The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1899-06-08

why fighters? Because every youns
man that amounts to ANYTHING is :
fighter in some form Or another. Ou
OF the mouth of the most contemplate
of all the contemplate kings of Israel
comes up through the centuries just
the very right word for young men
! fighters "Let not him that girdet th
on his harness, boast himself as he that
putteth'it off"
~
Our chief weakness is that we utter
great sounding phrases OF what we can
| do, and will do (; and then too many O!
Us go out and do not do. The time fo1
boastlng is not when the battle is be,
! ing fought but when the battle is won.
When that time comes, however, the
genuine battle winner does not care t.
boast. Truly, therefore, young man
there is no time when boasting is time
ly. How small the self.confdent, self
proclaimlng man looks when he is com.
PEELED to crawl hack defeated It is
true in every relation of life The man
who boasts Is the weakest man, the
man who swaggers is the most coward
ly man, the man who pufs himself out
is the quickest to give IN, the man who
"gets there" is the one who says little
but thinks much and then iuterprets
his thoughts into action.
*.r
Young men, fighters the least OF all
the real testings of life are the physical
battles. In such battles a certain
amount of brute force and lack of sen
sitivenesss stand in good stead but the
real battles wherein the weak and
small can come out strong and great
are the battles OF daily conduct. They
are not won IN one great rushing at
tack, but day in and day out your
sklrrnish line is kept in constant alert
ness by the efforts OF lurking foes who
seem so often, no matter how great the
rebuff, to come back sly and strong
again.
***
] know it is a iayOrite way anon z
preachers to insist that the battle of a
mans soul keeps on throughout the
nh 1f ri :.
only partly true ; for when man has
passed through the slippery years from
eighteen to thirty, the result will be,
If good fight has been fought, that
his mature years Will find him blest
power OF victorious resistance. These
will gradually carry him away from
the gnat-like annoyances Of the skir-
fnish line and place him where he is
not constantly reminded Of the enemy :
approach.
So young men, fighters strive on g
few years at least and you will be con
scious of a more placid way. And the
enjoyment Of that placid way, when
you walk along the mountain tops o.
self-mastery and look down upon the
darkness where you have had you1
struggles, is ample repayment for every
contested step that led up to it.
-
No great height is attained at one
leap. No great strength is gained BY
one exercise. No great mind is matur
ed by one effort. Above all, no great
strong, precious, enduring character
comes except by buffetlngs within and
| without that make you, young men
| fightl rs III the best sense. Can you re-
| member the time when you first be-
gan to admire muscle? How often yor
crooked up your arm to see whethe1
your own little biceps was getting
hard It did not take you long te
learn that it only grew by exercise
| Well, moral muscle is the same; an(
80, though dangerous yet the constan
attack of varied daily life upon your NOR
., character is the realest benefit to you
working you forward from jelly-like
weakness to strength that is sufficien
for your own protection, with enough
and to spare for some neighbor lad wh'
j needs it. Have done with bOastln.
and bend to lighting. No one cares II
the great unsy mpathetic world for wha
you say you Will do. The worlds colo
way of measuring is a true way Q
measuring, deeds, not words; victories
not windy battles.
/
4 No two fighters have the same plac
to fill in an army. The battle OF eacl
is different, the view of each is differ
ent, the place of each is different. Cav
alry, infantry, artillery, engineers, sig
nalmen-all are there and each stand
or falls on his own particular spo1
Even more Varied is the battle OF lie
, oAsEoEIA.
-. :, The Kind You Have Always BOugll