The Newark journal., 1902-12-26
 PUSH THINGS Nothing Is Well Enough are We Should Always be rIak- ing Improvements.

The fact that men, liko monk eys, are imitators, does not prove that they are descended from eatarrhines or Slmmdae Perhaps 1t proves, merely, that they readi- ly learn from observation and ex-' ample, and really this is muc9 to the credit of the more intelligent animal-man. Animals may imi- tate man, butlt Is an unreaeoning process from which they learn nothing. Here Is where the man has an advantage over the monk- ey, and in consequence of which scientists have added to the gene- rlc name the specific one of ''Sa- piens.' When man initiates man, he does 1t for a purpose, and car. give reasons for so doing. If It were not for this reasoning and initiative faculty there would be but little progress in human af- fairs. 1t Is true that men are prone to initiate bad as we'll as good examples, but this is not the side of the question we wish to discuss. Preeept is feeble com pared with example. It is what men do, rather than what they say that works for woe or veal. But when precept and example coincide, then the power of the combination is great. The great est power on earth for the good @f the race is that of il good ex- ample. It applies to men in every walk of life. For want of exam- pies of better things farmers lived d crude and irksome life, cententA with enough plain food to sustain the physical powers required by the daily labor, and raiment and habitation sufficient to protect against rain aud frost, with rarely d thought or hope for any of the luxuries of life. It is different now, but would not be different if no examples of better living had not been shown. In con- runity we do not trust to sim gle exemplar, however exalted, but we rather select for imitation feature here and another there. Neighbor A ,inaugurates a reform, (which he has observed in some other neighbor.) We observe it, pronounce 1t good, and imitateiit. Neighbor E. does thing we xul prove, and straightway we doI
 same. Here little there
 tie, we are enabled to ac,
 late fund of rational re
 lion that if properly usN
 changes the current cf life il
 new channel where we
 smoother sailing than we
 thought possible. We have
 cases where single tai pl
 a few years revolutiQa
 economy in all enlI
 hood, 30 that wherd
 tion prevailed, there
 emulation that has
 plane of life from LII
 level of ''let we'll enongl
 to one wherei,l nothing
 enoughn that can be imp
 The improvement would bS
 more rapid II farmers were a
 tle more ready to obserYe,I(. adnpt that which their Judgment approves. Open eyes are as neces- lsary as receptive minds. Farm life is not what it once was. Fol lowing the example or people nv ling m towns, many of the access sores of civilization are penetrat- ing the backwoods and making city suburbs of the regions l,e- lyond. We have seen may wonder full transformations in recent years but the greatest wonders are for the future. What has been done is merely foretaste of that which we may expect. Free mall dclive- ry and rural telephones we now have in many places. And the tune may come when we will Lave good, hard country roads every where-the greatest improvement l of ulI -E,ys Enc,,, ,,d panah