The Virginia enterprise., 1900-08-03
PEOPLE LIVE IN RTTS.
Habits that Become UnaIterab:e
After Time-Effect Of Trav-
el and Sport

a man with 4 habit of life whose parts
are made up Of repetitions Of acts day by
day and year by year may in time become.
almost automatic. He who so lives may
nave some powers of adaptation to new
changes or may not. but in either case the
habit of life which cramps his thoughts.
restricts his narrow field of action to Ger.
tain places and acts through an Indefinite
time, and engenders pre]udices against
al else that is different, comes from liv-
ing III Il groove Instead OF living in the
world.
Al! men are more or less subject to thu
dominion of habit, but there is a wid,.
dlHcrence between the habits of thought
and action which give men greater
breadth of view mentally with greater
uscfulnesS in the material affairs of life
and those which reduce lnen to Il life
within horizon limited by their homes
and their business interests
IN an environment Of life made I'D Of
repetitions Of daily acts which are ul-
changcablc man will necessarily be-
come moro or less automatic in thought
and action. His standards of measure
ments and values are all within his own
narrow world. Things outside his little
horizon are seen through glasses which
distort. The sailor, long at sea, has a su-
preme contempt for the landsman. and
the older the sailor and the more he is at
sea the more firmly is he convinced that
the landsman is an inferior creature wor-
thy of nothing but contempt. The ell
vlronment of the sailor has 50 engvOsSet
his mind and his attention, and he has
come to know his trade so we'll, with the
immense benefits and value Of ships con-
stantly in his minds eye. that the rest Of
the world suffers by the comparison as hi.
views it. On the other hand, the lands
men consider with amusement the whm>
OF the sailor. though they may have.
equally ridiculous ideas concerning each
other.
Th" farmcr may believe thar the dwell
crS III cities arc effcminatc and given to
certain financial jugglnyS which alr un-
just to him. If he lives in a rut he will
| grow to believe that his preju,licr:> ;ar;,
facts as immutable as the laws OF mat
i ter.
Habit may become so strong after y
time that it is beyond the power Of the
! man to break it. He thinks in cert AIN
| lines as he has been hahtuated to think.
reasons after I; certain habitual fashion.
and reaches conclusions he has already
established and believed from habit
Nothing is more conductive to life in
Il rut than living in the same way d;:-
| by day without change. y man rises.
the same people and hears the same
things said in the same way day after
| day. till there no stimulus to thought
or action. There is no novelty htr;lu>,.
there is no change.
There is no great breadth of mental
hotizon needed to the man VIII" lives il,
Il rut. He may be prcjudiced in favor ui
so living because the rut is in evidence
before him. while all other rut> must
! necessarily be worse because he docs not
use them and cannot see them.
SECTIONS drift into a. rut az men de-.
! The West may. by Self-communin-. tN-
alt itself above the East; the East may.
by like process. consider that elSrwh"r,
all else is lacking in the essentials OF
civilization. The South may look uru:l
the North as Il section filled with m"n
who swap jackkniveS and whittlt out
g.nlcracks, while. the North. on the other
hand. may be sure that the chief niu>
julcps and the oppress: :on Of the humhi"
black.
The man in a rut and the section in Il
rut are lifted out of their narroWne>> y!
change of environment. Railroads ami
steamboats, are breaking up the rutS ol
sectiOnalism and individualism. People
go East and South and North and West.
and find that there is no ground for
prejudice. and that there was much 1,iat
! was misunderstood and much more t, ;l,i
mire.
The growth Of sport has in Ike man
ner served the purpose of broadening
views. destroying prejudiceS, correcting
opinions and cultivating Il greater chari
ty for men and women who journey t"
waters where fish are caught or cru>;
in yachts, or penetrate into the wild
haunts OF game, break away from the
| narrow lines which mature into narrow
| lives, and thus avoid the dwarfed life OF
him whose horizon never changes. and
which bounds his own house ami ntr:
ests.-Forest and Stream.