The Washington herald., 1908-01-16
THE OPTIMIST.

/ Optimism. If one can adopt it as a
philosophy Of life, is not by any means
an end. it is rather a means toward many
ends, and its chiefest value lies IN the
benefits it confers. 1t needs optimism
TO breed cheerfulness. kindness, truth OF
intercourse. clear vision toward life, char
acter. / doubt whether what We call
character in its finest sense, can be,
without a large proportion OF optimism
In ones soul Character. and character
/ only. is the thing that is eternaliy power
ful IN the world. Character is the di-
yinest thing on EARTH" says phillips
Brooks. And Froude.
The WeIl-bsing o our souls depends only on what
We are; and nobleness u character is nothing else
bat steady love # good and soorn Of evil
one great impediment in the shaping Of
| character is a sort Of hypocrisy that
seems an inherent part Of human nature
it seems so easy to act; so much easier
90 win reputation than TO build character,
| though Beecher says:
Il Is easier to build character than to sustain
false reputation. Once let man habits be laid,
and soiidiy laid. truth honor. and virtue. and
the more the man is tined the more be profits b.
It. Such men are revealed to the world hy misfor-
tune.
We are such actors for our regulations,
most Of us. that it is pretty easy for
a keen judge Of human nature 10 find out
from a mans words what kind Of a
character he desires to have attributed
10 him; but if he want to find out what
his character is IN reality, We must seek
TO divine not in what ne says, but in
the expression which accompanies his
words. OF. as Schiller says: "In the
movements which he did not desire. %
And yet Emerson tells US that
Human character does eyeTmoFe publish itself. It
sill not be concealed The most fugitive deed aud
WUd the mere air q doing a thing the iltimated
purpose expresses character No change u 'ciTCm-
stances can repair defect Of character a man
passes Tor what be IS worth.
Character can py no means be meas
ured by what mans position is in the
world il is something far beyond. far
higher than this.
Love. hope fear. faith-thess make humanity;
These are its sign. and note and character.
Now these are things that can hardly
be constructed. Love Of our fellow man,
faith in God hope in the future-these
are qualities that may be cultivated, but
the seeds Of them must be IN the human
heart To these add strong impulse
towaFd the right-an impulse more glow
ing, passionate. and determined than any
thing We are possessed of naturally:
The cauTi in spirit. houe'er he veil
His want ia ferns for fashions sake
VII let his coltish nature break
At season through the gilded pale.
Fog who can always sctf but he
To whom a thousand memories cail,
Net being lees bat more than al
Tie gentlsness be seemed % BE-
Best seemed the thing he was and Joined
EacI Office q the social bour
To noble manners. as the flower
and native growth q noble mind;
And thus be bore without abuse
The grand old name z gentleman
DETAINED ty every charlatan
And Sold with al ignoble use
And so you wiIl find that optimism,
while il points a little 10 the harder way.
points after all. 10 the true way, II will
teach US that II is the way we walk. not
the reputation OF the walk that really
concerns our souls II is Ia reality a
prolific source Of damnation for US TO
succeed in making the world believe Us
better than we are. Charles Dickens once
said:
u has always been ms observation q human na-
tuFe that a man who has ans good reason 20 be
ierG in himself never 1gUTishss himself before the
faces Of other people IN order that they believe
Ia him.
And that is true, Let US develop char
scter SO that we mag believe in ourselves.
Know our own lives 70 be clean and
decent and upright, our striVings 20 be
for tie better thirrs: our aspirations
lofty. our goal the highest How many
times in cur march we fall none but
ourselves may know. but If we fan. let
US not be ashamed OF down-hearted but
turn brave faces 20 the world acknowl-
edge our temporary defeat and have
character and viii enough to go on and
conquer after all.