The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-10-05
(BY WILLIAM T. ELLIs.)


ms wild along the roadside, a delicate,
beautiful thing, which shrivels up
the instant it is touched by human
hand. 1t is 2 type of the flower of
humility. When once the virtue Of
humility is handled, it shrinks into
formlessness. If it is not unconscious,
it is unreal. You cannot be humble
and know It." runs he old Scotch
saying. So one may scarcely venture
to inquire concerning ones own hu-
mility; if the modest little plant exists
at all it will lose it's beauty if touched.
The virtue must be won, if at all, by
indirection and in real unconscious
ness. For to stimulate humility OBJ
serving its outer forms, is to become
that most odious type of pharisee, the
proud Pecksniffian pretender to low
l:ness of mind.
And the d vii did grin. for his
darling sin
Is pride that apes humility"
While one must needs be uncon-
scious of the virtue of humility in
order to possess it, one may be well
aware of ones own unworthiness. The
reasons for humility may be perfect
ly plain, even while one may mistrust
the existence of the virtue which
should grow out of the conditions. A
fair estimate of ones own worth
should beget feeling of undeserving
such as runs through the psalms and
all the great devotional literature of
Christianity. 1t does seem as if saint
illness and self-praise always existed
in inverse proportions.
Lincolns favorite poem was ooh,
why should the spirit Of mortal be
proud?" The judgment of history is
that Lincoln, this humble minded
statesman who was so great in his
simplicity, really had reason to be
mr. ;e;..
ness, however, he saw how little was
mans best alongside of his POSSIBLE
tiles. The highest are the humblest.
They who best know themselves and
life most clearly understand why the
heart of man should be humble.
What God wants is men great
enough to be small enough to be
used" says H. w. Webb-PepIoe.
He who seems humble for the vir.
tues sake has acquired only a vice
instead.
Most of us need the apostles ex-
hortation not to think of ourselves
more highly than we ought to think.
Here is man who is seriously in
pairing his usefulness to his employer
because he thinks he cannot be spared
from the office for a vacation. This |
fussy, circumstances or vanity has
been the spelling of many a worker.
Another man, of real gifts, is dissi- |
pating his powers doing a lot of petty |
tasks, to the destruction of his health, |
all because he is so conceited that he |
thinks nobody else can do then. HUI !
mility, real humility, would mean |
health for that man as we'll is hap |
piness for his family and prosperity |
for his business.
A good exercise in humility is to |
stand on the most important corner |
of the principal street of a great city |
and watch the crowds go by. HOW |
few of them even so NUN as look !
your way. Only an occasional atom
in that rushing human tide knows
your name. Instead of the all-im-
portant individual you thought your
self to be, you are to INST people a
negligible quantity.
Another way to acquire the same
wholesome idea of your relative in
significance is to take a sheet of
paper and write down he names of
the persons you know Be not too
whom you have a speaking acquaint-
ance. What is the total? A few
hundreds, or THOUSANDS, ut the most.
Then compare this lis with the total
population of your ity or country.
You are not quite sch center of !
interest as you thought, are you? nor
quite so much of a SINE body?
The graveyard is primary lesson |
in humility. Consier the thousands
of myriads and millions Of persons
wiser, richer, hole, more useful than
yourself-whose graves are now I'M
marked and forgotten. The discreet
person walks softly out of a grave
yard.
One of Kiplinfs poems, THE Files"
is sprightly hmily upon humility,
bidding the resier hunt among the
newspaper files
Where unVisite, a-cold,
Lie the crowde, years of old
In that Kensd-Green of greatness
called til files
Where dead mn lay them down
Meellly sure o long renown,
And above then sere and swift
Packs the day deepening drift
Of the all-reccding, all-effacing files
The obliteratlg, automatic files.
Courr the Mighty men who slung
Ink. Evange Sword, or Tongue
When Reform and you were young
Made their basis and spake according
in tn flies