Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-07-25
DOING AS YOU PLEASE.


There lived. not long since, in this coun-
try an irascile and learned old Scotch
professor who disapprovcd OF most mat
ters American. but beyond and above
all else of American women. when you
ask them to do anything" he was wont
TO say. with rising wrath, they say
they don't want to, as If not wanting to
were a law"
One of the first lessons of life is that
all rules are relative. It is difficult to
come at an absolute and unchanged BILE
law of conduct. Here is Mr.. B"rna I'd
Shaw questioning even the golden rule
and urging people not to do to him as
they would he done by. because Of the
great variety of tastes in the world 1t
Is quite true that Kindness and good in
tentons may err and that the whole of
life Is constant and necessary concessions
and allowances amongst fracmentary be-
ingS whose wills pull IN different direc-
tions.
II IS generally admitted that one may
not iniure other people by word or deed
however much one may want to, and that
to break the accepted commandments. or
in any way to add to the confusion and
misery of the world, or too greatly to up
heave its settled convictions. invites pen
atty. 1t is not fair to be a stumbling block
10 any ones aspiring virtue by pointing
out too persistently the iverEcncies be
tween convention and morality. There are,
too, certain minor virtues-industry, So
cial amenities, conventional attire-to be
accepted as conducting 70 universal COM
fort and u-p'lbaf,,tr. h,,t oil 81;
there lies a vast area of life where one
may quite leEtimately do AS one pleases
There is, for example, no radically moral
point about dancing the two-step every
evening II inclination points to reading
philosophy in the dim lamplight of one $
own room. The pursuits Of botany and
astronomy are fundamentally as virtuous
as knitting and the newest embroidery
stitches. and to many minds even more
exciting; to explore the country on horse
back is as homes: an occupation as to
gossip on the front porch OF a hotel with
accurately undulated hair. and to subdue
ones preferences in such matters. for the
mere sake of a tentative essay to fall in
with the wishes OF the majority, Is at
best feeble, II not actually wrong. First
place. to fail unnecessarily is in !tsel,
kind of crime, and II may here he stat
ed, for the oncouragement OF those who
prefer sunsets to bows and chat and
books to dancing, that, suppress their in
clinations as they may, they will surely
be caught. and their attempts to play the
game they do not know and for which
they have no aptitude will. sooner or
later, fall through gossip, like a poet
i. a,-i 1,. t.t,
mind tense and earnest about tho forth
coming observations of Mars try to listen
to proper converse on the hotel porch
and before he realizes II he will have
heard with a blank stare or an amiable
smile the startling news that June wore
the same dress three times last week, OF
that Dick took Carrie out two days in sue
Cossion in his trap.
So let each man draw the line exactly
az the edge of what he Is obliged 10 dc
for the good of his kind, and rejoice in
the great stretch of life which lies over
the line whore he may consult no taste
but his own. and no limitations but those
his Creator has seen ut to set for him
And 20 do as one peases, along al
legitimate lines, means that life progress
SOS from interest 10 interest, from en-
thuSiasm to enthusiasm, until age has nc
tcrrors and death no sting. For let life
but have free play through tempera-
mcnt and II will convince the most dubi-
Gus and hesitating Of Its power. It's con-
tinuance, it's growth beyond the bounds
Of fnitude; it will lead one, hopeful and
open minded and keen hearted. or
through the new adventure that lies or
the other side of death.-tIarper's Weekly