitter instances. - -The first phase, the simplest and most common, is that of thoughtless -thanklessness, as was shown in the case of the ten lepers healed in -one day—nine departed without a word, only _one_ gave thanks. - -The second phase of ingratitude is denial, a positive sin, not the -mere negation of thanklessness. This was exemplified in Peter, whose -selfish desire to stand well with two maids and some bystanders, in -the hour when he had the opportunity to be loyal to Christ, forgot his -friendship, lost all thought of his indebtedness to his Master, and -denied Him, not once or twice, but three times. - -The third phase of ingratitude is treachery, where selfishness grows -vindictive, as shown by Judas, the honored treasurer of the little band -of thirteen, whose jealousy, ingratitude, and thirty pieces of silver, -made possible the tragedy of Calvary. - -These three—thanklessness, denial and treachery—run the gamut of -ingratitude, and the first leads to the second, and the second prepares -the way for the third. - -We must ever tower high above dependence on human gratitude or we -can do nothing really great, nothing truly noble. The expectation of -gratitude is the alloy of an otherwise virtuous act. It ever dulls -the edge of even our best actions. Most persons look at gratitude as -a protective tariff on virtues. The man who is weakened in well-doing -by the ingratitude of others, is serving God on a salary basis. He is -a hired soldier, not a volunteer. He should be honest enough to see -that he is working for a reward; like a child, he is being good for a -bonus. He is really regarding his kindness and his other expressions of -goodness as moral stock he is willing to hold only so long as they pay -dividends. - -There is in such living always a touch of the pose; it is waiting for -the applause of the gallery. We must let the consciousness of doing -right, of living up to our ideals, be our reward and stimulus, or life -will become to us but a series of failures, sorrows and disappointments. - -Much of the seeming ingratitude in life comes from our magnifying -of our own acts, our minifying of the acts of others. We may have -overestimated the importance of something that we have done; it may -have been most trivial, purely incidental, yet the marvellous working -of the loom of time brought out great and unexpected results to the -recipient of our favor. We often feel that wondrous gratitude is due -us, though we were in no wise the inspiration of the success we survey -with such a feeling of pride. A chance introduction given by us on the -street may, through an infinity of circumstances, make our friend a -millionaire. Thanks may be due us for the introduction, and perhaps not -even that, for it might have been unavoidable, but surely we err when -we expect him to be meekly grateful to us for his subsequent millions. - -The essence of truest kindness lies in the grace with which it is -performed. Some men seem to discount all gratitude, almost make it -impossible, by the way in which they grant favors. They make you feel -so small, so mean, so inferior; your cheeks burn with indignation in -the acceptance of the boon you seek at their hands. You feel it is like -a bone thrown at a dog, instead of the quick, sympathetic graciousness -that forestalls your explanations and waives your thanks with a smile, -the pleasure of one friend who has been favored with the opportunity -to be of service to another. The man who makes another feel like an -insect reclining on a red-hot stove while he is receiving a favor, has -no right to expect future gratitude,—he should feel satisfied if he -receives forgiveness. - -Let us forget the good deeds we have done by making them seem small in -comparison with the greater things we are doing, and the still greater -acts we hope to do. This is true generosity, and will develop gratitude -in the soul of him who has been helped, unless he is so petrified in -selfishness as to make it impossible. But constantly reminding a man -of the favors he has received from you almost cancels the debt. The -care of the statistics should be his privilege; you are usurping his -prerogative when you recall them. Merely because it has been our good -fortune to be able to serve some one, we should not act as if we held -a mortgage on his immortality, and expect him to swing the censor of -adulation forever in our presence. - -That which often seems to us to be ingratitude, may be merely our own -ignorance of the subtle phases of human nature. Sometimes a man's -heart is so full of thankfulness that he cannot speak, and in the very -intensity of his appreciation, mere words seem to him paltry, petty, -and inadequate, and the depth of the eloquence of his silence is -misunderstood. Sometimes the consciousness of his inability to repay, -develops a strange pride—genuine gratitude it may be, though unwise -in its lack of expression—a determination to say nothing, until the -opportunity for which he is waiting to enable him to make his gratitude -an actuality. There are countless instances in which true gratitude has -all the semblance of the basest ingratitude, as certain harmless plants -are made by Nature to resemble poison-ivy. - -Ingratitude is some one's protest that you are no longer necessary to -him; it is often the expression of rebellion at the discontinuance -of favors. People are rarely ungrateful until they have exhausted -their assessments. Profuse expressions of gratitude do not cancel an -indebtedness any more than a promissory note settles an account. It is -a beginning, not a finality. Gratitude that is extravagant in words is -usually economical in all other expression. - -No good act performed in the world ever dies. Science tells us that no -atom of matter can ever be destroyed, that no force once started ever -ends; it merely passes through a multiplicity of ever-changing phases. -Every good deed done to others is a great force that starts an unending -pulsation through time and eternity. We may not know it, we may never -hear a word of gratitude or of recognition, but it will all come back -to us in some form as naturally, as perfectly, as inevitably, as echo -answers to sound. Perhaps not as we expect it, how we expect it, nor -where, but sometime, somehow, somewhere, it comes back, as the dove -that Noah sent from the Ark returned with its green leaf of revelation. - -Let us conceive of gratitude in its largest, most beautiful sense, that -if we receive any kindness we are debtor, not merely to one man, but -to the whole world. As we are each day indebted to thousands for the -comforts, joys, consolations, and blessings of life, let us realize -that it is only by kindness to all that we can begin to repay the debt -to one, begin to make gratitude the atmosphere of all our living and a -constant expression in outward acts, rather than in mere thoughts. Let -us see the awful cowardice and the injustice of ingratitude, not to -take it too seriously in others, not to condemn it too severely, but -merely to banish it forever from our own lives, and to make every hour -of our living the radiation of the sweetness of gratitude. - - - - -People who Live in Air Castles - - - - -People who Live in Air Castles - - -Living in an air-castle is about as profitable as owning a -half-interest in a rainbow. It is no more nourishing than a dinner -of twelve courses—eaten in a dream. Air-castles are built of golden -moments of time, and their only value is in the raw material thus -rendered valueless. - -The atmosphere of air-castles is heavy and stupefying with the incense -of vague hopes and phantom ideals. In them man lulls himself into -dreaming inactivity with the songs of the mighty deeds he is going to -do, the great influence he some day will have, the vast wealth that -will be his, sometime, somehow, somewhere, in the rosy, sunlit days -of the future. The architectural error about air-castles is that the -owner builds them _downward_ from their gilded turrets in the clouds, -instead of _upward_ from a solid, firm foundation of purpose and -energy. This diet of mental lotus-leaves is a mental narcotic, not a -stimulant. - -Ambition, when wedded to tireless energy is a great thing and a good -thing, but in itself it amounts to little. Man cannot raise himself to -higher things by what he would like to accomplish, but only by what -he endeavors to accomplish. To be of value, ambition must ever be -made manifest in zeal, in determination, in energy consecrated to an -ideal. If it be thus reinforced, thus combined, the thin airy castle -melts into nothingness, and the individual stands on a new strong -foundation of solid rock, whereon, day by day and stone by stone, he -can rear a mighty material structure of life-work to last through time -and eternity. The air-castle ever represents the work of an architect -without a builder; it means plans never put into execution. They tell -us that man is the architect of his own fortunes. But if he be merely -architect he will make only an air-castle of his life; he should be -architect and builder too. - -Living in the future is living in an air-castle. To-morrow is the grave -where the dreams of the dreamer, the toiler who toils not, are buried. -The man who says he will lead a newer and better life to-morrow, who -promises great things for the future, and yet does nothing in the -present to make that future possible, is living in an air-castle. In -his arrogance he is attempting to perform a miracle; he is seeking to -turn water into wine, to have harvest without seed-time, to have an end -without a beginning. - -If we would make our lives worthy of us, grand and noble, solid and -impregnable, we must forsake air-castles of dreaming for strongholds -of doing. Every man with an ideal has a right to live in the glow and -inspiration of it, and to picture the joy of attainment, as the tired -traveller fills his mind with the thought of the brightness of home, -to quicken his steps and to make the weary miles seem shorter, but the -worker should never really worry about the future, think little of it -except for inspiration, to determine his course, as mariners study -the stars, to make his plans wisely and to prepare for that future by -making each separate day the best and truest that he can. - -Let us live up to the fulness of our possibilities each day. Man has -only one day of life—to-day. He _did_ live yesterday, he _may_ live -to-morrow, but he _has_ only to-day. - -The secret of true living—mental, physical and moral, material and -spiritual,—may be expressed in five words: _Live up to your portion._ -This is the magic formula that transforms air-castles into fortresses. - -Men sometimes grow mellow and generous in the thought of what they -would do if great wealth came to them. "If I were a millionaire," they -say,—and they let the phrase melt sweetly in their mouths as though it -were a caramel,—"I would subsidize genius; I would found a college; I -would build a great hospital; I would erect model tenements; I would -show the world what real charity is." Oh, it is all so easy, so easy, -this vicarious benevolence, this spending of other people's fortunes! -Few of us, according to the latest statistics, have a million, but we -all have something, some part of it. Are we living up to our portion? -Are we generous with what we have? - -The man who is selfish with one thousand dollars will not develop -angelic wings of generosity when his million comes. If the generous -spirit be a reality with the individual, instead of an empty boast, he -will, every hour, find opportunity to make it manifest. The radiation -of kindness need not be expressed in money at all. It may be shown in -a smile of human interest, a glow of sympathy, a word of fellowship -with the sorrowing and the struggling, an instinctive outstretching of -a helping hand to one in need. - -No man living is so poor that he cannot evidence his spirit of -benevolence toward his fellowman. It may assume that rare and -wondrously beautiful phase of divine charity, in realizing how often -a motive is misrepresented in the act, how sin, sorrow and suffering -have warped and disguised latent good, in substituting a word of gentle -tolerance for some cheap tinsel of shabby cynicism that pretends to -be wit. If we are not rich enough to give "cold, hard" cash, let us -at least be too rich to give "cold, hard" words. Let us leave our -air-castles of vague self-adulation for so wisely spending millions -we have never seen, and rise to the dignity of living up to the full -proportion of our possessions, no matter how slight they may be. -Let us fill the world around us with love, brightness, sweetness, -gentleness, helpfulness, courage and sympathy, as if they were the only -legal tender and we were Monte Cristos with untold treasures of such -gold ever at our call. - -Let us cease saying: "If I were," and say ever: "I am." Let us stop -living in the subjunctive mood, and begin to live in the indicative. - -The one great defence of humanity against the charge of unfulfilled -duties is "lack of time." The constant clamoring for time would be -pathetic, were it not for the fact that most individuals throw away -more of it than they use. Time is the only really valuable possession -of man, for without it every power within him would cease to exist. Yet -he recklessly squanders his great treasure as if it were valueless. -The wealth of the whole world could not buy one second of time. Yet -Society assassins dare to say in public that they have been "killing -time." The time fallacy has put more people into air-castles than all -other causes combined. Life is only time; eternity is only more time; -immortality is merely man's right to live through unending time. - -"If I had a library I would read," is the weak plaint of some other -tenant of an air-castle. If a man does not read the two or three -good books in his possession or accessible to him he would not read -if he had the British Museum brought to his bedside, and the British -Army delegated to continual service in handing him books from the -shelves. The time sacrificed to reading sensational newspapers might be -consecrated to good reading, if the individual were willing merely to -live up to his portion of opportunity. - -The man who longs for some crisis in life, wherein he may show mighty -courage, while he is expending no portion of that courage in bearing -bravely the petty trials, sorrows and disappointments of daily life, is -living in an air-castle. He is just a sparrow looking enviously at the -mountain crags where the hardy eagle builds her nest, and dreaming of -being a great bird like that, perhaps even daring in a patronizing way, -to criticise her method of flight and to plume himself with the medals -he could win for flying if he only would. It is the day-by-day heroism -that vitalizes all of a man's power in an emergency, that gives him -confidence that when need comes he will and _must_ be ready. - -The air-castle typifies any delusion or folly that makes man forsake -real living for an idle, vague existence. Living in air-castles means -that a man sees life in a wrong perspective. He permits his lower self -to dominate his higher self; he who should tower as a mighty conqueror -over the human weakness, sin and folly that threaten to destroy his -better nature, binds upon his own wrists the manacles of habit that -hold him a slave. He loses the crown of his kingship because he sells -his royal birthright for temporary ease and comfort and the showy -things of the world, sacrificing so much that is best in him for mere -wealth, success, position, or the plaudits of the world. He forsakes -the throne of individuality for the air-castle of delusion. - -The man who wraps himself in the Napoleonic cloak of his egotism, -hypnotizing himself into believing that he is superior to all other -men, that the opera-glasses of the universe are focused upon him and -that he treads the stage alone, had better wake up. He is living in -an air-castle. He who, like Narcissus, falls in love with his own -reflection and thinks he has a monopoly of the great work of the world, -whose conceit rises from him like the smoke from the magic bottle of -the genii and spreads till it shuts out and conceals the universe is -living in an air-castle. - -The man who believes that all humanity is united in conspiracy against -him, who feels that his life is the hardest in all the world, and lets -the cares, sorrows and trials that come to us all, eclipse the glorious -sun of his happiness, darkening his eyes to his privileges and his -blessings, is living in an air-castle. - -The woman who thinks the most beautiful creature in the world is seen -in her mirror, and who exchanges her queenly heritage of noble living -for the shams, jealousies, follies, frivolities and pretences of -society, is living in an air-castle. - -The man who makes wealth his god instead of his servant, who is -determined to get rich, rich at any cost, and who is willing to -sacrifice honesty, honor, loyalty, character, family—everything he -should hold dear—for the sake of a mere stack of money-bags, is, -despite his robes of ermine, only a rich pauper living in an air-castle. - -The man of ultra-conservatism, the victim of false content, who has no -plans, no ideals, no aspirations beyond the dull round of daily duties -in which he moves like a gold-fish in a globe, is often vain enough to -boast of his lack of progressiveness, in cheap shop-worn phrases from -those whom he permits to do his thinking for him. He does not realize -that faithfulness to duties, in its highest sense, means the constant -aiming at the performance of higher duties, living up, so far as can -be, to the maximum of one's possibilities, not resignedly plodding -along at the minimum. A piece of machinery will do this, but real men -ever seek to rise to higher uses. Such a man is living in an air-castle. - -With patronizing contempt he scorns the man of earnest, thoughtful -purpose, who sees his goal far before him but is willing to pay any -honest price to attain it; content to work day by day unceasingly, -through storm and stress, and sunshine and shadow, with sublime -confidence that nature is storing up every stroke of his effort, that, -though times often seem dark and progress but slight, results _must_ -come if he have but courage to fight bravely to the end. This man does -not live in an air-castle; he is but battling with destiny for the -possession of his heritage, and is strengthened in character by his -struggle, even though all that he desires may not be fully awarded him. - -The man who permits regret for past misdeeds, or sorrow for lost -opportunities to keep him from recreating a proud future from the new -days committed to his care, is losing much of the glory of living. -He is repudiating the manna of new life given each new day, merely -because he misused the manna of years ago. He is doubly unwise, because -he has the wisdom of his past experience and does not profit by it, -merely because of a technicality of useless, morbid regret. He is -living in an air-castle. - -The man who spends his time lamenting the fortune he once had, or the -fame that has taken its winged flight into oblivion, frittering away -his golden hours erecting new monuments in the cemetery of his past -achievements and his former greatness, making what he _was_ ever plead -apology for what he _is_, lives in an air-castle. To the world and to -the individual a single egg of new hope and determination, with its -wondrous potency of new life, is greater than a thousand nests full of -the eggs of dead dreams, or unrealized ambitions. - -Whatever keeps a man from living his best, truest and highest life now, -in the indicative present, if it be something that he himself places -as an obstacle in his own path of progress and development, is to him -an air-castle. - -Some men live in the air-castle of indolence; others in the -air-castle of dissipation, of pride, of avarice, of deception, of -bigotry, of worry, of intemperance, of injustice, of intolerance, of -procrastination, of lying, of selfishness, or of some other mental -or moral characteristic that withdraws them from the real duties and -privileges of living. - -Let us find out what is the air-castle in which we, individually, spend -most of our time and we can then begin a re-creation of ourselves. The -bondage of the air-castle must be fought nobly and untiringly. - -As man spends his hours and his days and his weeks in an air-castle, he -finds that the delicate gossamer-like strands and lines of the phantom -structure gradually become less and less airy; they begin to grow firm -and firmer, strengthening with the years, until at last, solid walls -hem him in. Then he is startled by the awful realization that habit -and habitancy have transformed his air-castle into a prison from which -escape is difficult. - -And then he learns that the most deceptive and dangerous of all things -is,—the air-castle. - - - - -Swords and Scabbards - - - - -Swords and Scabbards - - -It is the custom of grateful states and nations to present swords as -tokens of highest honor to the victorious leaders of their armies -and navies. The sword presented to Admiral Schley by the people -of Philadelphia, at the close of America's war with Spain, cost -over $3,500, the greater part of which was spent on the jewels and -decorations on the scabbard. A little more than half a century ago, -when General Winfield Scott, for whom Admiral Schley was named, -received a beautiful sword from the State of Louisiana, he was asked -how it pleased him. - -"It is a very fine sword, indeed," he said, "but there is one thing -about it I would have preferred different. The inscription should be on -the blade, not on the scabbard. The scabbard may be taken from us; the -sword, never." - -The world spends too much time, money and energy on the scabbard of -life; too little on the sword. The scabbard represents outside show, -vanity and display; the sword, intrinsic worth. The scabbard is ever -the semblance; the sword the reality. The scabbard is the temporal; the -sword is the eternal. The scabbard is the body; the sword is the soul. -The scabbard typifies the material side of life; the sword the true, -the spiritual, the ideal. - -The man who does not dare follow his own convictions, but who lives in -terror of what society will say, falling prostrate before the golden -calf of public opinion, is living an empty life of mere show. He is -sacrificing his individuality, his divine right to live his life in -harmony with his own high ideals, to a cowardly, toadying fear of -the world. He is not a voice, with the strong note of individual -purpose; he is but the thin echo of the voice of thousands. He -is not brightening, sharpening and using the sword of his life in -true warfare; he is lazily ornamenting a useless scabbard with the -hieroglyphics of his folly. - -The man who lives beyond his means, who mortgages his future for -his present, who is generous before he is just, who is sacrificing -everything to keep up with the procession of his superiors, is really -losing much of life. He, too, is decorating the scabbard, and letting -the sword rust in its sheath. - -Life is not a competition with others. In its truest sense it is -rivalry with ourselves. We should each day seek to break the record -of our yesterday. We should seek each day to live stronger, better, -truer lives; each day to master some weakness of yesterday; each day -to repair past follies; each day to surpass ourselves. And this is but -progress. And individual, conscious progress, progress unending and -unlimited, is the one great thing that differentiates man from all -the other animals. Then we will care naught for the pretty, useless -decorations of society's approval on the scabbard. For us it will be -enough to know that the blade of our purpose is kept ever keen and -sharp for the defense of right and truth, never to wrong the rights of -others, but ever to right the wrongs of ourselves and those around us. - -Reputation is what the world thinks a man is; character is what he -really is. Anyone can play shuttlecock with a man's reputation; his -character is his alone. No one can injure his character but he himself. -Character is the sword; reputation is the scabbard. Many men acquire -insomnia in standing guard over their reputation, while their character -gives them no concern. Often they make new dents in their character in -their attempt to cut a deep, deceptive filigree on the scabbard of -their reputation. Reputation is the shell a man discards when he leaves -life for immortality. His character he takes with him. - -The woman who spends thousands in charitable donations, and is hard -and uncharitable in her judgments, sentimentally sympathetic with -human sin and weakness in the abstract, while she arrogates to herself -omniscience in her harsh condemnation of individual lapses, is -charitable only on the outside. She is letting her tongue undo the good -work of her hand. She is too enthusiastic in decorating the scabbard of -publicity to think of the sword of real love of humanity. - -He who carries avarice to the point of becoming a miser, hoarding -gold that is made useless to him because it does not fulfill its -one function, circulation, and regarding the necessities of life as -luxuries, is one of Nature's jests, that would be humorous were it -not so serious. He is the most difficult animal to classify in the -whole natural history of humanity—he has so many of the virtues. He -is a striking example of ambition, economy, frugality, persistence, -will-power, self-denial, loyalty to purpose and generosity to his -heirs. These noble qualities he spoils in the application. His -specialty is the scabbard of life. He spends his days in making a solid -gold scabbard for the tin sword of a wasted existence. - -The shoddy airs and ostentations, extravagance, and prodigality of some -who have suddenly become rich, is goldplating the scabbard without -improving the blade. The superficial veneer of refinement really -accentuates the native vulgarity. The more you polish woodwork, the -more you reveal the grain. Some of the sudden legatees of fortune -have the wisdom to acquire the reality of refinement through careful -training. This is the true method of putting the sword itself in order -instead of begemming the scabbard. - -The girl who marries merely for money or for a title, is a feminine -Esau of the beginning of the century. She is selling her birthright of -love for the pottage of an empty name, forfeiting the possibility of a -life of love, all that true womanhood should hold most dear, for a mere -bag of gold or a crown. She is decorating the scabbard with a crest and -heraldic designs, and with ornaments of pure gold set with jewels. She -feels that this will be enough for life, and that she does not need -love,—real love, that has made this world a paradise, despite all the -other people present. She does not realize that there is but one real -reason, but one justification for marriage, and that is,—love; all -the other motives are not reasons, they are only excuses. The phrase, -"marrying a man for his money," as the world bluntly puts it, is -incorrect—the woman merely marries the money, and takes the man as an -incumbrance or mortgage on the property. - -The man who procrastinates, filling his ears with the lovely song -of "to-morrow," is following the easiest and most restful method of -shortening the possibilities of life. Procrastination is stifling -action by delay, it is killing decision by inactivity, it is drifting -on the river of time, instead of rowing bravely toward a desired -harbor. It is watching the sands in the hour-glass run down before -beginning any new work, then reversing the glass and repeating the -observation. The folly of man in thus delaying is apparent, when any -second his life may stop, and the sands of that single hour may run -their course,—and he will not be there to see. - -Delay is the narcotic that paralyzes energy. When Alexander was asked -how he conquered the world, he said: "By not delaying." Let us not put -off till to-morrow the duty of to-day; that which our mind tells us -should be done to-day, our mind and body should execute. To-day is the -sword we should hold and use; to-morrow is but the scabbard from which -each new to-day is withdrawn. - -The man who wears an oppressive, pompous air of dignity, because he -has accomplished some little work of importance, because he is vested -with a brief mantle of authority, loses sight of the true perspective -of life. He is destitute of humor; he takes himself seriously. It is a -thousand-dollar scabbard on a two-dollar sword. - -The man who is guilty of envy is the victim of the oldest vice in the -history of the world, the meanest and most despicable of human traits. -It began in the Garden of Eden, when Satan envied Adam and Eve. It -caused the downfall of man and the first murder—Cain's unbrotherly -act to Abel. Envy is a paradoxic vice. It cannot suffer bravely the -prosperity of another, it has mental dyspepsia because someone else -is feasting, it makes its owner's clothes turn into rags at sight of -another's velvet. Envy is the malicious contemplation of the beauty, -honors, success, happiness, or triumph of another. It is the mud that -inferiority throws at success. Envy is the gangrene of unsatisfied -ambition, it eats away purpose and kills energy. It is egotism gone -to seed; it always finds the secret of its non-success in something -outside itself. - -Envy is the scabbard, but emulation is the sword. Emulation regards -the success of another as an object lesson; it seeks in the triumph of -another the why, the reason, the inspiration of method. It seeks to -attain the same heights by the path it thus discovers, not to hurl down -from his eminence him who points out the way of attainment. Let us keep -the sword of emulation ever brightened and sharpened in the battle of -honest effort, not idly dulling and rusting in the scabbard of envy. - -The supreme folly of the world, the saddest depths to which the human -mind can sink, is atheism. He surely is to be pitied who permits the -illogical philosophy of petty infidels, or his misinterpretations of -the revelations of science, to cheat him of his God. He pins his faith -to some ingenious sophistry in the reasoning of those whose books he -has read to sum up for him the whole problem, and in hopeless egotism -shuts his eyes to the million proofs in nature and life, because the -full plans of Omnipotence are not made clear to him. - -On the technicality of his failure to understand some one -point—perhaps it is why sin, sorrow, suffering and injustice exist in -the world—he declares he will not believe. He might as well disbelieve -in the sky above him because he cannot see it all; discredit the air -he breathes because it is invisible; doubt the reality of the ocean -because his feeble vision can take in but a few miles of the great -sea; deny even life itself because he cannot see it, and no anatomist -has found the subtle essence to hold it up to view on the end of his -scalpel. - -He dares to disbelieve in God despite His countless manifestations, -because he is not taken into the full confidence of the Creator and -permitted to look over and check off the ground-plans of the universe. -He sheathes the sword of belief in the dingy scabbard of infidelity. -He does not see the proof of God in the daily miracle of the rising -and setting of the sun, in the seasons, in the birds, in the flowers, -in the countless stars, moving in their majestic regularity at the -command of eternal law, in the presence of love, justice, truth in the -hearts of men, in that supreme confidence that is inborn in humanity, -making even the lowest savage worship the Infinite in some form. It is -the petty vanity of cheap reasoning that makes man permit the misfit -scabbard of infidelity to hide from him the glory of the sword of -belief. - -The philosophy of swords and scabbards is as true of nations as of -individuals. When France committed the great crime of the nineteenth -century, by condemning Dreyfus to infamy and isolation, deafening her -ears to the cries of justice, and seeking to cover her shame with -greater shame, she sheathed the sword of a nation's honor in the -scabbard of a nation's crime. The breaking of the sword of Dreyfus -when he was cruelly degraded before the army, typified the degradation -of the French nation in breaking the sword of justice and preserving -carefully the empty scabbard with its ironic inscription, "Vive la -justice." - -The scabbard is ever useless in the hour of emergency; _then_ it is -upon the sword itself that we must rely. Then the worthlessness of -show, sham, pretence, gilded weakness is revealed to us. Then the -trivialities of life are seen in their true form. The nothingness -of everything but the real, the tried, the true, is made luminant -in an instant. Then we know whether our living has been one of true -preparation, of keeping the sword clean, pure, sharp and ready, or one -of mere idle, meaningless, day-by-day markings of folly on the empty -scabbard of a wasted life. - - - - -The Conquest of the Preventable - - - - -The Conquest of the Preventable - - -This world would be a delightful place to live in—if it were not for -the people. They really cause all the trouble. Man's worst enemy is -always man. He began to throw the responsibility of his transgressions -on some one else in the Garden of Eden, and he has been doing so ever -since. - -The greater part of the pain, sorrow and misery in life is purely a -human invention, yet man, with cowardly irreverence, dares to throw the -responsibility on God. It comes through breaking laws, laws natural, -physical, civic, mental or moral. These are laws which man knows, but -he disregards; he takes chances; he thinks he can dodge results in some -way. But Nature says, "He who breaks, pays." There are no dead-letter -laws on the divine statute-books of life. When a man permits a -torchlight procession to parade through a powder magazine, it is not -courteous for him to refer to the subsequent explosion as "one of the -mysterious workings of Providence." - -Nine tenths of the world's sorrow, misfortune and unhappiness is -preventable. The daily newspapers are the great chroniclers of the -dominance of the unnecessary. Paragraph after paragraph, column after -column, and page after page of the dark story—accidents, disasters, -crime, scandal, human weakness and sin—might be checked off with the -word "preventable." In each instance were our information full enough, -our analysis keen enough, we could trace each back to its cause, to -the weakness or the wrong from which it emanated. Sometimes it is -carelessness, inattention, neglect of duty, avarice, anger, jealousy, -dissipation, betrayal of trust, selfishness, hypocrisy, revenge, -dishonesty,—any of a hundred phases of the preventable. - -That which _can_ be prevented, _should_ be prevented. It all rests -with the individual. The "preventable" exists in three degrees: First, -that which is due to the individual solely and directly; second, that -which he suffers through the wrong-doing of those around him, other -individuals; third, those instances wherein he is the unnecessary -victim of the wrongs of society, the innocent legatee of the folly of -humanity—and society is but the massing of thousands of individuals -with the heritage of manners, customs and laws they have received from -the past. - -We sometimes feel heart-sick and weary in facing failure, when the -fortune that seemed almost in our fingers slips away because of the -envy, malice or treachery of some one else. We bow under the weight -of a sorrow that makes all life grow dark and the star of hope fade -from our vision; or we meet some unnecessary misfortune with a -dumb, helpless despair. "It is all wrong," we say, "it is cruel, it -is unjust. Why is it permitted?" And, in the very intensity of our -feeling, we half-unconsciously repeat the words over and over again, -in monotonous iteration, as if in some way the very repetition might -bring relief, might somehow soothe us. Yet, in most instances, it could -be prevented. No suffering is caused in the world by right. Whatever -sorrow there is that is preventable, comes from inharmony or wrong of -some kind. - -In the divine economy of the universe most of the evil, pain and -suffering are unnecessary, even when overruled for good, and perhaps, -if our knowledge were perfect, it would be seen that none is necessary, -that all is preventable. The fault is mine, or yours, or the fault -of the world. It is always individual. The world itself is but the -cohesive united force of the thoughts, words and deeds of millions -who have lived or who are living, like you and me. By individuals has -the great wrong that causes our preventable sorrow been built up, by -individuals must it be weakened and transformed to right. And in this, -too, it is to a great degree our fault; we care so little about rousing -public sentiment, of lashing it into activity unless it concerns us -individually. - -The old Greek fable of Atlas, the African king, who supported the world -on his shoulders, has a modern application. The _individual_ is the -Atlas upon whom the fate of the world rests to-day. Let each individual -do his best,—and the result is foreordained; it is but a matter of -the unconquerable massing of the units. Let each individual bear his -part as faithfully as though all the responsibility rested on him, yet -as calmly, as gently and as unworried as though all the responsibility -rested on others. - -Most accidents are preventable—as at Balaclava, "someone has -blundered." One of the great disasters of the nineteenth century was -the Johnstown flood, where the bursting of a dam caused the loss of -more than six thousand lives. The flood was not a mere accident, it was -a crime. A leaking dam, for more than a year known to be unsafe, known -to be unable to withstand any increased pressure, stood at the head of -the valley. Below it lay a chain of villages containing over forty-five -thousand persons in the direct line of the flood. When the heavy rains -came the weakened dam gave way. Had there been _one_ individual, one -member of the South Fork Fishing Club brave enough to have done merely -his duty, _one_ member with the courage to so move his fellows and -to stir up public action to make the barrier safe, over six thousand -murders could have been prevented. - -When a tired engineer, sleepy from overwork, can no longer cheat -nature of her needed rest, and, drowsing for a moment in his cab, -fails to see the red signal light of danger, or to heed the exploding -of the warning torpedo, the wreck that follows is not chargeable to -the Almighty. It is but an awful memorial of a railroad corporation's -struggle to save two dollars. One ounce of prevention is worth six -pounds of coroner's inquest. It is a crime to balance the safety and -sacredness of human life in the scales with the petty saving that comes -from transforming a man into a mechanism and forgetting he has either -a soul or a body. True, just and wise labor laws are part of society's -weapon for fighting the preventable. - -When a terrible fire makes a city desolate and a nation mourn, the -investigation that follows usually shows that a little human foresight -could have prevented it, or at least, lessened the horror of it all. -If chemicals or dynamite are stored in any building in excess of -what wise legislation declares is safe, some one has been cruelly -careless. Perhaps it is some inspector who has been disloyal to his -trust, by permitting bribes to chloroform his sense of duty. If the -lack of fire-escapes adds its quota to the list of deaths, or if the -avarice of the owner has made his building a fire-trap, public feeling -becomes intense, the newspapers are justly loud in their protests, -and in demands that the guilty ones be punished. "If the laws already -on the statute books do not cover the situation," we hear from day -to day, "new laws will be framed to make a repetition of the tragedy -impossible"; we are promised all kinds of reforms; the air seems filled -with a spirit of regeneration; the mercury of public indignation rises -to the point where "fever-heat" seems a mild, inadequate term. - -Then, as the horror begins to fade in the perspective of the past, -men go quietly back to their own personal cares and duties, and the -mighty wave of righteous protest that threatened so much, dies in -gentle lapping on the shore. What has been all men's concern seems -soon to concern no one. The tremendous energy of the authorities seems -like the gesture of a drunken man, that starts from his shoulder with -a force that would almost fell an ox but when it reaches the hand it -has expended itself, and the hand drops listlessly in the air with -hardly power enough to disturb the serenity of a butterfly. There is -always a little progress, a slight advance, and it is only the constant -accumulation of these steps that is giving to the world greater -dominion over the preventable. - -Constant vigilance is the price of the conquest of the preventable. We -have no right to admit any wrong or evil in the world as necessary, -until we have exhausted every precaution that human wisdom can suggest -to prevent it. When a man with a pistol in his right hand, clumsily -covered with a suspicious-looking handkerchief, moved along in a line -of people, and presenting his left hand to President McKinley, pressed -his weapon to the breast of the Chief Executive of the American people, -some one of the secret service men, paid by the nation to guard their -ruler, should have watched so zealously that the tragedy would have -been impossible. Two Presidents had already been sacrificed, but twenty -years of immunity had brought a dreamy sense of security that lessened -the vigilance. We should emulate the example of the insurance companies -who decline certain risks that are "extra hazardous." - -Poverty has no necessary place in life. It is a disease that results -from the weakness, sin, and selfishness of humanity. Nature is -boundless in her generosity; the world produces sufficient to -give food, clothing, and comfort to every individual. Poverty is -preventable. Poverty may result from the shiftlessness, idleness, -intemperance, improvidence, lack of purpose or evil-doing of the -individual himself. - -If the causes do not exist in the individual, they may be found in the -second class, in the wrong-doing of those around him, in the oppression -of labor by capital, in the grinding process by which corporations seek -to crush the individual. The individual may be the victim of any of a -thousand phases of the wrong of others. The poverty caused by the third -class, the weakness and injustice of human laws and human institutions, -is also preventable, but to reach the cause requires time and united -heroic effort of all individuals. - -In the battle against poverty, those writers who seek to inflame the -poor against the rich, to foment discontent between labor and capital, -do grievous wrong to both. What the world needs is to have the two -brought closer together in the bonds of human brotherhood. The poor -should learn more of the cares, responsibilities, unrecorded charities, -and absorbing worries of the rich; the rich should learn more -intimately the sorrows, privations, struggles, and despair of poverty. - -The world is learning the great truth, that the best way to prevent -crime is to study the sociologic conditions in which it flourishes, -to seek to give each man a better chance of living his real life by -removing, if possible, the elements that make wrong easy, and to him, -almost necessary, and by inspiring him to fight life's battle bravely -with all the help others can give him. Science is coöperating with -religion in striving to conquer the evil at the root instead of the -evil manifest as crime in the fruit of the branches. It is so much -wiser to prevent than to cure; to keep some one from being burned is so -much better than inventing new poultices for unnecessary hurts. - -It is ever the little things that make up the sum of human misery. All -the wild animals of the world combined do but trifling damage, when -compared with the ravages of insect pests. The crimes of humanity, the -sins that make us start back affrighted, do not cause as much sorrow -and unhappiness in life as the multitude of little sins, of omission -and commission, that the individual, and millions like him, must -meet every day. They are not the evil deeds that the law can reach -or punish, they are but the infinity of petty wrongs for which man -can never be tried until he stands with bowed head before the bar of -justice of his own conscience. - -The bitter words of anger and reproach that rise so easily to our -lips and give us a moment's fleeting satisfaction in thus venting our -feelings, may change the current of the whole life of some one near to -us. The thoughtless speech, revealing our lack of tact and sympathy, -cannot be recalled and made nothing by the plea, "I didn't think." To -sensitive souls this is no justification; they feel that our hearts -should be so filled with the instinct of love that our lips would need -no tutor or guardian. - -Our unfulfilled duty may bring unhappiness and misery to hundreds. The -dressmaker's bill that a rich woman may toss lightly aside, as being an -affair of no moment, to be settled at her serene pleasure, may bring -sorrow, privation or even failure to her debtor, and through her to a -long chain of others. The result, if seen in all its stern reality, -seems out of all proportion to the cause. There are places in the Alps, -where great masses of snow are so lightly poised that even the report -of a gun might start a vibration that would dislodge an avalanche, and -send it on its death-mission into the valley. - -The individual who would live his life to the best that is within him -must make each moment one of influence for good. He must set before -him as one of his ideals, to be progressively realized in each day of -his living: "If I cannot accomplish great deeds in the world, I will -do all the good I can by the faithful performance of the duties that -come to my hand and being ever ready for all opportunities. And I will -consecrate myself to the conquest of the preventable." - -Let the individual say each day, as he rises new-created to face a new -life: "To-day no one in the world shall suffer because I live. I will -be kind, considerate, careful in thought and speech and act. I will -seek to discover the element that weakens me as a power in the world, -and that keeps me from living up to the fullness of my possibility. -That weakness I will master to-day. I will conquer it, at any cost." - -When any failure or sorrow comes to the individual, he should be glad -if he can prove to himself that it was his fault,—for then he has the -remedy in his own hands. Lying, intrigue, jealousy are never remedies -that can _prevent_ an evil. They postpone it, merely to augment it. -They are merely deferring payment of a debt which has to be met -later,—with compound interest. It is like trying to put out a fire by -pouring kerosene on the flames. - -Jealousy in the beginning is but a thought,—in the end it may mean the -gallows. Selfishness often assumes seemingly harmless guises, yet it is -the foundation of the world's unhappiness. Disloyalty may seem to be -a rare quality, but society is saturated with it. Judas acquired his -reputation because of his proficiency in it. Sympathy which should be -the atmosphere of every individual life is as rare as human charity. -The world is suffering from an over-supply of unnecessary evils, -created by man. They should be made luxuries, then man could dispense -with them. - -The world needs societies formed of members pledged to the individual -conquest of preventable pain and sorrow. The individual has no right -that runs counter to the right of any one else. There are no solo parts -in the eternal music of life. Each must pour out his life in duo with -every other. Every moment must be one of choice, of good or of evil. -Which will the individual choose? His life will be his answer. Let him -dedicate his life to making the world around him brighter, sweeter and -better, and by his conquest of preventable pain and sorrow he will -day by day get fuller revelation of the glory of the possibilities of -individual living, and come nearer and nearer to the realization of his -ideals. - - - - -The Companionship of Tolerance - - - - -The Companionship of Tolerance - - -Intolerance is part of the unnecessary friction of life. It is -prejudice on the war-path. Intolerance acknowledges only one side of -any question,—its own. It is the assumption of a monopoly in thinking, -the attitude of the man who believes he has a corner on wisdom and -truth, in some phase of life. - -Tolerance is a calm, generous respect for the opinions of others, -even of one's enemies. It recognizes the right of every man to think -his own thoughts, to live his own life, to be himself in all things, -so long as he does not run counter to the rights of others. It means -giving to others the same freedom that we ourselves crave. Tolerance is -silent justice, blended with sympathy. If he who is tolerant desires -to show to others the truth as he sees it, he seeks with gentleness -and deference to point out the way in which he has found peace, and -certainty, and rest; he tries to raise them to the recognition of -higher ideals, as he has found them inspiring; he endeavors in a spirit -of love and comradeship with humanity to lead others rather than to -drive them, to persuade and convince rather than to overawe and eclipse. - -Tolerance does not use the battering-ram of argument or the club of -sarcasm, or the rapier of ridicule, in discussing the weakness or -wrongs of individuals. It may lash or scourge the evil of an age, but -it is kind and tender with the individual; it may flay the sin, but not -the sinner. Tolerance makes the individual regard truth as higher than -personal opinion; it teaches him to live with the windows of his life -open towards the east to catch the first rays of the sunlight of truth -no matter from whom it comes, and to realize that the faith that he so -harshly condemns may have the truth he desires if he would only look -into it and test it before he repudiates it so cavalierly. - -This world of ours is growing better, more tolerant and liberal. The -days when difference in political opinions was solved and cured by the -axe and the block; when a man's courage to stand by his religion meant -facing the horrors of the Inquisition or the cruelty of the stake, when -daring to think their own thoughts on questions of science brought -noble men to a pallet of straw and a dungeon cell,—these days have, -happily, passed away. Intolerance and its twin brother, Ignorance, -weaken and die when the pure white light of wisdom is thrown upon them. -Knowledge is the death-knell of intolerance—not mere book-learning, -nor education in schools or colleges, nor accumulation of mere -statistics, nor shreds of information, but the large sympathetic study -of the lives, manners, customs, aims, thoughts, struggles, progress, -motives and ideals of other ages, other nations, other individuals. - -Tolerance unites men in the closer bonds of human brotherhood, -brings them together in unity and sympathy in essentials and gives -them greater liberality and freedom in non-essentials. Napoleon when -First Consul said, "Let there be no more Jacobins, nor Moderates, nor -Royalists: let all be Frenchmen." Sectionalism and sectarianism always -mean concentration on the body of a part at the expense of the soul of -the whole. The religious world to-day needs more Christ and less sects -in its gospel. When Christ lived on earth Christianity was a unit; when -he died sects began. - -There are in America to-day, hundreds of small towns, scattered over -the face of the land, that are over-supplied with churches. In many of -these towns, just emerging from the short dresses of village-hood, -there are a dozen or more weak churches, struggling to keep their -organization alive. Between these churches there is often only a slight -difference in creed, the tissue-paper wall of some technicality of -belief. Half-starved, dragging out a mere existence, trying to fight -a large mortgage with a small congregation and a small contribution -box, there is little spiritual fervor. By combination, by coöperation, -by tolerance, by the mutual surrender of non-essentials and a strong, -vital concentration and unity on the great fundamental realities -of Christianity, their spiritual health and possibilities could be -marvellously increased. Three or four sturdy, live, growing churches -would then take the place of a dozen strugglers. Why have a dozen weak -bridges across a stream, if greater good can come from three or four -stronger ones, or even a single strongest bridge? The world needs a -great religious trust which will unite the churches into a single body -of faith, to precede and prepare the way for the greater religious -trust, predicted in Holy Writ,—the millennium. - -We can ever be loyal to our own belief, faithful to our own cause, -without condemning those who give their fidelity in accord with -their own conscience or desires. The great reformers of the world, -men who are honestly and earnestly seeking to solve the great social -problems and to provide means for meeting human sin and wrong, -agreeing perfectly in their estimate of the gravity and awfulness of -the situation, often propose diametrically opposite methods. They are -regarding the subject from different points of view, and it would be -intolerance for us, who are looking on, to condemn the men on either -side merely because we cannot accept their verdict as our own. - -On the great national questions brought before statesmen for their -decision, men equally able, equally sincere, just and unselfish, -differ in their remedies. One, as a surgeon, suggests cutting away -the offending matter, the use of the knife,—this typifies the sword, -or war. Another, as a doctor, urges medicine that will absorb and -cure,—this is the prescription of the diplomat. The third suggests -waiting for developments, leaving the case with time and nature,—this -is the conservative. But all three classes agree as to the evil and the -need of meeting it. - -The conflict of authorities on every great question to be settled by -human judgment should make us tolerant of the opinion of others, though -we may be as confident of the rightness of the judgment we have formed -as if it were foreordained from the day of the creation. But if we -receive any new light that makes us see clearer, let us change at once -without that foolish consistency of some natures that continue to use -last year's almanac as a guide to this year's eclipses. Tolerance is -ever progressive. - -Intolerance believes it is born with the peculiar talent for managing -the affairs of others, without any knowledge of the details, better -than the men themselves, who are giving their life's thought to the -vital questions. Intolerance is the voice of the Pharisee still crying -through the ages and proclaiming his infallibility. - -Let us not seek to fit the whole world with shoes from our individual -last. If we think that all music ceased to be written when Wagner -laid down the pen, let us not condemn those who find enjoyment in -light opera. Perhaps they may sometime rise to our heights of artistic -appreciation and learn the proper parts to applaud. If their lighter -music satisfies their souls, is our Wagner doing more for us? It is -not fair to take from a child its rag doll in order to raise it to -the appreciation of the Venus de Milo. The rag doll is its Venus; it -may require a long series of increasingly better dolls to lead it to -realize the beauties of the marble woman of Melos. - -Intolerance makes its great mistakes in measuring the needs of others -from its own standpoint. Intolerance ignores the personal equation in -life. What would be an excellent book for a man of forty might be worse -than useless for a boy of thirteen. The line of activity in life that -we would choose as our highest dream of bliss, as our Paradise, might, -if forced on another, be to him worse than the after-death fate of the -wicked, according to the old-fashioned theologians. What would be a -very acceptable breakfast for a sparrow would be a very poor meal for -an elephant. - -When we sit in solemn judgment of the acts and characters of those -around us and condemn them with the easy nonchalance of our ignorance, -yet with the assumption of omniscience we reveal our intolerance. -Tolerance ever leads us to recognize and respect the differences in the -natures of those who are near to us, to make allowance for differences -in training, in opportunities, in ideals, in motives, in tastes, in -opinions, in temperaments and in feelings. Intolerance seeks to live -other people's lives _for_ them; sympathy helps us to live their lives -_with_ them. We must accept humanity with all its weakness, sin and -folly and seek to make the best of it, just as humanity must accept us. -We learn this lesson as we grow older, and, with the increase of our -knowledge of the world, we see how much happier life would have been -for us and for others if we had been more tolerant, more charitable, -more generous. - -No one in the world is absolutely perfect; if he were he would probably -be translated from earth to heaven, as was Elijah of old, without -waiting for the sprouting of wings or the passport of death. It is a -hard lesson for youth to learn, but we must realize, as the old college -professor said to his class of students, bowed with the consciousness -of their wisdom: "No one of us is infallible, no, not even the -youngest." Let us accept the little failings of those around us as -we accept facts in nature, and make the best of them, as we accept -the hard shells of nuts, the skin of fruits, the shadow that always -accompanies light. These are not absolute faults, they are often but -individual peculiarities. Intolerance sees the mote in its neighbor's -eye as larger than the beam in its own. - -Instead of concentrating our thought on the one weak spot in a -character, let us seek to find some good quality that offsets it, just -as a credit may more than cancel a debt on a ledger account. Let us -not constantly speak of roses having thorns, let us be thankful that -the thorns have roses. In Nature there are both thorns and prickles; -thorns are organic, they have their root deep in the fibre and the -being of the twig; prickles are superficial, they are lightly held in -the cuticle or covering of the twig. There are thorns in character that -reveal an internal inharmony, that can be controlled only from within; -there are also prickles, which are merely peculiarities of temperament, -that the eye of tolerance may overlook and the finger of charity can -gently remove. - -The tenderness of tolerance will illuminate and glorify the world,—as -moonlight makes all things beautiful,—if we only permit it. Measuring -a man by his weakness alone is unjust. This little frailty may be but a -small mortgage on a large estate, and it is narrow and petty to judge -by the mortgage on a character. Let us consider the "equity," the -excess of the real value over the claim against it. - -Unless we sympathetically seek to discover the motive behind the act, -to see the circumstances that inspired a course of living, the target -at which a man is aiming, our snap condemnations are but arrogant and -egotistic expressions of our intolerance. All things must be studied -relatively instead of absolutely. The hour hand on a clock does just as -valuable work as the minute hand, even though it is shorter and seems -to do only one-twelfth as much. - -Intolerance in the home circle shows itself in overdiscipline, in -an atmosphere of severity heavy with prohibitions. The home becomes -a place strewn with "Please keep off the grass" signs. It means the -suppression of individuality, the breaking of the wills of children, -instead of their development and direction. It is the foolish attempt -to mould them from the outside, as a potter does clay; the higher -conception is the wise training that helps the child to help himself -in his own growth. Parents often forget their own youth; they do not -sympathize with their children in their need of pleasure, of dress, -of companionship. There should be a few absolutely firm rules on -essentials, the basic principles of living, with the largest possible -leeway for the varying manifestations of individuality in unimportant -phases. Confidence, sympathy, love and trust would generate a spirit -of tolerance and sweetness that would work marvels. Intolerance -converts live, natural children into prigs of counterfeit virtue and -irritatingly good automatons of obedience. - -Tolerance is a state of mutual concessions. In the family life there -should be this constant reciprocity of independence, this mutual -forbearance. It is the instinctive recognition of the sacredness of -individuality, the right of each to live his own life as best he can. -When we set ourselves up as dictators to tyrannize over the thoughts, -words and acts of others, we are sacrificing the kingly power of -influence with which we may help others, for the petty triumph of -tyranny which repels and loses them. - -Perhaps one reason why the sons of great and good men so often go -astray is that the earnestness, strength and virtue of the father, -exacting strict obedience to the letter of the law, kills the -appreciation of the spirit of it, breeding an intolerance that -forces submission under which the fire of protest and rebellion is -smouldering, ready to burst into flame at the first breath of freedom. -Between brother and sister, husband and wife, parent and child, -master and servant, the spirit of tolerance, of "making allowances," -transforms a house of gloom and harshness into a home of sweetness and -love. - -In the sacred relation of parent to child there always comes a time -when the boy becomes a man, when she whom the father still regards but -as a little girl faces the great problems of life as an individual. -The coming of years of discretion brings a day when the parents must -surrender their powers of trusteeship, when the individual enters upon -his heritage of freedom and responsibility. Parents have still the -right and privilege of counsel and of helpful, loving insight their -children should respect. But in meeting a great question, when the son -or daughter stands before a problem that means happiness or misery for -a lifetime, it must be for him or for her to decide. Coercion, bribery, -undue influence, threats of disinheritance, and the other familiar -weapons, are cruel, selfish, arrogant and unjust. A child is a human -being, free to make his own life, not a slave. There is a clearly -marked dead-line that it is intolerance to cross. - -Let us realize that tolerance is ever broadening; it develops -sympathy, weakens worry and inspires calmness. It is but charity -and optimism, it is Christianity as a living eternal fact, not a -mere theory. Let us be tolerant of the weakness of others, sternly -intolerant of our own. Let us seek to forgive and forget the faults -of others, losing sight, to a degree, of what they are in the thought -of what they may become. Let us fill their souls with the inspiring -revelation of their possibilities in the majestic evolution march of -humanity. Let us see, for ourselves and for them, in the acorn of their -present the towering oak of their future. - -We should realize the right of every human soul to work out its own -destiny, with our aid, our sympathy, our inspiration, if we are thus -privileged to help him to live his life; but it is intolerance to try -to live it for him. He sits alone on the throne of his individuality; -he must reign alone, and at the close of his rule must give his own -account to the God of the ages of the deeds of his kingship. Life is -a dignified privilege, a glorious prerogative of every man, and it -is arrogant intolerance that touches the sacred ark with the hand of -unkind condemnation. - - - - -The Things that Come too Late - - - - -The Things that Come too Late - - -Time seems a grim old humorist, with a fondness for afterthoughts. The -things that come too late are part of his sarcasm. Each generation is -engaged in correcting the errors of its predecessors, and in supplying -new blunders for its own posterity to set right. Each generation -bequeaths to its successor its wisdom and its folly, its wealth of -knowledge and its debts of error and failure. The things that come too -late thus mean only the delayed payments on old debts. They mean that -the world is growing wiser, and better, truer, nobler, and more just. -It is emerging from the dark shadows of error into the sunshine of -truth and justice. They prove that Time is weaving a beauteous fabric -from the warp and woof of humanity, made up of shreds and tangles of -error and truth. - -The things that come too late are the fuller wisdom, the deferred -honors, the truer conception of the work of pioneers, the brave -sturdy fighters who battled alone for truth and were misunderstood -and unrecognized. It means the world's finer attitude toward life. -If looked at superficially, the things that come too late make us -feel helpless, hopeless, pessimistic; if seen with the eye of deeper -wisdom, they reveal to us the grand evolution march of humanity toward -higher things. It is Nature's proclamation that, in the end, Right -_must_ triumph, Truth _must_ conquer, and Justice _must_ reign. For -us, as individuals, it is a warning and an inspiration,—a warning -against withholding love, charity, kindness, sympathy, justice, and -helpfulness, till it is too late; an inspiration for us to live ever at -our best, ever up to the maximum of effort, not worrying about results, -but serenely confident that they _must_ come. - -It takes over thirty years for the light of some of the stars to reach -the earth, some a hundred, some a thousand years. Those stars do not -become visible till their light reaches and reacts on human vision. -It takes an almost equal time for the light of some of the world's -great geniuses to meet real, seeing eyes. Then we see these men as -the brilliant stars in the world's gallery of immortal great ones. -This is why contemporary reputation rarely indicates lasting fame. We -are constantly mistaking fireflies of cleverness for stars of genius. -But Time brings all things right. The fame, though, brings no joy, -or encouragement, or inspiration to him who has passed beyond this -world's lights and shadows; it has the sadness of the honors that -come too late, a touch of the farcical mingled with its pathos. Tardy -recognition is better than none at all, it is better, though late, than -never; but it is so much truer and kinder and more valuable if never -late. We are so inclined to send our condemnation and our snapshot -criticisms by express, and our careful, honest commendation by slow -freight. - -In October, 1635, Roger Williams, because of his inspiring pleas for -individual liberty, was ordered by the General Court of Massachusetts -to leave the colony forever. He went to Rhode Island, where he lived -for nearly fifty years. But the official conscience grew a little -restless, and a few years ago, in April, 1899, Massachusetts actually -made atonement for its rash act. The original papers, yellow, faded, -and crumbling, were taken from their pigeonhole tomb, and "by an -ordinary motion, made, seconded, and adopted," the order of banishment -was solemnly "annulled and repealed, and made of no effect whatever." -The ban, under which Roger Williams had lain for over 260 years, -was lifted. And there is no reason now, according to law, why Roger -Williams cannot enter the State of Massachusetts and reside therein. -The action was to the credit and honor of the State; it was right in -its spirit, and Roger being in the spirit for more than two centuries, -may have smiled gently and understood. But the reparation was -really—over-delayed. - -The mistakes, the sin and folly of one age may be partially atoned for -by a succeeding age, but the individual stands alone. For what we do -and for what we leave undone, we alone are responsible. If we permit -the golden hours that might be consecrated to higher things to trickle -like sand through our fingers, no one can ever restore them to us. - -Human affection is fed by signs and tokens of that affection. Merely -having kindly feelings is not enough, they should be made manifest in -action. The parched earth is not refreshed by the mere fact of water -in the clouds, it is only when the blessing of rain actually descends -that it awakens to new life. We are so ready to say "He knows how -much I think of him," and to assume that as a fitting substitute for -expression. We may know that the sun is shining somewhere and still -shiver for lack of its glow and warmth. Love should be constantly -made evident in little acts of thoughtfulness, words of sweetness and -appreciation, smiles and handclasps of esteem. It should be shown to -be a loving reality instead of a memory by patience, forbearance, -courtesy, and kindness. - -This theory of presumed confidence in the persistence of affection -is one of the sad phases of married life. We should have roses of -love, ever-blooming, ever-breathing perfume, instead of dried roses -pressed in the family Bible, merely for reference, as a memorial of -what was, instead of guarantee of what is. Matrimony too often shuts -the door of life and leaves sentiment, consideration and chivalry on -the outside. The feeling may possibly be still alive, but it does -not reveal itself rightly; the rhymed poetry of loving has changed to -blank verse and later into dull prose. As the boy said of his father: -"He's a Christian, but he's not working much at it now." Love without -manifestation does not feed the heart any more than a locked bread-box -feeds the body; it does not illuminate and brighten the round of daily -duties any more than an unlit lamp lightens a room. There is often such -a craving in the heart of a husband or a wife for expression in words -of human love and tenderness that they are welcomed no matter from what -source they may come. If there were more courtships continued after -marriage, the work of the divorce courts would be greatly lessened. -This realization is often one of the things that come too late. - -There are more people in this world hungering for kindness, sympathy, -comradeship and love, than are hungering for bread. We often refrain -from giving a hearty word of encouragement, praise or congratulation -to some one, even where we recognize that our feelings are known, for -fear of making him conceited or overconfident. Let us tear down these -dykes of reserve, these walls of petty repression, and let in the flood -of our feelings. There have been few monuments reared to the memory -of those who have failed in life because of overpraise. There is more -chiseled flattery on tombstones than was ever heard in life by the -dead those stones now guard. Man does not ask for flattery, he does -not long for fulsome praise, he wants the honest, ringing sound of -recognition of what he has done, fair appreciation of what he is doing, -and sympathy with what he is striving to do. - -Why is it that death makes us suddenly conscious of a hundred virtues -in a man who seemed commonplace and faulty in life? Then we speak -as though an angel had been living in our town for years and we had -suddenly discovered him. If he could only have heard these words while -living, if he could have discounted the eulogies at, say even sixty per -cent, they would have been an inspiration to him when weary, worn and -worried by the problems of living. But now the ears are stilled to all -earthly music, and even if they could hear our praise, the words would -be but useless messengers of love that came too late. - -It is right to speak well of the dead, to remember their strength and -to forget their weakness, and to render to their memory the expressions -of honor, justice, love and sorrow that fill our hearts. But it is -the living, ever the living that need it most. The dead have passed -beyond the helpfulness; our wildest cries of agony and regret bring no -answering echo from the silences of the unknown. Those who are facing -the battle of life, still seeking bravely to do and to be,—they need -our help, our companionship, our love, all that is best in us. Better -is the smallest flower placed in our warm, living hands than mountains -of roses banked round our casket. - -If we have failed in our expressions to the dead, the deep sense of -our sorrow and the instinctive rush of feeling proclaim the vacuum of -duty we now seek too late to fill. But there is one atonement that is -not too late. It is in making all humanity legatees of the kindness -and human love that we regret has been unexpended, it is in bringing -brightness, courage and cheer into the lives of those around us. Thus -our regret will be shown to be genuine, not a mere temporary gush of -emotionalism. - -It is during the formative period, the time when a man is seeking to -get a foothold, that help counts for most, when even the slightest aid -is great. A few books lent to Andrew Carnegie when he was beginning -his career were to him an inspiration; he has nobly repaid the loan, -made posterity his debtor a million-fold by his beneficence in -sprinkling libraries over the whole country. Help the saplings, the -young growing trees of vigor,—the mighty oaks have no need of your aid. - -The heartening words should come when needed, not when they seem only -hypocritic protestations, or dextrous preparations for future favors. -Columbus, surrounded by his mutinous crew, threatening to kill him, -alone amid the crowd, had no one to stand by him. But he neared land, -and riches opened before them; then they fell at his feet, proclaimed -him almost a god and said he truly was inspired from Heaven. Success -transfigured him—a long line of pebbly beach and a few trees made him -divine. A little patience along the way, a little closer companionship, -a little brotherly love in his hours of watching, waiting, and hoping -would have been great balm to his soul. - -It is in childhood that pleasures count most, when the slightest -investment of kindness brings largest returns. Let us give the children -sunlight, love, companionship, sympathy with their little troubles and -worries that seem to them so great, genuine interest in their growing -hopes, their vague, unproportioned dreams and yearnings. Let us put -ourselves into their places, view the world through their eyes so that -we may gently correct the errors of their perspective by our greater -wisdom. Such trifles will make them genuinely happy, happier by far -than things a thousand times greater that come too late. - -Procrastination is the father of a countless family of things that come -too late. Procrastination means making an appointment with opportunity -to "call again to-morrow." It kills self-control, saps mental energy, -makes man a creature of circumstances instead of their creator. There -is one brand of procrastination that is a virtue. It is never doing -to-day a wrong that can be put off till to-morrow, never performing an -act to-day that may make to-morrow ashamed. - -There are little estrangements in life, little misunderstandings that -are passed by in silence between friends, each too closely armored with -pride, and enamoured with self to break. There is a time when a few -straightforward words would set it all right, the clouds would break -and the sunshine of love burst forth again. But each nurses a weak, -petty sense of dignity, the rift grows wider, they drift apart, and -each goes his lonely way, hungering for the other. They may waken to -realization too late to piece the broken strands of affection into a -new life. - -The wisdom that comes too late in a thousand phases of life usually has -an irritating, depressing effect on the individual. He should charge -a large part of it to the account of experience. If no wisdom came -too late there would be no experience. It means, after all, only that -we are wiser to-day than we were yesterday, that we see all things in -truer relation, that our pathway of life has been illuminated. - -The world is prone to judge by results. It is glad to be a stockholder -in our success and prosperity, but it too often avoids the assessments -of sympathy and understanding. The man who pulls against the stream may -have but a stanch two or three to help him. When the tide turns and his -craft swiftens its course and he is carried along without effort, he -finds boats hurrying to him from all directions as if he had suddenly -woke up and found himself in a regatta. The help then comes too late; -he does not need it. He himself must then guard against the temptation -of cynicism and coldness and selfishness. Then he should realize and -determine that what he terms "the way of the world" shall not be his -"way." That he will not be too late with his stimulus to others who -have struggled bravely as he has done, but who being less strong -may drop the oars in despair for the lack of the stimulus of even a -friendly word of heartening in a crisis. - -The old song of dreary philosophy says: "The mill will never grind -again with the water that is past." Why should the mill expect to use -the same water over and over? That water may now be merrily turning -mill-wheels further down the valley, continuing without ceasing, its -good work. It is folly to think so much of the water that is past. -Think more of the great stream that is ever flowing on. Use that as -best you can, and when it has passed you will be glad that it came, and -be satisfied with its service. - -Time is a mighty stream that comes each day with unending flow. To -think of this water of past time with such regret that it shuts our -eyes to the mighty river of the present is sheer folly. Let us make the -best we can of to-day in the best preparation for to-morrow; then even -the things that come too late will be new revelations of wisdom to use -in the present now before us, and in the future we are forming. - - - - -The Way of the Reformer - - - - -The Way of the Reformer - - -The reformers of the world are its men of mighty purpose. They are men -with the courage of individual conviction, men who dare run counter -to the criticism of inferiors, men who voluntarily bear crosses for -what they accept as right, even without the guarantee of a crown. They -are men who gladly go down into the depths of silence, darkness and -oblivion, but only to emerge finally like divers, with pearls in their -hands. - -He who labors untiringly toward the attainment of some noble aim, with -eyes fixed on the star of some mighty purpose, as the Magi followed the -star in the East, is a reformer. He who is loyal to the inspiration -of some great religious thought, and with strong hand leads weak -trembling steps of faith into the glory of certainty, is a reformer. -He who follows the thin thread of some revelation of Nature in any -of the sciences, follows it in the spirit of truth through a maze of -doubt, hope, experiment and questioning, till the tiny guiding thread -grows stronger and firmer to his touch, leading him to some wondrous -illumination of Nature's law, is a reformer. - -He who goes up alone into the mountains of truth and, glowing with the -radiance of some mighty revelation, returns to force the hurrying world -to listen to his story is a reformer. Whoever seeks to work out for -himself his destiny, the life-work that all his nature tells him should -be his, bravely, calmly and with due consideration of the rights of -others and his duties to them, is a reformer. - -These men who renounce the commonplace and conventional for higher -things are reformers because they are striving to bring about new -conditions; they are consecrating their lives to ideals. They are the -brave aggressive vanguard of progress. They are men who can stand a -siege, who can take long forced marches without a murmur, who set their -teeth and bow their heads as they fight their way through the smoke, -who smile at the trials and privations that dare to daunt them. They -care naught for the hardships and perils of the fight, for they are -ever inspired by the flag of triumph that seems already waving on the -citadel of their hopes. - -If we are facing some great life ambition let us see if our heroic -plans are good, high, noble and exalted enough for the price we must -pay for their attainment. Let us seriously and honestly look into our -needs, our abilities, our resources, our responsibilities, to assure -ourselves that it is no mere passing whim that is leading us. Let us -hear and consider all counsel, all light that may be thrown on every -side, let us hear it as a judge on the bench listens to the evidence -and then makes his own decision. The choice of a life-work is too -sacred a responsibility to the individual to be lightly decided for him -by others less thoroughly informed than himself. When we have weighed -in the balance the mighty question and have made our decision, let us -act, let us concentrate our lives upon that which we feel is supreme, -and, never forsaking a real duty, never be diverted from the attainment -of the highest things, no matter what honest price we may have to pay -for their realization and conquest. - -When Nature decides on any man as a reformer she whispers to him his -great message, she places in his hand the staff of courage, she wraps -around him the robes of patience and self-reliance and starts him on -his way. Then, in order that he may have strength to live through it -all, she mercifully calls him back for a moment and makes him—an -optimist. - -The way of the reformer is hard, very hard. The world knows little of -it, for it is rare that the reformer reveals the scars of conflict, -the pangs of hope deferred, the mighty waves of despair that wash -over a great purpose. Sometimes men of sincere aim and unselfish high -ambition, weary and worn with the struggle, have permitted the world -to hear an uncontrolled sob of hopelessness or a word of momentary -bitterness at the seeming emptiness of all effort. But men of great -purpose and noble ideals must know that the path of the reformer is -loneliness. They must live from within rather than in dependence on -sources of help from without. Their mission, their exalted aim, their -supreme object in living, which focuses all their energy, must be their -source of strength and inspiration. The reformer must ever light the -torch of his own inspiration. His own hand must ever guard the sacred -flame as he moves steadily forward on his lonely way. - -The reformer in morals, in education, in religion, in sociology, in -invention, in philosophy, in any line of aspiration, is ever a pioneer. -His privilege is to blaze the path for others, to mark at his peril -a road that others may follow in safety. He must not expect that the -way will be graded and asphalted for him. He must realize that he must -face injustice, ingratitude, opposition, misunderstanding, the cruel -criticism of contemporaries and often, hardest of all, the wondering -reproach of those who love him best. - -He must not expect the tortoise to sympathize with the flight of the -eagle. A great purpose is ever an isolation. Should a soldier leading -the forlorn hope complain that the army is not abreast of him? The -glorious opportunity before him should so inspire him, so absorb him, -that he will care naught for the army except to know that if he lead -as he should, and do that which the crisis demands, the army _must_ -follow. - -The reformer must realize without a trace of bitterness that the busy -world cares little for his struggles, it cares only to joy in his final -triumph; it will share his feasts but not his fasts. Christ was alone -in Gethsemane, but—at the sermon in the wilderness, where food was -provided, the attendance was four thousand. - -The world is honest enough in its attitude. It takes time for the -world to realize, to accept, and to assimilate a large truth. Since -the dawn of history, the great conservative spirit of every age, that -ballast that keeps the world in poise, makes the slow acceptance of -great truths an essential for its safety. It wisely requires proof, -clear, absolute, undeniable attestation, before it fully accepts. -Sometimes the perfect enlightenment takes years, sometimes generations. -It is but the safeguard of truth. Time is the supreme test, the final -court of appeals that winnows out the chaff of false claims, pretended -revelation, empty boast, and idle dreams. Time is the touchstone that -finally reveals all true gold. The process is slow, necessarily so, -and the fate of the world's geniuses and reformers in the balance of -their contemporary criticism, should have a sweetness of consolation -rather than the bitterness of cynicism. If the greatest leaders of the -world have had to wait for recognition, should we, whose best work may -be but trifling in comparison with theirs, expect instant sympathy, -appreciation, and coöperation, where we are merely growing toward our -own attainment? - -The world ever says to its leaders, by its attitude if not in words, -"If you would lead us to higher realms of thought, to purer ideals of -life, and flash before us, like the handwriting on the wall, all the -possible glories of development, _you_ must pay the price for it, not -we." The world has a law as clearly defined as the laws of Kepler: -"Contemporary credit for reform works in any line will be in inverse -proportion to the square root of their importance." Give us a new fad -and we will prostrate ourselves in the dust; give us a new philosophy, -a marvelous revelation, a higher conception of life and morality, and -we may pass you by, but posterity will pay for it. Send your messages -C.O.D. and posterity will settle for them. You ask for bread; posterity -will give you a stone, called a monument. - -There is nothing in this to discourage the highest efforts of genius. -Genius is great because it is decades in advance of its generation. To -appreciate genius requires comprehension and the same characteristics. -The public can fully appreciate only what is a few steps in advance; -it must grow to the appreciation of great thought. The genius or the -reformer should accept this as a necessary condition. It is the price -he must pay for being in advance of his generation, just as front seats -in the orchestra cost more than those in the back row of the third -gallery. - -The world is impartial in its methods. It says ever, "you may suffer -now, but we will give you later fame." Posthumous fame means that -the individual may shiver with cold, but his grandchildren will get -fur-lined ulsters; the individual plants acorns, his posterity sells -the oaks. Posthumous fame or recognition is a check made out to the -individual, but payable only to his heirs. - -There is nothing the world cries out for so constantly as a new idea; -there is nothing the world fears so much. The milestones of progress in -the history of the ages tell the story. Galileo was cast into prison in -his seventieth year and his works were prohibited. He had committed no -crime, but he was in advance of his generation. Harvey's discovery of -the circulation of the blood was not accepted by the universities of -the world till twenty-five years after its publication. Frœbel, the -gentle inspired lover of children, suffered the trials and struggles -of the reformer, and his system of teaching was abolished in Prussia -because it was "calculated to bring up our young people in atheism." So -it was with thousands of others. - -The world says with a large airy sweep of the hand, "the opposition to -progress is all in the past, the great reformer or the great genius is -recognized to-day." No, in the past they tried to kill a great truth by -opposition; now we gently seek to smother it by making it a fad. - -So it is written in the book of human nature: The saviours of the world -must ever be martyrs. The death of Christ on the cross for the people -he had come to save, typifies the temporary crucifixion of public -opinion that comes to all who bring to the people the message of some -great truth, some clearer revelation of the divine. Truth, right, and -justice must triumph. Let us never close the books of a great work and -say "it has failed." - -No matter how slight seem results, how dark the outlook, the glorious -consummation of the past, the revelation of the future, _must_ come. -And Christ lived thirty years and he had twelve disciples, one denied -him, one doubted him, one betrayed him, and the other nine were very -human. And in the supreme crisis of His life "they _all_ forsook him -and fled," but to-day—His followers are millions. - -Sweet indeed is human sympathy, the warm hand-clasp of confidence and -love brings a rich inflow of new strength to him who is struggling, and -the knowledge that someone dear to us sees with love and comradeship -our future through our eyes, is a wondrous draught of new life. If we -have this, perhaps the loyalty of two or three, what the world says or -thinks about us should count for little. But if this be denied us, -then must we bravely walk our weary way alone, toward the sunrise that -must come. - -The little world around us that does not understand us, does not -appreciate our ambition or sympathize with our efforts, that seem to -it futile, is not intentionally cruel, calloused, bitter, blind, or -heartless. It is merely that busied with its own pursuits, problems and -pleasures, it does not fully realize, does not see as we do. - -The world does not see our ideal as we see it, does not feel the glow -of inspiration that makes our blood tingle, our eye brighten, and our -soul seem flooded with a wondrous light. It sees naught but the rough -block of marble before us and the great mass of chips and fragments of -seemingly fruitless effort at our feet, but it does not see the angel -of achievement slowly emerging from its stone prison, from nothingness -into being, under the tireless strokes of our chisel. It hears no -faint rustle of wings that seem already real to us nor the glory of -the music of triumph already ringing in our ears. - -There come dark, dreary days in all great work, when effort seems -useless, when hope almost appears a delusion, and confidence the -mirage of folly. Sometimes for days your sails flap idly against the -mast, with not a breath of wind to move you on your way, and with a -paralyzing sense of helplessness you just have to sit and wait and -wait. Sometimes your craft of hope is carried back by a tide that seems -to undo in moments your work of months. But it may not be really so, -you maybe put into a new channel that brings you nearer your haven than -you dared to hope. This is the hour that tests us, that determines -whether we are masters or slaves of conditions. As in battle of -Marengo, it is the fight that is made when all seems lost that really -counts and wrests victory from the hand of seeming defeat. - -If you are seeking to accomplish any great serious purpose that your -mind and your heart tell you is right, you must have the spirit of -the reformer. You must have the courage to face trial, sorrow and -disappointment, to meet them squarely and to move forward unscathed and -undaunted. In the sublimity of your perfect faith in the outcome, you -can make them as powerless to harm you, as a dewdrop falling on the -Pyramids. - -Truth, with time as its ally, always wins in the end. The knowledge of -the inappreciation, the coldness, and the indifference of the world, -should never make you pessimistic. They should inspire you with that -large, broad optimism that sees that all the opposition of the world -can never keep back the triumph of truth, that your work is so great -that the petty jealousies, misrepresentations, and hardships caused by -those around you, dwindle into nothingness. What cares the messenger -of the king for his trials and sufferings if he knows that he has -delivered his message? Large movements, great plans, always take time -for development. If you want great things, pay the price like a man. - -Any one can plant radishes; it takes courage to plant acorns and to -wait for the oaks. Learn to look not merely _at_ the clouds, but -through them to the sun shining behind them. When things look darkest, -grasp your weapon firmer and fight harder. There is always more -progress than you can perceive, and it is really only the outcome of -the battle that counts. - -And when it is all over and the victory is yours, and the smoke clears -away and the smell of the powder is dissipated, and you bury the -friendships that died because they could not stand the strain, and you -nurse back the wounded and flint-hearted who loyally stood by you, -even when doubting, then the hard years of fighting will seem but a -dream. You will stand brave, heartened, strengthened by the struggle, -re-created to a new, better and stronger life by a noble battle, nobly -waged, in a noble cause. And the price will then seem to you—nothing. - - - - -Transcriber's Note - - Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations - in hyphenation have been standardised but all other spelling and - punctuation remains unchanged. - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Power of Truth, by William George Jordan - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POWER OF TRUTH *** - -***** This file should be named 56020-0.txt or 56020-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/6/0/2/56020/ - -Produced by Larry B. 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