The Washington herald., 1912-06-02
Don't Be Suspicious if You
Would Make Most Of Yourself.
BY g. s. MADDOCKS.

were rather typical OF TnlsB ana their Gus
picions, as Is often the case. ehose-the bright
est mark. OF them 1t was written: " The
folks yersabouts cidn't never like him cause
he didn't preach enough about he'll and the
weepin' and wailin' and gnashin' O. teeth.
They somehow suspieioned he wasn't quite
sound on hell."f
It is an ancient saying that in trade we
still. suspect the smoothest dealers OF the
deepest designs. And here Is q case, like
some others, where suspicion may be well
founded. It may be also well founded when
It Is exercised upon political designs, but II
we turn to the politics Of Russia we can SEQ
what hidsous wrong and injustice has been
worked upon the so-oAlled political sus-
pect" Circumstances alter cases even In
the case OF suspieions, though Il is q reason
able demand that men IN certain public
ofices should be, as We say, above suspicion.
There IS some excuse for man who has
been exasperated by failure TO suspect others
Of sycophAnoy, dishonesty. seoundrelism;
but he never gains anything by so doing. The
demerits Of others viii not piece out his own
deficiencies. It has been said that no man
can quarrel with his situation In life or the
times with impunity, and said BY good
many different philosophers. A man who In
yariably arrays himself on the onside Is
bound to lose out, and as ne loses he be-
comes all the more thWart and peFyerse."
It is as easy for q man to be the dupe Of his
own prejudices or suspicious, as he not infre-
quently Is OF his self-conceit. He may, In
consequences, have no sense Of I" the trick Of
getting on In the world" He may be hood
winked even by those whom he believes his
friends, while he bitterly suspects all the rest
-. haFr "a
against him.
An Enemy to Wisdom.
Old Fuller, as we are accustomed to can
that worthy. says, "Suspiciousness Is as
great an enemy to wisdom as too much ere
dulity," and oftentiInes as hurtfully wrong.
To suspect an innocent person OF evil or
crime is very common among the unwise. A
certain kind Of detective invariably fastens
his mind on the probability that the weakest
person, the one least protected by position
or good sense in defense, is guilty. The
smooth rascal will slip away from these men
as famous for their unwisdom as for their
highly developed Euspiciousness.
To entertain or cherish suspicious con-
stantly concerning ones fellow men demor-
allies the moral sense and degrades the in
teIHgence. Wisdom cannot develop when
suspicion constantly bars the gate Of the
mind. The progress OF the world has even
been delayed on this account. Great num-
bers Of men have ever been Suspicious OF the
slightest innovation, doubling its utility on
principle, and giving it no chance for de-
fense.
Goodness thinks no III where no I'll seems,
but an evil minded mind Is as Suspicious OF
good as Of evil There can be little or no
love for anything In his heart, for he can
not love what he suspects.
Although they have chosen to write on all
the other distractions Of character, few phil
osophers have chosen to write specifically
and directly OF this one suspicioni but Fran
els Bacon has two hundred words or SO on the
subject He says Just what We would expect
" the wisest Of men to say. describing what
it Is, its effects, and its remedies.
Suspicious among thoughts" says Bacon,
d" are like bats among blrds-they ever ny
by twilight Certainly they are to be re-
pressed. or at least well guarded, for they
cloud the mind, they lose friends. and they
check business, whereby business cannot go
on currently and constantly. They dispose
kings to tyranny. husbands to Jealousy, wise
men to irresolution and melancholy. They
are defects, not in the heart but in the brain,
for they take place in the stoutest natures.
In fearful natures they gain ground
too fast There is nothing makes man sus-
pect much more than to know little, and
therefore men should remedy suspicion by
procuring to know more and to keep their
suspicious in smother
How to Moderate Suspicious.
what would men have? Do they think
those they employ and deal with are saints?
Do they not think they will have their own
ends, and be truer to themselves than to
them? Therefore, there is no better way
to moderate suspicious than to account upon
such suspicious, as true and yet to bride
them as false. For, so a man ought to make
use of suspicious as to provide. as II that
should be true that he suspects, yet it may do
him no hurt.
"suspicions that the mind gathers are but
buzzes; but suspicious that are artihcially
nourished and put into mems heads by the
tales and whisperings Of others, have stings.
Certainly. the best way to clear the way in
this world Of suspicious, Is frankly to COM
municate them with the party that he sus-
poets; for thereby he shall be sure to know
more Of the truth Of them than he did before;
and withal shall make that party more cir
cumspect not TO give further cause Of sus-
picion. But this would not be done to men
of base natures; for they, II they find them
selves once suspected. will never be true
This three centuries old and humane ad-
vice is Just as good today as It was in Baeon's
time. Suspicion, like fear, envy, care, spite,
and Jealousy, is no servant OF
man, but soon becomes his master IL ad-
mitted to his thoughts. It undermines his
mind. it imbitters his sentiments, and It dis .
credits his success.
49, D.sJME.L