Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1905-01-04

In speaking OF simple uuty caE1Ot
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 Encouragement, disorder and de-
moralization? No; it should never be
forgotten that the least display Of en-
ergy in these terrible moments is d
sign of life and hope. At once every
body feels that all is not lost.
During the disastrous retreat of 1913
IA. in the heart of the winter, when 1t
had become almost impossible to pre-
sent any sort of appearance, general,
l 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 demoraliza-
ton, as deliberately attired as IL for
parade, the emperor said, my general,
you are brave lHdu.
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 fabulous amount of good
will is wasted People burn with ar
\ e.. f1-. xx.tt,I ad
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 lnfirmity, 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-all 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
strangers, and conversely. There are
parents who do not know their chill
dren; their development, their thoughts,
the dangers they run, the hopes they
cherish, are to them closed book.
Many children do not know their par
ents, have no suspicion Of their diff
culties and struggles, no conception of
their aims. And / am not speaking of
those piteously disordered homes
where all the relations are false, but
of honorable families. Only all these
people are greatly preoccupied; each
has his outside interest that fills all his
time The distant duty-very attrac-
tive, l don't deny-claims them entire
ly. and they are not conscious of the
duty near at hand. I fear they will
have their trouble for their pains. Each
persons base of operations is the field
of his immediate duty. Neglect this
field, and all you undertake at a dis
lance is compromised. First, then, be
of your own country, your own city,
your own home, your own church, your
own workshop; then, if you can, set out
from this to go beyond it. That is the
plain and natural order, and man must
fortify himself with very bad reasons
to arrive at reversing it. At all events,
the result of so strange a confusion Of
duties is that many people employ
their time in all sorts Of affairs except
those in which we have right to de-
mand it. Each Is occupied with some
thing else than what concerns him, Is
absent from his post, ignores his trade.
This is what complexities life. And 1t
would be so simple for each one to be
about his own matter.
Another form of simple duty. When
damage is done who should repair it?
He who did it. This is just, but it is
only theory, and the consequence of
following the theory would be the evil
in force until the malefactors were
found and had offset it. But suppose
luty are lOt lOuuu, VI ouPPooS shty
cannot or will not make amends?
The rain falls on your head through
hole in the roof or the wind blows
in at broken window. VIII you wait
to find the man who caused the mis-
chief? You would certainly think that
absurd. And yet such is often the prac-
tice. Children Indignantly protest Il
didn't put it there, and 1 shall not take
it awayw And most men reason after
the same fashion. 1t is logic. But 1t
Is not the kind Of logic that makes the
world move forward.
On the contrary, what we must learn
and what life repeats to us daily is
that the injury done by one must be
repaired by another. One tears down,
another builds up; one defaces, anoth'
er restores; one stirs up quarrels, an