The Paducah evening sun., 1910-04-16

mad scramble for the vanities of an
hour; that dies out in note of de-
spair, which, unfortunately, is
drowned by the tumult and the same
old cry from new throats.
We want our town to be up-to-
date. How many express the wish
that the business of their home town
be established on enduring founda-
tions OF honest values and fair deal
| ing. that its products may add to the
worlds wealth and the sum OF human
happiness; that its public funds be
properly administered; that the bur
den of taxation be equitably dtstrib-
uted; that the comfort and health OF
its Inhabitants be intelligently Sc
cured and protected? One may think
that these things go without saying,
but they do not. We emphasize too
much the ephemeral. we strain after
something other than permanence.
We are beginning to feel the lack of
this element in our work; but We do
not yet apprehend 1t.
Our ethics Is wrong. We are heed
less OF ou- foundations. A corner
lot is sold for a thousand dollars a
front foot; a building is erected on
1t at a cost OF a quarter OF a million
dollars; the building is up-to-date,
an ornament TO the city; but do we
stop to think that only the value of
the real estate under II made the
skyscraper a financial possibility;
and that the firmness Of the ground
had much to do with the value Of It
By and bye the building will give way
to a new one to meet the future
modern demands; but the ground
will be there. unchanged.
A house built on sand will not
withstand the floods; which is an
other way of saying that no logic,
however keen Of itself, promised on
will last. All human rea-
soning must assume something as a
starting point. II what is assumed Is
true and the reasoning logical. the
result will be truth; but beware of
artificial foundations cleverly con-
cealing unstable ground beneath;
for, no matter how well devised the
superstructure and how sound the
walls, It must inevitably collapse un-
der unusual stress.
We are different in our ways and
environments from our forefathers,
and we must rebuild much of our
thought structures to suit the de
mands of the times; but there is no
reason to change the sound founda-
tions on which the ages have builded.
Because a building is old and out-of-
date is no sign that the real estate
under II is not valuable. Those, who
would cling to the old habits of
thought, cannot expect to hold fol-
lowing today; and those. who would
abandon the truth, because the times
have changed, are blind leaders Of
the blind.
provoke thought; music that inspires
pure emotions; art that stimulates
Imagination, and time for medita-
ton. These cultivate individuality
and keep the mental functions in
normal condition. Five minutes a
day devoted to rational literature
will save a man from the 'fsms'' and
"ics" of the moment; but rational"
doesn't comprehend popular pseudo
scientific works. whose chief bid for
attention is that they are "up-to-
date" They are out of date before
one has time to read them.
Let the fads, fancies and fallacies
rise and fall. while we maintain a
permanent foundation on the funda-
mental, time tried truths. and build
that which will be OF practicable serv-
ice In our time. rather than merely
sa ffSfv the glance Of a carplasS eve