The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1905-04-20
CONTINUED from last week,

= B..
The root Of these two pridcs is tie
same. 1t IS not alone that lofty and
imperious being the man who says
Il am The law" that provokcs iusur
rection by his very attitude: ii is also
that pigheadcd subaltcrn who will not
admit that there is anything beyond
his knowledge.
There are really many people who
find all superiority irritating. For them
every uiccc cf advice is an odca<c. cy-
cry criticism an imposition. cvc-E order
an outrage On their liberty They would
not know how to submit to rule TO
respect anything or anybody would
seem to them Il mental alteration
They say to people after thcir fashion
Beyond Us there is nothing"
To the family of the proud belong also
those difficult and representative PEG
pie who in humble life find that their
Superiors ncvc? do them fitting honor.
whom the hesj and most kindly do not
succeed in satisfying and who 20 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 lie 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 those vino are by com
mon consent called the humble. Sc
powerful is this vice that it arrives at
forming round those who live in the
most modest circumstances wall
which isolatcs them from their neigh
bors. There they are intronchcd. bar
ricaded with their ambitions and thel!
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:
If there is 50 much hostility and ha-
tired between different classes Of men
it is Cue less TO exterior conditions thau
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 it is pride alone which cries
pm brink TO brink There is nothing
- common between you and u.s.
We have not finished with pride, but
it 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. il is social force which
ought to he of service to everybody
and it can only he 50 when those who
know remain synlpathetically near to
those who know not When knowl-
edge is turned into Il tool for ambition
it destroys itself.
And what shall we say of the pride
of good men: For it exists and makes
even virtue hateful. The just who re
pent them Of the evil others do remain
i'll brotherhood and social rectitllde
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
like those riches which kindness does
not inform, like authority untempered
by the spirit of obedience. Like proud
wealth and arrogant power, super
cilious virtue also is dCtestable. 1t
fosters in man traits and an attitude
provocative of | know not what. The
sight of it repels instead of attracting
and those whom it deignS to dstin-
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
constitutes for him who enjoys it an
obligation and not a reason for vain
glory. Material wealth, power. KNOW
edge, gifts of the heart and mind, be
come so much cause for dscord when
they serve TO nourish pride They re
main benefcent only 50 long as they
are the source Of modesty in those whoI
possess them.
Let us be humble if we have great
possessions, for that proves that VIC
are great debtors. All that man has
he owes TO some one, and are we sure
Of being able to pay our debts:
Let us be humble if we sit in n@'
places and hold the fate Of others ..I
our hands, for no clear sighted ma
their will and all the influence they
transmit become elements mutritive of
its native energy. Such use of au-
thorlty as this cultiyatcS that fruitful
obedience out of which free souls are
N. The purely personal authority
arents, masters and institutions is
to the child like the brushwood be-
meath which the young plant withers
and dies ImperSonal authority, the
authority of man who has first sub
mitted himself to the time hOnored
realities before which he wishes the
individual fancy of the child to bend,
resembles pure and luminous air. True.
1t has an activity and influences US in
its manner bUf il uo;IriehpS orr indi- /