The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-09-05
iNSlNCERE ADMIRATION.
A Much More Common Vice Than May
at First BE Supposed.

at First Be Supposed.
There are some virtues which receive
unlimited respect in name, and the
gross and palpable infringements OF
which society is ready enough to punish
oy the loss of her favor, yet which are
continually violated in spirit without
any social penalty, and apparently with
out any serious conviction of wrong-do-
ing. Truthfulness is one of these.
While an open lie is held in just abhor-
renee by the community at large, there
are various forms of insincerity that
receive no public censure and scarcely
awaken even a faint protest from the
average individual. One of the COM
monest of these forms is insincere ad-
mlratlon. BY this is not meant that
guile which stoops to flattery with some
DEFINITE purpose in view, but that far
more subtle and insinuating habit of
praising and commencing those persons
and things which we suppose we shall
be expected to admire. This is d much
more common practice than may at first
be supposed. Let any one carefully
listen to all the commendatory words he
hears in single day; all the golden
opinions of great men and their works;
all the applause showered upon art
and artists; all the admiration of
nature in her vaEious moods, and, it he
be possessed of keen insight, he will
be forced to the conclusion that much of
1t is not the expression of genuine feel
Ing, Out mere echo of other voices-a
copy of Others opinions. Or let any
one even watch his own expressions Of
applause and honor, with this thought
In view, and answer to himself honest
ly how many of them are really and
truly the results of his own thoughts
and the translation of his own ceilings,
and how many are simply the reitera-
tlon OF ecomiums, which are so general
that it is taken for granted they are
just. The praise of Shakespeare are
upon every lip, but is he il. very deed
enjoyed and appreciated by every one
who can read his words? Do the pro-
auctions of the old masters delight the
eyes and inspire the hearts of every one
who pronounces them superb? Is all
the admiration of poets and poetry that
we hear the genuine expression q the
heart? May all the laptureus excla-
nations of delight in the grandeur of
the mountains, the sublimity of the
ocean, the peaceful beauty of lake,
river and meadow be directly traced to
the emotions that have been thus
aroused? We fear not Much of it is
doubtless sincere and unaffected, but
much is also uttered because it is sup
posed to be the right thing to say. Con-
sciously or unconsciously, there is
duplicity in it, an effort
to appear to know what is
not known and to feel what is
not felt. Not unfrequently this is the
unfortunate result of early training.
Parents and teachers who would not for
the world countenance deception in the
young really pave the way for it by dis
couraging the expression of their crude
but original thoughts, and dictat ting
their own instead. Children are quick
to see and avoid disapproval, and thus
many lesson of duplicity is learned
with fatal permanence. To this habit
of insincere admiration may be traced
the fact that so many people grow up
with so little real and sound thought of
their own, with so little true apprecia-
ton of beauty, with so little power of
discrimination and Judgment. They
have become so accustomed to adopt the
Ideas of others, and to retail them as
their own, that they take but little
pains to cultivate any for themselves.
To extol a popular author serves them
instead of studying him; to praise the
picture that all are praising seems to
them easier and safer than to try to
discriminate for themselves. Indeed,
any true representation of themselves
strikes them as too tame and insipid to
give it utterance, and so duplicity and
deterioration react upon each other.
There is no true development without
sincerity, and there can be no sincerity
while we copy others. -Philadelphia
Ledger.