The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1895-06-13
A Word For the Times.

"A w III II Il IklIeS.
There are those who tell us that we
are entering upon new era, time of
unique interest to our own land and
the world at large. A time when effete
systems of social and business life
must give place to new ones better
and higher, which shall grow of nee
essity out Of the disintegration of the
old. In short, we are told that this is a
climacteric age. TO this assertion every
thinking mind must give more or less
hearty assent. The transition. though
gradual, has been sure and persistent
until we find ourselves entangled in
conditions strangely complex, but
which must nevertheless be met
promptly and forcibly. In a crisis
like the one which confronts us TODAY.
character of high order will be in de-
mand to aid in the readjustment which
must inevitably follow chaotic con-
dition of affairs. But this demand
will not be met while men and women
are dominated as at present by fear.
Let any thoughtful person note for
one month the casual remarks and
mental attitude of those about him
and he will soon find the trend of
thought to be timorous in the extreme.
On the one hand are men fearing the
harvest will be damaged by drought,
on the other that it will be ruined by
too copious rains. When nature car
ries her affairs with high hand and
forces the season, the individual
croaker fears again that the early buds
will be frost bitten, with evident
chagrin if his worst fears are over
ruled. Let there arise the merest
whisper of contagious disease and
note of alarm resounds through the
neighborhood and some one is always
afraid somebody else, whom they
hasten to name, is going to take it.
The honest man hesitates to run for
office for fear he should fail of election.
Take bold stand for a principle and
mark how shrinking conventionality
fears the idea has not been fully en-
dOrsed.
The simplest matter in the ordinary
details of life seems to be occasion for
some expression of alarm. Such con-
ditiOn of mind renders an individual
incapable of healthfuI comprehension
of life and it's work. The world is slow
to learn that fear is the highway to
contagion, serving to attract toward
men the very enemy of which they
stand most in dread. And because
fear is contagious and is one of the
most fatal diseases, the man who
spreads it, ranks with one who would
pass from pesthouse recklessly up
and down the crowded street. Fear is
fatal since persisted in it renders a
person unfit for clear seeing or vigor-
Gus action.
Business will revive, men have reiter-
ated, when confidence is restored. In
that word confidence lies the secret.
What is this confidence, and who is
responsible for its restoration? Some
vague impersonal quality means moth
ing. Let each individual eliminate
fear from his mind, cease to pass it on
to his neighbor; let him stand like a
man in emergencies, then and then
only will confidence be restored 1t
will never come to stay while men
think they see danger lurking behind
every corner, or cyclone ready to
burst upon them from every threaten
ing cloud. Courage fits man for
Selling the opportunity, and holds him
in every event. Among men of cour-
age will be found our leaders in the
near future and among such women,
too, for God is no respecter of persons
when he moulds great souls.-Penny
Press.