Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-12-24

face Of the inevitable your arms drop.
Then you neglect to care for your per
son. to keep your house. to guide your
children. All this is pardonable, and
how easy to understand! But it is ex-
ceedingly dangerous. To fold ones
hands and let things take their course
Is to transform one evil into worse.
You who think that you have nothing
left to lose will by that very thought
lose what you have. Gather up the
fragments that remain to you and keep
them with scrupulOus care. In good
time this little that is yours will be
your consolation The effort made will
come to your relief, as the effort miss
ed will turn against you. If nothing
but a branch is left for you to cling
to, cling to that branch, and If you
stand alone in defense of a losing cause
do not throw down your arms to Join
the rOut. After the deluge q few sur
vivOrs repeopled the earth. The fu-
ture sometimes rests in a single life
as truly as life sometimes hangs by q
thread. For strength go to history and
nature. From the long travail Of both
you will learn that failure and fortune
alike may come from the slightest
cause that 1t is not wise to neglect
detail and, above all. that we must
know how to wait and to begin again.
In speaking of simple duty 1 cannot
help thinking of military life and the
examples it offers to combatants in this
great struggle. He would little under
stand his soldiers duty who, the army
once beaten, should cease to brush his
garments, polish his rifle and observe
discipline. But what would be the
use?" perhaps you ask. Are there not
various fashions of being vanQuished?
Is it an Indifferent matter to add to de-
feat -discouragement, disorder and de-
mOralization? No; it should never be
forgotten that the least display Of en-
ergy In these terrible moments Is
sign Of life and hope. At once every
body feels that all is not lost.
During the disastrous retreat of 1873
IA, in the heart of the winter, when 1t
had become almost impossible to pre-
sent any sort of appearance, a general.
/ know not who, one morning present
ed himself to Napoleon in full dress
and freshly shaved. Seeing him thus,
in the midst of the general demoraltza-
ton, as deliberately attired as If for
parade, the emperor said, MY general.
you are a brave man."
Again, the plain duty Is the near
duty. A very common weakness keeps
many people from finding what is near
them interesting; they see that only on
its paltry side. The distant, on the
contrary, draws and fascinates them.
In this way a fabulous amount of good
will is wasted People burn with ar
dor for humanity, for the public good.
for righting distant wrongs; they walk
through life, their eyes fixed on mar
velous sights along the horizon, tread
ing meanwhile on the feet of passers-
by or Jostling them without being
aware Of their existence.
Strange infirmity, that keeps us from
seeing our fellows at our very doors!
People widely read and far Travelled
are often not acquainted with their
fellow citizens, great or small. Their
lives depend upon the cooperation OF
a multitude Of beings whose lot re-
mains to them quite Indifferent Not
those to whom they owe their knowl-
edge and culture, not their rulers nor
those who serve them and supply their
needs, have ever attracted their atten-
ton. That there is ingratitude or i'm
providence in not knowing ones work
men, ones servants-an those, in short,
with whom one has indispensable So
cial relationships has never come into
their minds. Others go much further.
To certain wives their husbands are
strsngers. and conversely. There are