Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1904-01-20
PURsUE RlGHr IDEALS.

BY Kew. franz q, FyrFei, OF 81. Louis
And the base things of the world
and the things that are despised did
God choose yea, and the things that
are not, that he might bring to naught
things that are; that no flesh should
glory before God. Cor. H.. 2S.
An ideal is mental Image which is
regarded as standard OF perfection.
He is a poor man who has not thou
sand ideals. There ought to be visions
of excellence in character in conflict,
in business. in citizenship. in the home,
in labor and in rest, in silence ana in
speech. Everywhere in life, the real
should be oyerhung and outshone by
+he glorious ideal. so that men and ma
tons viii continue TO advance.
What we call evolution, indeed, civ
ilization itself. illustrates the power
of the ideal. Dwellings. rs we know
them, have evolved by slow degrees
from hollow trees and caves. The
steam plow finds its origin in a sharp
stick with which primitive man at
tempted to till the soil.
The whole world Of invention attests
the presence of ideals in the restless
brains of men Most men are possess
ed of a divine discomfort. They may
not feel impelled to rush into eXtrava-
GO ice, but they want better homes,
better furniture, better clothing. a
higher use of their time. The men who
are at work in the city and in the ma
ton for civic righteousness are driven
onward by the ideal; and when il
ceases to dominate, government Will
fall to pieces from very rottenness.
1t is to be feared there ale men with
out ideals, dull and fiber,2ss; they ere
human driftwood They have no pro
Polling power, no inspiration.
Then there are men whose ideals are
like a species of fever. Intermittent
They have flashes of light glimpses
of excellence, and then darkness. Their
careers are therefore spasmodic. Give
to them the power of conceiving an
ideal. and holding it steadfastly be
fore them, and you at once lmpart the
grace of continuity.
Ideals rebuke lethGrgy and conceit
No man can be content to doze and
dream when he once has a vision of
the ideal His ambitions, his energies
are awakened. And if he has been con
ceited, if he hes suffered from an ex-
allied self estimate, the glowing ideal
shows him how full of faults he Is,
how far from that perfection be had
vainly fancied he possessed.
No man, no community. has any
right to say, "This is good enough; this
is The summit" Ideals teach us there
is no summit which is not overtOpped.
We sometimes talk about settling ques-
tons; some may be settled, but only to
open new ones. There must always
be problems. questions. discords, as
long as there is life in men.
Ideals prevent stagnation. Let a
man go from slow, sleepy town, into
one of our modern. improved towns,
where there is local pride and public
spirit. He will come back to his dirty
dilapidated home discontinued, and i'm
mediately go to work to improve his
surroundings. And perhaps. through
the contagion of his example the
whole town will wake up. College
settlements in city slums work on the
same principle They go down into
moral and physical stagnation, carry
ing the ideal.
Ideals improve conduct There isn't
a man in st. LOUIS who always speaks
as he ought to. nor is there a woman
who answers always as she ought. No
more is there a person of either sex or
any age who always holds his tongue
when he ought to.
Words fly back and forth like barb
ed arrows dipped in poison, when they
should be golden shuttles instead.
Business men need TO make use of the
ideal and Eft the myriad transactions
of comm cree to higher planes. Citizens,
especially West End citizens, need to
reform their conduct in civic matters.
All political parties need TO awake.
And if they will not awake they must
suffer the penalty. and be flung aside
by a progressive people.
There is better way; there are bet
ter manners. purer laws. sweeter lives,
all easily possible. under the inspira-
ton of the ideal. Christianity is pc
culiarly a religion of ideals.