Evening star., 1909-04-18
Sunday Morning Talk.

Over q telephone the other day asked
man whom l had not seen for months
what he was doing. Same old Job"
was the reply, and the tone as well as
the language indicated what he thought
of 1t. 1t was not the note of disgust
and open revolt, but rather that Of
grin and bear IT, Of patient acquies-
cence in the inevitable, together with
the abandonment OF hope that things
would ever better.
1t seemed as II the voices OF multi
tudes were speaking over the wire.
could hear the unvoiced complaint Of the
man who opens and shuts q gate all day
long, the man who hands out tickets
through window, the man who delivers
milk at the back door In the gray Of the
morning, the woman who stitches away
on a garment, the woman who washes
dishes, who mends the children's gar
ments, the woman who attends to the
fretful and demanding babies. In fact,
the whole multitude of persons con-
demned to single kind of task, and that
In itself terribly monotonous. spoke in
that one mans response over the wire,
Same old job
Modern life presents no greater single
personal problem than that of securing
an honest and cheerful measure of serv-
ice on the part of the muititudes to whom
the progress and differentiation of in
dustry has assigned relatively small and
menial tasks of treadmill character.
The same personal problem confronts
even those who have higher tasks. who do
not have to delve and grind in the midst
| of material things; but who. nevertheless.
do not escape that sense OF WEAKNESS be-
cause of unyielding obstacles. cramping
| limitations. and only a moderate degree
of success when their ambition is spur
ring them to larger achievements. And
4 a ftn1 A. Iii
Of U.S. how can we face the same old
job morning by morning with new cour-
| age, initiative and hope?
First, by looking at 1t as new task.
| If we have sat in the same chair or stood
behind the same counter for ten, fifteen
or twenty years: but 1t is within the field
| of the possible. provided one has deter
sings:
Every day is a new beginning.
Every morning is a world made new.
Try it some day and approach the old
duty as though you had never seen 1t
before, and see II 1t does not present to
you some new and inspiring aspects.
Or we might think OF the next days
service as the last one we should ever
render. That might make things seem
little solemn. to be sure. but it would
slipshod work. from leaving any raw
edges for our successor to deal with The
wonderful thing about the work of Jesus
Christ was that he finished It, left 1t in
precisely the right shape for his followers
to take 1t UP and carry on.
There is incentive. too, In trying to
imagine how some other man would do
the same thing. Suppose President Taft
could spare day from the White House
and the oversight of this nation to do
your job how would he approach 1t?
What new ways and improved methods
| would he employ? What kind of a spirit
would he show? What would be his at
titude to his employers and the concern
| as whole? How would he deal with the
problem? This ''other man" Is not an
impossibility or myth. He may turn
up any day, and you had better antici-
pate his coming by trying to do as well
as he would do In your place.
And the last and chief source of fresh
courage for the same old job" is the
| consolation of being a soldier on duty
and guidance of life by a higher
power we shall be apt once and again TO
| recoil from the monotony and strain and
lirksomeness. But suppose you can Say,
| God wants me here. He put me Here;
| for all ] can see he wants me and no one
| else here. When he wants me elsewhere
| he will give me release. / don't deserve
| promotion. unless I have done my level
best just here and now''-what new
phase that puts on the old task, The
great theologian, Nathaniel Bushnell.
Mans Life Plan Of God" To fulfill
| that plan is better than to get riches or
| fame, and in the long run. in proportion
| as we do our part toward its fulfillment,
we obtain our greatest happiness.
THE PARSON.