The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1906-10-04

VoItaire, to come and be member OF
his royal court and praise bis silly
verses. He may be great actor like
Edwin Booth. but he will be foolish II
he SAYS: Because am great tragedi-
an and can interpret Alright Hamlets
soliIouuy therefore I must be great
comedian and a great singer and
great playwright and great musician
and great business manager. l shall
hereafter write my plays and oratorioe
and act all my parts and sing the mas
terpieces Of Handel. q Mozart or a
Wagner"
Now, God never made man with all
the talents. Just as certain diamonds
have flaws In their makeup, we all have
flaws, some of them perhaps serious,
In our natures. 1t is the wise man who
Is ready to recognize these flaws and
limitations or who never engages in
any enterprise in which they would be
disastrous and never undertakes any
work for which he has not the neces-
sary talent.
Testing the Compass.
And, furthermore, my friend, remem-
Der this-it does not take much OF a
Jaw or weakness to absolutely destroy
the whole fabric Of a .pan's life work.
Did you ever see a sailor test his COM
pass? The ship will be sailing on day
after day until 1t gets away &om land.
Then the rudder will be jammed to the
left. When you hear those rudder
chains rafting you may be frightened
and rush upon the deck There you
will see the ship swing around In cir
Gle. what is the matter?' you will
cry. sIs anything wrongY' NO" an
swers the sea captain; 1--WE are merely
testing our compasses." But why did
you not do this in the harbor? "Oh,"
answers the sea captain, I'VE cannot do
that near the shore. The rocks and the
land may exercise magnetic influence.
When we test our compass we must
be far out at sea, away lS1m their in
fiuence. The propinquity Of single
nail may make the compass needle
point in a false direction. If our COM
pass is unreliable 1t may send us upon
the rocks or lead us away from our
true destination" What the sea cap
tain says about faulty compass the
great navigators of life teach about our
weaknesses or failings. If man does
not recognize his weaknesses and guard
against his weaknesses, in the end these
weaknesses will surely destroy him.
Marie Antolnette wins our admiration
by the heroism with which she went to
Imprisonment and death, but that does
not require us to admire the friyoiity
and selfshness which led to her ruin.
George B. Mcclellan may have been
the greatest organizer the American
army ever had, but that does not prove
that he was fit to command at Shiloh
or In the Wilderness. Cicero had the
most eloquent of tongues, but that did
not prove he could do the work OF a
Caesar or Cromwell. Every man has
his limitations, and the sooner we rec
ognize our limitations the sooner we
shall arrive at just estimate of our
powers.
But there is another fatal error to
which I want to call your attention.
Blind egotism may become insRnely
conservative. 1t is ruinous when 1t re-
fuses to mark the progress of new
methods and discoveries. 1t Is often
found that an egotist who has made a
success In his younger days Is apt to
mark time and to think that the world,
like an army, has also been marking
time instead of going ahead. EgotiSm
seems to be incapable of readjusting
itself to new conditions Of life. Be
cause the world once travelled In canal
boats or in stagecoaches therefore some
cyclists pretend that it is never digni-
fed to travel faster than snaifs
pace. Because our fathers and fore
fathers once read by candlelight there
fore these modern cyclists seem to
think that there is no house properly
lighted without candles and that the
chandelier. with its wires and globes,
is a detestable abomination.
Behind the Times.
One of the most famous physicians
of his day became shelved because he
would not accept the new invesiga-
tons which had been made in the
medical world. He not only positively
refused to accept the theory of bac-
terra, but he refused to go into con-
sultation with any practitioner who ac-
copied that theory. His practice left
him almost as quickly as the waves OF
the sea leave the shores on the ebb
tide. Being called as an expert med
ical authority in murder trial of New
York, the district attorney placed him
on the stand and so twisted him up IN
his answers that he nearly broke down
and cried like little child. The man
in the business world today must meet
other conditions and plan his mercan-
tile campaigns upon different lines
from those adopted by the merchants
of fifty years ago. And yet some PEG
pie after they have made a little sue
cess seem to stand still. In their ego
tism they seem to be unwilling to rec
ognize the advance of the human race
and before they know 1t younger men
come up to them and then pass them
and leave them behind.
Our lives must be continual prog
ress or else they will be continual
retrocessicn once read OF woman