The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1906-02-08
SUCCESS in WORK.
THE TRUE FOUNDATION OF
POWER is CHARACTER.
Integrity Of Execution Is Dependent
Very Largely Upon Inter
est Taken in the
Task.

Nothing could be more misleading
than the impression, so widely held,
that success in work depends entirely
upon character and skill. These are
two great elements, but there is a
third, quite as important for the best
results, says the Outlook. Character
is the foundation of all working power
of the highest kind; skill is the quai-
ity which makes it possible to use
the best tools in the best way; vivid
interest and freshness of spirit are
the atmosphere in which all work
ought to be done and which ought to
pervade and envelop all work. "As
You Like IT, rests on a solid basis of
thought. The play is constructed and
written with the highest kind of skill,
but its charm lies very largely in the
extraordinary freshness of feeling
which pervades 1t, and which gives it
the atmosphere of the forest and the
JOY of the free life. Americans rarely
need to be urged to put more energy
into what they do, and they are com.
ing to understand, as they have never
understood before, the necessity of do.
ing their work with the skill which
comes from thorough training.
Many of them have yet to learn that
while these qualities insure compe.
tency, they do not insure interest.
Work done in a spirit of the highest
integrity and in the most expert way
is often entirely mechanical and unin.
teresting from lack of freshness, vi.
vacity and vividness of interest. One
must not only plant his work on a
solid basis of character, and do il with
expertness. but he must keep alive
that spirit of youth which Stevenson
declared was the perennial spring of
all the faculties. That modern men
are beginning to understand this is
evident from the wide popularity OF
such books as The Simple Life" and
kindred studies in repose, non-resis-
tance. absence of haste. quiet adjust.
ment between the worker, his task and
his surroundings.
Few people understand the drain on
the nervous system which is caused by
the noises of modern llfe--noises in
no sense modern. There are no cities
in the world which are more resonant
with sound than oriental towns, where
at certain hours of the day and in
certain localities there is not only an
incessant murmur of human voices
but "A chorus of loud, piercing cries.
The little towns in Europe and the
smaller English cities are like babbline
brooks when evening comes and the
people fill the streets. Paris Is, all
things considered, the noisiest city in
the world. There has come into mod.
ern life greater variety of sound
and greater volume than assailed
the ears of our ancestors. Now, to
Keep ones freshness there ought to
be zone of silence around every
human being during some part OF
every day. II is significant that the
great religions of the world have come
out of silence and not out of noise;
and the finest creative work is done,
as rule, in seclusion; not necessar.
lily apart from men, nor in solitary
places, but away from the tumult and !
away from Gistracting sounds.
II is In silence alone that we come |
into possession of ourselves. The
noises Of life disturb us as a cloud
of dust intervenes between the eye
and the sky. There ought to be a cult
for the practice OF silence--a body of
men and women committed to the
preservation OF the integrity of their
souls by neither hearing nor making
speech for certain periods, pledged to
the culture of the habit Of quietness,
Maeterlinck has pointed out the fact
that the best things are never spoken,
and the truest intercourse between
congenial spirits is carried on without
words. II we said less and thought
more, there would be far fewer things
to explain, many sources Of irritation
would be dried up at the sources, and
the prime cause Of irritation. which is
nervous exhaustion or excitement,
would be removed. There was or.
ganized in Paris. years ago. society
for the Culture of silence. On the
occasion of the initiation of a dis.
tinguished man Of letters a bowl OF
water was brought out to him In
room where he was waiting In soil.
tude. He studied II a moment, placed
a rose upon 1t and sent 1t back. The
water bore the rose without overflow.
ing. To the members assembled in
another room the act was the most
convincing evidence that the initiate
comprehended the purpose of the fell
lowship, and was prepared in spirit
to become one OF the company. The
act was a symbol which Americans
may wisely study.