Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-12-10

dint OF absolute genius, ut the most
astonishing singularitles. Better of
the track than on the main line, All
the bodily defects ard deformities that
orthopedy treats give but feeble idea
OF the humps. the tortuosities. the dis
locations we have inflicted upon our
selves In order TO depart from simple
common sense. and at our own ex-
pense we learn that one does not de-
form himself with impunity. Novelty.
after all. Is ephemeral. Nothing en-
dures but the eternal commonplace.
and II one departs from that it Is to
run the most perilous risks. Happy
he who Is able 10 reclaim himself. who
finds the way back TO simplicity.
Good plain sense Is not, as is often
imagined. the innate possession of the
first chance conner. a mean and paltry
equipment that has cost nothing 10
any one. / would compare IL To- those
old folk songs unfathered. but death
less, which seem to have risen out of
the very heart OF the people. Good
sense il fund slowly and painfully
accumulated by the labor of centuries.
1t is n jewel of the first water. whose
value he alone understands who has
lost IL or who observes the lives of
others who have lost IL. For my part
1 think no price too great to pay for
gaining II and keeping IL for the pos
session OF eyes that see and judg
ment that discerns. One takes good
care OF his sword that il be not bent
or ruste6; with greater reason should
he give heed TO his thought.
But let This be well understood: An
peal To- thought that grovels. to narrow
positivism which denies everything II
cannot see or touch: for to wish that
man should Ice absorbed in material
sensations. TO the exclusion of the high
realities OF the inner life, Is also a want
OF good sense. Here we touch upon
tender point round which the greatest
battles OF humanity are waging. In
truth. we are striving to attain a con
ception Of life. searching IL out amid
countless obscurities and griefs. and
everything that touches upon spiritual
realities becomes day by day more
painful. In the midst of the grave
perplexities and transient disorders
that accompany great crises OF thought
IL seems more difficult than ever to es-
cape with any simple principles. Yet
necessity itself comes to our aid, as ii
has done for the men OF all times. The
programme OF life is terribly simple
after all. and in the fact that existence
so irnperiously forces herself upon us
she gives us notice that she precedes
any idea OF her which we may make
for ourselves and that no one can put
or living pending an attempt TO under
stand life. Our PHILOSOPHERS. our eX
plantations. our beliefs, are everywhere
confronted by facts. and these facts.
prodigious. irrefutable. call us to order
when we would deduce life from our
reasonings and would wait TO act until
we have ended philosophizing. 1t is
this happy necessity that prevents the
world from stopping while man ques-
tons his route. Travellers of n day.
we are carried along in n vast move
ment 10 which we are called upon to
contribute. but which we have not fore
seen nor embraced in its entirety nor
penetrated as 10 its ultimate aims.
Our part is TO Ill faithfully the role of
private. which has devolved upon US.
and our thought should adapt itself to
the situation. Do not say that we live
In more trying times than our ances
tors. for things seen from afar are Of
ten seen imperfectly. 1t is. moreover.
scarcely gracious TO complain of not
having been born in the days OF ones
grandfather.
What We may believe least contesta-
BILE on the subject is this: From the be-
ginning OF the world IL has been hard
to see clearly; right thinking has been
difficult everywhere and always In
the matter the ancients were in no
wise privileged above the moderns. and
IL might be added that there Is n0 diff