The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1914-07-18
WORKING FOR THE BEST IN ALL
THINGS.
tBy Dennis s. Thompson.)

There is no process by which the
baser metals may be changed in gold.
Alchemy is discredited. 1t is no Sci
ence, and never will be- But there is
a more wonderful agent which can
make hard things easy. Its name is
perseverance. The patient, dogged
sticking to things, is what accom-
plishes the wonders. 1t is not merely
that hard things can be overcome;
they can sometimes be made positive
ly easy.
Inventors, philosophers, statesmen,
teacners-all who have had to tackle
hard problems-haye been both sur
prised and amused to see how simple
these problems really are when the
right solution is found. However in
mtny undertakings, there are diff
ti'ties which, we are not able to ad-
Just in accord once with our ideas,
but can dispose of them in such a way
az to render our task more agreeable.
The people of today are imbued with
the spirit of doing things, and the
beauty of this lies in their doing
things WELL All nature teaches that
no good thing which has once been
done, passes utterly away. We are
daily reminded of the buried millions
who have worked and won before our
time. The handicraft and skill dis
played in the buildings and sculp-
lures of the long lost cities of Nine
veh, Babylon and Troy, have descend
1I oh, ho To
time. In natures economy no human
labor is altogether lost, but some rem
nant of useful effect continues to re-
ward the people, if not the individual.
II is the best work though, that stands
today as a testimonial to the workers
that have gone before us, and as an
example for our future emulation.
Progress, civilization, well-being, and
prosperity are all dependent upon in
dustry, if diligently, but not when mis-
applied. The men and women who
have helped the world onward have
been those who have had to labor
from necessity; the individual who Ia
bors merely from choice does not
strive to reach such high state of
efficiency as the other, which no doubt
accounts for SO many failures in life.
Il is necessary then, if we would
rise to the higher level of things, that
we grasp this idea of working for the
best in whatever we have in hand; it
should not matter that we have been
successful today, but it should be our
ambition tomorrow, to excel ourselves
in what we have today No matter
how humble our task, let us give to it
the best that is in US; let us do lit
tie better than the other fellow, If we
are to grow Indispensable and our ser
vices be in demand.
Let us begin each day with the
thought that we are going to work to
get the best out of what we shall; do,
feeling as we should, that all useful
and beautiful thoughts, in like manner,
are the issue of labor, of study, of OBJ
seryation, of research and diligent
elaboration. The noblest poem cannot
be elaborated, sent down it's undying
strains into the future, without steady
and painstaking labor. Our highest
hope in life ought to be to grow in
excellency with regard to our chosen
work; too many are' given to studying
the remnnerative side first, forgetting
the large amount of unpaid work that
people are giving to each day. Labor
to the end that something may be ac-
q "complished, as 1t generally follows,
that when we have done the thing
that is really worth while, some one
will be more than apt to take notice
of the fact.