The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1905-04-13

uCuLlOn Ludu ueT HHlu lHc IeIdtlOuS W
tween them are those Of the convict
and his warder. And woe everywhere
to him who falls into the hands of a
subaltern drunk with his authority!
We forget that the first duty Of him
who exercises power Is humility
Haughtiness Is not authority. 1t is not
we who are the law; the law Is over
our heads we-only interpreg II, Dur TO
make it valid in the eyes of others we
must first be subject to 1t ourselves. |
To command and to obey In the society |
Of men are, after all, but two forms of |
the same virtue-voluntar seryitude.
II you are not obeyed, It is generally |
because you have not yourself obeyed |
first.
The secret of moral ascendency rests |
with those who rule with simplicity. |
They soften by the spirit the harshness |
Of the fact Their authority Is not In |
shoulder straps, titles or disciplinary |
measures. They make use Of neither
ferule nor threats, yet they achieve ev-
erything. WhyH Because we feel that
they are themselves ready for every
thing. That which confers upon man
the right to demand Of another the sac
riHce OF his time, his money, his pas
slons, even his life, is not only that he
Is resolved upon all these sacrifices
himself, bat that he has made them in
advance. In the command Of man
animated by this spirit Of remuneration
there is a mysterious force which com
municates Itself to him who is to obey
and helps him do his duty.
In all the provinces Of human actlvi-
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, as the saying has 1t, and
II he goes It is with enthusiasm.
But the pride of the exalted Is not the
only pride; there IL also the pride Of
the humble-thls arrogance Of under
lIngs, fit pendant to that Of the great,
The root OF these two prldes Is the
same. II Is not alone that lofty and
imperious being, the man who says,
II am the law" that provOkes insur-
rectlon by his very attitude; 1t Is also
that pigheaded subaltern who will not
admit that there Is anything beyond
his knowledge.
There are really many people who
find all superiority irritating. For them
every piece OF advice Is an offense, ev-
cry criticism an imposition, every order
IN 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 supersensltlve 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 il surprised to
nnd that pride has so many lurking
places among those who are by com
mon consent called the humble, SO
powerful is this vice that It arrives ut
forming round those who live In the
most modest circumstances a wall
which isolatcs them from their neigh
bors. There they are, intrenched, bar
rIcaded with their ambitions and their
contempts, as inaccessible rs the pow
erful of earth behind their arlst0cratlc
prejudices. Obscure or illustrlous,
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;
If there Is 30 much hostility and ha-
tired between different classes of men
II Is due less to exterior conditions than
to an interior fatality. Conflicting In
terests and differences OF situation dig
bitches between u.s. 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 us!'
We have not finished with pride, but
It Is impossible to picture 1t under all
its forms feel most resentful against
It when II 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 It can only be so when those who
know remain sympatheticnlly near TO
those who know not When knowl-
edge Is turned into tool for ambition
II destroys itself,
And what shall we say of the pride
Of good men2 For 1t exists and makes
| even NlTlut llultlul, lut just Nhp IL
pent them of the evil others do remain
in brotherhood and social rectltude,
But the just who despiSe others for
their faults and misdeeds cut them.
selves of from humanity, and their
goodness. descended to the rank of an
ornament for their vanity, becomes
like those riches which kindness does
not inform, like authority untemprred
by the spirit Of obedience Like proud
wealth and arrogant power, super
cilious virtue also Is detestable II
fosters in man traits and an attitude
provocative of know not what, The
sight OF It repels instead Of attracting,
and those whom II delgns to distin-
guish with its 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