San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-09-12
THE VALU OF VANITY.
without IL Men Would Very Soon
Become Social Outcasts.

Juneus Hinri Browne.
Vanity shared more or less by al
mankind, Is universally conced ed
10 be q weakness, If not a defect. In
other words, what everybody poss-
esses, and should be conscious of
possessing, every body condemns,
often in unsparing terms But vanity.
if not recognized as a virtue, is at
least necessity. No one could live,
and indeed no one tries to live, with
out it. 1t is as essential to individual
advancement, to human progress, to
civilization, as to the perpetuity OF
the race. Really, it is not so much
| vanity itself, which is censured as its
manifestation. To have it in full force,
and yet to hide it adroitly, is one of
| the finest of fine secular arts. The sin
Of this, as of 50 many worldly things
would appear to consist in discovery,
| To have in private is venial; to by
| found out is objectionable. But who
| should we be ashamed of or disavow
| vanity, when 1t is our common herit-
tage, and when it is productive of so
| good results? What we need is that
it shall be regulated that 1t may
| bear desirable fruit. The name hurts
it; it sounds feeble and a tritie vul-
gar. Rechristen 1t; and call 1t self-iove
which is its equivalent, ana you
lend 1t a certain Importance, II not
distinction. Self-love has very wide
meaning and various interpretations,
most of them unfavOrable. 1t is argu-
ed that a self-loving has not and can
not have, love for any body else; that
he must be completely, repuisively
selfish; that the external world
related to him only through his hards
and monstrous egotism. But Is there
any such man, outside of moral
theories and the shocking doctrine Of
total depravity? Men are never half
so bad as they are rep esented, or as
we like to believe in our mlsanthropic
moods Self-love may be low or high,
mean or generous, degrading or ele-
waiting. All depends on its quality
and degree. The self-love that is
little, narrow, absorbing, is allied to
gross selfishuess, and Is Characters
tic of ignoble minds. The self-love
that Ia modest, moderate, reflective,
critical, begets self.respect, proper
pride, sense Of responsibility and OBJ
legation. 1t inheres In the loftiest,
the gentlest, the most conscienties
spirits; it is the fertile mother, the
world over, of high thoughts and
noble deeds. The spring OF all human
action the source of history, may be
directly traced to self-love-to vanity,
If you prefer-ln some of its protean
forms. Without 1t life would be
stunted; the world would stagnate.
What great, glorious or distnterested
action or career is not due TO its
promptings? The crown of all virtue
is to do good for the sake OF good.
1t is the ideal excellence, and has been
attributed to angels by mystics and
theOlogians, who consider man inca.
pable of 1t. But doing good for
goods sake must come from su-
perlor kind OF vanity. No one could
love good or do good unless it con-
templat ton and performance gave
him pleasure of q subtle sort-the
pleasure that Is inseparable from and
q part of vanity. 1t is not in human
ity TO do habltually what we hate, or
what costs us pain. Our lives, II we
are entirely sane, must follow the
current of our ordinations, and sue h
current is ever in the stream of self
love Why, then, should We decry
vanity, name 1t as We may,
since it is the cause and promoter
of the best that is in us? 1t may
be the cause and promoter. too
of much that is bad, for all weakness
is bad; but we should labor to repress
the species of vanity which we feel to
be weak, as an aid to the develope-
ment of vanity OF the higher kind.
By thus substituting one for the
other, by a STEADY process of elimins-
ton and accretion, we build up and
strengthen what we understand az
character. 1t is the petty, sordid
vanity, commonly supposed to stand
for all vanity, which p.rovokes
contempt and repronf. A man
who talks of what he eats, OF
what he wears, of the tritles that Oc-
cupy him, as If they were OF conse-
ouence, is thus vain. He is deeply
interested in such insipidltles because
they pertain to his personality, which
is momentous to him, however insig.
nificant to others. such vanity,
strictly conceit, is tiresome and re-.
pellant whenever and wherever dis
nlaved. Vanity proper strike loftier
kew. 1t is generally defined
as trait that makes us wish
the esteem of others, and this de.
finition is usually accepted as correct.
Who can hope to gain tine esteem of
others by boring them about inter-
minable details of emptiness, by sug-
gestions of frivolous egotism? But
such esteem is a compensation any of
us might seek with care and pains,
provided we are not too intent and So
iicitous therefor. Vanity should
never be gratified at the expense of
worthy pride. That commandment
should always be borne in mind.
Imagine, if you can, man without