San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-06-21
SUNDAY, JUNE 81, 1896
sELFIsHNEss.

all lands. 1t is everywhere condemn
ed by the press and the pulpit, the
purist and the sage, and yet is the
practice of the universal humanity. 1t
is the strongest motive to action that
rules the human breast, and yet it is
denounced as the one Incentive to ex-
ertion that must not be INDUCED. 1t
has achieved the grandest results in
every department of human effort,
and yet it is branded as the meanest
of all motives. 1t is constituent
part of every movement by which
man has made advance, and yet is
decried as the most unworthy of all
inducements to doing or being. 1t has
the virtue of inner forcefulness, NOV
ing all things from within, only to
find itself denounced in every court of
human action and judgment that So
ciety has established. Why
If you analize the word you will
find it composed of three parts, root
word and two s1ffixes. The root
word is, self. The first suffiX, ish.
The second, ness. Thus you have
selfishness. Self is the Ego of the phi
losophers; being regarded as an in
diyidual, a personality. As applied to
men and women and children, it is
the conscious person, the /, the my
seif.. Ish is a suffix, denoting a small
quality of thing. Thus we say yell
lowish, brownish, darkish, lightish,
sweetish, foolish to designate a small
degree of the quality expressed in the
noun. Does not it follow then that
selfish means only small quality Of
the self, the 1, the ego, the myself?
Ish commonly expresses a participa-
tion in the qualities of the noun to
which it is suffixed.
Ness, also is a suffix denoting quail
ity. We say bigness, littleness, great
ness, sweetness, s0urness, shortness,
narrowness and so on. Take the two
suffixes together and they give us the
idea of a quality of a diminished
character in the root word. Thus we
have swetnishness, sottishness, null
ishness, thievishness, churlishness,
tonnishness etc. 1t is perversion of
the language and the use of words to
say that these words express quality
in the superlative They express
words in their diminished degree, or
at most only express a quality attach
ed. 1t is in accordance then with u
sage and construction that we deny
that the word selfishness is to be used
out of its class and made to stand
for the meaner qualities of self, and
not for those of better class as we'll
which are as much a part of the self
as the baser ones
Selfishnes at its worst estate is only
the quality of being yourself. Why
should it be sat down upon as dis.
graceful and disreputable and dis
creditable quality of the human. II
is it a good thinglto be at all, why is
it better thing to be some other self
than your own self Why is
it better to seek the good, or the
peace, or the welfare, or the improve
ment, or the happiness of some one
else, than to seek that of your Owl
self ? Why should you turn your bach
or yourself and face towards some
other self, of whom you know far les'
and in whom you have no vested in
terest seeking their advancement ant
neglecting your own Do you thinl
that you are of so much less accoun
in the scale that it is not worth while
looking after your own self, while i
is of supreme Importance that yol
look after some other self
This is all very well, when tina
other self is a bright and attractive
girl, and yourself on matrimonial in
tentions bent, or vice versa, but no
otherwise. You have an inheritanc
in your self that you have not in an,
other self, and it is your first duty t
care for it. Despite all that the MOI
alists and the preachers and the phil
H2nthropists and the socialists of ever
ode may urge, there is no reason i
condemnation that is heape
the much slandered quality o
ess. If there is one thing tina
ted by all teachers who
kHhaye helped and instruc
is that the work tina
hand is to be first az
Pc master laugh
inverted strengthe
= this means any
ut for self frs
X sAut for othe