Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1881-01-26
aCHEEK" AND "CHIC"

! aCHEEK" AND "CHICn
While q certain amount of cheek a
as well as chic is essential TO success
particularly in the line of the profes
sions, it may be questioned whethe
the assumption Of ability or know
edge is not occasionally carried so ia
as to react disastrously upon the pros
poets of young mans career. 1t j
true that merit does not always NEE
with recognition, aud that the publi
will not invariably find out those whit
can best render the various kinds o
service which men have occasion t
seek from their fellows. Modesty may
be too extreme, and be who has an ex
cess of il often stands in his own light
Since there is no inherent force in tn,
faculty or attainment that constitute.
fitness for a special work to bring such
work and the workman by some oc.
cult reciprocal attraction together
there must usually be blowing Of the
trumpet in order to advise the world
where to look in any particular case
for the needed man. This blowing,
however is q delicate and exceedingly
hazardous resort when the man under
takes to do it in his own behalf Direct
selfpraise is universally deemed in the
highest degree undignihed and indie.
corous. A really proud and high-soul-
ed man shrinks from anything ap-
preaching it. Boosting, even by i'm
plication, is repugnant to genuine self
respect, and the spirit which induces
an indulgence in it is very far from the
temper of true seEassertion. 1t be-
trays, moreover, lack OF sense. Men
take it everywhere as a badge Of weak.
ness as well as of folly. 1t acts as a
boomerang upon its purpose, begets
distrust and establishes presumption
against the utterer that it is exceed
ingly difficult, although he may in fact
be an able man, to entirely overcome.
This is especially true as applied to
professional men There is no i'm
propriety whatever IN mans stating
that he is a good horseshoer, good
driver, or an expert woodsawyer or
bootblack, provided he tells the truth
IN saying so. But what would be
thought of a person who should allege
of himself that he was an able lawyer,
a superior physician or an eloquent
preacherI So far as the medical pro-
iession is concerned, il is, indeed, a dis.
tinotive point of its ethics not even TO
advertise in the newspapers, Special
lists do this sometimes, and for that
very reason they are frequently ms.
taken for quacks. The lawyer hangs
out his banner on the outer wall of bis
office in the shape of sign announc.
ing his name and calling, and he may
go so far as to put card to the same
effect in some journal; but the cle.gy
man very seldom does so much as
that.
The very name pretonder has be-
come the synonym OF "a humbug. 1t
carries this idea OF ialsity. There are
other kinds Of pretence than bald, out.
right seli.laudation. Shallow and half
taught intruders into the higher voca
tons Of life are rarely at a loss for
methods of pushing their claims for
notice. A temporary success may be
won in this way now and then, but it
soon comes to an ignoblc end If a
person OF this sort happens to be a
lawyer he is ready for the most part
to answer oil.hand the profoundest and
most complex questions in jurispru-
dcnce. He will never tell you he does
not know. A thorough master of the
law is apt, on the other hand, to re-
serve his decision on the simplest point
that may be propounded to him, and
to first verify his opinion by recurring
to the authorities before announcing
it, The young lawyer often marvels
at the dullness Of the Judge who takes
several weeks TO decide perfectly
plain case, when for himself five min
ltes would be enough. 1t is the same
way not inirequently with the medical
student in regard to his professors, and
in the theological sominaries there are
scores of fresh young men who clearly
comprehend the atonement, justifica.
lion by faith, predestnation and free
will, the problem of the origin of evil,
and all the other doctrines and mys-
.eries that eminent divines have wres.
led with for the last 1900 years
If the community is to be disappoint-
ID in man ii would seem to need no
to show that it would be a
,roat deal better for him for the dis
'overy to be made that he amounts to
moro than he was at first taken for
instead Of less.-Phiiddelphia Record.