The Washington times., 1905-06-05

birds fly; they are the geniuses. The
great majority look up at their fellows
among the clouds in envy of their ele-
Yation and neglect their fellows in the
Gitches in forgetfulness of their indus
/ Try; they ere the failures
may he that some who read this
81 3f| VIII blame me as one who was
pot content to 'lig. And tha; is true.
| was not content to dig. NV WINGS
| we're Iaade for flying. and whenever
The hodd vas lifted from my head-as
| IN the courts at home or the compiling
obs oI Ihe aepartment laws--I flew straight
! Sshedd toward success. Yet when I
/ touhd myself in the ditch, / dug-indus-
triously and vigorously.
There are too many errors of atti-
tude toward life in that naive con-
tession to give attention to all of
them, but there is one SO fundamental
that 1t ought to be nailed. He COM
pares himself TO a falcon, a hawk
trained to strike its quarry with I'M
erring aim; bird of piercing eye,
swift in flight, and with powerful beak
and talons. His examples to prove his
kfnship with that highwayman of
the feathered tribe are notably un-
convincing: his court work before
he had obtained a degree in law. and
his compilation Of the statutes and
rules governing the department.: both
humdrum and digging occupations
The falcons of the bar are absolutely
incapable Of compiling anything; that
he made compilation OF the laws
OF the department proves a posteriori
that when he had a chance in the
courts he belonged TO the class of
moles, ana that the falcons would
have eaten his heart If he had ever
yentured above the surface in day
light. No. Philip, your trouble is
not that you are a hooded falcon,
tied down by~the jesses of poverty to
a humdrfim position; it IS that you
are a digger. yet are not content to
dig: ii is that being a mole-and a
very excellent mole-you long for the
piercing eyes and swift wings of the
hawk. Those are not ta1ons on your
feet; they are good sharp digging
claws.
The story, SIS We said once before,
is a most remarkable human docu-
ment. Here we have a well-trained,
well-educated, splendid young man,
with a salary of 81 400 a year, and
only wife, baby, and himself to
support; he has no vices, and seems
altogether worthy, and yet, the whole
tenor of his story is protest against
fate and an indictment of the system
that gives him his daily bread And
why? Because, forsooth, of an over
weaving ambition on his part, and q
tardy recognition Of his abilities on
the part Of the world. He came TO
Washington hoping TO dig his way
to the Attorney-Generalship, and aft
er four years in the department he
still had that bee in his bonnet. A
duller eye than a falcons would have
seen the impossibility Of that.
But we must not fay Philip, and
sprinkle his exposed nerves with salt,
because we like him His story is
a good one, but we expect TO be able
to draw another moral from it than
the one he appended to his letter to
rs Of April 26. We do not think the
reading of THE Life Story OF a De-
partment Clerk" will keep any bright
young man from entering the service
Of Uncle Sam, but it may keep him
from the mistakes of the cog in the
wheel
1t may be added that the cog is only
forty-four years of age now, and that
a man who can write such a story
need not despair or call his life
failure.