The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1908-02-26
THE VIRTUE OF CONFINEMENT


can only guess whittier we are go
ing. We are temporary dodgers here.
We can't stay very long, and we
must make the best of it while we
are here. We come in contact with
all the ages that have gone before
realizing that we are part of them
and then we pass on into the I'M
known whence we came.
What are we here for? What pur-
pose do we serve? We can only
guess. We live and love, fight and
work, and then we are dust. And
there are SO many of us, each with
his own soul to develop or degrade,
each with his own fate to master or
betray. No one has ever yet answer
ed the eternal Why. We can only
do the best we can, seize what happi-
| ness comes in our way, wrong none
of our fellow men and trust in eter-
nal justice, which is another name
for God, says the Memphis CONNER
cial Appeal.
But while we are birds of passage,
here today and there tomorrow, it
| is the part of wisdom to adapt our
lies contenment, the greatest boon
| in the world. True contentment is
| natures best gift to man.
Yet we are soon made to realize
that we have duties to perform, OBJ
| legations to others to discharge. We
| give and we take. The egoist might
| be considered the contented man,
| but he is not. Thinking always of
himself and wishing to square the
desires of others to his own, he is
continually disappointed that others
do not agree with him. Disappoint-
finds that he is not the center of the
universe, and he can not understand
Loving himself, he can't understand
why woman should not love him;
| and out of his morbid satisfaction
| with himself comes eventual discon-
| tent and pessimism
Contentment is the summum bo-
| mum, but how is it to be obtained?
Providence casts our lots in different
| places and conditions. The man who
is truly contented with his lot is the
happy man,
The main thing in life is to be
| satisfied with what you have, and
not to lust after what you can't get.
The boy playing in the dirt is hap
pier than a Rockefeller i'll at ease in
his palace.
The ambitious man is ordinarily
unhappy. because he seldom gets all
he wants, and he wants something
that he doesn't need.
The man who longs for a home
and gets it ought to be contented;
but no sooner has he gotten one
home than he begins to pick flaws
in it, and long for something better
The result is often that he builds
beyond his means, gets into debt and
! finds himself a bankrupt.
/ The millionaire himself is ordin-
| arily the most discontinued of men
| He starts out to make million dol
lars, and thinks he will stop. Then
| he wants two millions, and gets
| them. Then he wants five millions,
| and so he can never stop.
| What are the true factors of con-
! tentment? One must have enough to
eat and wear in the first place. He
must have enough to crafty his
modest wishes in the way of amuse-
ment, He must have enough to make
! those dependent on him contented
He must have enough to make him
self and those nearest to him indie
| pendent in their old age. He must
be able to do something for those in
need. If he is able to keep his family
| from want and to help his friends in
| distress he ought to be contented.
OF course no one can live alone,
| and he is in a certain sense his bro
! theirs keeper. He can not be happy
and selfish. He must learn the les
son that it is better to give than to
receive. If he is continually fighting
| his fellow man to get something that
his fellow man has, he can never be
contented. II he is continually trying
to make other people do as he does
and think as he thinks, he will never
! be happy even when he succeeds.
But while the virtue of content
ment is not to be denied: no man
can afford to be contented with cor
| ruption, with dishonesty, with dis
! loyalty. All of us are obligated to
| keep up the lick As it is our duty to
strive to make the world better and
more beautiful. We can never be
! contented with sloth. Nature has
! planted in all of us the impulse to
! advance. Evolution is a part of our