Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1902-12-24
YOUR SENSE OF DUTY
CULTIVATE 1T TO THE EXTREME
LIMIT OF YOUR ABILITY.

1t Is the NobIcst, Most Manly and Mt
Qualities-Thc Real Basis. of Edu-
cation and Success.
Teachers and parents are asked to
consider the statement that sense of
duty is the foundation of real educa-
ton and the basis of success. What
ever has been achieved of real impor-
lance in the world has been based up
on n sense of duty. Religion itself is
founded upon duty, and its main teach
ings deal with questions of duty-the
duty of men and women toward each
other and toward their Creator.
Children's minds will be strength
ened, their work made easier and their
ambition stimulated If they can be
made to feel toward duty that it is
not repulsive, but that it offers an op-
portunity for achievement, an oppor-
tunity for every individual to prove his
worth and that lie deserves to succeed.
If duty can be strongly developed in
the mind of young child, the effect
will remain through life and make that
child's existence useful.
Parents should impress upon their
children-and young people should i'm
press upon themselyes-the fact that a
sense of duty is the noblest, most man.
ly and at the same time most woman
ly of qualities.
The average small boy thinks that
there is something soft" about q duti-
full boy. He should be taught that
what made Washington a fighter and
Lincoln great among his fellows was
nothing else than sense Of duty to
their country.
What makes a fireman brave is a
sense of duty. A sense of duty is at
the foundation of every effort made to
provide for children, to meet the obi.
cations of life honestly.
The German philosopher Tichte, as
admirable moral character rs the
world has known, exemplifies as per.
fectly us any the beauty Of u life in.
spired by a sense Of duty, and 1t is q
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 list das versinnlichte Material I'm.
serer PLIGHT" said he.
This idea-that our world is but the
material incarnation of our duty-he
taught, and, what is more, he practiced
what he preached.
| Ono y,raacbar who off h{e
preachings thoroughly is worth many
of the other kind, no matter how elo.
quent the others. And Fichte prac,
ticed his beliefs. When he was poor
and young tutor, he set q good ex.
ample to every teacher. AS n 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.
Fichte kept a journal devoted to the
attitude Of his employers toward their
child-his pupil. Every week he told
them the mistakes they had made and
held them accountable for spelling the
cnllu through nattefy, 100 much kind
ness, i'll 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 ad-
miration 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 he proves the power of a sense
of duty In small things duty guided
him, anAit guided him at the end.
He waS just past the half century of
his ag4 and had been gloriously sue
cessful. parfy bad been called to the
chair Of esup behi,E at Berlin, and nc
teacher ant nm lad ever been more
loved or = Tired. On a certain