The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-03-23
Interesting Paper Read by Mr.. Oswald Becker Before
zarephath Consstory Of Scottish Rite Masons at Davel
port, Iowa, March 20, 1918.

4
may stimulate; in larger ones it usual
lily enervates. 1t prerequisites the
past at the expense OF the present; it
adds weights to purpose instead of
! wings. 1T might have BEEN is the
lullaby of regret with which men of
ten put to sleep their best efforts. We
may speculatiyely try to reconstruct
our life from some date In the past
when we might have done differently.
We build on dead "if.' This is the
most foolish brand of air castle.
Lies Slippery 'Its."
We go back in memory to some
fork OF the road in life and think
what would have happened and how
wondrously better it would have been
/ had we taken the other turning of the
lrotd
II we had learned some other
business IF we had gone west in
1894 IF we had married some one
else:,' if we had bought telephone
stock when it was 35;'' "if we had
taken a different course in education;''
If we had only spent certain money
In some other way"-and so we may
run our empty train of thought over
the slippery ifs. Even if these
courses would have been wiser, it is
as impossible to change them now as
for the human race to go back to the
original bit of protoplasm from
which science declares we are evolv-
ed. The past does not belong to us
1t would be useless If it did,--it is
only the golden present that is ours
to transform into a new past it will
be joy to look back to in the years
to come.
The other road always looks attrac
tive. Distant sails are always white;
far-off hills always seem green 1t
may perhaps, have been the poorer
road, after all, could our Imagination
see with perfect vision the finality of
its possibility. The other road might
have meant wealth, but not happi-
ness: fame might have filled our ears
with the sweet music of praise, but
the hand of love that rests so trust
ingly in ours might have been denied
US; death itself might have come
earlier to us or his touch stille3 the
beating of heart we hold dearer than
our own. What the other road might
have meant no eternity of thought
could reveal. no omnipotence could
/ enable us to walk therein even if we
wished
We cannot relive our mistakes: Blu.
4 We can make them the means of fu-
4 ture immunity from the folly thar
/ caused them. IF we were impatient
/ yesterday, i. should inspire us to be
more patient today. Yesterdays anger
/ may be the seed CT today's sweetness.
Today's kindness should be the form
I assumed by our regret at yesterday S
/ cruelty. Our unfairness to one may
I open our eyes to the possibility OF
I greater fairness to hundreds. Injustice
TO one that may. seem to have cost us
much. may really have cost little if it
makes MS more kind, tender and
thoughtful for long years.
I 1t is a greater mistake to err in
/ purpose. in aim. in principle, than in
method of attaining these. The methcu
may be modified easily; to change the
purpose may change the whole life.
It is easier in mid ocean to change
the direction OF the course than to
change the cargo, Right principles
are vital and primary. They bring
the maximum of profit from mis-
tafcr. reduce their friction to mini
mum. False pride perpetuates our
mistakes. deters us from confessing
! them, debars us from repairing them
and ceasing them False pride makes
a man eclipse himself with himself.
Peculiar Attitude Toward Mistakes.
Mans attitude toward his mistakes
is various and REGULAR: some Dc not
, see them; some will not see hem;
some see without changing; some
see and deplore them, but keep on,
some make the same mistakes over
and over again in principle, not in
form; some blame others for theii
own mistakes: some excuse their mis-
takes by saying hat others do the