Smyrna times., 1902-10-08
YOUR SENSE OF d DUTY
CULTIVATE IT TO THE EXTREME
LIMIT OF YOUR ABILITY.

ehe same Time Most WOmanly OF
Qualities-The Real Basis of Edu
cation and Success.
Teachers and parents are asked o
consider the statement that a sense II
duty is the foundation of real educ
ton and the basis of success. Whit
ever has been achieved of real impr-
tance in the world has been based ip-
on a sense of duty. Religion itsel is
founded upon duty, and its main tech
ings deal with questions of duty-the |
duty of men and women toward zach |
other and toward their Creator.
Children's minds will be str,ngth- |
ened, their work made easier ana their
ambition stimulated if they gan 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 he deserves to succeed.
If duty can be strongly developed in
the mind of a young child, tile effect
@ill remain through life and make that
lild's existence useful.
Parents should impress Upon their
--hildren-and young people should i'm
press upon themselves-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 a duti-
full boy. He should be taught that
what made Washington a fighter and
Lincoln great among his fellows was
nothing else than a sense of duty to
their country.
What makes a fireman brave is a
sens 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 philoJ Jopher Fichte, as
admirable a moral icharacter as the
world has known, eIxemplifies as per-
fectly as any the b&auty of a life in
spired by a sense OFF duty. and it is a
life which may BE well studied by
-tnosAa engaged in Shaping the charac-
ter of the yCmig.
The very keyn9te of his philosophical
system was based on duty. "Unsere
serer Phicht," 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.
One preacher who practices his
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 a young tutor, he set a good ex-
ample to 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.
Fichte kept 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 fiattery, too 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 mora
character.
Duty well ingrained in the soul will
keep a man on the right path in easy
times and in hard times. Fichte /.
quoted here because no man better
than he proves the power of a sensi
of duty. In small things duty guided
him, and it guided him at the end.
He was just past the half century o.
his age and had been gloriOusly sue
cessful. He had been called to thi
chair Of philosophy at Berlin, and n,
teacher of truth had ever been NOR,
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 wit
invasion and absolute annihilation o
her liberties.
Fichte, who had talked much of tn
little duties of life, talked on this da.
of mans duty to his country. TIL
sound of drums calling for conscript
frequently interrupted his lecture H
told the listening young man that eac
mans duty is to lend his individua
strength and life to his country Il
time Of danger. 1t was a marvelou
address, and it ended well.
Fer at the close he said to his grea
crowd of admiring students: "Thi
course of lectures will be suspende
until the end of the campaign. W
shall resume them in a free country
die in the attempt to recover her FIRE
Adom." ~
Fichte left his lecture platform to e.
list as a simple soldier, and. needles
to say, his students followed his exar
pie in crowds. That was at the b
ginning Of the campaign Of 1913. bl
the example is good enough to last u
til now and for many hundred yea
to come. A year later, aged fifty-tw
he died. He caught the fever whi
caring for those afflicted, among othe
for his own wife, who had gone wi
41,o o.r,rr o. nurca