The Dickinson press., 1915-06-12

y OH ASAIfA , JOANN 4As A~AOs
average Of your associates. Determ-
inc to know all that the masters can
teach you about these things Of your
choice. Not that these are to COM
prise the limits of your investlga-
ton, but these are to be your main
stock in trade and you want the best
there is. You cannot afford to be
narrow until you are expert enough
in your profession to merit the ac-
clamation of your efficiency-and
then the probabilities are that you will
not want to be narrow. We can
spend a life time in the study Of
thlngs-the material interests that
are at our hands-and in our last
toiling struggle lind that we have just
started to unravel the mysteries OF
Gods wonderful creation.
Then you will need to know people.
You must know life, humanity, the
people with whom you associate in
work and play. The easiest and the
most difficult thing in the world is to
know people. We may know what
kind of clothes they wear, and what
m their hobbies, and what sort of
automobiles they drive, and whether
they pay their debts and a hundred
other things about them, but to know
the life and understand the motives
and know just where to find a man in
every circumstance is a momentous
task. People are like the real live
specimen that the zoologist tries to
study in the drop of water under the
compound microscope. Neither of
them will stay put. The moment we
think we think we know d mans life
the focus changes and we must study
1t from a new viewpoint.
And we cannot 1--we to ourselves.
We must have dealings with people;
people whom are our peers; people
who may be better than we are; and
people who are our peers; people
ards. We must know life. Not
merely theories about life, nor the
ideals that ought to be it's standard,
but life as it is.
AS Kipling has said in his "Test
of Manhood"-
IF you can talk with crowds and
keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings-nor lose the
common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends
can hurt. you, +
If all men count with you but none
too much;
If you can fill the u%nforgiving min.
ute 4
With sixty seconds worth of dis
lance run,
Yours is the earth and everything
that's in it,
And-which is more-youTl be a
Man, my son." +
People and things constitute the
environment in which we life. If
we are going to make a success Of
life we must know our environment.
Our environment is a fact of no
mean significance in determining the.
outcome Of our lives. 1t is true that
ought to contribute our share in
molding our environment into some
thing better than it is. It is in that
task that we shall record our meas
ure Of success. But no one can hope
to change for the better the condi-
ton of things unless he knows those
as they are and so is able to
make his efforts count in transform
ing them. .
You may be pardoned for a certain
lack of knowledge about many things
and many people, but there is one
thing you MUST know if you have
any hopes of success. You must know
yourself. Twelve years of schooling
have had for their main purpose the
helping of you to find yourself. You
must know your inclinations. Almost
any one with due application can do
something in any line to which he
turns his energies. But the genius
applies his hard work in the direction
Of his natural aptitude. So you need
to know, not only your strength, but
your weakness as well. Our weak
well guarded may contribute
much to our success as some of
the things we count our elements of
strength. The young man who knows
himself, his powers and limitations,
and so uses himself as to strengthen
the one and overcome the other, is
towards success The young
woman who has a mental conviction
of some worthy truth that gives her
a vision above that of society's but
terfy will be the one who molds the
age With the stamp OF her personal
But life is not determined by
mental convictions alone. We need a
moral conviction of the truth that
make our own. While intellectual
convictions r necessary, they need
the strength of moral convictions
back of them. There is such a
thing as a feeling of oughtness. It
is that which multiplies our power
in the realm of our knowledge. To
feel that the task that claims your
ought to be done, and that.
you ought to do it, is the sort Of a
conviction that will impart power to
do the otherwise impossible.
You cannot afford to start out for
a life work on any other basis than
this. To undertake the thing that
you know is not quite right is too
big a handicap for life. We: can run
the rae of life under a good many
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