The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1907-04-27
Law Of AVERAGES

impressed by the fact that nature
works on q great law OF averages.
There is an average Of character from
which the majority Of us do not wide
ly depart. Taking us all in all, We are
very much the same as our neighbors.
VI course there are immense varia-
tons. We may be strong whore an
other Is weak, and the reverse; but
the general sum Of excellence and de-
feet will not be found to differ great
~. The exceptions do not destroy
the rule:
We cannot deny that there are some
persons exceptionally good, and some
exceptionally bad. Some would as
sert that in both cases circumstances
have been responsible, and IL We Wild
en- circumstance to include prenatal
influences this is largely correct. We
are not departing from religious STAN
dards of truth If we assume that the
good man is "born, not made" We
confess that there are exceptional
characters who, from whatever cause.
are especially good or especially bad;
but we are not now dealing with
these. The greater number of us be-
long neither to one extreme nor the
other; We belong to the average. And
the average Is one Of deficiency and
compensation.
The power Of this average is mani
tested by the expression which we
often use, that such or such a person
has "the defect of his qualities" The
phrase originally came from French
Writer-the French excel in such
things. What is unusual, it loses no.
thing in its English rendering. When
Emerson wrote his famous essay on
Compensation" he was dealing chief
~ with circumstances and conditions.
but what he said applies with equal
force to character. In our lives the
day of gloom is almost invariably
compensated by the day of brightness
and the day Of brightness is paid for
by the day of gloom. An old English
weather proverb says:
"No debt pays so nigh
AS the wet pays the dry"
We may take this as the law of ay.
erages that works so evenly with our
conditions and surroundings. It works
powerfully with our moods and i'm
pulses and with that ultimate COM
pound of moods and impulses which
We know as character. The main
difference between individuals is in
the matter of self-control. We all
have impulses that are alternatively
good and evil, and there are persons
whose characters are utterly unre-
liable because these impulses are
their rulers; We can never calculate
on their words or their actions be-
cause they follow each varying wind
OF passion or emotion. Even those
who strive after a settled rule of life
bow to an average that is less worthy
than their better aims. They strike
balance of good and bad. They pay,
perhaps unconsciously, for the good
things that they do manifestly. 1t may
be that they seek for good works
abroad while they lead sullen lives
at home; it may be that excellence in
the home circle is limited by careless
ness as to what may happen without.
1t often happens that persons of vir-
tuous life are difficult and unpleasant
to live with, while others whose ac-
tons will less bear scrutiny are de-
lightful and kindly companions. The
"unco guild" are morose; the free liv-
ers are genial and unselfish. The law e.
OF average is being maintained.
Remarks of this nature are so easily
interpreted as an attack on goodness
and benevolent effort that they must
be made with much caution. Every
one must recognize that some persons
honestly attempt to conquer their
worse selves, to live unselfish and
beneficient lives, and some succeed in
doing so. But these are exceptions,
and we are not thinking of the ex-
ceptional. The average person pays
for his efforts in one direction by
slackness in another. To put 1t some
what brutally, we
Compound for sins that we're in
clined to
BY damning those that we've no
mind to-"
Even If we should not do this con-
sciously, nature in large measure does
1T for us, though of course she ex-
acts her punishment ruthlessly. Re-
action from strictness in one direc-
ton drives us to laxity in another.
We ind the same divergences in char
acter. The drunkard is often a man
Of generous emotion and kindly sus-
ceptibility; the man of sober and self
restrained life is sometimes mean and
petty and niggardly. The sensualist
may have the kindest of hearts, the
noblest of generosities, while the
righteous may be narrow and unchar-
liable and merciless. This is what
was meant by One who spoke of the
certain fragrant sinners entering the
kingdom of heaven before those of
more correct life. There is honor
among thieves, and sometimes beau
tiful instances Of devotion and I'M
selfishness.
The same law with it's inevitable
exceptions works with races and ma
tons as with individuals. It is I'M
willingly recognized or wilfully ig-
nored; perversions of patriotism blind
mems eyes. Among civilized peoples
there are national strengths and ma
tional weaknesses, but the difference
In the main is very slight. The play
of circumstance has affected exterior
characteristics, but nature is very