Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-08-14
MINE AND THINE.
Tcedar Rapids Republican,

| When little Golden L6cks-heaven
| bless the remembrance Of ier-wea.
out 10 explore the world she came
to bears house Finding no one at
home she went in and ate the porridge
and broke the chair and took nap
! IN the bed of the little bear. When
the bear family returned home and
/ found the little girl she was in dire
/ trouble. She had disregarded the rule
! OF meum and teum, of mine and
thine
And many before her and since have
gotten into trouble by Designating the
same rule. The ability to distinguish
between what is theirs and what is
not theirs varies in people In som e
! it is instructive. thru inheritance. but
! into others 1t has to be drilled. Most
/ Of US liked stolen wateTnelons and
apples better than those that grew IN
the orchards and the patches to which
We had access. Stolen waters like
stolen kisses are believed to be
sweeter
In the case of the young man in
the bank who took what lid not be-
long to him, the barriers of conscience
and law must have broken down
gradually. The sight and the toucl,
of much money was his daily Fa,nil-
iarity NAV have had a morally disin-
tegratng effect He had wants and
ambitions to be richer than clerk
He had debts to pay. obligations that
were pressing him. He read OF bank
robberies He may have read the
story of how one man got away with
Il Why not pretend that he had been
robbed and thereby enrich himself
Nd 1;--a 1xy a$t
wards The all,lrements were strong
and the thing seemed so easy He
would not be so foolish as others had
been. he would leave no trace Of his
own connection with the crime. When
the mother Of Achilles was told to dip
her child in the fountain # imnorta1i-
~, she witlessly held him by the heel
and the contact OF her hani kept away
the touch of the waters to that spot.
It left the heel OF Achilles vulnerable
and It was in that spot that the dart
OF Hector entered and killed him. In
every man and his plans there is the
vulnerable heel. The craftiest GRIM
| inal leaves some clue: the made IN
story does not sound quite right ;"
And above all there comes the almost
impossible effort TO keep the con-
science down. The wrong that has
been done bears down on the wrong
doer: it torments him until he arrives
at the point where ne is willing to
make a clean breast of it. preferring
the punishment to the guilty con-
science. By telling the truth at las.
comes the relief This Is true o. all
except case hardened criminals who
have been able to smother all the
| workings of conscience.
| It doesn't pay When IT is too late
they who err think how happily they
could have lived on $1,000 year in
a cottage with love in It. But others
are richer and we think others are
happier They are rot and no man
can make himself happy, in any event,
| by disregarding the distinction be-
tween meum and teum.
| There is nothing extraordinary in
the fact that one young man who had
| opportunities and confidence, failed.
Others have failed and other Will fail.
| Temptation does not assafl all alike,
nor have all the same abilities to re-
sist The acid test is applied sooner
or later. Some will fail and fall. It
should not discourage others, nor
should we lose confidence in human
kind. What Is the ci1an to the wheat?
The fact that we are so interested in
this matter proves that it is after all
one of rare. occurrence. There are
a thousand men and women in this
city who touch every day the moneys
that belong to others and none of it
sticks to the fingers Integrity is the
rule Of the business world.
| For those who fail we can have nnne
except pity and sorrow. The suffering
is on them. They pass from conf
dence to loss Of confidence; from re-
spect to m strust. The mark is in their
foreheads. Life is not worth mach.
The greatest OF all sorrow. says Dante,
is an remembering happier things,