Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1905-01-26

20 prepare himself the better for walk
ing, should begin by making n rigit
anatomical examination OF his mean,
Of lOcOmotion would risk llslocating
something before lie had taken q step
You have what you need TO walk with
then forward! Take care not TO fall
and use your forces with discretion
Potterers and scruple mongers are soor
reduced TO inaction. II needs but O
glimmer of common sense TO perceive
that man is not made 10 pass his life
IN u self centered trance
And common sense--do you not find
what Is designated by this name be
coming as rare as the common sense
customs OF other days? Common sense
has become an old story. We must
have something new. and we create
a faCtltlous existence. q refinement O.
living, that the vulgar crowd has moi
the whercwlthal To procure. 1t Is 50
agreeable TO he distinguished! Instead
OF conducting ourselves like rational
beings and using the means most oh.
ylousy at our command we arrive, by
dint Of absolute genius. at the most
astonishing singulnrities. Better OF
the track than OH the main line. All
the bodily defects and deformities that
Orthopedy treats give but feeble idea
Of tho 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 IL one departs from that It is 10
run the most perllous risks. Happy
ne who is able to 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, Il mean and paltry
equipment that has cost nothing to
any one. would compare it to those
old folk songs, unfathcred, but death
less, which seem to have risen out of
the very heart of the people Good
sense is n 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 It or who observes the lives of
others who have lost 1t. For my part
/ think no price too great to pay for
gaining 1t and keeping 1t for the pos
session Of eyes that see and judg-
ment that discerns. One takes good
care Of his sword that It he not bent
or rusted; with greater reason should
he give heed to his thought.
But lot this be well understood: An
appeal to common sense Is not an ap-
peal to thought that grOvcls, to narrow
pOsltlyism which denies everything 1t
cannot see or touch; for to wish that
man should he absorbed In material
! sensations, TO the exclusion of the high
realities Of the inner life, Is also want
Of good sense. Here we touch upon q
tender point. round which the greatest
battles OF humanity are waging. In
truth, we are striving to attain Il con-
ceptlOn of life, searching 1t out amid
countless Obscurlties and gricfs, 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
1t seems more difficult than ever to es-
cape with any simple principles. Yet
necessity itself comes TO our aid, as 1t
has done for the men Of all times. The
programme Of life Is terribly simple
after all, and in the fact that existence
30 imperiOusly forces herself upon us
she gives us notice that she preccdes
any idea of her which we may make
for ourselves and that no one can put
on living pending an attempt to under
stand life, Our philosophers, our eX-
plantations, our beliefs, are everywhere
confronted by facts, and these facts,
prOdlgiOus, irrefutable, call us to order
when we would deduce life from our
reasOnings and would wait to act until
we have ended philOsOphlzing. 1t Is
this happy necessity that prevents the
world from stopping while man Ques-
lions his route. Travellers - q day,
we are carried along in vast move.
ment to which we are called upon to
contribute, but which we have not fore.
seen nor embraced in its entirety nor
penetrated as to It's ultimate aims.
Our part is to fill faithfully the role of
private, which has devolvCd 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 afNr 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-
bic on the subject is this: From the be.
ginning Of the world 1t has been hard
TO see clearly; right thinking has been
difficult everywhere and always. In
the matter the anclents were in mo-
wise privileged above the mOderns, and
II might DO added that there IL no diff.
ference between men when they are
considered from this point Of view.
Master and servant, teacher and learn
err, writer and artisan, discern truth mt
the same cost. The light that humanity
acquires In advancing Is no doubt of
the greatest use, but 1t also multlplles
the number and extent OF human prob
lens. The difficulty is never removed !;
the mind always encounters Its obsta.
Gle, The unknown controls us and
hens us In on all sides, But Just as
ono need not exhaust n spring to
quench his thirst, 80 we need not know
everything to live. Humanity lives and
always has lived on certain elemental