Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1904-12-30


idea of what those do who practice
their power with arrogance. OF ev-
cry free soul they make a soul en-
shaved. that is to say, soul in re-
volt. And it seems that this terrible
antisocial effect is more surely pro
duced when he who commands is near
the condition of the one who obeys
The most implacable tyrant is the
small tyrant. A foreman in a work
shop. or an overseer, puts more feroc-
ity in his surroundings that the direc
tor or the owner. Such a corporal is
harder on his soldiers than the colo
mel. In certain houses, where ma
dame has not much more education
than her maid, the relations between
them are like those between a galley
slave and his guard. Everywhere woe
to whoever falls into the hands of a
subaltern, drunk with his authority.
We forget too much that the first
duty of whoever exercises power is hui
mility. Grandeur is not the authori-
ty. 1t is not we who are the law. The
law is above all heads. We INTERPRET
it only; but to make it valuable in the
eyes of others we must first be sub
and obedience in human society are,
after all, but two forms of the same
virtue, voluntary servitude. The most
of the time we are not obeyed because
we have not obeyed first.
The secret of moral ascendancy be-
longs to those who command with
simplicity. They soften by the mind
the hardness of the fact Their power
is not in gold lace, nor in the title, nor
in disciplinary measures They do
not require ferule or threats, and yet
they obtain everything. Why? Be-
cause each one feels that he is, him
SELF willing to do anything. That
which confers on one man the right to
ask a sacrifice of another man-his
time, his money, his passions, and
even his life-is that not only is he
resolved to make all those sacrifices
himself but he has inwardly made
them in advance In the order which
is given by a man animated by this
spirit there is, know not what power,
which is communicated to him who
should obey, and aids him to do his
duty
In all the walks of human activity
there are chiefs who inspire, sustain,
electrify their soldiers. Under their
direction a troop does prodigies. They
feel capable with them of all efforts,
ready to go through fire, according to
the popular expression, and with en-
thusiasm they would pass through it.
But there are not only the prides
of the great there are also the prides
of the small ones, that low mOrgue
which is the worthy pendant of the
higher one. The root of these two
prides is identical. The man who
says, the law is me-" is not only that
arrogant and imperious being who
provokes instruction by his attitude
alone it is still the subaltern, whose
wooden head will not admit that there
is anything above him
There are positively a quantity Of
pc ople whom all superiority irritates.
For them all advice is an offence; all
criticism an imposture all orders an
attempt on their liberty They will
not accept any rules; to respect any
thing or any one seems to them like
mental alteration. They say in their
manner, Aside from us there is no
place for any one"
OF this naughty family are also
those who are intractable and sus-
ceptible to excess; who, in humber
conditions, never succeed in being
contented, and who fulfill their du-
ties with the airs of victims. At the
bottom of these grieving spirits there
is a misplaced self-love. They do not
know how to keep their post simply;
and they complicate their lives, and
those of others, by ridiculous exac-
tons and unjust after-thoughts.
When one takes the pains to study
men at close range, one is surprised
to find that pride has it's haunts
among those whom we call humble.
Such is the power of this vice that it
succeeds in forming around the lives
Of those who live in the most modest
conditions a thick wall, which isolates
them from their neighbors. They are
there intrenched, barricaded in their
ambitions and disdains. as unattaina-
bic as the powerful ones of the earth
behind their aristocratic prejudices.
Obscure or illustrious pride drapeS
itself in it's sombre royalty of enmity
to the human kind. 1t is the same in
its misery and in its grandeur, power
less and solitary, distrusting every
thing and complicating everything.
And we can never repeat enough that
if there is so much hatred and HOSTILE
ty between the different classes, it is
less to the external fatalities than to
the inward fatality that we owe them.
The antagonism of interests and the
contrasts of situations dig bitches be-
tween us-no one can deny it-but
pride tranforms those bitches into
abysses, and in reality it is they only
who cry from one bank to the other,
There is nothing in common between
you and us"
We have not yet finished with
pride, but it is impossible to picture
it under all of its forms. | blame it,