Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1899-10-01
No ROYAL Road.

|
ometry more easily than by studying
the Elements, Euclid very emphatical-
ly replied There is no royal road to
geometry" The meaning of the math-
ematiclan is plain Those who desire
to be proficient in mathematics mnst
themselves do the mental work neces-
sary thereto. There is no other way.
Text books may be improved and
teachers become more proficient in the
art of imparting knowledge; but the
fact will ever remain that earnest and
continued personal application is es-
sential to success in the realm of
mathematics. And we all know very
well that this Is true of every other
sphere as well as that of numbers We
often hear people speaking of genius
as though it were a faculty whereby
certain individuals achieve great re-
suits with but little effort. That some
are more apt in specified departments
than others is a matter of common OBJ
servation: bun while that is true, / in
cline to the opinion that genius was
never more correctly defined than
when 1T was said TO be the faculty
of taking infinite pains" Beethoven
had genius for music, and so had
Wagner Yet when one reads of their
resolution to succeed in spite of pow
erty and neglect, their years of toll and
self denial, he cannot escape the con-
viction that even in their cases a gen.
ius for music was little else than the
faculty of taking infinite pains. George
Stephenson had a genius for mechan-
les; but in perfecting his locomotive
and convincing Indifferent and scoffing
England of its worth, he must needs
work many an hour when less inter
ested and less resolute folks were abed,
and also endure many scoff that
would have crushed a weaker soul.
Valuable thing come high" eX-
claimed an earnest speaker to whom
/ was listening few evenings ago,and
it is true We may procrastinate, hop
ing to find some royal road to some
great achievement, but observa-
tion and experience both teach that
such a hope is vain. And we nearly
all recognize this fact as it relates to
individual success. We are constant
ly reminding each other "there is no
excellence without great labor" We
tel our children about those who have
worked their way into places of pow
er and usefulness in order to inspire
them to continued and greater effort.
There is little need that | supplement
the innumerable exhortations concern
that are ever being delivered. But l
do feel the need of using this fact
which is so universally recognized
when the uplifting and advancement of
the individual are being considered to
enforce a lesson in the social life of
man. Individual development is the
model of social progress Man is the
archetype of society" Now having
learned that close attention and appli-
cation are necessary to invidual ad-
vancement, we know two of the essen
tials to social progress. Here too there
is no royal road. Communities and
nations must needs work out their sal
walton as well as individuals. A gem
ius for establishing and maintaining
socia' order is simply the faculty of
taking infinite pains on the part of the
people concerned. This is the very
thing that in our great devotion to per-
sonal interests we are in danger of for
getting. There are many people whom
it is very difficult to make realize that
they are a part of society and hence
must share in everything that pertains
to the social organism. That there is
no law of exemption has never been
matter what is said to them they go
on, blindly acting upon the theory that
society can go to perdition and yet
somehow leave them in safety and
peace Even if this were possible after
the social wreck occurred they would
be as lonesome and helpless as the
masts that sometimes project above
the waters over a sunken ship. Then
many of those who do not realize the
unity of society and are anxious about
the matter of social salvation, are
spending much of their energies seek
ing a royal road. They imagine that
some sort Of social mechanism can be
devised that will work in an automatic
sort of way and thus save the state
Now social systems are much like text
books. Improvement is always posi-
BILE, and no one should be satisfied with
anything less than the best system
that can be had. 1t seems to me that
Gladstone once said something to the
effect that it should be made as easy
as possible for men to live honest tenn
perate lives. But no matter whether
he said it or not, it seems to me that
such a proposition must commend IT.
self to thoughtful people everywhere
I urge the adoption of any improve
ment in the social system that prom
ises to equalize more nearly the re-