The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1913-11-08

While. is constant and is difficult, and
the consciousness Of preparedness is a
tremendous asset in ones behalf. If,
for instance, you take a man who has
no knowledge of engineering and show
him the side Of mountain, and ask
him to build a railroad to the top, he
Is helpless; he does not know how to
do 1t. But take an engineer who has
prepared himself for the work and
show him what you want done, and
before a spadeful of earth is turned
he can see the track winding it's way
to the summit
In China I was interested to find a
very peculiar kind of contest that they
have there in which the birds are con-
testants. You will find that the sing
ing lark Is a favorite bird, and when
you walk along the streets of the CAPT.
tai of China you will often see a China
man out with a bird cage. He is air.
ing the bird. And they bring these
birds together and have their singing
contests, and the beauty Of it Is that
the birds decide it, and, therefore,
there is no tampering with the judges.
daughter and applause.) The birds are
brought together and they all start to
sing, but as they sing one after an
other discovers that it is out of its
class and then it gets down off the
perch and puts it's head under its wing
and will not sing again for weeks. and
this process Of elimination goes on
until at last there is just one bird left
singing, and it sings with an enthus-
iasm as If it recognized that it was
victor.
Now we are engaged in intellectual
contests as if we are active, and we
become conscious before we are long
in the contest that we are either pre-
pared or unprepared, and in proper.
ton as we realize that we are pre-
pared, ready to meet any emergency,
ready to grapple with any problem
that is presented, in that proportion
We are strong to undertake. Bring a
hundred persons together in a room,
fifty on a side, to discuss any ques-
ton. They may come from a COM
munity, state, a nation or the world,
and If they are selected men and have
not known each other before they will
all expect to speak, but as the discus
sion proceeds one after another will
drop out, AMI finally there will be just
two persons talking, and they will be
the two. one on each side, who repre-
sent the best preparation, and the
others interested in the triumph Of
their cause rather than in their own
prominence, will prefer to have their
cause we'll presented by some one else
rather than poorly presented by them.
selves. This consciousness of intcllec-
tual preparedness is the foundation of
the faith that undertakes large things
Uprightness Of Purpose.
But there is something more that is
necessary, aye, there is something
more necessary than the consciousness
Of mental preparedness, and it is the
consciousness Of uprghtness of pur-
pose. Shakespeare says: Thrice arm
ed is he who hath his quarrel just"
That is very conservative statement
of the subject. The man who Is con-
scious that he has his quarrel just is
more than thrice armed. There is
nothing that so adds to strength in a
great struggle as the consciousness of
a purpose that does not need to he
concealed. In the long run the one
who pitches the fight upon the highest
plane wins. and in any contest before
the public all you have. to do is to
show that you are unselfish and that
your opponent is selfish and you have
him vanauished at once. Nothing 81
strengthens one for great struggle
as to be able to open his heart and
challenge all to find there an unworthy
purpose or an ignoble aim. applause
would say, then, that If one was
about to undertake work of moment,
a great deal would depend upon his
faith and that faith would have to
have substantial foundation upon
which to rest. And faith in himself is
essential, but not the only essential
thing. In order to accomplish anything
among men, one must not only have
faith in himself. but faith in his fell
low-men, and there is reason why we
should have faith in each other. Why
unless one believes in others he can
not work with them, and this is in
creasingly an age of cooperation. And
faith begets faith, while distrust en-
courages distrust. Faith in ones fell
low-men has love back Of it. We must