The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1889-08-14
THE STUDY oE SELF.



The Way to Pepper Valuation Of Our
solves and Our Attachments.
It Is q little singular that quality which
Is really essential 10 decency, not 10 say ex-
cellence, is vet one capable Of producing
deterioration Of character, quite as low in
its descent as its opposite is lofty In alt-
tude, SAYS Harper's Bazaar. For certain
amount of consciousness OF ourselves Is
good and necessary, while too great an
amount Is debasing and unworthy. With
out q proper pride, as IL IL called, where are
wet We are almost without self-respect
For pride OF a personal kind keeps one in
the observance of those lesser duties, which
not TO observe would render one recreant
in ones own estimate. II will allow one TO
do nothing at odds with one ideal of honor,
Of honesty, of civility. of kindness, and,
where religious props and stays are miss.
ing, Il keeps one from much OF the evil
tha. lies In wait. If is not good morals in
itself It enforces GOOD manners, and leads
the way 10 GOOD morals by such regard of
the real reason and motive Of good manners
as springs from the Golden Rule, If hay
ing nothing 10 do with that rule in it.
self But. indulged beyond a proper
point, this characteristic is capable of as
suming q double mask, either aspect Of
which is hateful 1t has on the one side ar
rogance, an expression Of self utterly out Of
proportion with right and truth, where the
claimant gathers TO himself all the wisdom
and virtue and admirable quality that there
may be in question. and II he does not ex-
claim: ~ am Sir Oracle, and when speak
let no dog bark" he thinks IL, and therefore
bears himself as il he were infallible. tits
into this detestabe quality that pride Of
birth and pride of money merge themselves.
Advenutious circumstances as both birth
and money are, the person who manifests
pride In them, and claims superiority be-
cause Of them, acquires unconsciously
haughtiness of manner that makes him not
only unbearable but lauRhable, the haughti-
ness being only the external manifestation
Of the undue estimate OF the facts Of ones
individuality, and showing, on the whole,
less nobility and worth than there might
have been, without either high birth or
great wealth, inasmuch as pride in ma
terial and perishable things Is less TO be
esteemed than pride In spiritual ones. A
man Of proper pride could never arrogate 10
himself the possession Of the merest trihe
that was not really his; he would consider
1t as all Of q piece with any other dishon-
esty, and he will never drag his name in
the dust OF assertion, struggle and dissent;
but an arrogant man, assuming TO be the
equal Of his superiors, is never any thing
but ridiculous object To those whose finer
senses are not offended by him.
The other aspect OF this double mask is
that presented by the activity Of vitality
~
vanity always implies that OF an oyerween-
ing conceit; Il may be that its possessor by
no means overestImates a particle Of his
powers or belongings; he may have all that
Of which he is vain, and be really marvel
of capacity or beauty, or whatever Is the
thing most valued In his category. When
the preacher said. "All is vanity,n he
meant 10 use the literal siguiication Of the
word-all is houowness; and hence some
times we attach TO the word an idea of
falsity and pretence, which, as the word Is
now used, is erroneous, as one Is vain only
of what one actually possesses, or sincerely
thinks he possesses, and vanity pure and
lmple is as much an expression Of active
Interest in ones self as any thing else.
There Is, indeed, q certain questionable
rariety OF vanity which Is SO spurious and
aeplorable as hardly 70 be claimed by
either pride or vanity, and is 10 be classed
under the head Of selfrighteousness but
kept out OF sight it does no special harm To
any one, and If 1t does not clog his moral
endeavor, acts only as q stimulant TO the
possessor; always odious in the angelic
and superior eyes, il is only when it be-
comes so overlapping as TO obtrude
itself upon earthly neighbors that
1t becomes odious to them; or
when IL is founded on next To moth
ing that II makes its victim absurd;
70 u thap a fovy,, Il roTF nor,oft tl.. l.. -