Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1891-04-18
MISTAKES.

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MISTAKES.
The frequency with which the
average mortal makes mistakes is so
great that when the moralist has on
his blue glasses he can see but little
else. Mistakes loom up at every
turn. From those early days when
we committed the wellnigh immor
tai blunder of "getting out of bed
wrong" to the latest years Of life, be
they ever SO long, the pessimist sees
mistake after mistake, increasing in
number, and self-increasing like the
children's snowballs made from the
soft, adhesive spring-time snow. Mis-
takes of judgment, mistakes Of igno-
rance, mistakes Of carelessness, mis-
takes of affection and mistakes of
selfishness, each and all, are contin-
ually knocking at humanity's elbow,
and even the wisest admit first one
and then another, until the gamut of
misfortune is repeated over and over
again. From the moment when hui
mainly begins to think and to rea-
son, its blunders begin, Even far
ther back than that is poor NOR
tai handicapped. A man inherits
his tendency to make mistakes as
surely as he inherits his personality.
From one ancestor he inherits the
visual angle, from another q mental
angle; another contributes the spirit
ual, and yet another the physical
angle; and thus hampered, each hu
man being endeavors to focus his
outlook upon life before him, to adj
just his intentions, to gauge his adj
vantages, and to prospect his re-
suits. Small wonder, then, that
many a discouraged soul finds life
itself but mistake.
But the Creator has implanted the
tiny seed of help, the source of hope
the means to untangle the fateful
skein in each heart. The saving Ca
pacity of learning from mistakes is
| given to even tie humblest In it
are hidden powers of growth which
untold in direct proportion to the
constancy with which we use this ca
pacity. What hopeful fact it is to
know that daily, hourly, we can bal
ance our intentions and our acts
against our mistakes, and find out
the lack weight What q joy it is
to know that our scale possesses the
magic power of becoming stronger
with each act of weighing, and that
our own PERCEPTION of balance grows
daily finer, and that the weights, the
abilities, and the powers Of our IA
ture grow daily better fitted to our
skilled use
A famous journalist and philoso-
pher once replied to critic who had
ferreted out an undeniable blunder,
| "Yes, l know it's mistake and /
made it; but / always make neac
mistakes !" It's depressing to make
the same mistake repeatedly; but
when we try to learn from past blum
ders, repeated mistakes become few
er, and we soon begin to feel that
optimistic courage which is the out
| come of councions but new mistakes.
A German aphorist expresses this
idea of development from our blum
ders little differently, but with the
same courageous, hopeful spirit:
Every one errs, but he is the fool
who loses himself in his mistakes
We may never live one day Tree
from blunders, but if we lose not our
PERCEPTION of what we have said, or
do not become bewildered in the
maze of our motives, or astray in
the results of our deeds, we have no
need to be cast down. When we
can find ourselves amid the debris
| which our mistakes have pulled
down and over us, we know we are
growing, and typifying each time
that spiritual resurrection which is
tho hope of humanity; for "men can
build en- stepping-stones of their
dead selves to higher things y
Agnes Bailey Oraasbee, IN Harper's
Bazar.