The Washington herald., 1914-12-16
DR.. Marden's Upift Talks.
THE MIGHT OF TRIFLES.
BY ORIsON SWEET MARDEN.


From an eyewitness account OF Gen.
Won kluck's stay at Coulommiers IT ap-
pears that a very trifiing cause contrib
Uted most materially to the allies vic
tory on the Marine. At the most critical
point of the battle the German h, adquar-
ers were in absolute darkness. and il
was discovered that the gasometers were
empty, the fires out, and that the engi-
neers had fed Thus. because of a
trifiing oversight Of some one in author
ity. Gen. Won Kluck was forced next
day to withdraw his troops from the
town he had entered only a short time
before with pride and confidence.
Charles Dickens, in An the Year
Round" says, Some one was asked.
What is a genius?' He replied. a beinS
who pays attention to trifles.
One of the hardest things TO learn
is that the greatest lives are made up
Of triies. Emergencies. great things.
occur rarely in our lives. 1t is the
steady stream Of little things. trifies.
unimportant events. experiences so small
as scarcely to warrant consideration
which make up the sum total Of life.
The cackling of a goose aroused the
sentlnels and saved Rome from the
Gauls. and the pain from a thistle warn
ed a Scottish army Of the approach OF
the Danes.
Henry Ward BeeCher came within one
vote Of being elected superintendent OF
a railway. If he had had that vote
America would probably have lost its
greatest preacher. What little thing
fixes destiny,
We are apt to think that it doesn't
matter very much about seemingly un-
important habits. and that It is of no
account how We do the little things. the
nonessentials as We cali them. But II
does make all the difference in the world
because our manner OF doing the little
things enters into our life structure. As
a matter of fact there are no little
things considered from their results.
The great majority OF things We do in
life seem in themselves trifles, but the
accumulated mass of these throughout
the years and the results which follow
are not little things: they determine our
destiny.
The man who has no detail in his
nature, who feels above the smallest
things, will never succeed in anything.
We often see a five-thousand-dollar
man in n one-thousand-dollar situation.
and wonder why il is so. That is, we
often see a young man with splendid
abilities and fine education; a man who,
in many respects, is much superior to
the manager or foreman over him. yet
who is kept down by some bad habit.
some little weakness, or some little de-
feet somewhere. Young people do not
seem to realize that the strength OF a
chain lies in its weakest, not in It's
strongest, ink. We are all apt to be
proud of our strong links. and are con-
stantly trying to make them stronger;
but we are sensitive about the weak
ones; we do not like to dwell upon our
deficiencies. Consequently, the weak
links grow weaker and weaker, until they
finally break.
We all know how a mere trifle will
sometimes seriously injure a mans or
a firms credit. Just a breath Of sus-
picion that the firm is hard-pressed for
money, and the creditors all rush for
their money-a breath Of suspicion about
the solvency OF a banking institution,
and Immediately there is a run on the
bank.
II is the same with a PERSONS char
acter. Many a seemingly trifing re-
mark has blasted a good reputation and
ruined an innocent life.
"It Is but the littleness OF men that
seeth no greatness in trines."