The Washington times., 1914-11-13
MISTAKES A PROOF OF ACTION.

Similarly the men and women who
make few mistakes are those who dc
little. Any one who is trying to con-
quer his environment, who batters at
the shutting-in doors OF his surround
ings, may be excused an occasional scar
from the rebound of the door as he
bursts it open.
Feeling in the naive man or in the
untutored savage is the equal Of an
others philosophy. or religion. 1t acts
i. with as much certainty and is often as
near the truth. Take the words Of the
asks whether there would be any feel
ing Of fear left il the feeling of quick
ened heart beats, sinking stomach.
shallow breathing. of trembling limbs.
of goose flesh were not present?
In other words. il you calm your
muscles. your feelings are pacified- If
your muscles are a-tremble. so are your
Feelings. With muscles calm there
|, could be no picture Of a state Of rage.
q swelling Of the chest, no flushed face,
no.. snorting with dilated nostrils, no
clenched teeth, nor impulse to resist or
to act.
IE fine. the expression of the emo
tions is a muscular one. II your mus
cles are undernourished. neglected. fat,
f]abby, and wasted your feelings are
correspondingly defective. On the other
hand, control Of the emotions means
control Of the muscles.
Precept Is here as everywhere less ef-
fective than example. A child learns to
regulate and restrain his howling.
stamping, and striking, more by shaking
a finger at him. and by you, yourself.
being calm. than by merely scolding. No
amount of exhortation from a coward
will avail to produce brave boys any
more than quiet, placid children can
be expected where petulant, irascible
parents and teachers are about. Most
Of temperaments blamed upon heredity
are thus acquired.
Causes of Compassion.
This imitation is really connected
with the feeling Of sympathy Plus the
sympathy arises from the same imita-
tive impulse which makes child smile
back at you when you smile.
Thus emotions spread "infectiously"
from one person to another. Gloom
all merry. This Is explained from the
tiouth of babes and sucklings in the
quaint words Of the little boy four years
old: who was found crying.
why do you cry, my little man?"
he was asked
Because" he sobbed piteously, my
poor husband is dead and gone to
heaven
This had been the reason given for
her tears by his injudicious nurse. The
child's sympathy and emotion was sim
cere, despite the way 1t appeals to YOU
sympathy is thus shown to be feel
ing like another's from what is per-
ceived. The nurses tears and not her
particular emotions made the chfld's
feelings similar to hers, yet independ-
ent Of her particular ones
Love, sympathy and compassion are
one, even though not precisely the same
AS you must understand another's ma
ture and character. even to partially
sympathize with them, you cannot
wholly dislike him. Love contains SYM
pathy first or last. 1t Is not lasting il
sympathy is lacking. Common interests
and a harmony of feelings makes sym
pathy. This In turn ripens into love
This unity Of sympathy and love
pleads to compassion for those In dis
tress. Thus the picturesque language
of the street Is all the nearer to being
correct when the word sympathy is
is used to mean affection. sympa-
thotic man Is loving. kind-hearted,
human fellow without the Tartufian,
icy precision of an eye for an eye. a
tooth for tooth. or a pound Cf flesh
for each human error.
Sentiments are organized feelings di-
rected toward people. conditions or