Goldsboro semi-weekly argus., 1909-06-26


publish for the benefit of the children
of this city especially your talk before
st. John M. E. Church Literary
League last night.
Very truly yours,
A. E. WOLTZ.
June %, 1909.
here it is:
My Young Friends of St John Liter
ary League:
In coming to be with you tonight in
your Literary League, I assure you
that, though coming as a substitute
for another, it is a pleasure to me to
mingle with you and participate in the
purposes of your organization, and if
anything l may say finds 1odgment in
your minds as seed in fertile soil, re-
sulting in some benefit to you-to any
one or all of you-I shall, indeed, be
most happy.
And in the outset let me say that
while you are here this evening
while you are giving your time and
your presence to this gathering, let
me ask that you give your attention
also; for you know nothing can be
accomplished that is worth while
without attention. A mans business
will not succeed unless he give it at
tentiOn, farmers crops will not
| prosper unless he give them atten-
ton; the beautiful flower you cult
vate around your homes would soon
be dwarfed and finally choked out by
weeds without your attention; child
| can make no progress in his studies
unless he give them his attention;
| and so your presence here tonight will
| profit you nothing without attention.
It is an old saying-and wise one
that whatever is worth doing is
| worth doing WE'LL" If it is worth
while for you to belong to this liter
ary league it is certainly worth your
while to get out of it all possible ben
eft, and this can only be accomplish
ed by attention.
u Now do not think that / am preach
j ing to you a doctrine I do not prac-
}, tice. When the invitation came to me
to talk to you tonight, I at once gave
the opportunity attention-thought-
study, how I might best benefit you
in what I should say. And 1 have
though that 1 might best benefit you
, by pointing out how you can acquire
the most possible from this literary
league.
First, you must get yourself into a
receptive condition; you must acquire
t self-possessio n-self-poise-and con
centration. You cannot accomplish
anything in study without concentra-
tion, and you cannot acquire the fac
ulty of concentration without self
, sential to successful study, but it is
the mud-sill upon which is builded
; characteristic kind of men and wom-
, en- who hold society stable and rule
the world.
If it were proposed to analyze the
: traits of great men in all spheres OF
life with the view of ascertaining the
qualities by which they achieved
greatness, not humility, nor gratitude
nor courage-though these be virtues
| without which we cannot build up q
7 rounded character-would deserve
earliest recognition, but self-poise. Il
seems to me that this calm, beautiful
f attribute is the kingly parent to al
/. sane action-the fount from which
D outpours that which serves for the
Y fertilization and culture of the pures
e and best impulses men know-and the
: seldomest found in the days inter
i course. The proportion of what We
may call balanced men is surely no
|, | greater than one to one thousand o
: the population, counting as balanced
: him who in the varied emergencies o
It life leaps at no swift conclusions
J. wherein may be affected his or an
I'll others well or ill-beilg. And to thi
" rarity Of such men may be attributes
y the enlargement of soul one feel
when in contact with the self-con
If trol1ed man or woman. In the mids
8, of the days busy cares, in the beg
III carly babel of one-ideaed men on tn
e. street corners, that fortune whic
n leads to where the evenly poised on
lei stands may not be too eagrly EN-
le braced. Not, however, to contemplat
IL him in hero worship as one beyon
% our reach, but as pattern for us t
le fashion our own lives by, seeing i
le him our own finished selves, consid
e. ering the utility of his balance
4 thoughts and acts in bringing us
70 our own.
id And let me say to you and for you
,r encouragement here in this modes
neighborhood of st. John Church, ths
latitude or environment of birth cour
le little in the production of self-pois'
) except as they afford the mighty cor
le trast of joy and sorrow. To hav
experienced 1ife's heights and depth
of feeling are perhaps the only requ
re sites for the finished human produs
ton. Whether he be the son of PAT
per or a millionaire counts for moth
g ing when he must presently do battl
with the warning factions OF his ow