Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-07
SUNDAY MORNING TALK.
Doing Things Versus Going Through
Motions.

A business man wrote me the other day
with regard to large concern, many OF
whose employees and heads of departments
seem to have gotten into routine ways, as
follows: How easy 1t is for all of us some
times to imagine that going through mo
lions is doing things" What vast diner
ence there is. to be sure, between grinding
away at a task day after day and actually
bringing something to pass. Every big es-
Establishment now and then needs a shaking
up. The clock runs down or loses time.
Some one has to take hold and supply
fresh blood, modern methods and ideas, new
incentives to labor. Those concerned with
the administration Of schools colleges and
churches need to be reminded frequently
that it is not enough to grind over the old
grst, to hear certain number OF rec1ta-
lions, to attend the weeks quota of lee
lures, to hold SO many services on Sunday,
to make certain number of pastoral calls.
If this is the only conception Of duty that
governs a business man, educator,
lawyer a doctor or minister, he will soon
degenerate into routine man. and the
interests with which he is intrusted will
suffer In corresponding degree.
A man In his personal life needs ever and
again to stop going through the motions
and to try to accomplish something. On the
side of his spiritual life this Is especially
important. Take the highest function of
the human soul-that of prayer. How easy
1t is to get into the habit of Keeling of a
few conventional phrases, in public or pri-
vate devOtions that mean nothing, but SIM
ply salve the conscience, SAVIOR of cant and
are really an affront to the Divine Being.
To do things we must first of all put our
mind upon them We are all intellectual
wool-gatherers prone to let our thoughts
fly all over the universe when they ought
to be fixed upon the task right at hand.
Contemporaries Of Raphael who possessed
artistic talent had at their command can
vas and paint similar to those on which he
worked, but he conceived of a beautiful
Madonna and held his mind upon that idea
while his fingers worked with brush and
palette. Plenty of men are familiar with
the ingredients of a common cracker; but
one day a man who had been thinking in
tensely on the subject gave to the world
certain kind Of biscuit with an attractive
new name 1t became universally popular,
and the inventor soon was wealthy. Mental
concentration is behind all the fresh initia-
tive and successful enterprise of the modern
world.
1t is just as essential, If one would do
things rather than go through motions to
put ones heart into ones task. Unfortu-
nately the narrow limits to which many of
the worlds workers are confined today seem
to preclude any idea Of enthusiasm and joy.
Well, then, II the task itself is mechanical
and even mental. while 1t remains your
task, and the means by which you earn
your daily bread for yourself and your
loved ones. throws over it the glory of your
own cheerful. sunny spirit. Get within
yourself such fountain of JOY that 1t shall
bubble over into the field of daily activity.
Use your imagination, II need be, to glorify
your work, to discover hidden possibilities
of happiness in it. Many man engaged in
drudgery has been kept by his own I'M
conquerable good humor and cheerfulness
from becoming drudge
These, In turn, are the outcome of a great
purpose, and here we get to the real spring
of a mans life. What do you want to do
with your life? Have you any large.
| worthy, controlling purpose? If you have
you will do something that will tell upon
your own life and on the lives of others,
even If you tend a machine all day long for
| twenty years or more. If you have not this
great purpose. then you will degenerate into
routine man.; you will simply go
through certain artificial motions, even if
you happen to get soft position at $4,000
a year
When Horace Greeley was a boy one of
his mates said to him one Saturday: Come,
Hold, let's go fishing" Lets do out stent
first" was young Horace's characteristic
reply. Even in his youth he wanted to get
something done promptly and well. What
wonder is it that when he became a man.
and editor of one of the most powerful
journals in America, he still wanted to do
heavy blows in behalf of human freedom,
happiness and progress? And any man who
cherishes high ideals of usefulness and gov
erns his life by them will never be accused
of going through motions. He will be able,
on the other hand. to point to something
done when the summons comes to go up
higher. THE PARSON.