Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1902-07-17

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The first that meets you is that of MATERIALLSM. IF Thou
be the Christ, command that these stones be made bread" For
years to come this will be dnned into your ears from every side. "Of
what use is a college education" men will ask YOU, except as it en-
ables you to make a lving?" "Of what use are ideal standards" the
press will say, as compared with the hard necessities of daily life ~
lou will probably be in a position where you will feel these hard ne
cessites.
Far be it from m to say anything against the value of this strug.
gle for self-support. It is a hard taskmaster, which keeps you from
dreaming. 1t furnishes a stimulus which brings out some of your
best powers in a way in which they never could be developed other
wise. But when in the stress of this effort, a man forgets that there
is anything higher, when he ceases to regard it as a means for the
ordering OF society and makes it an end in itself, then he destroys the
possibility OF what is best within him, and the greater those possibil-
tiles the larger the loss to the world. There is no more pervasive
danger than thinking that the money standard is everything, that ability
and business, honor and love and marriage are all marketable com
modites.
But for the man who has passed this first set of temptations to-
ward materlallsm and who has learned to make a living without sink
ing all his ideals therein there waits a more subtle set of temptations
THE TEMPTATIONS OF AMBITION. The millionaire, the So
cal leader, the political chieftain, all have in their hands enormous
power for good. 1t is just because Of the existence of this power
that the danger comes home closest to the very strongest among is.
OF subordinating all other ends to these immediate objects. The
strong man, if he worshps money, is offered the promise of many
millions of dollars; if he worships political power, the prizes of office
stand before his hand. Whether they are more surely gained in this
way than any other shall not undertake to say, but certain it is that
the devil will be at hand to show you overwhelming reasons to be-
leve that that is the only way in which they can be gained.
TO do something out OF the common run of work, something
whose possibilities have been unrealzed by the vulgar mind-this is
the dream which all great men cherish and to which some of them
subordinate everything else. To dazzle the world by cam
palSnS X ~ y IdPoeoi, " dCmcVelHeHtS III literature like
those of Goethe, or to achieve the most miraculous discoveries which
have awaited the pioneers in literature and scence-these are prizes
to attract the ambition and unsteady the judgment Of any man.
THE WORLD IS FULL OF DAZZLING POSSIBILITIES
IN EVERY DIRECTION. TO him who is tempted by things ma
terial there is a keener struggle for possessions, with more wealth at
the end and infinitely more possibilities Of use of that wealth. To
him who despises the vulgar accessories of wealth or of power there
are wider chances than ever before for the exercise Of that power in
scientific discovery or in any of the other forms Of achievement
which shall last when the men and fortunes about us have crumbled
into dust. Not since the age Of Queen Elizabeth have such possibI-
ties OF enterprise and discovery faced the strong men Of the nation.
If your education is worth anything and if your Christianity is
worth anything let it teach you thus TO LIVE FOR THE PEG
PIE; not to get into life for the sake of what you can get out of il
in wealth and influence, and the accomplishment of any Of those
things by which the world measures success, but to TAKE LIFE
FOR WHAT YOU CAN PUT INTO IT, to be a part OF the world
about you and subordinate your wants and ambitions to its needs and
purposes.