The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1908-12-31
GOOD RESOLUTIONS.

the deed OF yesterday. VOllllon 10 Vic
high part of man; the will to say no; the
adamantive 81 will not" is the highest
part. 1t takes volition to dismiss vice, to
correct habit, to turn away from allure
ments. and remuneration strengthens the
soul. Surely there can be but one answer
to the question, Shall as the New Year
Year opens resolve to pass beyond some
trait or faint that is unworthy? We read,
to be sure:
For tits with years
AS tits with you;
There is no old,
There is no new.
Yet some minds are SO organized that
they act more readily when time is marked;
they proceed faster and more cheerily
when they see the mile-posts, start more
resolutely when the point of departure is
fixed and the journey outlined. Must we
not acknowledge that it is better to resolve
and begin than to procrastinate and let the
day go idly by? There is theory that the
will is weakened by making set resolutions
and failing to keep them. 1t is not a
benifcent doctrine. All our livss are made
up of resolutions and attempts; some
gloriously kept to the achieved end, some
carried out half way, some weakly sur
rendered almost as soon as made. The
conquest of temptation is best, but the
honest making of a good resolution serves
the purpose of fixing attention on the
irho CT, nj io fop Il
the brevity of the uplift is matter for re-
gret, but the little struggle is not lost. The
moral interude leaves an effect. The truth
has been made visible, and it will come
again. Therefore, the minds that need a
starting point should on New Years Day
choose their dearest weakness for sacrifice
on the altar of true living, should call out
the strongest powers of the will, make the
good resolution and keep it.
Believe in yourself. Believe in the hap
piness of bodily and spiritual health. Faith
is the illuminant, the helpmeet, the tonic of
the will. Without faith in himself mans
will is unstable. Without faith in the sat
isfacton of purified life the will staggers
and sways away from the straight road.
Believe in what you are doing, and do it
with a might which brooks no doubt, hest
tates before no danger. eve can not live
the second day before the first or more than
one day at a time" Renew the resolution
every day. Each day of supremacy of the
mans will makes supremacy easier the
next day. Soon, very soon, you have a
good habit to add to the other good habits
similarly acquired. You have added a
fibre to the strength of your being. 1t is
only the well-known story of the formation
of character. Carlyle told the story in his
way when he wrote: "Do the duty which
lies nearest thee, which thou knowest to be
duty. Thy second duty will already be-
come clearer" You rule you own spirit
by the sum total of seeing the right, re-
solving to do the right and doing the right.
That is the progress of conquest over the
impending, baser element in yourself. In
one way or another the victory must be won
every day. New Years may be no more
appropriate to good resolutions than any
other day, but if the thought comes to you
because another year is opening, turn the
thought into volition and growth without
foolish debate over the timeliness of this
or that.
The dread of failure? What if the reso-
luton comes to naught?
Greatly begin! Though thou have time
For but line, be that sublime.
Not failure but low aim is crime
The soul does not grow to perfection in
an hour or a day. The strongest character
does not grow through an uninterrupted
series of brilliant successes. Sometimes
it gains, sometimes it loses. Once it leaps
forward over obstacles, once it falls back,
bruised and baffled. Its strength is shown
by its courage to rise and press on. Each
day, each year, it is both nearer the goal
and stronger to advance. Temptations
persuade the strong as we'll as the weak;
the difference is that the strong bethink
themselves, say no and resume supremacy,
while the weak become companions of the
fleshy tempters. There is no disgrace in
lapses from perfection; they are the COM
mon fate of saints and sinners. The shame
is in the flaccid volition which consents to
stay PROSTATE and fettered. Every earthly
has its errancy, every human
will has its frailty. 1t is disease to despair