Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1905-02-22

! icTuit hoT tuFedtS, yet tHey dC&IieNe Ss-
! erything Why? Because we feel that
they are themselves ready for every
thing. That which confers upon a man
the right to demand of another the sac
/ rifce OF his time his money, his pas
sions, even his life. Is not only that he
Is resolved upon all these sacrifices
himself, but that lie has made them in
advance. In the command of man
animated by this spirit of remuneration
there is Il mysterious force which COM
munlcates itself to him who is to obey
and helps him do his duty.
| In all TIE provinces of human activi-
| ty there are chiefs who inspire
strengthen, magnetic their soldiers;
under their direction the troops do
( prodigies. With them one feels himself
capable Of any effort. ready to go
through fire. MS the saying has it, and
If he goes 1t is with enthusiasm.
But the pride Of the exalted is not the
only pride; there is also the pride of
the humble-this arrogance of under
lings. fit pendant TO that of the great
The root of these two prides is the
same. 1t is not alone that lofty and
imperlous belnga the man who says,
Il am the law" that provokes insur
rection by his very attitude; it is also
that pigheaded subaltern who will not
admit that there is anything beyond
his knowledge.
There are really many people who
find oil superiority irritating. For them
every piece of advice Is an offense, ev-
cry criticism an imposition, every order
an outrage on their liberty. They would
not know how to submit to rule. To
respect anything or anybody would
seem to them mental alteration.
They say to people after their fashion.
Beyond us there Is nothing"
To the family of the proud belong also
those difficult and representative peo-
pie who in humble life find that their
superiors never do them fitting honor,
whom the best and most kindly do not
succeed in satisfying and who go about
their duties with the air of a martyr.
At bottom these disaffected minds have
too much misplaced self respect. They
do not know how to fill their place sim
ply. but complicate their life and that
of others by unreasonable demands
and morbid suspicious.
When one takes the trouble to study
men at short range he is surprised to
find that pride has SO many lurking
places among these who are by COM
mon consent called the humble So
powerful Is this vice that 1t arrives at
forming round those who live in the
most modest circumstances wall
which isolates them from their neigh
bors. There they are. intrenched, bar
ricaded with their ambitions and their
contempts. as inaccessible as the pow
erful of earth behind their aristocratic
prejudices. Obscure or illustrious,
pride wraps itself In its dark royalty
of enmity to the human race. 1t is the
same In misery and in high places.
solitary and impotent, on guard against
everybody, embroiling everything. And
the last word about it is always this:
II there is so much hostility and ha-
tired between different classes Of men
it is due less to exterior conditions than
to an interior fatality. Conflicting in
terests and differences Of situation dig
bitches between us, it is true, but pride
transforms the bitches into CULTS, and
in reality 1t Is pride alone which cries
from brink to brink, There Is nothing
, In common between you and usv'
We have not finished with pride. but
1t is impossible to picture it under all
its forms. feel most resentful against
it when it NEEDLES with knowledge and
appropriates that We owe our knowl-
edge to our fellows, as we do our riches
| and power. 1t is a social force which
ought to be of service to everybody
and 1t can only be so when those who
know remain alphabetically near to
those who know not. When knowl-
| edge is turned into tool for ambition
it destroys itself.
And what shall we say Of the pride
Of good men? For 1t exists and makes
even virtue hateful. The just who re-
pent them of the evil others do remain
in brotherhood and social rectitude.
But the just who despise others for
their faults and misdeeds cut them
selves off from humanity. and their
goodness, descended to the rank Of an
ornament for their vanity, becomes
Ike those riches which kindness does
not inform. like authority untempered
by the spirit Of obedience. Like proud
wealth and arrogant power. super
cilous virtue also is detestable. 1t
fosters In man traits and an attitude
provocative Of know not what. The
sight Of 1t repels instead of attracting,
and those whom it deigns to distin-
guish with It's benefits feel as though
they had been slapped in the face.
To resume and conclude. it is an error
to think that our advantages, what
ever they are. should be put to the
service of our vanity. Each of them
constitutes for him who enjoys it an
obligation and not n reason for vain
glory. Material wealth, power. knowl-
edge. gifts of the heart and mind, be-
come so much cause for discord when
they serve to nourish pride. They re-