Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1890-02-12
THs STUDY oE sELE.
The Way to n Proper Valuation Of Our
selves and Our Attachments.

The Way to Proper Valuation Of Our
selves aud Our Attainments.
1t is little singular that quality which
is really essential to decency, not to say ex-
cellence, is yet one capable Of producing a
deterioration OF character, quite as low in
its descent as ITS opposite is lofty in alti-
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 proper pride, as it is 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. 1t will allow one to
do nothing at odds with one'sid ideal of honor,
of honesty, of civility, of kindness, and,
where religious props and stays are miss
ing, it keeps one from much of the evil
thai lies in wait. If it is not good morals in
itself it enfUrces good manners, and leads
the way to good morals by such regard of
the real reason and motive of good manners
as springs from the Golden Rule, If hav-
ing nothing to do with that rule in it.
self. But, INDUCED beyond a proper
point, this characteristic is capable of as
suming a 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 if he does not ex-
claim: II am Sir Oracle, and when speak
let no dog bark" he thinks it, and therefore
bears himself as if he were infallible. 1t is
into this detestable quality that pride Of
birth and pride of money merge themselves.
Adventurous circumstances as both birth
and money are, the person who manifests
pride in them, and claims superiority be-
cause of them, acquires unconsciously a
haughtiness of manner that makes him not
only unbearable but laughable, 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 to
himself the possession of the merest trife
that was not really his; he would consider
1t as all of 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
and self-conceit. Not that the presence of
vanity always implies that of an overween-
ing conceit; it may be that it's possessor by
no means overestlmates 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: Gan is vanity" he
meant to use the literal Specification of the
word-all is hollowness; 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
simple is as much an expression of active
interest in one's self as any thing else.
There is, indeed, certain questionable
variety of vanity which is so spurious and
depiorable as hardly to be claimed by
either pride or vanity, and is to be classed
under the neau Oh sel1-rgnUeousness; but
kept out of sight it does no special harm to
any one, and if it does not clog his moral
endeavor acts only as a stimulant to the
possessor; always odious in the angelic
and superior eyes, it is only when it be-
comes so overtopping as to obtrude
itself upon earthly neighbors that
it becomes odious to them; or
when it is founded on next to moth
ing that it makes it's victim absurd ;
it is then form of self-conceit that is an
abomination in all eyes and ears. To the
self-centered person the outer universe is q
trifie; the ego is the only universe; the
rest of mankind are mere notes, or at best
parasites; he himself walks with his head
in the clouds, and so loftily that he fails to
see the pebbles on which his feet stumble
or the party-color with which his folly has
dressed him like Harlequin. On the whole,
if in some relations there is any bracing or
stimulating quality in the possession Of a
certain amount of pride, yet its abuse is so
tempting and so easy that one is led to
think it would be better when the good
fairy gives gifts to decline that one alto
gether, indulging no vanity, and running no
danger of trampling over the weak and
poor-spirited The safe and wise maxim,
''Know thyself," which used to be worked
by little ma1dens on their book-marks, in
the days of perforated paper, points out the
way to proper valuation of ourselves and
our attainments. Possibly no one ever
really acquired the knowledge thoroughly
or accurately; but he who has endeavored
to do so can not help agreeing with the poet
when he writes:
Self.reverence, self-knowledge, self-control-
These three lead man to sovereign power"
A KENTUCKY FREAK.