The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-09-17

| that they walt I'm vain Occasionally,
too. the waking call comes too late
the chance which gives permission
TO take actIon-when their host youth
and strength for action have been
used up in sitting still; and how many
a one, just rs he sprung np,' has
found with horror that his limbs are
benumbed and his spirits are now too
heavy, IT is TOO Iate, he has said
10 himself and has become seli-dis-
trustful and benceforth forever use
| less.-In the domain OF genius. may
not the Raphael without hands. ttak-
ing tho expression in IT'S widest sense)
perhaps not he exception but the rule.
Perhaps genius is by no means so
rare: but rather the five hundred
hands which It needs TO tyrannize
over the Kslros. the right time
in order to take chance by the fore
lock"
Thus said Nietzschc, whose view
point. however was perhaps too large
ly Influenced by his own life. But his
thought must have been that of every
man who has ever had thought worth
while
The theory Is easily proved, says
the Miner. Take Oliver Cromwell,
for example He had no military
training. Until we'll into middle age,
he took no part In public affairs He
was suddenly called TO war. Within
few years the raw farmer had beat
en- three or four men who were con
sidered the peers of the best soldiers
of Europe, had added some data to
tactics and invented a new form OF
cavalry Passing from the saddle to
the throne, he held his own with the
best statesmen OF the time and proved
himself no mean economist as we'll
AS d preacher he eXcelled and as a
politician had few equals. This man
bears out Carlyle's theory that any
great man could have been all sorts
of men
Yet Cromwell's selection was
chance. pure and simple: none famil-
lar with his career can doubt il. So
was Napoleon. Contrast the two with
Friedrich of Prussia and Caesar The
former was trained to arms as q boy:
the latter bore long apprenticeship
In the field and was not. In his earl
ier years. a brilliant soldier Both
these were selected by human wisdom
TO? their task while chance selected
both Cromwell and Napoleon.
1t has often been said that better
plays than Shakespeare penned have
gone TO rot in cabinet drawers; more
wonderful inventions than the linotype
have died in the brains OF suicide gem
fuses. Almost all our epoch-making
mechanical advances have been fore.
casted-not a moral or economic dlvls.
ion but has been seen from cen
L
as the Hebrews revered it was moth
Ing but common sense coupled with
deep knowledge of the fundamental
laws. Carlyle foresaw conditions In
America today half-century ago and
Nietzsche, 10 come back TO the Ger
man. wrote in 1880 the tendency of
socialism and democracy, as We see Il
who now live.
Hence, thought is widely difIused;
but opportunity for action is dictated
by the Great God Chance After
thousand martyrs had gone to the
grave for abolition. chance thrust for
ward Abraham Lincoln Which brings
to mind the next step toward the con-
clusion-which is that man born out
of his time can effect nothing in his
time. Chance Itself cannot force up
on a people recognition OF that for
which they are not prepared which
they do not deserve.
Chance blasts the high hopes of
youth; but the philosopher who start
ed in excelsior fashion only TO end in
a rut. smiles grimly and takes his
consolation In the thought that what
ever is. is right II is we'll that the
dicty has a superabundance Of ma
torial