The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1911-07-08

lief for lack Of evidence. For instance.
how many leaves are on . certain tree,
how many drops Of water In the James
river, 1t any given time, how many
atoms Of material are IN your own
body now. Or exactly how many drops
Of blood are In your veins?
While such questions. might be in
teresting 70 the statistician. they are,
a. q rule. Of little uDe In the practical
affairs Of everyday life with which
our inquiries are chiefly concerned.
A. to the relative Importance of
what you know. what you assume. and
what you merely believe to be true,
that will depend upon the particular
thin~s themselves, or the time and
place they are considered. ana on your
relation to such things and to other
people whom they affect. Thus you
see that thing you know might be OF
vital import. or Of no practical conse-
quence to you or to another. or It
might seriously affect the one and not
the other.
The same might be true Of what you
either assume, or Of what you believe
to be true, always remembering that
the actual facts are entirely independ-
ent and exist as they are regardless OF
either assumptions or your beliefs. You
may md q good illustration of this In
the vagaries OF the stockmarket. the
weather, or the acts OF congress.
Admitting the Wisdom OF the pro-
verb As q man thinketh in his heart,
10 Is he" and admitting that YOU can
| think only OF things included In the
four groups above stated. and admit
ing further that what you think deter
mines all that you feel and all that you
voluntarily do, then what follows?
Does not the conclusion logically follow
that 1t is very important that you
should clearly distinguish between the
things you know and those which you
merely assume or believe up to date,
and that all during your future life you
should keep that distinction 50 con-
sciously In mind that you need not ever
be in any serious doubt on the subject
In that way alone can you truly
know yourself. or know your Fellow
HIHn. and know the Murua1 obligations
which exist between you and him, and
how to honestly discharge your own
part OF such obligations. You can at
least begin making definitions OF i'm
portant things supposed to be needed
In your work, remembering that to be
really useful under all conditions,
definition must include all the essen
ttal qualities and exclude all the nom
essential qualities Of the thing defined
The more carefully and conscien-
tiously you separate these different
things you think about or wish to
the class to which It belongs in your
own mind. the sooner you will per-
.eive your exact degree Of efficiency
in any line OF endeavor to which
you may apply the test. That being
done, you will readily see what other
and further preparation ia needed be-
fore you reach the required degree OF
efficiency.
II takes time and patience and In
tAfttRant effort wfth
sistence to do this. but surely II Ia
worth while. You certainly cannot
begin too young, nor can you ever be
too old to begin thus to better know
yourself and thereby increase your
efficiency in serving humanity.
II Is assumed that you know that
success comes only through service
the service which never consists In
striving to get something for moth
ing. either according to law or In
spite of the law. The path up the
hill Of knowledge II arduous and long.
but there In faith that for time IL
the souls substitute for knowledge.
and that faith will sustain you TIL
hope be changed to glad fruition.
Life Is moticn--iife Is progress
aud
AS IN the ages gene
The greatest JOY OF Joys shall be
Tho joy Of going on"
TX any reader would begin TO care
Gully catalogue all the things per-
sonaliy known to such reader, which
he or she considers practically neces-
sary in his or her particular work
or business. and will rigidly exclude
therefrom everything that liz not so
personally known. the tabulated result
would be most valuable business
asset and be likely to contribute ma
terially to the future success OF any
one who would exercise such wisdom
and forethought.
The writer would be very glad to
hear from any reader who will make
such an interesting effort at personal
enlightenment.
The subject OF the next lecture will
be What Could l Do Best?'
~ n