The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-04-20
NEW YORK HERALD MONDAY APRIL 20 lS74-TR1PLE SHEET

ana the stately metropolis IN which we live :
Nay, even the fortunes OF the whole country would
have been altered and would have lowed In other
beck OF a little child. we talk OF natures laws as
Il they were certain eternal forces, originating In
the WIZ OF the Supreme, and started through the
preuestlned track millions oil years ago-ilvlng
creatures, living beings when they are simply
natures habits. 1t Is simply a way that
sracf so soRs w way s ss eaess
and the most convenient the path OF the least
friction; but having struck into 1t, ON ana on u
goes century after century. What, after ALL is our
planet but ball of habits9 Our whole world rolls
on and revolves around the sun, because 1t has
there is no law which has not thus been formed.
Even the mechanical laws, which seem the most IN
eysta0iy hxed.evsn the law Q, gravtation ITSELF
nave fallen into, way OF going which has become
highway and track across the infinite ex.
by abiding TO the gradual process by which species
are formed In the animal Kingdom. and by the
Gated to strength ana PRECISION. lie as con,inaed
n ana naDle has influence even in our minds
reeated ase made up 81 eFasea and
Ceptlon involves conceptions endless; every
perception perceptions endless. Accumulated
ali 60 together ana osoeme weSea and
compact, until at last we have the individual mind.
TAI naDltsy What is training but the excluding Of
bad habits and the forming OF good ones2 And
shall we not press the analogy 6rtherS is not the
we love inevitablya Are we true as q matter OF
conrsey Is fidelity virtue which is planted in us
ana VIII stay In US whether we desire 1t or notf
Not SO. We know that 1t Is only by constant exer-
else, by perpetual practice, by melting anectiOns,
Impulses throoa OF feeling together, SO that they
become constant to one thing, that what we CAL
the truth of the heart comes to be recog-
nlzed. There is no head. no love. no
feeling, these pure ana sweet dispositions
are cultivated aud kept up and followed on until
the grand end Is attained. And at last we come to
commemorative moral
1t q definite entity which is put in us and which
will discharge its work under suitable conditionss
endlessly practised habitudes which have become
at last so wonted, so familiar to US that we follow
them as we breathe, or at least, without thinking.
which Is the person, the man, the woman, which
stands like the everlasting hills and never changes;
honesty, which holds on In It's course unhinchingy,
which pays Its way without single question;
purity, which takes no stain in an evil world
aese 5ng wmas we f ta sne per-
endless practlsings. This, in word Is the law OF
habit. You see how vast its sweep is. You see how
as II they were like outer garments that could be
thrown on at will, and some oil them are. But
ments which Cannot be thrown on WI without s ex
posing the person to serious danger, and 01tener
still they are garments that cling 80 closely to the
skin that they cannot be torn OF without tearing
the flesh. And again, they may be garments
which are the integuments OF the man himself,
which are the mans outward frame and present.
ment, and which cannot be taken away at all
without destroying the person. AS we look in this
way at the law OF habit 1t has very dark aspect;
1t seems a law OF doom and of degradation. We
always find ourselves thinking OF habits IN an evil
and suspicious way. 1t Is almost always bad
habits that we think Of. We speak OF the neces-
sty Of resisting habits correcting habits OF avoid
ing habits, Of outgrowing habits, and we speak OF
men as the victims and the slaves and
creatures OF habit, always employing some
term that Is contradictory to the nObleness
OF the law. And there Is undoubtedly a dark and
gloomy side of the law Of habit. But 1t has
bright side as well, and the brightest side Is the
most prominent. For what would become Of us il
1t were not soY There are people who say that
the world makes no pr ogress; tnat mankind does
not improve from generation to generation; that
things do not IN any essential respect get better.
Those people may say that the law OF habit Is the
law of death, and Lnat the only side OF habit that
Is presented TO US Is the gloomy side; but n
making any progress, II we do get better and more
enlightened more self-restralned, then we must
believe that the bright side is more prominent
than the dark side, because, unless the good were
stronger than the evil, how could we GO forward
Therefore the law Of habit Is the law OF progress.
HABIT obges men 10 progress, ODges them to adj
vance, and we see facts which confirm this con-
tinuaily. do not say that 1t Is easy to form
good habits as 1t is to form bad ones.
The taste Tor good dinner Ia more
universal tnan the taste i0r good books. The love
for delicate wines Ia more common, more instic-
tive than the love OF delicate and refined people.
The grOsser tastes are rudlmentary tastes and 1t
is harder to 90 up hill than down hill. But, then,
It Is not true that the law or habit simply the
law vi retrogression. II is the law Of progress.