The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-09-25
Yourself dndNOtanImitatOr

Il 4
and makes the body Of a man, Dead elc.
ments can be made to live. The more one
explores literature the more signs does he
find that thc As. ons1the track Of the great
empire exhumcd from Nineveh or Troy. and
a living language. Anyone who takes an an.
cient but valuable idea and makes 1t pass
current benefits mankind. The original man
follows his ma ture and cuts new paths when
necessary; he 1udsos, rules and makes laws
In his art; Bonaparte made war In winter,
Communicated him while they ran away In
what you do be trueisto your nature. ,and In
the d Les IF your native force your work
There are many echoes in the world. but
few voices = Most people are content to be
echoes. In some sense all arc lnlitntors for we
areGa! doing to some extent what mnltltudes
have dono before us; we ca. drink, dress. so
on journeys. talk, 2tlaugh but We do these
& for. the reason that they arc natural to NIL.
But tho tmltator Is he who does what some
d IS he does y for tho
that IT. rs the natural outcome OF his own
personaity:. he Is the ape OF genius Every
every commander with campo igns. and these
are present IN their minds: they have somr-
thing Of 81, the same kind to do, and wish 10
directon;. they stand upon the shoulders OF
their predecessors; they are the disciples Of
CROUCH, COPY defects and weaknesses OF tholr
heroes A,isxander's soldiers. drooped !, q
There Is m element OF weakness in the imitn.
tor; he has no faith IN his own nature and ali
BY being himself; 10 thine own SELF 10
true; mako tho model OF yourself, your own
best conccptior: admire and reverence what Is
great in the world, but work out your own
salvation.
Everyone Is safe 50 long. as he Is simple
the free outcome ofour ature; I + you arc five
feet eight do not strain to he six feet. Some
when they take q fght can only keep them
Of the wg any
to their reputations; they feel lbou-d to re-
hearse their own. statues, Many prominent
Wss 81 honsRt snd
the STYLE; theyaelotle everything in purple and
sn denss w. u his
what they cannot understand. and such PER-
,snns. Il YOU arc simple, VII! say YOU ere not
aw@y. a Mhsn a wrote
nothing at ali; es,,ecia!iy over that charter
certain !, people excia ,med What q marvellous
when dying said no man In Europe. under
stood him, and no was rot sure he understood
Some Son TS afraid Of nens smne
be hold commonplace than bombastc. Our
taste grows At last to value most what is
simple No. \. one becomes y q good writer by
ideas and information, nnd the style that
comes rreelys the stamp Of his own nature;
no business to have style. Ono OF the best
tests Of the natNrrllness Of an expression is
that II fixes Itself INT the mind; son,e lines
Of the poets seem us if nature had taken the
pen from tho authors hand and had written
them herself; scn,e are 80 natural that II
same thing before In the same way; such
work stands tho test of pWo.
II one IS trlle ia his na.tuye, he has an in,
iividuality of his avn. aud will do his
Work with sun,e Kind 81 originally ~ill be
no ,nan's mimic will haze feature and char.
acter about him and will have slmplicty;t
he l,iay take Oh The knowledge ard culture Of
the world. but they w only be. losh. on tie
stun Of which he Is made, Behind every
no is made, the proportions OF which Is hls
business TO III n,'. "A
lCepyrisht, 1874. y, Joseph y, Bowles.)