Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1891-11-20
SELF DISCIPLINE.
It's Importance as an Aid to Success In
Life,

True discipline is what we all nted
to bring out the best that is in is,
Only thus can any one experience the
meaning and the blessing of freedom,
for without it, though no hand may
direct him and no voice command him,
his own breast will be scene of an
archy and tyranny, and he its powerless
victim. Perhaps no other power is
more important in the pursuit of the
various avocations of life 1t enables
man to submit patiently to whatever
preparation is necessary, to overcome
natural repugnances which would
hinder his career, to triumph over the
love of ease, or the craving for pleasure,
which would destroy his hopes of sue
cess. Many a man with brilliant
talents and fine prospects has been
wrecked upon these unseen rocks. He
has trusted to his abilities, and they
have betrayed him, simply because they
were not we'll disciplined. The dry
details of his work weary him, it's
drudgery he cannot bear, it's enforced
regularity he despises Presently, to
his surprise, he is distanced in the race
by those of inferior powers, but who,
by perseverance and self-denial, have
used them to better purpose. Often
the authority of the mind is required to
make us leave off what is engrossing
US, to the exclusion of other duties and
interests.
Much of the overwork that is so fire.
quently prostrating men of business
and professional life comes from the
lack of self-discipline. They know and
will admit that they are doing too much;
that they need rest and relaxation; that
they are not giving what they owe to
their families or to society; but they
plead that they can not help it, which
simply means that they have not that
power of command over themselves
which would enable them to do what
they know to be right. A self-poised
man has the same control over the vari.
Gus faculties that the practiced must
clan has over the keys of his instru
ment, while the undisciplined man
strikes at random, never knowing
whether harmony or discord may ensue
Not only in the labor of our lives do We
need to preserve this authority over
self. In our hours of recreation, in oul
association with our fellow men, in the
thousand details of life, it's con
slant presence is necessary. i
distinguishes the strong and no
BILE character from the weak ant
wavering one. 1t enables us to choose
between the different motives which
are constantly presenting themselves
and to stem the tide, instead of drifting
helplessly down with the current.
Every one has an ideal of life, higher
: than his actual life reaches. We SHOULD
all like to be better, nobler, more jus
and generous and disinterested than W,
are. Through self-discipline alone cal
, we climb this ladder and approach thi
: ideal 1t is by no chance metaphor
that we speak of ascending to tn,
, higher life, or sinking to the lower
The one implies determination, power
effort; the other merely the absence o
all these, the letting go of the mora
r reins, the abdication of authority ovel
self. For one man who resolves DELHI
D erately and knowingly to tread tn,
downward path, there are Thousand
: who merely sink into it from menta
and moral inertia. If we lose contro
of our muscles, we fall to the earth; i
D we lose control of our mental faculties
we fall into idiocy; if we lose control o
e our moral powers, we fall into evil
: Weakness is the real slavery; strength
e the real freedom. And this strength
the ever-growing result of self disci
. pline Each one may gain it and hold /
for himself; for, like every othe
power, it grows by exercise, and no on
D who seeks it in all earnestness will
: | seek in vain -Philadelnhia Iedrer