The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1899-01-26
THE USE OF POWER.
A Wholesome Sermon to Young
Men.
THERE ARE GOOD AND BAD
QUALIFICATIONS
BY G. GRosvENOR DAVE.
for Tho Commonwealth.


Written for The Commonwealth.
For young Men For yonder pup
the world was first rounded out by the
limits OF the kennel, where the good
things of life reached him without ef-
tort and were accepted without ques-
lions. Then came days of loose joint
ed roaming, and Mt last a bark of his
own and q burst of wild freedom.
About that time his troubles began !;
Tor having teeth he started to use them
and having the impulse to destroy he
welded to it. His idea that the world
is only for his amusement and that rugs
ard shoes are designed by providence
for whetting teeth Will soon be dis
PEELED.
The power to do by no means jus:i-
fies deed. At this point all sorts OF
puppies go astray and at this point
also their suffefings begin. 1t Is
hard lesson, but necessary one 5; that
powers seem principally given to us in
order to be curbed instead OF INDUCED.
The philosophy of modern progress is
that puppies must be tanned into use
full dogs aud wild boys into thoughtful
men. Were it not so the boy would
slip back to savagery and the dog be-
come an outcast. The more we insist
ON baying our own way, as If the whole
world was made for us, the worse time
we are going to have.
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There he goes now to hide a bone
which he has picked, and that really
has no mortal use to which lie can put
it. 1t is all very we'll to explain that
this is due to ancestral memory dating
back to the time when dogs we're wild
and food scarce. Yet, nevertheless, We
call him silly and wisely too, for there
are moro bones where that came from
and they will not be clean picked either.
To every day its bone and to every dog
it's day, so why should he bury for fn-
ture use that which he has no use
The providence that rules over dogs IS
not disslmllar to that which hovers
over men. It is we'll enough to guard
against a rainy day, but it is foolish to
bury worthless things to meet 1t. The
best preparation Is to use things as they
come, and from them get the strength,
not to turn back and gnaw over the
past, but to 60 forward to Use the things
that are yet to be. Live right, live
wisely, and another day will bring an
other bone. And, by the way, some OF
',s lace reliance on such picked bones
as "great descent"-dead bones, all of 1t.
Silly puppies.
Some pups delight IN the uncleanly.
They revel in corruption and they
have their reward for they are driven
forth into the chill publication Of the
outer air, leaving behind them the
simple, pleasant comforts to which
they we're blind when they might haye
seen. No longer may they gambol
along In good company, but stunning
and detestation are theirs. Their ma
ture, you say? OF course, but nature
Is not In all things safe guide. Bless
your soul, impulse is rather thing to
be questioned than to follow. To true
in the direction of those impulses
strong, lnslstent, inbred and exacting
whose power we all know and
whose excuse is that they are nat
ural.
But, and the "but" is tremendous In
its import-the way OF such impulse Is
the way to isolation from the things
that are sweetest and dearest and
best.
Puppy's scent is keen for uncleanli-
ness and he can always find 1t If he
seeks, until the world-his worlds
rounded out by 1t. There is no need
to draw the parallel save in the sketch.
lest fashion for he that hath eyes to
read can see. Evil is here in the world
and those who seek find !; good is like
wise here and much of it, but they who
seek evil find no good, and the further
they 60 less chance have they to re-
turn. Soap will cleanse and a chain
confine the dog, but no soap ever yet
touched the uuclean spirit and Its
chain is not one that holds it back
from evil, but that binds it down where
good Is bard to reach. The way of re-
turn to fower-strewn paths is set thick
with thorns OF the anguish and OF the
loneliness that come from knowing
that the wrong way was chosen. Com
pared with this problem, that of the be-
fouled pup s.slmple.
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What the little canine cannot under
stand he barks at. He wastes his
breath upon the great round moon 30
long that morning drives her away.
Lo, the barking did it. Not a little
bit, my saucy puppy. Your voice
sounds in your own ear very majestic
but the moon never heard you. She
gave way to the mighty day of perfect
light and not to a narlow-minded
cur.
How like some two-legged puppies
Great facts that were facts before our
gambols began and will be facts after
our last whine IS uttered come looming
up before us and are too great for US to
fully understand But nothing being
too vast for argument, at a certain
stage OF puppy development we straight
way bay and mouth against the fact.
Grandly do We utter ourselves. The
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