Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-22
CoNFUCIUs, THE MAN.
Low Born and Poor, the Scholar
Rose to Great Heights.

From the Pacific Era
It's an old question this-we have all
asked it. our forefathers befor, us, and
few of us even today-What manner OF
man was Confucius? 1t is not singular,
this query; the wonder is that more men
of today do not ask the question, and
ask it oftener. The character of Con-
fucius is of peculiar appeal to this, our
day. Since the Chino Nippon war; people
of Nippon, and 1 regret to say more
especially the younger among us. seem
to have fallen into the habit of looking
down upon men and things Chinese. We
are forgetting more and more the seri-
Gus mood the reverential attitude Of
mind, with which we used to inquire into
the institutions and men OF China. This
is regrettable; it is blunder.
AS for Confucius. not even great China
can say that he belongs exclusively to
her. Confucius cannot be horizoned
even within the dreamy lines of Asian
geography; one of the world personages is
Confucius. Just as you cannot say that
Buddha was a Hindu, or Jesus a Jew. it
Is neither correct nor happy to say that
Confucius was Chinese. Characters so
high and as comprehensive as those of
Confucius, Gotama and of Jesus are not
many in the many-yeared history of man.
kind. Even among the distinguished few,
you can tell Confucius by certain peculiar
endowmentS. by the attachments that are
by no means common to the rest. The
meaning or value of the character of
ConfuciuS and his life Is particularly sig
nificant to the younger generation of peo-
pie everywhere: moreover II is especially
SO to those who style themselves the in
structors of the future. His personality
and his teachings have a poignant mes
sage, healthy and very much to the point.
to those men who are bent on perhaps
the greatest achievement of man-name-
ly, the making of man.
We have heard the story of great men:
they are hard to follow in most cases:
they seem to come out all complete. all
made. There they are before us, men
of distinction. achievements. power. Up
and above in their rarified heights We
follow them in what they do, in what they
say. and sometimes in what they think or
dream. But how did they happen to be
there? How did they reach the height?
What of the behind-the-scene stage OF
their lives? OF these we hear little. This.
perhaps. is the reason why we are apt
to think that great men are born. not
made The life story of Confucius is diff
ferent. He grew: he did not come full
blown; and here Is the special value
of the story Of Confucius. His character
was built up day by day and step by
step; his mind ripened by degrees. just
as any other student grows. Like SO
many other mortals. he was born, not
in the purple of a great palace. neither
was he Graded in the golden heap of
wealth. To him came no supernatural
dispensation, no partially either from
fortune or from men, no assistance that
might be called miraculous, and which Is
not at all common to the rest of his
fellow men. 1t has been written in
Shihki "Confucius poor and lowly
in standing" OF himself he has said.
Il am very small and lowly in rank"
He was poor. and from the very bottom
round of the ladder, called social stand
ing. so difficult to climb, he mounted
through sheer force of study and indus
try. step by step. to the height. which
even at this great distance-at the end Of
over twenty-five centuries-we can still
see HIM glitterng above the clouds, like
Mount Euii the Peerless.