The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-07-25
KICKING AS 4 FINE ART.

it stands to reason that he should be 80,
for in no sense of the word can he be
considered an artist. He has no idea Of
the proportion, the fitness of things. He
cannot understand that even the artil-
lery of heaven would abdicate all its ter
rors, If it were matter Of hourly occur
renee, or that such supremely festive
events as circus parade or dog fight
would pail and clog the appetite of a
very boy, if life were one perpetual round
OF these and nothing more. And in his
ignorance of this great truth, he consti-
tutes himself moral gangrene Of soci-
ETY., poisonous parasite that strips his
fellow men Of patience and charity. It
is his own fault that he has driven these
noble attributes from the breasts of 9th
ers and yet he pounds and thumps, ham,
mers and clamors for admittance at the
door of the house whose inhabitants his
own opportunities have driven away. Ma
ture has not even qualified the chronic
kicker for his self-imposed task. His
aim is success, but what success is he
has had no opportunity of knowing. For
chronic kicking implies chronic discon-
tent and chronic discomfort most Ger
tainly implies chronic failure. The
chronic kicker is scattering gun. He
is in the position of the missionary who
would convert tribe of savages with
out knowing a word Of their language.
1t must follow that his methodist
methods they can be called-are of the
crudest. He has less sense than the
mule, who at least stops his kicking
long enough to let his heels cool off. But
the man, whose every inch of moral sur
face bristles with tentacles of opposition
to the things that be, is foredoomed to
failure. AS things 60, there is not one
tentacle for which he cannot and does
not find superabundance of labor and
the inevitable result of this lack Of con-
centration Of force is dissipation OF en-
ergy without result. But indeed, his
task is too great for him or for any NOR
tai. Whatever is, according to his creed,
is wrong. Yet he rashly undertakes to
harmonic within the meagre limits Of
the five by eight canvas of his own life
time the startling incongruities that
have come down from all the ages as a
general legacy to modern man.
The artistic kicker is not the chronic
specimen. Success in this branch of the
fine arts implies the possession Of Pc
culiar aggregate ofqualities. The kicker
who is an artist must have in him the
attributes Of great general. He must
know when it is expedient to harass his
foe by throwing out skirmishers, but he
must recognize that no great stroke was
ever won in that fashion. He ought tc
have the power and the nerve, when the
t occasion requires, to concentrate all his
t forces on one point, then strike and
= crush his opponent out Of existence
l Hostile Jerichos are no longer the prize
. of the expenditure of breath and the age
of miracles is past In addition, the ar
tistio kicker should possess the elements
8 OF great orator. Conditions which tt
other men are stumbling blocks mus
3 prove to him incentives of the .rares
| kind. His passion must make him cool
A His every intellectual faculty must burr
4 clearer in the fires of opposition. If OBJ
: scured by their smoke, he is lost. H,
' must be an opportunist. Familiarit.
!. breeds contempt and his kicking will b.
effective in proportion as it is rare
Gifted with these powers and utilizing
: them in accordance with the most ap
} proved methods, the artistic kicker cal
) never fail to be power in the land.
r P. She does not live in Helena.