San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-07-21

Tue uulVersdl economy Oh DeinS.
II the collectors of curios could
find in all the vast collections OF
both hemispheres something
unique, something that had no
counterpart in all the world, some
thing that was strictly sui generis
and the only one OF the kind, what
value would not attach to it. 1t is
by making things common that
they grow to be less priced. 1t is
the rare thing that is the priceless
one. 1t is the moon the child cries
for, not the plsythings that it
handles every day at will. This
individuality, this quality OF self
hood, is one of the rare things and
should be priced accordingly. The
mold in which you were cast at
birth was broken and no other self
just like you will be created again
until the end Of birth and creation
CO mes in the undetermined future.
Is it not worth while to make the
most OF a self that is so rare, so
surely itself that it can be no other
by any possibility?
How often is the admonition
dinged into the cars Of child,
"why cannot you be like so and
So" To attempt it would be to at
tempt the impossible and the un.
natural and also to thwart the
great design Of Nature in making
you what you are. The great thing
Is to be your self and to carefully
avoid being any other self either
in thought, or in attempt, that is,
avoid trying to be, the being so is
beyond you. Does it not strike you
that If you were cast in a mold so
unlike all others that it is the only
one OF its kind in the universe,
that it would be well to make the
most Of 80 rare thing? Does not
the fact that there Is only one OF
the kind In existence argue that
this one should be nightly cared
for? Does =. it not look as though
tremendous responsibility rest
ed upon the individual who has
his self to look after and preserve
as an original thing?
II this is so then it is not right
for the church or the state or the
parent or the school to trample
upon this individuality and stamp
it into the ground so that it cannot
be at all times distinguished from
the common mass. The preserva-
tion of individuality is one OF the
rarest as it is one OF the most
necessary considerations. 1t is an
inheritance by birthright that can
not be taken away, and as an indis-
pensible possession should be made
the most Of. What the world ia
losing all the time by the fool at.
tempts of misguided parents and
teachers and preachers to make
children other than Nature in
tended, passes belief. The evil is a
crying one under the sun, it per-
petuates itself from generation to
generation.
1t is the tendency Of this age to
run children through the hopper
OF some educational mill as
though they were so many peas,
mostly alike, when in fact they
are mostly unlike. By this method
there is no scope given to that
divineness Of originality that is
the greatest possession Of a human
being. The world is full Of abor-
tions in the way of business men,
miscarriages in all the practical
affairs Of life simply because the
individualism of the boy or girl
was not understood or fostered
and some arbitrary measures fore.
ed the life, into channels in which
inevitable failure was the result.
Life is not born to fail but to sue
coed, and the end Of it's creation
will follow il the life is projected
into such channels as Nature in.
tended.
The admonition comes to the
parents who sit in the Light as
sembly this morning, to the teach
ers of every class, to the profes.
sionsl men who take students and
to the counting houses and stores