Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1909-12-16
Good VIII.

We have all met the habitual be
hitler, says Orison SWEET Marden in
Success Magazine who never sees any
good in anything which does not I'M
mediately concern himself, advance
his interests, the man who is always
flinging out his sarcasms, sticking a
knife into other peoples backs, MAX
ing light of others motives, finding
faults and defects in their characters
and implying that they are not what
they pretend to be.
1t is positively painful to the smah
soul to hear a competitor Comph-
mented or spoken well of. He always
tries to minimize the virtue and quail
ity of the praise of another by ma
licious if or but" or endeavors in
some way to throw doubt upon the
character of the person praised.
The habit of belitNing is a confess
sion of weakness, of inferiority, OF
small, jealous, enviOus nature; a con
| fessiOn that ones life is not We'll
poised, we'll balanced. The large,
| jealousy, for the belittling spirit. 1t
magnities the good and minimizes the
bad.
| A spirit of generosity and kindness
is an indication of greatness Of soul.
| Jealousy, envy, a disposition to keep
from others the credit which belongs
to them, are marks Of a small nature,
pinched mentality A kindly spirit
always accompanies largeness of ma
! ture, breadth of character. The man
who beIittles a competitor, who main
| tains a mean silence when he should
praise, only exhibits to the world his
own narrowness and stinginess OF
| soul. A man with a really large ma
! ture is generous, charitable, even to
his enemy.
The belittler does not realize that
! in dsparaging others, in discounting
the achievements of competitors, he Is
| exposing the limitations of his own
soul the smallness of his nature, and
not only that. but all the time is max
ing the person he is talking to think
| less of him We little imagine that
when we draw picture of others we
draw one of ourselves. A small, mean
soul sees only small, mean things in
another. A really great nature sees
only the good qualities of others.
Unfortunately, men of great ability
who have been distinguished for bril-.
liant intellectual gifts, often unusual
courage and tenacity of purpose, men
who have really done big things, have
! frequently been insanely jealous and
envious of others, especially in the
same profession or business as them
| selves.
Many singers and actOrs-and, am
sorry to say, some clergymen-suher
from professional jealousy. They are
panied by hearing others in their pro
fession praised. This jealousy is per
| haps more characteristic of profession
al people generally than Of business
people.
/ know a clergyman who would be
very popular and successful if he were
only large enough to see the good in
HIS DiOLhCI IlCi 81 mon, DhC liS 10 hCb'
He is always emphasizing their faults
and weaknesses, especially those OF
men who are gaining in popularity. II
any one praises another clergyman,
Yes" he will say, "he is pretty
good man but he is not always abso-
lutely accurate, reliable, in his state
ments;" or "He is very free in his
use of other preachers sermons; he
is a great borrower of IDEAS" or he
will make some other nasty, belittling
remark.