The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1873-08-01
Guidance for Conduct.

adequate guidance for conduct In life,
private and public, could be had and
that moral code, nationally elaborated
by men as they now are, would be duly
operative upon them. Neither of these
propositions commends itself when we
come to examiner the evidence. We
have but to observe human action as it
meets us at every turn, to see that the
average intelligence, incapable of
guiding conduct even in simple matters,
where but a very moderate reach of rea-
son would suffice, must fail in appre- |
hending with due clearness the natural |
sanctions of etical principles. The I'M
thinking inoptitude with which even the |
routine of life is carried on by the mass
of men, shows clearly that they have
nothing like the insight required for
self-guidance in the absence of an au-
thoritative code of conduct. Take
days experience, and observe the lack
of thought indicated from hour to
hour
You rise in the morning, and, while
tonic, of which little has been pre-
scribed for you but, after the first few
drops have been counted, succeeding
drops run down the side of the phial
all because the lip is shaped without re-
gard to the requirement.. Yet millions
of such phials are annually made by
glass-makers, and sent out by thousands
of druggists; so small being the
amount of sense brought to bear on
business. Now, turning to the look
ing-glass, you find that, if not of the
the best make, it fails to preserve the
attitude in which you put it or, If
what is called A." box Iooking-glass.
you see that the maintenance of its DO
sition is insured by an expensive appli-
ance that would have been superfuous
had little reason been used. We're
the adjustment such that the centre of
gravity of the glass came in the line
joining the points of support (Which
would be quite as easy an adjustment),
the glass would remain steady in what
ever attitude you gave 1t. Yet year af-
ter year tens'o of thousands of looking
glasses are. made without regard to so
simple need. Presently you 90 down
to breakfast, and, taking some Harvey
or other sauce with your fish, find the
bottle has a defect like that which YOU
found in the phial it is sticky from
the drops which trinkle down, and oc-
casionally stain the tabIe-cIoth. Here
are other groups of traders, similarly
so economical of thought that they do
nothing to reetify this obvious incon-
venience. Having breakfasted, YOU
take up the paper, and, before sitting
down, wish to put some coal on fire.
But the lump you seize with the tongs
slips out of them, and, if large, YOU
make several attempts before you sue
coed in lifting all because the ends OF
the tongs are smooth. Makers and
vendors of fre-irons go on, generation
after generation, without meeting this
evil by the simple remedy of giving tC
these smooth ends some projecting
points, or even roughening them by
few burrs with a chiseI. Having a
length grasped the lump and put it OF
the fire, you begin to read but, befor
you have got through the first column
you are reminded, by the changes o
position which your sensations prompt
that men still fail to make easy-chairs
And yet the guiding principle is simpl
enough. Just that advantage secure
by using soft seat in place of har
one; the advantage, namely of spread
ing over a large area the pressure of til
weight to be borne, and so making tn
pressure less intense at any one point
is an advantage to be sought in the for1
of the chair. Ease is to be gained b
making the shapes and relative inclini
tiOns of seat and back such as will ever
ly distribute the weight of the t-un
and limbs over the widest possible SUI
porting surface, and with the leas
straining of the parts of their naturi
attitude. And yet only now, aft'
these thousand of years of civilization
are there being reached, and that n,
nationally but empirically approxim
tions to the structure required.
Such are the experiences of the fir
hour; and so they continue all the d.
through. If you watch and critics
you may see that the immense MAORI
bring to bear, even on those actio1
which it is the business of their iv
to carry on effectually, an extreme
small amount of faculty. Get a wor
man to do something for you that
more or less new, and not the cleare
explanations and sketches will prove
him from laundering; and, to any e
preston of surprise, he will reply til
he was not brought up to it scarce
ever betraying the slightest shame
confessing that he cannot do a thing
was not taught to do. Similar
throughout the higher grades of acti
ty. Remember how generally impro,
ments in manufactures come from o
siders, and you are at once shown w
what mere unintelligent routine mai
features are commonly carried on.
anime into the management of mere
tile concerns, and you perceive &
those engaged in them mostly do no
ing more than move in the ruts t
have gradually been made for them
the process of trial and error during
long successions of generations.
deed, it almost seems as though m
men made 1t their aim to get thror
life with the least possible expendit
of thought.
How, then, can there be looked