The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1908-03-27

reformer suffers from that type OF
mental strabismus that overlook domes
tic faults for foreign missions.
Specer says:
} Every reformer believes i'm his
W infallibility." and he does. Con-
vince the crank that he is wrong In
L detail and you upgear his entire
refcrmatCry machinery. Crankiness
comes as often from conceit as from
reason; biogotry may not be born OF
truth, or fanat!cisr of proof. Loud
talk Is ever the ally OF fimsy logic;
wind Is cheap.
The pioneer Is generally i ne-er-do
well either in the physical or mental
beaten track. Failures migrate fowhe g
they are untranmeled with C invention
al retraints. After all. the crank says
only what millions of moral towards
dare no more than think. He Is the
irresponsible mouthpiece Of thousands
Of his detractors. Few men think:
fewer tell their thoughts; the man
who has aught TO lose prefers TO lo-e
4 through some other channels than
ak. Of course he ridicules the talk
e hut ridicuIe may be as hypocrtical
as praise: abuse Is lot necessarily ST.
cc-c.
To find a sreat truth Is grea,; to
satisfy people Of yogr find it greater;
and these ara the crank's mission. Do
Q wonder a. his fate?
The crank is generally a necessary
nuisance: an Objectionable essential,
crucifed by the present to be glori-
fed by the future. He is not a pleas
ant companion, No Lobby rider is. WHO
wants to listen to En- endless dirge Oh
his W ignorance played on a fiddle
with n string Most Of US should
! rather remain wrong than to be yank-
ed into right.
1t Is true we owe much to the crank,
Sc. we do to experience; but a remedy
may be as disagreeable as beneficial;
medicine rarely tic1ies the palate.
The crank's one thought has worn
q groove in the brain tha. no other
| thought fits; everything else is side
tracked: only his hobby has right of
way. He cannot understand that be-
lleyed error may be Us sacred as prov
cd truth. 1t j. necessary tha. the C ank
should come but woe unto b m to wy ON
nc comes. And as hard as it Is to get
along with him, it would be harder to
get along without him. AS to the bo-
gus crank, he is a noisy nuisa ice in
tensified by uselessDess; a drunken,
mounting vagabond loving nothing but
his own ease and some othe:- man
whiskey. To him l ran spare no space
am treating Of the sincere promu|ga-
tor, who, if he has out one idea has
not always borrowed it and al
| yUoUC hao "6OWn hnQ'
Not that sincerity must command in
t~erest; for no one idea man can be
interesting, especially when showing
another man his mistakes. The gen.
man needing reformation demands
above all things. variety in the re-
former. Nothing is more monoton-
Gus thar the same advice ON the same
subject.
The crank rarely sees the attainment
of his object; II he sees it he rarely
survives the realization long. A life
aim achieved, means an aimless life.
He lives on tumult; that over, he cor
rodes in distasteful repose."
The ordinary crank is in terrible
earnest without being ~impetuously SO;
how many hasten with dignity. "Fes-
tina lente' fits few who are endowed
with singleness Of purpose.
| was once tinctured with the divine
af1atus of reformation myself. But my
mania subsidized into zeal, my zeal into
minding my own business. To tel 1.-The
truth, the crusade was too lonesome.
I had to choose associates whose
CnIv recommendation is being right and
opponents whose only fault is beln1
wrong I am still a reformer at heart
but out of the fullness of the heart the
mouth rarely speaks. A fellow must
| be awful bad nov before | try to con-
vert him.
To the average man., opposition to
the established canons is criminal in
sanity. He may disagree with the ma
! iority in toto, but expressing that va
, rance, he holds to be blasphemy
against the holy name Of policy. And
let me tell you, even negative policy
pays. I have not been polite long
enough to realize this in person, but ]
take some things on faith. 1t has oc-
cured to me Of late that a fellow car
Go anything if he does not talk.
Yet, will there De reformers until
| the crack of doom; men who worship
| ideals with that volcanic zeal tna'
naught but death quenches. Men VINO
know but one thing, their mission!
Our country swarms with them; there
in no place where their voice is not
heard. Some are educated-more Ill
iterate; all are inspired, a like num-
Der, poor. Nothing else so Emulate
q man with an empty pocket as
dose OF inspiration. The invitation to
unload Is Irresistible. But human ma
ture is so constituted that 1t rarely
wants to hear what the other fello"
wants to tell. We prize only the in
formation we worm out Of others:
The silent man impresses US as keep
ing something back. The loQuaclous
mans talk we consider public property
Who sinks a pump into a boiling
spring?
The crank's persistency more than
his logic invites notice. Curiosity
~-~H1T