The Lambertville record., 1902-09-24
YOUR SENSE OF DUTY
CULTIVATE 1T TO THE EXTREME
LIMIT OF YOUR ABILITY.
IL is the Nobicst, Most Manly aud at
the Same Time Most womaniy of
QuaIities--Thc Real Rasis of Edu-
cation and Success


Qualities--rhc Real Rnsis OF Edu-
cation and Success.
Teachers and parents are asked to
consider the statement that Il 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 sense of duty. Religion itself is
founded upon duty, and It's main teach
ings deal with questions of duty-thc
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 1t Is
not repulslve, but that 1t offers an OPP
portunity for achievement, an oppor-
tunity for every individual to prove his
worth and that he deserves to succeed.
IL duty can be strongly developed in
the mind of n 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 themselves the fact that
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 dutl-
full boy. Ho should be taught that
what made Washington fighter and
Lincoln great among his fellows was
nothing else than sense of duty to
their country.
What makes fireman brave Is n
sense Of duty. A sense of duty is at
the foundation of every effort made to
provide for children, to meet the obli-
cations of life honestly.
The German philosopher Fichte, us
admirable moral character as the
world has known, eXempliiles as per.
fectly as any the beauty of life In
spired by sense of duty, and It Is n
life which may be we'll 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 versinnlchte Material un-
serer Pflcht," said he.
This idea-that our world Is but the
material incarnation of our duty-he
taught, and, what is more he practlced
what he preached.
One preacher who practices his
preachings thoroughly Is worth many
OF tho other kind, no matter how elo.
quent the others. And Fichte prac-
ticed his beliefs. When he was poor
and young tutor, he set n good ex-
ample to every teacher AS n tutor he
made his living, but he knew that his
duty 10 the child mtrusted 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 II 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
child through fattery, too much kind
ness, Ill judged severity or In what
ever way. Strange to say, the parents
whole years, SO great was their adj
miration for the young tutors moral
character.
Duty well ingraIned In the soul VIII
keep man on the right path In easy
times and In hard times. Flchte Is
quoted here because no man better
than he proves the power Of sense
of duty. In small things duty guided
him, and 1t guided him at the end
He was just past the half century of
his age and had been gIoriously sue
cessful. lie had been called to the
chair of philosophy at Berlin, and ITO
teacher of truth had ever been more
loved or more admired. On certain
day 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 annIhilation of
her liberties.
Fichte, who had talked much of the
little 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
told the listening young man that each
mans duty is to lend his individual
time OF danger. 1t was n marvellous
address, and 1t ended well.
For at the close he said to his great
crowd Of admlrlng students: "This
course of lectures win be suspended
until the end of the campaign. We
shall resume them In free country or
die in the attempt to recover her free
DOM"
Bichte left his lecture platform to en-
list as a simple soldier. and. needless
to 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 un-
til now and for many hundred years
to come. A year later, aged fifty-two.
he died. He caught the fever while
caring for those afflicted, among others
for his own wife. who had gone with
tho army as nurse.
Make duty strong part OF your
childs or your pupils moral educa-
tion. A sense Of duty impels men to
struggle ON and do their best even in
the face OF failure: sense Of duty i'm
pels the successful man to make good
use of his success. The hideous, emp
ty, selfish lives Of the self indulgent
class are based upon utter lack Of the
sense OF duty. In the education OF a
child moral teachings should come
first; In ehild's mental equipment
moral qualities should be first consld-
cred. By example. precept, argument
and through history impress upon your
children the fact that without a sense
Of duty they are unworthy Of the op-
portunlties that life offers to men In
this world.--New York Journal.