St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1890-05-24
PRIDE AND MERIT.



Modcsty by Their Possessors.
What men are perhaps on the whole
most proud of is their blood when they
arc we'll descended. and yet no one can
say that they are in the smallest degree
responsible for that; or, again, Of their
genius Or talents or physical strength IL
they are not well descended, and all
these things are endowments, and never
in any great degree due to self-culturc.
What women are certainly proudest OF
Is their beauty or grace, and neither
beauty nor grace can be acquired with
out considerable original gift; beauty
not in any degree, and even grace in
very small degree, for grace which is
in any way artificial is not grace but a
soft mannerism. As q rule, men show
very distinctly how much they prefer
gifts for which they can claim absO-
lutely no merit, to gifts for the pos
session Of which they have at least
some small share Of merit, by being posi-
lively indignant if they find that any
body happens to ascribe mere wealth
that they have inherited from their IA
theirs, to their own hard work. Seldom,
indeed. is family proud Of being sup
posed to be new" when it is really old;
but family that is really new" is
generally delighted to be mistaken for
an old family. That only means that a
family is proud, not of having earned its
own wealth, but of having had its
wealth transmitted to it. And yet
wealth, IL it be self-made, is just one OF
the possessions which is in great meas
ure due to mere effort. steady diligence.
minute care and punctual habits-all OF
which are usually more or less acquired
Or cultivated qualities, and hardly ever
the mere results of transmitted talent.
That shows that men are prouder Of
possessions which they can prove to be
inherited. and not due in any degree tc
their own efforts, than they are Of those
which they have acquired by hard serv'
ice. And it is the same with women.
II you admire a wOman's jewels, for in
stance, she is twice as proud Of them
if she can prove that they
are heirlooms, as she is il she
should have bought them her.
self out of her earnings. And so.
too, . great musician is . thousand
times rs proud of gifts of ear and touch
which he can prove that he possessed as
an infant, when it was simply impOssi.
BILE that he could have acquired them by
any pains Of his own, as he is of what he
has made his own by hard industrious
drill. But the. unquestionable truth
that this is so, is, as matter of fact
forgotten by the greater number Of those
who feel this pride even in it's most gen
GUS forms. They do allow their pride to
increase their sense Of self-importance.
instead of, as it should do, tending
rather to diminish it. The man who is
proud Of being an Englishman, for in
stance, is very apt to regard it as sort
of personal credit to himself that he is
an Englishman, in spite of the perfectly
obvious truth that he has no more credit
in the matter than he has for possessing
two hands and legs. Tho beauty, again,
can very seldom contrive not to think il
q credit to herself that she should be a
beauty, or the man of genius to doubt
that he deserves all the better oi
the world for having been .
genius. Yet these gifts ought to be
really regarded with that sort of modest
pride in the possession of treasures to
which we had no sort Of natural right
or moral claim, that man feels, for in
stance, in living in fine scenery, or in
refined and thoughtful society. In fact
the very same feeling should denom-
mate all the nobler kinds Of pride which
filled the hearts Of the greater saints
who said that but for the grace of God
that is, but for something which they
could not in any way command or con-
trol-they should have been the most
despicable and sinful of beings. Thus
the better kind of pride should add, not
to the sense of merit, but (rather of the
two) to the sense Of demerit, because it
should deepen and intensity the con-
sciousness of the lavish gifts, the in
heritcd advantages, the high level Of
opportunity from which we started, and
from which it might have been fairly
hoped that we should have been able to
achieve far more than we actually have
achieved. The higher pride ought Il
deepen modesty.-London Spectator.