Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1905-01-13

tai work may be shaped. Art is the
realization of permanent Idea In an
ephepleral form. True life Is the
realization of the higher virtues-jus-
tice, love, truth. liberty, moral power
in our daily activities, whatever they
may be. And this life is possible In
social conditions the most diverse and
with natural gifts the most unequal.
It is not fortune or personal advan-
tage, but our turning them to &C
count that constitutes the value OF
life. Fame adds no more than does
length Of days. Quality is the thing.
Need we say that one does not rise
to this point Of view without strug-
gle2 The spirit Of simplicity is not an
inherited gilt, but the result OF labo-
rious conquest. Plain living. like high
thinking, Is simplif1cation. We know
that science is the handful Of ultimate
principles gathered out Of the tufted
mass Of facts, but what groupings to
discover them! Centuries of research
are often condensed into a principle
that a line may state. Here the moral
life presents strong analogy with the
scientific. 1t, too, begins In certain
confusion, makes trial Of itself. seeks
to understand itself. and often mis-
takes. But by dint of action and ex-
acting from himself strict account OF
his deeds man arrives at better
knowledge Of life. Its law appears to
him, and the law is this: Work out
your mission. He who applies himself
to aught else than the realization of
this end loses in living the raison detre
Of life. The egotist does so, the pleas
ure seeker, the ambitious: he con-
sumes existence as one eating the full
corn In the blade; he prevents 1t from
bearing its fruit; his life Is lost Who
ever. on the contrary. makes his life
serve q good higher than itself, saves It
In giving It. Moral precepts which to
q superficial view appear arbitrary and
seem made to spoil our zest for life
have really but one object-to preserve
US from the evil Of having lived In
vain. That is why they are constantly
leading us back into the same paths;
that is why they all have the same
meaning: Do not waste your life; make
II bear fruit: learn how to give It IN
order that It may not consume itself!
Herein Is summed urbthe experience Of
humanity, and this experience. which
Gach man must remake for himself, u
more precious In proportion as it costs
more dear. Illumined by its light, he
makes O moral advance more and more
sure. Now he has hts means Of orien-
tation. his internal norm to which he
may lead everything back. and from
the vacillating, confused and complex
being that he was he becomes simple.
BY the ceaseless influence Of this'same
law, which expands within him. and is
day BY day verified in fact. his optn.
IONS and habits become transformed.
Once capHEated By the beatH Ind
Of the true life, BY YnAt II
sacred and Hfthetic in this strife Of
humanity for truth, Justice and broth
erly love, his heart holds the fascina-
ton Of 1t. Gradually everything SUBJ
ordinates itself to this powerful and
persistent charm. The necessary hier-
archy Of powers is organized within
him; the essential commands, the Sec
ondary obeys, and order is born Of SIM
plicity. We may compare this organ
kation Of the interior life to that Of
an army. An army is strong by Its dis
cipline, and its discipline consists In -
apect of the inferior for the superior
and the concentration Of all its ener-
gies toward single end. Discipline
once relaxed, the army suffers. It win
not do to let the corporal command the
general. Examine carefully your life
and the lives Of others. Whenever
halts or Jars and compiler
lions and disorder follow It II because
the corporal has issued orders to the
general. Where the natural law rules
In the heart disorder vanishes.
I despair Of ever describing simplici-
ty In any worthy fashion. All the
strength Of the world and all its beau
II, all true Joy, everything that con-
soles. that feeds hope or throws ray
Of light along our dark paths, every
thing that makes Us zee across our
poor lives splendid goal and q bound
less future, comes to US from people Of
those who have made an
other object Of their desires than the
passing satisfaction Of selfshness and
vanity and have understood that the
art Of living IL to know how to give
ones life.
FRO BE CONTINUED