The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1902-09-26
T0JfR SENSE OF DUTY
IN ryArz IT TO THE EXTREME
cUL'' ',m,7 or YOUR ABILITY.

..olities-Ihe he"i
md success
,ors and parents are asked to
Ie 'idor the statement that a sense OF
colls'u y the foundation of real educa-
guy and the basis of success. What-
ton an as been achieved of real impor-
ever H ~ tho world has been based up
tance - of duty. Religion itself is
Oh "5od upon duty, and its main teach
i0unI Joal with questions of duty-the
l ,., If men and women toward each
uu" !r and toward their Creator.
ou n,.,1ron's minds will be strength
..d their work made easier and their
en s%tion stimulated if they can be
dm gn n feel toward duty that it is
n.' ronulsiye. but that it offers an OPP
w. s.,,ritv for achievement, an oppor-
p a,tv FIR every individual to prove his
." and that he deserves to succeed.
', WI 5utr cau be strongly developed in
~ ~. mind Of a young child, the effect
I Lu romoi1 through life and make that
obild's existence useful.
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.hildren-and young people should i'm
snoss unon themselves-the fact that a
sanso Of dr,y is the noblest, most man.
,,d At thn same time most woman
IL of qualities
The average small boy thinks that
tbore is something soft" about duti-
tnI how lie should be taught that
what made Washington a fighter and
lincoln great among his fellows was
rotbine else than sense of duty to
their country
What makes a fireman brave is
spnse Of dirty. A sense of duty is at
fine foundation of every effort made to
provide for children, to meet the obi
cations OF life honestly.
The German philosopher Fichte, as
admirable a moral character as the
world has known, eXemplities as per-
fectv as any the beauty of life in
splred by a sense of duty. and it is
life which may be well studied by
those engaged in shaping the charac-
ter of the Young.
The very keynote of his philosophical
system WAS based on duty. "Unsere
Welt ist das versinnlichte Material I'M
serer PHicIt," said he,
This lea-that our world is but the
material incarnation of our duty-he
taught. and, what is more, he practiced
what BIZ preached.
O,,a rtpgnghpp who nfinnc his
preachiugs thoroughly is worth many
of the other kind, no matter how elo-
Quent Inc others. And Fichte prac-
ticed BIS beliefs. When he was poor
and a young tutor, he set a good ex-
ample t. every teacher. AS a tutor he
made his living, but he knew that his
duty to The child intrusted to him was
the principal thing. He knew also
that every child is really formed in
character and morals by the influence
Of its parents.
Ficlny kept journal devoted to the
attitude of his employers toward their
child-ls pupil. Every week he told
them tHe mistakes they had made and
held thcm accountable for spelling the
child through flattery, too much kind
ness. III judged severity or in what
ever way. Strange to say, the parents
actually put up with this for two
Whole years, SO great was their adj
mlaton for the young tutors moral
Character.
Duty well ingrained in the soul will
keep man on the right path in easy
times and in hard times Fichte is
quoted here because no man better
than ae proves the power of a sense
Of duty. In small things duty guided
hin and it guided him at the end.
liz was just past the half century of
his rye and had been gloriously sue
ceS>ful. lie had been called to the
chair Of philosophy at Berlin, and no
teacher Of truth had ever been more
loved or more admired. On a certain
daE he was to lecture, and he had cho-
sen Duty for his subject His coun-
Try Was at war and threatened with
invasion and absolute humiliation of
her liberties.
F'chte, who had talked much of the
Ail.e duties Of life, talked on this day
Of mans duty to his country. The
sound Of drums calling for conscripts
frequently interrupted his lecture. He
tod the listening young man that each
mans duty is to lend his individual
strength and life to his country in
time Of danger. 1t was a marvellous
address, and it ended well.
For at the close he said to his great
crowd of admiring students: This
course of lectures will be suspended
uhil the end of the campaign We
SHAM resume them in free country ol
die in the attempt to recover her free
dom"
fichte left his lecture platform to en-
list as simple soldier, and, needless
10 say, his students followed his exam-
Pie in crowds. That was at the be-
ginning of the campaign of 1913, but
the example is good enough to last I'M
III now and for many hundred years
10 come. a year later, aged fifty-two,
Ne died. He caught the fever while
caring for those afflicted, among others
Tor his own wife, who had gone with
The army as nurse.
Make duty a strong part of your
childs or your pupils moral educa-
ton A sense of duty impels men to
struggle on and do their best even in
the face Of failure; sense of duty inn
pclS the successful man TO make good
use Of bis success The hideous, emp
~ selfish lives of the self indulgent
class are based upon utter lack of the