The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1913-08-14


falIy to That have to say.
Now. dften and often, have written
happiness breeds happiness. Just as
true is it that courage brings forth
courage, that strength gives greater
strength. But I am now going to
speak of weakness to tell you that it
causes further weakness. And the
feebleness of which wish to warn you
today is lack of self-conceit.
1t Is thus that you throw away the
gold of life lit is thus that the pleas
ure of living becomes the pain of ex-
istence. Without self-control you can
not apply yourself consistently to your
everyday tasks; without it ambition is
dissipated in your misdirection of en-
ergy.
You allow yourself to become great
ly irritated over some trife or another;
you ink yourself with a worry whose
principal foundation lies in your imagi-
nation; you resent some petty annoy
ances or fly into an uncomfortable |
rage over another and greater mis-
demeanor.
And your easy transports of unkind- |
ly emotion sap your strength and de-
stroy your energy. Each and every !
one of them is weakness, making for !
greater and more frequent weaknesses. |
You know that within you is a mag
nificent and Unreasonable force which !
we term vitality-the very spark of
life; and you should know that this
vitality depends upon you for its food
you either distort it with evil and
weaken it with your failings or build
it up to enormous beauty and strength
with goodness and fortitude-with self
control.
Believe me now you can control no.
thing else if you cannot control your
self. That statement should appeal to
your calm reason without any argu-
ment. And if you have gained COM
plete control over yourself you are in
position to control others and to
build up your life in successful achieve
ment until you have constructed
monument of strength and goodness.
Self-control is the secret of all appli-
ed streets, whether it be of the body,
the mind or the spirit. The three APP
pear to be as one. Or rather, without
control of them all it is almost impos-
sible to gain the control of any one.
The physical is the lowest control,
for the action merely depends upon
the nerves that respond to the brain,
and yet this is a difficult enough eff
fort, for the intellect must learn to
resent the purely physical inclinations
of the body.
There at once you have the control
of body and mind inextricably mixed.
There at once it becomes self-evident
that without control of the mind there
is little control of the body possible
So it goes on to the control of the
purely mental and on again to the
highest control-that of the spirit
| NhCh hOehlhS oSiNO w dtotuip thS
tranquil strength or to mist the clarity
of sight.
think have told you, at some time
or another, how, in parts of India, the
children are made to sit in the busiest
part of the bazaar or market place with
their faces to the wall and that. no
matter what commotion may arise,
they must take absolutely no notice
of 1t.
This is nothing more or less than
an early training in self-control: it re
suits In a wonderful development of
the brain calmness that is strength
SO I COUNSEL you to teach yourself
self-control, for it's rewards are in
estimable. Do not imagine that when
you repress a wilful inclination to-
ward rage and hate, worry or any of
the kindred uncontrolled evils you reap
no benefit.
Every time you exercise such con
troll you save your own vitality, you
guard your energy, which thus boards
itself up and creating new energies,
adds to your strength and to your self
control