The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-11-20
When We Forget the Equity
Text of Splendid Address Delivered by Mr. Oswald Becker
at Semi Annual Reunion of Scottish Rite Bodies In
Davenport, Iowa. Thursday November 16, 1911.

general that are at fault. We accuse
Nature of playing favorites, OF giving
others the roses and us the thorns.
We are inclined to regard all bappi
ness, success, and sunshine as our
due, which we have earned somehow
by merely living. while trial, sorrow.
and pain seem an invasion of our in
diyidual rights, The Infinite gives
man neither happiness nor sorrow d.
rectly. He gives only the raw materi-
al out of which man can make what
he will.
me possession that would be The
crowning joy to one might be the use
less encumbrance, the depth of sor
row to another;the starvation role of
one would be to another a banquet of
surfeit. A hundred plants in the
same garden draw the same nutri-
ment from the same soil in the same
sunshine and air; yet each transforms
It's supply in accord with its nature,
IN harmony with its own viewpoint of
Interpretation. We forget the equity
IN judging ourselves; we forget it in
judging others.
In our bookkeeping in business we
do not let someone's debit of one hun
dred dollars wipe out his thousand
dollar credit; we realize that the man
has an equity of nine hundred dollars
remaining; that he has this amount
still to his credit Why do we not let
this simple justice apply to Judging
the acts of others?
The friend who has been kind and
generous to us for years, who has
stood bravely by us in hours of dark
ness, whose hand, firm clasped in ours
has steadied us through a crisis. who
should have many golden spots in
memory to his credit, may prove
weak, may offend us, may even desert
us. In our hurt we may let the act of
the moment neutralize the years of
consistency, truth and loyalty-one
debit cancel in an instant his long ac.
counts of credits. We make it hard
er for him, harder for ourselves, by
forgetting the equity, by overlooking
the margin still to his credit.
A little patience, little tolerance,
a little generous waiting and watch
ing before pronouncing final judg-
ment, may accomplish wonders.
For years some man in public life
may have struggled by conservation
to purpose, by loyalty to principle, by
faithful adherence to duty, and at
last reached pinnacle of fame. The
world honors him; his life is held up
as model, an inspiration to the
young, source of pride to al. But
that man may do wicked thinI and
the world is startled by the discovery
society says Now he is unmasked !:
now we know his real character."
one evil act becomes typical of a
whole life, one evil act submerges all
the good of years.
Docs society ever make one good
act the expression of a character?
Does 1t ever let one good act sweep
ike a mighty tide over wicked life
and bury it forever from sight and
/ memory? That mans character NAV
not have been hidden. There NAV
/ nave been a sudden temptation, one
tnat came when mind was weary
nope weak, and body worn, every sen
tinei against sin, for the time with
drawn, and the victory was an easy
one. Under the compelling power OF
an act once committed, morally daz
ed, he may have involved himself
further doing what ho could, no,
what ne should. Tae act was wrone
II was big black mortgage en- :
y me- but the equity, tae justice Of the