The Washington herald., 1910-11-20
SUNDAY. NOVEMBER. 20. 1910.
NEED OF AMBITION,


pity it is that some words, like some
men, seem to fall from virtue, and once
given an in reputation are ever after
regarded with suspicion. In such evil
caso is the word ambition, for the bad
name of which the poets are. perhaps.
largely responsible Surely no hopeful
soul who has a real purpose in the world
but must be fred with smhition-that
desire 10 win honorable distinction the
wish TO excel and Yet We have, often
quoted. shakespeaTe's:
Fling away ambition;
Ry that sin fell the angels hoW can man, then,
The image Of mis- Maker. hope to win byt!
Many other distinguished writer's have
taken a warped view of ambition Bur
ton. in his Anatomy of Melancholy, q"
wrote
That eXOrbitant appetite and desire
OF honor which We commonly call am
hilton: love OF money. which Is COyetous-
ness. and that greedy desire of gain; self
love, pride, and inordinate desire of vain
glory or applause. love OF study in eX-
cess; love OF woman (which viii require
a Just volume of ITSELF. of the others l
will briefly speak and In their order. Am
btion a proud cOvetousness. a gallant
madness, one defines il as a pleasant
poison; Ambrose, a canker OF the SOUL a
hidden plague;' Bernard. a secret poison.
the father Of livor and mother OF hy-
pocrisy, the moth OF holiness and cause
Of madness, crucifying and disquieting all
that 1t takes hold Of
But severe as this is, Burton is mild
compared TO other OF the poets. who seem
TO see ia ambition one of the gravest
faults Of which the human mind can be
capable. Milton couples ambition and re-
vense together, and Quintilian spoke of
ambition as a hideous vice.
In the face of this protest it might seem
hopeless 10 say word in behalf OF am
bItou, but after all. If one takes a san
guine view Of life and the purposes that
move it. we may come to see that ambi-
tion even. may lead us toward what is
highest and nobiest in our natures. II
may be given 10 some Of US TO believe,
with Shakespeare, that
Nn are sometimes masters Of their fates;
The fault dear Brutus is not in or stars.
But 10 ourelyes that we are underlings.
What man is there so self-deprecatory
and base as not to have the ambition 10
rise above the position of an underiing.
II is truc that
They sho stand high have many blasts to shake
them,
And Il they fan they dash themselves 10 pieces.
But who could be so cowardly as to
resi- content with lowliness, moved bg
the same spirit that made Sir Walter
Raleigh scratch on the window pane
Fam would / climb INT that fear to fall.
To be ambitious for worthy things
should be as natural to man as the desire
10 do good, for as a man rises in the
world so does his power for doing good
Ia others increase. As J. c. Holland
wrote: Every man who can be first
rate sUmething-as every man can be
who is any man at alI-has no right to be
q ifth-rate something; for a hfth-rate
something Is no better than a frst-rate
nothing. The truth Of the matter is that
even in the faculties of the human mind
aud heart nature IS careful Of her COM
pensations. and ambition in mans soul
s. generally proportioned 10 his capacity.
Few. indeed. are the men who have am
bition toward great things who have not
something of the viii power and the
capacity to carry them out.
Beatue, in his Minstrel" cries:
All. who can tell how hard it is to climb
The steep where flames pTosd temple shines afar-
as if he had overlooked the fact that
even to live humbly and to try a little
IS meWhat hard. also Life was not
made to be easy; even on its lowest plane
the difficulties and dangers strain all that
is divine in the powers of man, and to De
ambitious is to show a willingness to
increase those dangers, TO face added
pains, and TO front life boldly unashamed
and unafraid'
We need never be afraid that we shall
attain the goal Of our ambitions. for ever
the goal recedes as We draw near. II Is
not given us to be contented-if We be
brave TO use life honestly is like climb
ing mountain peak; no matter how hard
the steep just gained, always we must
climb on and find other heights yet to
be scaled. True happiness lies in the
ambitious striving, rather than in attain
ment:
To tn expanded and aspiring soul.
fo be but still The thing it long has been
Is misery
The one thing We have to guard our
selves against is unworthy ambition;
selfish striving; winning of the race IN
fairly
The true ambition IN ,ra alone resides
Where justice indicates and wisdom guides.
Where inward dignity joins outward state
our puTpoze good IS our achievement great,
Where public blessings public praise intend
Where gioFs is our motive not orr end;
Woulds't thou be famed Have those high acts in
view.
Brave men would act. though scandal would ensne.
Both San Francisco and New Orleans
are cleaning up as a bid for the Panama