The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-11-17
WHAT SUCCESS
REALLY MEANS
LECTURE BY RT. REV. BISHOP
JOHN L. sPALDINe.
The Distinguished Prelate Who Is
Sitting as Member of the Arbi-
tration Commission Charmed a
Large Audience at the Lyceum
Last Night with a Scholarly Re-
sumo of the Essential Things in
Real Successfully the Few Are
Truly Successful, He Said

most intellectual and forceful person.
alities in the Roman Catholic church
of America, delivered a lecture on
Success" last night in the Lyceum
theater, and held the very closest at
tention of a large and thoroughly rep
resentative audience by the surprising
clearness of his reasoning and the
choice diction in which he clothed his
thoughts.
Bishop Spalding's fellow members of
the board of arbitration, now engaged
in investigating the causes leading up
to the recent coal strike, attended the
lecture in a body and occupied the two
lower boxes on the left hand side of
the stage. Judge George Gray, General
Wilson and Recorder Carroll ID. Wright
occupied the box nearest the stage,
while Commissioners Parker and Clark
sat in the box behind. Thomas II.
Watkins was also present in the the
ater. John Mitchell. president of the
United Mine Workers, and party of
friends sat in the front upper box on
the left hand side of the stage.
Prior to and Immediately following
Bishop Spalding's lecture the Catholic
Choral society, under the leadership of
Prof. John II. Watkins. rendered selec-
tions in a remarkably efficient man
ner which elected much applause. The
first number sung was "Daybreak."
and the second the beautiful .Inflam-
matus Est" from Rossini's "Stabat
Mater" The accompaniments were
played by Bauer's orchestra.
The Speaker introduced.
Bishop Spalding was briefly intro
duced by Rt Rev. Bishop NJ. j. Hoban,
who referred to the work being accom-
plished at the House of the Good Shep-
herd, for the benefit of which the lee
ture was given. There are at present
thirty-three women at the home who
have consecrated their lives to penance.
as did that other sinful but repentant
woman, Mary Magdalen. and seventy
five others who are learning how to
lead better life. There are also thir-
ty-four children. the offspring Of un-
fortunate parents. who are being
trained up in the way of righteous liv-
ing, he said He introduced Bishop
Spalding as "a man who is a success
himself; n success as an essayist: a
success as bishop: a success as a
poet; success as an American"
No report of Bishop Spalding's lee
turc can convey to the reader even the
fainteSt idea of the whole-soued ear
nestneSs of the man nor can what he
said, when set down. carry with it the
conviction that it carried when en-
phasiZcd ny the varying modulations
of his mellow voice or illuminated by
the changing lights and shadows that
passed across his mobile and express
sive face
He treated his subject entirely from
the viewpoint of the cultured scholar
and of the religious teacher. Success
implies to him the cultivation of the
intelligence and the quickcning of the
moral sense. This kind of success. he
held. is attainablc by every man and
woman but he voiced the pcssimsm
of the day as regards the future as far
as success for the many along the lines
of mental Improvement is concerned
A Special Application.
He began by asserting that success
has Il special application to America,
bccause in this country it is easier for
the individual man to succeed than
elsewhere on the earth. AS the thought
of success implies failure, and as the
predominant character of life in this
age Is commercial, the bishop discussed
first at some length the causes of busi-
ness failure. These he divided into
two great classes. those due to the per-
son who fail and those due to outside
influences. The very large proportion
of business failures are due to the per-
sons who fail and are therefore caused
by moral faults, he said
a hn tri.
ter the attainment of some ideal wheth-
er consciously or mconsciously All
men may be divided in this connection
into two great classes, those who are
influenced by the ideal of pleasure and
those who are influenced by the ideal
of power and virtue. The many are
after pleasure either directly
or indirectly, the few after power and
virtue The bishops undisguised dis |
like of wealth, display and ostentation
merely as such, found vent several
times, as when he said:
Life itself is the only wealth. the |
only prosperity. the only success. OF
little Importance, indeed, are rich man
sions and fine equipages and all the
pomp and barbarous ostentation of
riches. Tell me not about a mans cir
'ulllStuH'tS' Itll ne tDOul nlllSelI. |
Tell me what there is most God-like in |
him that will render him altogether
happy in poverty, in exile, or in prison. |
Tell me if there is i'm him that divine |
which now and then breaks |
out in saints and men of genius"
An Important Element.
one very essential and very import |
ant element in real success, he said, is |
he development of the body. the trans
forming of II into perfect organism |
capable of enduring toll and continuous |
service.
Success ON the physical side is COM |
mon enough, he said, but intellectual |
success is rare. AS Il critical scholar, |
the bishop cannot be said to be alto
sether pleased at the avidity with |
which the great American public is im-
proving it's mind The great multitude |
ran read he said, but 1t reads nothing
but papers magazines and novels, and |
neglects the books which count. The |
ordinary American is lacking in the |
best cultured mind because the prac-
teal life he lives has driven all |
thoughts, except material success, out |
Of his mind.
He then dwelt at length upon Aris-
totle's ideal OF work for the sake OF
leisure; of work for the sake of having |
time for self-improvement or contem-
plation. The attainment of this kind of |
the bishop said, means the up
building of ones own being and causes |