The Washington herald., 1910-11-02
$500 $500
MEMBERS OF THE
OPTIMIST CLUB.

HS subiStt NheHNh IWE thE hEAt
symposium OF The Washington
Herald Optimlst Club is, 1 think,
one that should give rise To many
optimistic thoughts, for the very
essence of optimism is courage.
IL Is not always easy 40 he cOur-
ageOus under any and all circum-
stances, but the spirit of true
optimism teaches us to nVOid fear.
That, then, Is the subject for sun
day, November 13.
ON AVOIDING FEAR.
There Is no passion in the soul
of man which so effectunl!y rObs
the mind of all its powers Of
right acting and proper reason
ing as fear, for fear is an RD-
prehens!On of pain or of death.
and it operates In a manner that
resembles actual pain. How true
are AddisOn's wOFdsi
Were mans sorrows and disluietudss
generally b. found that be had suffered
more from the apprehension q such evils as
never happened 10 him than from those evils
which had really hefallen him.
IL is well enough, indeed. TO
walk the paths of life with care;
NOT rushing headlong into unnec-
essary danger. but "A proper care
f. vastly different from fear.
OF all base passions, fear is the most ac-
cursd,
says Shakespeare In "Henry VI"
and he meant, doubtless, accursed
because il not only blanehes the
soul of him that INDUCES in IL,
but Is a vice that il catching, and
the cOwHrd's example may well
turn brave spirit out of the
right way.
1 do not mean To- say, of course,
that fear il altogether unayOid-
able. IL il, perhaps, AZ much a
part of the natural instincts OF
man as the enjoyment of pleas
ure, the delight of the eye, or the
quality of taste. But IL is 10 he
treated, we Opine. like NIL other
evils that assaiI man with the old
Adam strong within him, like the
impulse 10 lying or 20 Unkind-
ness or seIfshness. and is to be
rnthlessIy subdued or put down.
The brave man is not he who feels no fear,
For that we're stupid and irrational;
But he whose noble soul its fear subdues
And brayely dares the danger nature zhTilks
from.
says Johanna bailey. Burke tells
us that fear is brought about by
a recognition I'm the human soul
of the sublime nature, but his
discussion. which will be found
in his essay on "rhe sublime" Is
a thought too academic for this
age, which is not in love with a
philosophy that talks around its
subject, but wants it's comfort
more directly. Burke Is right,
however. when attributes the
foundations OF fear tO fear OF
death, and that must seem 10 the
man OF real courage about as un-
reasoning and stupid "A cause as
could possibly he assigned.
For one has only to think of
life MS opportunity to he used
wisely and made the best of
while "a lasts Ia realize that the
idea of deHth has in IT nothing
terrible or fearsOme at all. We
all need, perhaps, something of
the fine spirit that led Hamlet to
sRyt
Why, what should be the fearl
do not st my life az a pins fee;
And. for my soul, what can II do 10 that,
Beng thing immortal as itselfl
Along such lines as these we
should get some interesting es-
says. For the hest two. prizes OF
s. each will be given. All essays
should he I'm by noon Wednesday,
November o.
Thanking you for the fine page
which you have made for the
coming sunday, I ana. sincerely
yours, THE OPTIMIST.