Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1897-02-25
A SIN or THE GOOD.

y DIN OF HE GOOD.
selhshness That Sometimes Flourishes
Side by Side with some Very Eminent
virtues.
1t is hard to draw accurately the line
between selfishness and that proper inn
pulse of sclf-preseryation which may
otherwise be called prudence. For this
reason seltishness is the most per-
yasive of sins To borrow culinary
phrase, it might well be called the
'stock" from which nearly all forms of
wrong-doing originate. Some one has
said, rather paradoxically: 1T is not SO
much the sins of the wicked as the sins
of the good that hurt us in our daily
lives" Without agreeing with the SEN
timent as 1t stands, there is, no doubt,
grain of truth in it. Exaggerations,
like satres, have their uses in that they
draw ones attention forcibly to over
looked existing evils. Moralists in con-
sidering the sins of the wicked seem to
forget that ''the good" too, have their
shortcomings.
Because seltishness may flourish side
by side with such virtues as industry,
temperance and love of family is why it
is peculiarly the besetting sin of good
people. Not, of course, that the good,
speaking comparatively, are more adj
dicted to selfshness than the evil; for
there is nothing more base than that
form of selfishness common among evil
doors, that sacrifice the future we'll
being of themselves and their depend
ents for present personal qualification.
No; the good are not SO selfish as the
wicked. There is form of selfishness
that scatters, and there is n form of I'M
selfishness that grasps and holds. tits
the motive that stamps the quality
good or bad. That the selfishness Of the
good hurts us more than that of the
evil is largely because IL affects us like
an unpleasant surprise; gives us n
moral shock; breaks our ideals. De-
tecting it in the character of some one
we love and respect is like being
wounded in the house of friend
1t is not always the immediate result
of selfish act that is the most deplora-
bic. Let us suppose that in some sim
pie transaction A takes n wrong advan-
tuRc vi ID. potS lIlC lIiultCI GIN III u
purely worldly way with AS gain and
BIS loss? No. The gain of the former
is offset with n bunting Of the moral
sense and soaring Of the conscience
that makes all right-doing for him more
difficult in the future. AS for BIS loss,
the humiliating consciousness of it,
provided he is only an average man
10 nvnacyiua1ty n x,h io
guard against like repetition of the in
justice that he is in danger of himself
overreaching the next person with
whom he has to do. 81 must look out
for myself" he says in his own justifi-
cation. In this way the selfishness Of
one acting on another and yet another
eXerts an immense cumulative force
multiplying the units of wrong like the
geometrical ratio of mathematics. One
cannot tell where, or how, or when
little act Of selfshness may end.
But, happily, there is brighter side.
If selfishness breeds selfishness like a
contagious disease, unselfishness has
blessed corresponding power for good.
Who has not observed how courtesy
calls forth courtesy? Let one be con-
WINGED that his rights will be respected,
and he relaxes his tenseness Of grasp,
and begins to take thought, not only for
the one who has considered him, but for
others. Generosity begets generosity In
all except the very depraved.
AS guide in these matters, nothing
can equal the golden rule. But in our
judgments of good people who have not
mastered this insidious and self-deceiv-
ing fault, or perhaps discovered 1t in
themselves, let us be charitable. In
many instances excessive selfishness, In
the good as well as in the evil, is the re-
suit of lack of imagination. The sell
fish one cannot put himself in another's
place.--Jane Ellis Joy, In N. Y. OBJ
server.