Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-19
SUNDAY MORNING TALK.
Team Work.

Whatever be the disadvantages connect
ed with the playing of the modern game Of
foot ball it furnishes to all classes of the
American people a powerful object lesson
in team work. Fo. success on the gridiron
depends not simply on individual strength
and skill but on cooperation, on the sub
ordination of the one to the eleven, and on
the power of a captain to infuse the to
gether spirit into his men and make them
respond to a central purpose as the various
parts of machine combine to turn out the
perfect product Only the other day at a
critical moment in a certain game star
player disobeyed an important signal. He
thought he sa! a chance to make fine
dash by means of which he would become
the hero of the field. But because he dis
obeyed the signal and was practically a
traitor to the team idea he was Immediate
~ ordered out of the lines and by all the
rules of fair foot ball he was properly
enough disqualified from playing.
Lads who play foot ball and people who
look on should take to heart this lesson of
team work. How much we need it in all
departments of life. What difference
there is in homes in this particular! In
some the members are constantly pull
ing apart. There Is little consultation, al
most no planning with regard to common
interests. Each lives his or her own life,
to get just as much out of 1t as possible
lost sight of and the influence of that home
as a home is thereby greatly impaired. But
next door may be another family whose
members cherish a commendable family
pride and loyalty to one another. They
are glad to be seen together in public
places If any one of them Is backward or
unfortunate the Others throw the mantle
OF charity about him and act as barrier
between him and an unsympatheuc world.
There is always peace and joy in such a
home and 1t is a real fountain of whole
some power in any community.
Business concerns vary in their ability TO
secure team work. In some, each worker
thinks first of himself and is often jealous
of the man who works by his side. In
others an institutional feeling permeates
the entire force from manager TO once poy.
Each cheerfully contributes his share to
the upbuilding of successful enterprise
and each is more proud of the concern as
a whole than of his own individual achieve-
ment ~.
We have too little team work in the
church missionary from CHINA, nome
IN a furlough was once asked what his
greatest trial in the mission held was ana
he replied promptly My fellow mission
aries" 1t is not always easy to work with
the different types of persons that consti-
tute the membership of the average church.
One would often prefer to do his work alone,
but the tact, patience and wisdom acquired
in the doing of common tasks are Them
selves the reward of the man who Is Will
inc tn WELD a point now and then in order
L
that the church with which he is connect
ed may present a united front to the world
and may better do its SPECIFIC work;
We are reaching a, time In the evoiution
Of the state when team work will be abb
solutely essential for its conservation and
growing efficiency. What does the outcry
for municipal ownership reveal! An IN
crea sing conviction that the members of a
democracy ought learn to do things to-
eether. to possess and administer certain
great common utilities. that no one man
and no one private concern ought to be al
lowed to grow rich and imperious at the
expense Of the common veal. We are a
long way yet from the point where those
who make UP that entity which we can
the pt,blic are capable Of working together
effectively enough to shoulder all the re-
sponsfbfiities now are left to private iniba-
tive. But the drift II Enthusiastically toward
some form OF cooperative action.
But we shall never get any effective. team
work in the hOmes In business, IN the church
Ter n he state untit ooaf-seekin0 9ives way