The San Francisco call., 1913-08-24

Nv I state in independence hall II
Wv Philadelphia, Phillips Brooks
In a sermon which had for G
title the name of our greatest presi.
dent said THE more we see of events
the less we come to believe in any fate
or destiny, except the destiny of char.
acter."
The preacher goes on to tell how the
character OF Abraham Lincoln was
built up, and among other things he
asks when will we learn that with
all true men it is not what they Intend
TO do, but 1t is what the qualities OF
their nature bind them to do, thai
determines their careerT'
There is a certain ancient saying
that the worst place man has ever
Imagined is paved with good intentions
1t is not a good place to keep anything
we intend to use later. but some mems
intentions would spoil even in cold
storage. so long would they be left
there.
Procrastination we say Is the thief OF
time It is likewise the thief Of char
acter, of health. of ability and even OF
genius. Do you get around to doing
the thing you intend to dor The not
getting around to do the thing that
ought to be done is the greatest under
miner of character, the greatest foe to
human comfort, to human efficiency, to
any future success.
Many OF the irritations Of daily life
are due to the fact that some one, or
many people, and even yourself, do not
get around. Any man would perhaps
find 1t easy to count up the number of
people who do the next day, or the
next week. or perhaps never at all. the
thing that ought to be done today.
INDIGESTION BECOMES CHRONIC
A brilliant man. although he ac-
quires an international reputation IN
his work, has now lost out" as we
say, because he was forever in that
state of indecision that often grows to
be chronic with any man or woman
who is putting off until some other time
what they ought to do now. loosely
1T once seemed, he took for his motto
always, Never do today what you can
put off until tomorrow" The worst OF
such motto is that it not only hinders
a man from doing what he ought to do
today, tomorrow and the next day, but
that the habit OF procrastination is one
that saps the whole moral fiber and
causes the petering out of the most
brilliant abilities.
1t is rather fashion with intelli-
gent people to laugh at their habits oi
procrastination, a tacit recognition O,
the fact that such habits are ridicu.
lous, but human. There are a great
number OF people who think they have
found just excuse for weakness when
they say 1t is human" Likewise IT is
in the nature Of fire to burn, but it is
anything but sensible to subject all
inhammable materials to the fire.
"A family arrangement" was the
jocose name given to certain little In
conveniences resulting from procrasti-
nation in a good New England home
One Of these was little square piece
OF wood in a cellar door which had
become loosened from It's place, SO that
almost every time the door was opened
1t would fall out The mother of the
household was the one to open that
door most frequently, and. being a pa
tient. neat and methodical woman. she
would stoop down to get 1t and
pull it into It's place again. II
would not have taken much time te
have bought some glue and fastened ii
in, but this, supposed to be a mans
duty by the older generation, was not
done, though the piece fell out year ir
and year out.
The college bred sons of this house
hold laughed about this and some other
things like It, naming them "the fam
lily arrangements" but early influences
count, and probably 1t has been, more
than anything else, the proscrastina.
tion in their lives which has KEEP
them from fulfilling the promise OF
their youth.
The habit OF procrastination is pos
sessed and few people are entirely
without 1t, and this. either feeble OF