Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1903-01-15


Jr., and from this point onward l shal
stick closely to him. | have given
view of his parents because that wa
absolutely necessary to an understand
ing of his nature and of the events il
which he took part | shall now yer!
briefly sketch his youth, which wa
unmarked by any incident out of th'
ordinary.
He was a healthy baby and a sturdy
active SchOOlbOy when the years haC
brought him onward to that stage OF
life. Mentally he was too quick to re
quire diligence The tasks in the Tun
bridge schools were easy for him, anC
he led his classes without effort. 1t
must be remembered, however, that nC
other pupil had equally good home
training. His mother was Il teacher
both by nature and by instruction. He
might have advanced more rapidly un
der her care alone, but the public Schoo
is a part of our creed in Tunbridge. If
any school in the town had not been a
good place for Donald we should not
htl VIC Nsthti lti4li ~ w I Sbphlb
have made the school better.
While upon this subject | will quote
a curious remark that | once heard n
little girl make to another in Don's
hearing and somewhat in the way Of Il
taunt:
Don Donaldson always knows what
the teachers going to ask him. He
. guesses it before recitation and hunts
1t up in his book"
/ | questioned the little girl, but could
not learn that she had any basis for
her belief except Donald's proficiency
/ in his studies and a vague tradition
that he could guess things" 1t was
| impossible to discover any specific in
stance worth mentioning. In the
sports of boys he was very successful,
but any boy will be so who grows up
ahead of his years. From the time
when he reached school age he was al
ways growing more rapidly in height
and weight than the average. More
over, he played with tremendous ener-
gy and concentration. He was fond of
rough games. but neither suffered inju-
ry nor inflicted it. Indeed he presently
began to be known as lucky" and if
| were to select one attribute of his
which never deserted him and seemed
always to make its impression upon his
associates | would choose his luck"
For luck is a personal quality. 1t
means, rs a rule, no more than an in
stinctive accuracy of judgment, the
power that makes bird fly south in
the fall, though he knows nothing of
the danger which he is escaping, hav-
ing never seen Il winter.
If you tell me that it is rational supe-
riority which enables Il boy to thrust
his head into a football scrimmage in
q place where ii will not encounter an
other boys fist or his skull or his feet
and to keep on doing this all through a
season of the game. | shall laugh at
you. Yet it is well known that injuries
are not equally distributed; that nei-
ther the strong nor the prudent eS-
cape them; that the boy who doesn't
get hurt is the one who has the faculty,
the natural gift. the instructive guild
ance, the luck. And the world S a
great football game. full of flying fists
and feet.
SO when say that Donald was lucky
decline to be accused of superstition or
of fatalsm. That which I'LL of us be-
lieve in, though some of us affect to
doubt it, the thing called luck as per
sonal asset, is neither ordinary good
Judgment nor the favor of heaven. 1t
is the faculty of relying upon a deep
seated guiding power resident in the
individual and nearly if not quite in
fallible
This power is not limited by the
fineness of the physical senses. 1t will
help you to dodge an invisible microbe
Just as a more obvious instinct will
help you to dodge a SNOWFALL. 1t is
natural to step out of the snowbalfs
path, but if you hesitate and try to
reason about it you will get hit. And
the same thing is true of that mysteri-
Gus force within you which is absolute
ly at one with nature.
In Donald there appeared singular
combination of spontaneous judgment
and deliberate action. AS child he
would respond to questions slowly and
with care, even when the expression
of his eyes showed that the correct
answer had flashed through his mind
instantly. His greatest and most OBJ
stinate fault was secretiveness. Though
his nature was very affectionate and
his sympathy most tender, he lacked
the natural tendency to contde his
troubles, his joys or his hopes to those
he loved, even to his mother. He had
no slyness. He was at no pains to
keep q secret. He simply said nothing
about it and gave no sign Of its ex-
iStence.
We were often grieved to find that
he had left us in ignorance of some in
cident of his daily life, some act nei-
ther praiseworthy nor blamable or one
perhaps involving moral question be-
yond the appreciation of his years.
When reproyed for such an omission,
his customary-and, believe. sincere
reply would be:
w ny, II never OCCuTTeu 10 lue ludl
you didn't know"
1t was frequently necessary to give
him quit" an elaborate explanation be-
fore he ;; emcd to realize that we had
had no means Of knowing.
By all this | do not wish to give the
impression that he was a markedly
phenomenal boy, but it is important. of
course, that should point out all par
ticUlars in which he differed from the
average. | have therefore with great
care selected these three peculiarities:
He thought very quickly and spoke
very slowly
He had an uncOnquerable habit Of
keeping his own affairs to himself.
He enjoyed remarkably good fortune,
including a notable immunity from i'll
ness and injury. in which connection
may record the fact that he never had
one of the 50 called diseases of child
hood
In other respects he was the typical
American boy. He played as much az