The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1915-09-14

in India who had slept for five years
on a bed studded with iron points,
as sharp as they could be without ac-
tually penetrating the flesh His hide
had become almost as thick as that
of rhinoceros. The skin in trying
to adjust itself to the habit of the in
dividual had thickened to meet the
terrible conditions, so that the man
at last actually did not mind the con-
slant torture. II Is in like manner
that moral sensibility is deadened by
vicious habits.
In the Divine intention bad habits
were never meant to be. Habit was
| conceived as altogether beneficent.
| 1t was designed as gulf stream of
good to all under its law. But man
was left free to choose his habits in
order that he might become a re.
sponsible moral being and a builder
Of character.
| Every time one repeats wrong
act he is widening and deepening in
his nervous organism the path for the
wrong and making it more difficult
for the right act to find its way. Yet
he may go on for months and years
in such a habit without culminat-
ing disaster. The force of habit pulls
him on against his own better judg
ment, just as surely as the current
above Niagara is slowly pulling to its
doom the boat which had come with
in the reach of its current. The men
in the boat, by vigorous pulling of
the oars, might have freed themselves
from the pull of the current when 1t
was feeble, but the nearer and near
er they get to the falls, the more sure
they are to go over.
In regard to trying to release our
selves from the power of long con-
tinued habit, and to form new one,
said Professor James: I'VE must take
care to wrench ourselves with as
strong and decided an initiative as
possible. We must accumulate al
the possible circumstances which
shall reinforce the right motive. We
must put ourselves assiduously In
positions which encourage the new
way. We must make engagements
incompatible with the old. We must
develop resolutions with every aid We
, know. This will give our new begin
, ming such a momentum that tempta
, ton to break down will not occur al
soon as it might, and every day dur
ing which a breakdown Is postponed
I adds to the chances that it will no
occur at all. We must, however, new
5 er suffer an exception to occur unit
3 the new habit is securely rooted il
= life. Each lapse is like letting fal
D a ball of string which one is careful
4. ly winding up-a single slip undoe
= more than a great many turns VII
{ wind again"
1 Character Is like stream, whicI
. gathers increased force by the en-
S trance of a thousand rills and rivu
r let's, until 1t swells into a mighty riN
: er, increasing in volume and veloc
r ity."
: Drop a stone from a precipice. !
s will fall sixteen feet the first second
t forty-eight feet the next, eighty fee
e the third, one hundred fourteen fee
the fifth, ETC.; and il it continued I
fall for ten seconds, 1t will in tn
a last second rush through three hui
t dred and four feet of space"
s. The law of habit is like the law c
e gravitation. It's force Is cumulative
n After each act of your life you ar
II not quite the same person as befor
q better or worse, according to tn
l. tendencies or the habit, but not IN
same. There has been somethin
. added or deducted from your weigh
of character.
There Is a cumulative force in n
peated acts which is almost irresis
l able. The late Professor James sal
I that every act of mind results
\ some physical change; that repetitio
increases the probability of turtle
] repetition, as well as the facility
\ doing it, and when the mind ha
| thought in certain line a grea
1 many times, it becomes after awhil
almost inevitable that action will 10
I low in that particular way. Alread
said James, at the age Of twenty-fy
/ you see professional mannerisms sc
Ting down On the young commerci'
traveller, or the young doctor, or Il,
| young minister, or the young couns
lor at law. You see the lines
cleavage running through the chara
l ter, the tricks of thought, the pref
dices, the ways OF the shop, fro
| which a man can by and by no MOI
escape than his coat sleeve can su
II denly fall into new folds"