Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1906-08-23
THE COMMON PALACE.
A Word For The Great Army OF Peo-
pie Who do Their Duty.
Portland Oregonian.

!
heroism of the commonplace. The
workship of success, of wealth, of high
place, Of power, of fashion, of social
distinctions; have all operated to blind
our eyes to the essential nobility of the
man who goes quietly about his busi-
ness, performs the duties of citizenship
in an unobstrusive way, takes care OF
his wife and children, pays his taxes
honestly, is kind to his neighbors, and
is not merely content, but glad to keep
out of the worlds gaze. Lowell wrote
of one such woman:
Yet in herself she dwelleth not,
Although no home were half so fair,
No simple duty is forgot,
Life has no dim and lovely spot
That doth not in her sunshine share.
She doeth little kindnesses
Which most leave undone, or despise;
For naught that sets our hearts at ease,
And giveth happiness or peace,
Is low esteemed in her eyes.
She hath no scorn of common things
And though she seem OF other birth,
clings,
And patiently she folds her wings
To tread the humble path of earth.
Blessing she is. God made her so.
| And deeds of weekday holiness,
Fall from her noiseless as the snow.
Nor hath she ever CHANGED to know
That aught were easier than to bless
/ We, most of US, look far off for our
| heroes. Carlyle found them in great
| generals, great literary men, great poets
/ of his own day was full of them. He
| even failed to recognize the hero in
Charles Lamb. II is so with men gen
orally We look for the unusual, the
,abnormaI-We even glorify the bad
| provided their hardness has the proper
fschool OF literaturearound such scound-
rels as 'Raf11es, . and rejoice when the
rogue escapes the consequence of his
own knavery while the worlds great
servants go unrecognized and unre-
warded.
It ought to be our business in this
! country to dignity the average-the So
called common--man. For it is he that
keeps the world moving, and moving in
! the right direction. He is the burden
! bearer, the duty-doer. 1t is on him
| that we must depend the crisis. The
idea that he should be set aside for
every millionair vulgarian that lifts his
! head above the mire in which he was
| bred is intOlerable. Il is to the common
soldier, the common toiler, that we
must appeal when there is desperate
work afoot We read in the papers OF
the "sports' who are becoming SC
extensively prominent, yet no mem bers
| Of this class ever lift their hands i'll be-
half Of their country. The novelist and
the poet have thrown a golden mist
around the far country" known as
Bohemia, and yet its very existence is
perilous of civilization. and the souls OF
men and women. We hear much OF
the artists temperament, " perament,' .
that temperament, if there is nothing
! else, is not capable Of great service
to mankind
But Of the sober. dusty and bemired
drudges who toll that the world may
! live, who fulfill g the law and the pro
phets, D." and who die uncomplainingly
III the harness after having made the
whole OF humanity their debtor-where
is the laureate to celebrate their glorious
fame? Old Walt Whitman is the only
poet as far as we can recall, who has
fittingly recognized the rank and file O.
the army Of progress. It is time for Us
TO clear our vision, time to see things
as they are. We ought to see that the
man in high places very often owes his
commanding height to the platform
Oh which he stands. Men must be judg-
ed not by the greatness of their oppor.
tunities, but by the way in which they
use those who come to them no matter
! how small they may be. If this coun
try is pledged to any worship at all i
is to that of the average man.
Truly we need to get ourselves a new
supply of ideals-need to learn what i.
really valuable in life on this planet
The childish habit that so many of u:
have Of worshipping things merely be
cause they are big, or new or startling
or wicked, must be overcome. w
need poets and novelists whom viii
develop in us sense Of right values
who glorify the average man and crow
him in the sight of the world as it
master and savior. The hero is tn