The Washington herald., 1913-02-23

|
ciety, and is one of the most scholarly.
scientific and enlightening articles that
has ever been submitted to the paper
for publication-Editor's note.)
We are prone to shortcut to happi-
ness rather than to stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord. Man loves
happiness and hates misery; but his
efforts to escape misery cause most
of his unhappiness.
Somebody. for instance. has remarked
how much of the misery Of life is
used by the fear OF death-the dying
of preliminary deaths. II you please,
since II may not be denied that who
fears a thing suffers already the thing
that he fears: when, as matter OF
| fact, dying is only once unavoidedly
necessary. and Is then ordinarily a per-
formance dead easy" to accomplish.
And after all. dying is hardly so ter
rible as living. hardly SO terrible as
life. with all Its pleasures and all its
sorrows. As an obscure. nameless,
| minor poet has sung:
The burden Of being. o Lose. is not death;
The burden Of being Is living.
But there's jos in living with love at each breath
| The having u love and the giving
| And yet, the fear of death. OF not
living of possible sickness. of uncer-
| tain bridges ahead OF us, this cowardly
| fear, what destroyer of life and of
happiness IL is. We go all our days
in bondage through fear of death.
| Right along with this as a source
| OF human misery may be mentioned
| the fear of being alone. Eden is not
Eden when you are by yourself But
wildness and companionship may be
delightful.
a book Of rerse underneath the bouEh.
| \ loaf Of bread; Jng q wine and thou
All. wilderness werr Paradise enOw!'
Man Needs Company.
| Very early in/the history of the race,
! it WAS observed and remarked that 1t Is
rot good for man to be alone-a feel
| ing that moves the infant crying in the
night: the man and the maid in the
springtime OF life; the strong man in
his prime, and all OF us when the mid
day Zest is gone and the shadows
lengthen for evenings close. | look out
upon the stars Of the sky, and am
charmed to behold the glory of them,
and how one star difrereth from another
star in glory, until l am staggered by
the separateness of them forever There
is nothing else SO terrible as this one
ness this indIvidualness, this loneliness
OF everything. To escape the terror of
il, little cells federate into organisms:
insects and birds flock together: beasts
are gregarious: men congregate. group
in families and communities. and desert
the country and build cities for COM
panionship. There is no other so strong
craving of the human soul as the crav-
ing for cOngenIal comradeshIp. So to
the average man solitude Is hell, wnIe
even serNitude in company is tolerable
living. II requires an exceptionally strong
nature to stand Contented alone, to be
independent. to feel sufficient in itself,
tC understand that the kingdom is within
you
The more We lack strength. the greater
our fear; and the more ready we are to
attempt by any means to escape the
loneliness and helplessness of ourselves.
To this sense of self-insufficiency We
owe the best that We have IN the world;
our feeling of dependence is the parent
of all our peace and progress; and from
the same feeling of insufffciency comes
much Of the worst and most pitiabe in
human life.
The fear of pain and the disagreeable
to make our escape or TO find ready
help before the bitter things and the
burdens Of life. these are the problems
that confront. appal and entangle US
For help in our weakness We turn to
various material and immaterial stim-
uIi
So the factors underlying the liquor
habit, so far the individual is con-
cerned. are not different from those that
underlie other addictions. The hsbitues
differ and their environments differ but
temperament and environment determine
for each individual his form of intoNica-
ton.
1t may be that your work, your friends.
your children. your books. and flowers
suffice you. Fortunate, indeed, Is the
man who can escape from himself and
find strength in his work, the most bless
ed gift of heaven. Work is the COM
forterer OF the strong man, as play
child's work. lifts the terribleness of
life from children. II is the continual
savior of the aged. Did you ever notice
how Industrious old people become and
how miserable when increasing age takes
their work from them? Work has be-
come their habit. it is their stimulant. |
and they die without II.
seek Relief in Drink.
Another temperament without fortitude |
to suffer pain and be still. without health |
T." enjoy what appeals to and satisfies
the strong seeks solace in some drug. |
So the weary of the days toll. the de-
pressed in spirit, the disappointed, the
without pain, and the convivial |
in his purposeless loneliness. seek victory |
DER all the ills OF life in inspiring bold |
John Barleycorn. And IL the Will, the re-
sultant of all conflicting emotions, for
bids the use of patent nostrum. narcotic
drug. or alcoholic drink. some simple |
faith. strong ideal or sweet influence of
religion may fill up the measure Of
another mans needs. So even the love
of a woman may for a time hold a man
fl ON his drink.
But the underlying factors Are the
same in every case. and the addiction,
the form of it. began in re-
sponse TO a sense of need. II grew with
repeated effort to escape the disagree
able, the ready satisfying of your hun
ger. your feeling OF insufficiency. And
now your discomfort is constantly re-
current. and you are bound by your in
tolerable longing, your discomfort is a
continual famine. dry and thirsty land
where no water is. You might have re-
sisted the impulse at the first: but now
your power to resist is perished through
nonuse: Your appetite. accustomed to
like spoiled child, is i'm
perious now; and your habit is become
,our will, the veritable controlling part
,f you.
This appetite which leads to enslav- +
ng habit may be hereditary in the
of the individual. or it may
,e acquired by him. and when acquired.
$ primarily due to defective training.
o neglect or mismanagement in child
rood OF course. you have seen fami-
les of hereditary drunkards, a weak
less of will to stand alone and resist a
the heritage OF ancestry as
much As any other Dhysical or mental