Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-06-03
SITTING IN JUDGMENT
People Think II Would Be Easy to Do
the Other Fellows Work.

People Think IL Would Be Easy to Do
the Other Fellows Work.
How easy 1t is to map out the lives
of others for them, with the scale Of
distance and the points Of the COM
pass clearly Indicated! How simple,
to point out when they have wandered
inextricably from the directions Of the
chart, the other better way we would
have taken in their shoes! The busi-
ness Of other people would be pros
| porous in our minding. We would
have avoided, by our astuteness, that
abject and crying failure. We know
lust the short cut to take-or else the
suitable, tactful, roundabout way; we
were aware of the psychological mo-
ment and the striking hour; we could
have devised the sapient plan, the fore
thoughtful method; we could have d.
vided infallibly the right thing to do
and the right, effectual fashion Of do
ing it. With the whole record OF
another's life spread out before us,
albeit in an almost illegible scrawl, 1t
Is no hard task to point out the
Astounding errors in grammar and In
spelling. In the fair copy we would
have made, the orthography would
have been faultless. The firm-handed
transcription would have mirrored q
| life at peace with itself, moving from
strength to strength, making few
errors and those excusable. We look
| first on the picture Of the wreck that
is due to pitiable mishandling then
we contemplate with satisfaction our
own contrasting mental vision OF shin
ing success and luminous victory. II
we only had their chances, what would
we not do with them! Isn't 1t q pity to
see them spendthrifts of their golden
| opportunities! With all they do or
say or think we are at variance. At
the risk Of giving pain, we must dis
approve, tacitly or eloquently. We
were brought up, and we have since
schooled ourselves. to be in every re-
spect at odds with their abnormal and
| censurable demeanor.
There is nc danger Of overpreaching
the beauty Of tolerance, and Of the
lenient endurance Of another's In
armity, in view of our own manifold
frailties and shortcomings. Sentence
ought not to be pronounced till all
the facts are in hand and the evidence
has been duly pronounced. II we know
all, perchance a light would shine. We
should then learn the extent Of our
grievous Misrepresentation and be
willing to retract 1t. We should re-
gret our hasty Induction from insult
fcient premises We should see how
great fire a little matter had kindled;
cigarette smoker in the Adiron-
dacks throws a tiny spark into the
underbrush, and the loss may reach
thousands of dollars. So small, con-
temptible rumor tending to uglify
another's character gets started In a
dubious whisper and winds up In q
shout Of defamation with innumerabie
ringing echoes in its train. go
The people who repeat kind, favor
able things they hear-or who give
voice to the generous and charitable
things they think-are among the
best and "the angels are on their
siae. They are ever more ready to
commend than to condemn, and they
make due allowances for errorful NOR
tality. fudge not, that ye be not
judged"-there Is no wiser saying. The
habit of censure grows apace. We be-
gin by criticising what glaringly re-
quires amendment, and not satisfied
with that we begin to pick flaws in
every part of our environment. A
mere view can stand 1.-THE imperson-
al part sof q sordid neighborhood pas
sively endures it-but sensible peo-
pie are sometimes bruised beyond
healing. You can go out at your
door and replace picket In your
fence, or a cracked paving-stone in
the sidewalk; or If you can achieve a
miracle of landscape gardening around
you, and remold the face Of the earth
to suit your pleasure. But in the at
tempt to make over the people at
your elbow you will-needlessly-
incur resentment If you do not go
about it indirectly. hiddenly, cautious
ly. You may not fly right at them
straight according to your thinking.
They do not acknowledge that you
have any supernatural credentials
empowering you to amend their mode,
| of conducting their lives. You look
to them exceedingly human. You
stand no higher against the doorpost
than they do. You seem Of the earth
just, as they. In fact, even in the
| case Of the most successful people
| that we know, we take an unaccount-
able delight in finding that they do
not loom upon the landscape whit
above ourselves. That man who has
amassed colossal wealth is not nine
or even seven, feet high. That great
orator likes for dinner what we are
accustomed to eat. This author whose
works have gone into eleven foreign
tongues, that vastly popular portrait
pdlhtSI, lS diiiiCteu Will uySpepSld VI
the same variety as the besetting
complaint of some less gifted human
being. The range between mediocre
ty and genious, between badness and
goodness, between lowest and high
est, is startingly brief. The best of
men know how he has 1t in his heart
to become the worst And therefore
in his mind he finds room first Of all
for the virtue of charity that "suf-
fereth long and is kind"
The more we know, the less in
clined are we to find fault and to ad-
minister rebuke. The ignorant and
the shortsighted are ever the unsym-