The daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1904-1905, 1904-04-27


bridge schools were easy for him, and
he led his classes without effort. 1t
must be remembered. however. that no
other pupil had equally good home
training. His mother was teacher,
both by nature and by instruction. He
might have advanced more rapidly un-
der her care alone, but the public school
Is part of our creed in Tunbridge. II
any school in the town had not been
good place for Donald we should not
have taken him away. We should
have made the school better.
While upon this subject l will quote
a curious remark that once heard a
little girl make to another in Don's
hearing and somewhat In the way OF a
taunt:
don Donaldson always knows what
the teachers going to ask him. He
guesses it before recitation and hunts
1t up in his book
l 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
l were to select one attribute of his
which never deserted him and seemed
always to make it's impression upon his
associates l would choose his luck"
For luck is a personal quality. 1t
means, as rule. no more than an in
stinctive accuracy of judgment, the
power that makes u bird fly south in
the fall. though he knows nothing of
the danger which he is escaping, hav-
ing never seen a winter
If you tell me that it is rational supe-
riority which enables a boy to thrust
his head into football scrimmage in
a place where it will not encounter an
and to keep on doing this all through a
season of the game. l shall laugh at
you. Yet it is we'll known that injuries
are not equally distributed; that nei-
Their 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 fatalism. That which all 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 deep
seated, guiding power resident I'm 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 q more obvious instinct will
help you to dodge a SNOWFALL 1t is
natural to step out of the SNOWFALL
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 confide his
troubles. his joys or his hopes to those
he loved, even to his mother. He had
| no slyness. He was at no pains tt
keep secret. He simply said nothing
about it and gave no sign of it's ex
! istence.
We were often grieved to find tina
he had left us in ignorance of some in
cident of his daily life, some act nei
Their praiseworthy nor blamable or ont
perhaps involving moral question be
yond the appreciation of his years
When reprOved for such an omission
his customary-and,I believe, sincere
reply would be:
"Why, it never occurred to me tina
you didn't know"
It was frequently necessary to Civ
him quite an elaborate explanation be
fore he seemed to realize that we ha'
had no means of knowing.
By all this do not wish to give tn
impression that he was a markell
phenomenal boy. but it is important. o
course, that l should point out all par
ticulars in which he differed from tn
average. l have therefore with grea
care selected these three pecuiarities