Norwich bulletin., 1914-09-26
SUNDAY MORNING TALK
The Courage to Quit.

It takes courage to hold fast. but frequently courage of quite as fine a
 sort to let go. To know how to quit
 Is as valuable as to know how to hang on. The drummer boy who said he
 could beat a, retreat was not a scien-
 tiic soldier. For a retreat may be the best possible strategy, the forerunner
 of glorious victory.
 There is a difference between pluck and pig-headedness. Many a, man
 fatters himself that he is heroicalIy
 persevering when he has only slipped
 into a rut from which he is too stub
 born or lazy to try to extricate him.
 self. He does the same things and
 thinks the same thoughts simply be-
 cause of inertia.
 Consistency is a jewel, but some
 jewels are of paste. Emerson told us
 goblin of little minds" To the man
 who thinks 1t disgrace to change
 any opinion once formed the words of
 the philosopher are a sort of chal-
 lenge: speak what you think today
 in words as hard as cannon balls. and
 tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks
 Tn hard words again though it con- tradict everything you said today" There are some opinions that had bet ter be changed, some conclusions that
 need to be abandoned, no. matter how inconsistent with all the past the new view may be.
 One had better quit work which Edeep fatigue has made unprofitable. sure indication that you are very
 tired is the inability to close up shop and go home when the time comes
 You keep seeing little things to do and go puttering on and on. The efficient worker has learned when to shut the
 desk or put down the sewing basket.
 turn out lights and go to bed. AbiI- ity to let go of work sharply is one to nlIIfiUQfQd ha aI,
 to take it up again.
 One had better quit a. task for which after sincere trial. he is proved to have
 no fitness. The misfit occupation had
 better be abandoned. Franklin found
 no inspiration in making tallow can- dies nor Grant beside the tanners vat.
 Both quit uncongenia1 tasks with re- suits that the world knows. P T. Barnum let go of IA different occupa- tions before he found the one for which nature had fitted him, that of snowman. The principle may easily be carried too far, of course but should be emphasized for those who
 need it. A shift of employment is Justified when one finds he is in a blind alley leading nowhere. The rolling stone gathers no moss, but who | wants to gather moss anyway? One had better quit bad habits. Bad | habits are those that dull efficiency oI pOUy LulHu oT SplIll. hoSl oI us need not look far from home to dis cover such. A writer. excessively ad- dicted to cigarets. said that he came l to feel all the time as though he were wearing mittens-only the mittens were on his wits It was only as he quti nicotine, after struggle, that he | took the mittens off. Every day jolly good fellows are dropping business and professional honors at the feet of those who drink mostly water and | let good nights of sleep 'knit up the
 rave1ed sleeve of care" The night hawk, the moderate drinker, the user l of drugs, the street lounger, etc, had better quit. No fame or fortune lies along the way they do. Let them change base before the wires are cut and the enemy is surrounding them. THE PARSON.