The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1905-06-23

/ distinct QUALITIES, yet love, the Oh
vine that has given to this world
Its greatest gift is only a necessary
constituent part of that of which
we shall treat. Success, the god
dess of the twentieth century with
I her one and half billion worship
ers, may justly aspire to this dis
tinetlon. influence. part of man
which either aids or retards those
aboat him, is indeed worthy of
consideration ia this connection.
But success and influence, how.
ever, are only magnificent results
of what we shall term the grandest
thing in the world. Mercy, the
quality extoIled with such beauty
and logic BY Shakespeare's immor.
tai Portia; education, that upon
which our nation must depend IN
its effort to give to this world a
model government; hope, the an
Choir TO the soul, both sure and
steadfast; ambition, perseverance,
opportunity and many other grand
things are within the grasp of men
and deserve mention. But all
these are 10 some way or other
subordinate to something; that
something, 1.-THE Grandest Thing
lin the World, Y is character.
Then comes the question, What
is meant here by the term charac-
ters One authority says that char
acter is the combination of quail
ties distinguishing a person. We
see then that it is composite, the
more virtues the better. The
meaning of the term character is
strikingly brought out by con-
trasting it with the term reputa-
ticn.
Reputation depends upon the
opinion of others. Thus u mans
reputation is what others think of
him; his character is the mark of
what he is. 1t lies within him and
will show itself upon all occasions.
A man may have fair reputation
who has not in reality a good char
acter, but men of really good
character are not likely to have
bad reputation. Someone has
given Us the beautiful antithesis
Reputation is what men and wo-
men think of us. Character is
what God and angels know Of as. I
"A general rule is that character
lis the individuality which is the
product Of three things. First,
nature, or in this connection
mans stock has much to do with
his character. Blood will tell. If
he comes of a stock strong in body,
mind and morals, he has a propi-
tious start upward over the un-
ending stream of life. Secondly,
environment either aids or retards
the development of ones charac
ter. Through the stages of in
fancy, boyhood, youth and man
hood, make the surroundings
pleasant, wholesome, inspiring,
and the character thus receives a
mighty impetus for good. So III
one has both good blood and
wholesome environments such an
one has at the start an immeasura-
BILE advantage of others lacking
these things. But, thank Godi
there is third factor in the devel-
opment of character proper atten-
ton to which will in large meas
ure make up for deficiency in the
other two. This third factor is
habit, the offspring of the will. A
man himself may not be blamed
for having hurtful progenitors or
surroundings or both, but there is
little excuse for his having hurtful
habits. Mr.. Pope must have had
something like this in mind when
be wrote the immortal couplet:
Honor and shame from 10 condition
rise,
Act well your part, there all the honor
lies
Take for example the great En-
glish intellectual dictator of the
eighteenth century-S Samuel John
son. From infancy he was raw
aged BY a dreadful malady. Later
in life his surroundings were such
that even the poorest might pity
him. From these dire conditions,
however, we have the man of |
whom MaCauley said: 1.-The mem
DRY Of most writer's IS kept alive
by their works, but the memory
of johnson keeps many Of his |
works alive.
Character may be broadly elias
sized as positive or negative. The
negative phase IS best put forth 10
the words of an old negro who was
defending himself before South
ern Judge: sJedge,n he said, /
Use good man. Use been Iivin'
round heah nigh on ter ten years
and Use neber been lynched yit.
Thus negative character is based
upon what one is not or does not
do. Positive character Is based