The Washington herald., 1915-12-23
From ! Netebeek.
D. JOHN u. BARRY.

From l Nstebesk.
~ JOHN n. sARRY.
Christian Seientists. IN saying that everything
is mind express an idea that we can all accept
if not literally At any rate guratively. There are
obviously as many worlds there are people
Each mind, through its reaction from experience
makes q world of its own. II we could look
through one anothers eyes what revelations We
should meet. what surprises One would show the
world as horror; another would show the world
~ heaven.
And yet the minds may have experiences to the
observer from outside almost identical Some Of
the most significant lessons would cvme from the
people considered fortunate. the winners of the
prizes and the rich possessors. We should often
find that their world, the world in their minds,
was by no means the beautiful place it would seem
that it must be.
We should also have surprising revelations
from the lowly and the humble, from those, with
apparently little or nothing to live for, and yet
with beauty in their outlook not to be destroyed
by the ugliness around them and the squalor. a
beauty able, from any material, to create its own
compensation.
Like the Christian Scientists, the mental healers
remind US that we make our own world. They
point out the importance of our keeping it beaut-
full, place where we can be happy. The trouble
with most of Us is that we don't even try. We
neglect the house, so to speak, We let 1t grow
dusty and musty and depressing. Then we wonder
why it is not properly kept As = matter Of fact
we must be just as careful with it and just per-
sstent a. we should be with a material house left
in our charge. First Of all, must learn how
to be good caretakers.
There are people that 60 through the day meet.
Gov Nf
course the fault lies outside themselves. But the
repetition suggests that it is related to the people
How does it happen that this person or that can
meet all kinds of obstacles and trials without beng
involved in disagreeable adventures or being made
to feel uncomfortable? Surely the answer must
be that a wholesome quality is at work. often
vaguely described as tact.
Is il not likely that the opposite quality creates
those other effects? When we find people dis
agreeable to naturally think they are to
blame And, oddly enough, the more strongly We
are convinced the more dsagreeable they arc likely
to be. Suppose we were to assume, perhaps as an
experiment. that were ourselves, at least partly
to blame. And suppose we were to try to be
little less eonsderate of ourselves and more con-
siderate of the others. What would happen?
The time we waste in arguing. and the energy
and the ingenuity and the feeling. The next day
we may be unable to remember what it was we
were so excited about Or the next day we may
have changed our minds. On the other hand for
the rest Of the day and for several days aterward
we may feel hurt about something said in the heat
of discussion, something that really had nothing
to do with the argument.
Is there never any profit? Yes, now and then
But for the most part argument is waste, 1t is
only the exceptional person that derives beneht
By arguing, people are usually confirmed in their
ideas. The more violent the argument the greater
the likelihood that the ideas will be changed into
prejudice, which are only beliefs sustained with
strong feeling. usually -fecling.
When death takes relative or friend that we
have quarreled with are likely to feel rcmorse.
Instead of being sclf-assertive, we become self
accusing We realize that we have caused pain
and created ugliness i'll a life that is now finished
1t is pity that could not have realized before
We might have made amends. 1t is even greater
pity that we could not have realized the danger
in time to impose restraint on ourselves.
What is perhaps saddcst Of all is that the
periencc does not, as a rule, bring any profit
1t simply causes sentimental regret. 1t does not
even lead us to make amends in some other Cir
that the friend relative is still living. While
grieving over the death. though we may say. "Oh
if he only alive now" and though we may
think of what should like to say, we do not
joyously seize the chance to say it in that other
case.
Henry James, in of his stories. makes
editor say to a writer you don't seem to be able
to keep character together" This feat is, indeed
a token of the literary artist. There are some
writers that can't even suggest character. With
them there is nothing to be kept together.
There is one artist that achieves it with case.
the greatest of all artists-nature. We all recog-
nize her superiority. Every day of lives we
meet examples What variety they reveal in
looks in speech, in all their reactions. Nature
seems to take pride in periodically displaying her
power, in never repeating herself
No novelist compare with her No novel
has ever achieved more than feeble echo OF her
rich invention. She never stops working. She
never tires of providing entertainment And yet
there are people, many who derive little pleasure
from looking on, who seem, indeed, dissatisfied and
bored. They even resent the infinite variety in
natures stories and they become indignant over
natures characterizations. On the other hand,
there are those who look absorbed, delighted
thrilled, while they actively contribute to the
interest.
Another Pathetic Figure.
King Peter of Serbia, old, nirm and ILL., fleeing
before invaders and seeking asylum in Italy, is