Newark post., 1911-06-28
Plain Thoughts
For Plain Men

If an optimist is the composite of a pes
slmist and he is--then he is not the man
who is capable of the most good for the
common veal For as the pessimist will
see through the glass darkly, the opti-
mist Will so to the other extreme and
with his rose-colored vision will miss
the crydities of life and thus fail in
that proportion TO correct those existing
evils.
The pessimist is not normal And not
any less so is the optimist The world
needs men today who are norma1-meil
who see things as they are. With a
hope founded on an honest determination
to make not only life but lives wotth
living. Such a man is a realist without
the sordidness of the materialist and
without the glamor of the idealist-a
strong man is what we want; one who
recognizes right as right and condemns
wrong as wrong and live: to fight if
necessary for the maintenance of the
one and the destruction of the other A
strong man whose aim is to oppose ra-
ther than condone anything that does
not become a manly code. ITO FOL-
LOW THE LINE OF THE LEAST RE-
SISTANCE" is a towards motto. And
we see it every day.
Old Age begins when a man stops on
his march to look back and point with
pride to some deeds done. You have
reached the climax, of your career when
you glance backward. Men of years who
look ahead never grow old. Eve pointing
to the Paradise of her youth is pictured
walk daprnpfd para ia mat ha
yond. FAME is for the deed we will do
tomorrow and HONOR is our preparation
today The story of your yester day is
| for the study of your children, but you
| can i'll afford to read it. 1t means reac-
| tion-old age-death.
II have seen IL my times a hundred
artisans, hundred labourers wiser and
| happier than the rectors OF the Univer-
siIy."
"a thousand poor women have lived
n a village a life more equaole, more
| sweet, more constant than that OF Ci-
! cero. ."--Montaigne.
To be terse, aconic, is considereu vul-
gar Rather must we speak, or write,
| for the Athenian rhetorician with gram
matical precision. To be epigrammatical
| bars one nowadays from the drawing
room. Rather must he drawl out the
Truth, don't you know Truth is and ever
was short, concise, but its distortion re-
tquires that ilrayl and spoken with
| thoughton all rules in order to deceive.
"For the most part, colleges are places
where pebbles are polished and diamonds
are dimmed. The man who is htted TO
take care of himself in all the condi-
| tion in which he may De placed, is, In
very important sense, an educated uan
The savage VINO understands the HABITS
| of animals, who is a good hunter and
fisher, is a man of education, taking into
| consideration his circumstances. me
graduate of a university who cannot
take care of himseIf-no matter how
much he may nave studied-is NOT AN
| EDUCATED MAN.
"Ws thank thee for this place in which
we dwell; for the love that unites Us;
| for the peace accorded US; for the nope
| with which we expect the morrow; for
the health, the work, the food and the
| bright skies, that make our lives de-
liRhtful; for our friends in all parts OF
the earth, and our friendly helpers IN this
Isle. Help us to repay in service one TO
another the debt Of Thine unmerlted
benefits and mercies. Grant that we
NAV be set free from the fear OF viclssi-
tude and death, may finish what re-
mains Of our course without dishonoI
to ourselves or hurt to others, and give
| at last rest to the weary.
| The farmer is teaching by exa"pie'
His is not only profession OF theory
1t is theory and practice. want 10
fell YOU that the time has come tna'
the man behind the plough is as grea'
and is being so considered as the man
behind the desk or the man benlnd tne
gun. The prie0t, the ruler, the soldier