The Washington herald., 1914-10-29

] have in mind one such per-
i son. a woman, still young,
| though not young in years. I
/ have known her all my life.
Always, in spite of bearing her share of trouble she
has been happy People say that she has "a happy
disposition" Her most noticeable quality is her in
difference to herself her unconsciousness She is al
ways thinking of other people and thinking of them
pleasantly For her all people have great attraction
On trains, in street cars, pleasure boats she is
continually falling into smiling conversation with her
neghbors people that she has never seen before that
She will probably never see again
And just as other people attract her she attracts
others.
She gives generously. Richly she receives
The whole explanation lies in caring
A lawyer in New York City has fine ear for
ncetes OF speech and the initiative instinct that so
often goes with fine ear. In his pocket he carries
little book that he studies whenever he has a few
moments leisure. In these moments he CLEANS the
rudments Of various languages And whenever he
gets chance he puts them into practice.
For example, he speaks Italian with the men who
black his boots in the mornisg and French and Ger
man with his French and German clients
! Languages his chief diversion In them he
sees all kinds of little human expression that most of
US who have perfunctorily studied this language or
that wholly miss
In London | became interested in a curious old
man used to cold winter days feeding the
birds in Hyde Park. One morning | ventured to
speak to him. Soon we were deep in talk about
birds. He did most OF the talking | was amazed
by his understanding OF birds and by the delight he
took in everything relating to birds.
I H.. IL
est in his life.
He cared for them and he felt that they needed
his care
That care gave his existence a meaning.
1t also explained why the birds few about him
without fear.
One often hears people say Il don't care !
And one often hears the words spoken as if they
conferred some credit on the speaker, as If the
speaker showed he was superior to caring
When We cease to care, nearly always
the losers.
Those who care least in the world are the most
to be pitied.
Il don't care" may be one of the most dreadful
of all expressions.
Often We hear people say, or we hear OF people
who say Il don't care to live any longer"
If analyzed those words we should find they
meant that the speaker renounced everything beau
tiful and worthy of being cared for.
And if we knew the speaker we should find that
his interests conferred in himself He was the whole
world When his interests went wrong the whole
world went wrong
OF course, when caring ceases, life is virtually
at an end.
So We should guard this faculty of caring
We should know it for the precious thing that
it is.
Just now, among the echoes of the social unrest
we hear a good deal about caring and not caring
The thing that used to be ranked among the things
most worthy of being cared for has fallen into dis
repute.
There are many workers who declare that they |
don't care for their work They even go farther
They denounce those of their fellow workers who |
say they do care for their work They say it is |
shameful for such workers to care for their work |
The reason is that such work is not worthy of being
cared for 1t is degrading, or crpplng, as we'll as
paid And in many cases what they say
is true
What was obviously blessing of mankind, a |
source of absorbing interest of noble achievements
has been turned into a curse.
Men, once free to their faculties in whole
some labor now, by thousands, enslaved reduced
to being mere tenders of machines
That this condition should be so is a loss to the
whole world
And all because what should be an inspiration to
caring has become inspiration to not caring to
hating
The who cannot love his work cannot love
his life