The Detroit times., 1915-12-08
HARDNESS
BY OR. FRANK CRANE
Copyright, 1915. by Frank Crane)


ter, is hardness.
Hard as nails, tough as leather, re-
silent as pneumatic tire; if he be-
comes that it will be well with him.
or course / do not mean unfeeling.
His heart ought to be tender, his feel
ings acute, and all that. No matter how
strong man is, it becomes him to be
lively in his sympathies.
But | mean hard in the sense of his
capacity to take punishment.
One dangerous tendency of civilization
is an over-development of susceptibility
to pain.
Many of the forces of culture are di-
rected toward multiplying forms of pleas
ure and toward increasing our keenness
in pleasurable excitations.
The complete gentleman is supposed to
distinguish elegantly between meats, to
be connoisseur of vintages, to have dis
elimination in tobacco, to be past mas
ter in styles of clothing. and to be an
arhiter of elegance in the matter of fem
mime charms.
In other words, culture reaches its
perfect work when it produces soft,
fiabby, highly sensitized mass of human
blubber
are elegant, refined and delicate.
But it is not the susceptible mass OF
nerves that gets the most out Of life.
Not only efficiency, but enjoyment
also, is an affair of resistance-power.
The man that lives the most richly is
the man who can knock and be knocked
and come back smiling.
AS a rule the public school is bet
ter place for darling Willie than any Sc
lect and exclusive academy; because.
principally, of the public school yard
where he will get licked thoroughly. The
little alley boys will roll him in the dirt,
and black his eye, and muss up his
Fauntleroy collar; until he comes to
himself" and learns how to stand square
on his legs. use his fists, and look his
enemies in the eye.
Then let him take a course with the
Boy Scouts, and taste the joys Of cooking
his own grub over campfire, tramp
miles till his bones ache and altogether
rough it like young Indian.
Let him get acquainted with mans
best friends. Pain and Danger. Let him
know Hunger, and be chum to Self
Reliance.
These will make him like tempered
steel spring. They will give him Quail
ity. And they will introduce him to set
of Joys that are far subtler and more
enduring than the enjoyments Of self
pampering. -,
There are two kinds Of pleasure; the
one, that of Receiving agreeable sensa-
tions; the other, that of Exerting ones
self.
The passive pleasures soften and make
for degeneration They destroy the
organism. They end in disease and weak
ness. Such are the joys of eating, drink
ing smoking laziness. sleep, baths, mas
sage. attending theaters, and listening TO
music.
They have their place, but every one
of them contains a menace They tend
TO make one pleasure seeker. he goes
through life having things done to nm
and for him. If he is rich and endowed
he may develop into an epicure, gentle
man of leisure; if poor, hobo.
The forthputting group OF pleasures
are up-building. While they furnish en-
ioyment they increase the joy-capacity
of BODY. brain, and soul. 1t is the Over
conner than receives the Morning Star.
Train your boys body, then. to simple
living and strenuous exertion, to ma
zest in tackling hardships, to become
1.-the as panther.
Train his mind to attack knotty prob
lens. to study out difficult subjects, to
love also the fine tastes of victory.
The one preparedness" for youth is
IN he prepared against the insidious in
roads Of self-indulgence.
Better than a clever boy, or sensi-
tive boy, or a boy elegant and gentle. 1t
is to have boy that is hard, with hard
muscles. a hard and vigorous mind, and
hard and valiant spirit.