Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1883-02-16
ny DEAR Roy.

ny DEAR BOY.
TelemacEus. it will do You ever :,
much good, if every once in a Will,
yon will so away by yourself for al
hour or two and get real well ac
quainted with yourself. As a mar
thlnketh, SO is he." And you viii
never know thyself" thoroughly
unless now and then You get alone
and sit down and talk to yourself
cross examine yourself: learn what
you know; what are your ambitions
your aims, yOur hopes: what is your
real character, because. my dear boy,
Your reputation may be ono thing
and your character quite another
Sometimes it does happen, in this
faulty old world, that really good
man, man whose character is above
reproach, may bear the reputation of
a rascal. and once i'll a while, two OF
three times in while, in fact. a
rascal wears the stolen reputation of
an honest man. Go away now and
then, my boy, and sit down all by
yourself and think. Think of nothing
under the sun only you. self. Yes. /
know. my son, there are men who
never think of anything else. God
never made more useless men; but
that IS because they do all their think
ing about themselves publicly and
aloud. They never think alone.
You will be honest with yourself
when you are alone, my boy. A man
Is apt to be honest with himself in
the dark. He does not pose in heroic
postures when he has no audience.
When he stands face to face with
himself. with no human eye to watch
HIM and no human ear to listen to
his confession, and only his Maker,
who knows every secret motive and
thought of his life, to see and to
listen, man has to be honest. How
could he be alhypocrite then! Why,
my boy, sometimes think when the
two mon went up in the temple to
pray" the Pnarisee was partly led to
pray as he did because lie prayed for
an audience-to the congregation,
rather than to God. He had his po-
sition in society and in the syna-
gogue to maintain. and he wanted
every man who heard that prayer to
know just what kind Of man he was
and how good he was, and so he told
all the good things about himself
that he knew. Il am not as other
men are-extortioners, unjust, adult
erers, and even as this publican
But the poor publican. standing
atar off"-ah, that was what made
him honest; he was away from the
crowd; nobody could hear him: he
was alone with his God; the omnipo-
tent and omniscient, who knew the
secret heart of the publican better
than the poor man knew himself,
and knowing this, standing face to
face with himself, he had to be honest;
he saw and knew how weak and
faulty he was; how marred was all
his life with bright promises and
poor, broken, incomplete fuliillment.
and as he faced himself and realized
how weak and faulty his life had
been and was, he could not and
would not so much as lift up his
breast" and from his penitent heart
and quivering lip broke the old
prayer; the cry for mercy that has
welled up from human hearts ever
since, echoing the wailing cry of the
poor man who stood afer off: God
be merciful to me, a sinner"
Get away from the crowd a little
while every day, my boy Stand one
side and let the world run by, While
you get acquainted with yourself, and
see what kind of a fellow you are.
Ask yourself hard questions about
yourself; find out all you can about
yourself. Ascertain from original
sources if you are really the manner
Of man people say you are. Find
)ut if you arc always honest; if you
always tell the square, perfect truth
in business deals; if your life is as
good and upright at IL o'clock at night
Is it is at noon; if you are as sound a
temperance man on a fishing expedi-
ton as you are at a Sunday school
picnic; if you are as good boy when
YOU 60 to Chicago as you are at home;
if, in short, you really are the sort of
young man your father hopes you are,
your mother says you are. and your
sweetheart believes you are. Get ON
intimate terms with yourself, my boy,
and, believe me, every time you come
out from one of those private inter
views you will be a better. stronger,
purer man. Don't forget this Tele-
and it will do you good
Burlington Hawkeye.