The mirror., 1915-10-07
A MANS best epitaph and worthiest

A MANS best epitaph and worthiest
memorial is his own work. No mausoleum
that holds the outworn shell of his mortali-
ty, however cunning the handiwork of arch
itect and culptor lavished upon it, is to be
compared with the expanding edifice of his
own brave and cheerful undertaking and his
convincing personal example. Strange it is
that man will lavish fortune on a tomb,
who paid little attention while he walked
on earth to the impression that he made by
his deeds upon the minds of the just and the
discerning.
He was remorseless while he lived. He
only cared for power, and money that is the
source of power. He cared not who was
thrust to the wall or into the mire as his
Juggernaut rolled on. His association wa
entirely with the affluent, the successful,
the powerful. He was not mourned at his
passing and his benefactlons could not buy
him after death the effection or the respect
he had failed to earn in life. Many man
with small fraction of the colossal fortune
that Croesus made has been immeasurably
happier.
The choice we make of what to do with
it is hard and many considerations govern and
amend it. The work of the majority is i'm
posed upon them by circumstances and is
not the result of their election. There are
some who would be dissatisfied no matter
what the nature of the occupation, because
it is work, and therefore it is duty. They
chafe and pine because of the constraint.
They drift out of one trade into another
casually, as thistledown floats over a field.
They are quick to complain of injustice and
to resent command. They want to do
things their own better way and are scornful
of precedent. They do not mean to learn
the rules ere they strike out upon tangent
to ancient experience; their genius bids them
be different from the beginning. If it is
workman who quarrels with his tools land
sometimes it is the very proper quarrel of the
skilled toiler), it is still poorer workman
who begins by quarreing with his superior
officer and with the orders he has received.
A man who was ''down and OUT because
he was the slave of his expensive weekend
ing appetites finally found position as an in
structor in riding academy.
The first thing he did was to criticise
the horses instead OF instructing the students
as he should have done. Perhaps they were
steeds not worthy of comparison with Bu-
cephalus or Pegasus. But he was beginning
his work at the wrong end. He wasted
working houls growing and sulking in the
front Office with his employer, till the latter
lost all patience and summarily dismissed
him. Then he held that his was just
grievance and so it was with everything he
tried. He got in his own light, if he did
not positively blow out the lamp, and in no
capacity, apparently, was he valuble, be-
cause he was like the heather who ''don't
obey no orders, unless they are his own.''
We cant have the earth handed to US on a
silver tray to make own choice of delecta-
BILE position. We must learn to wear har-
ness, and to stand without hitching. Per-
haps we are not in love with the task assign
ed. But that is no reason for throwing it
down and trampling upon it in petuIance.
Why should man who works be pitied;
If he has something to do he is blest, and if
he likes what he is doing he is doubly fortu-
nate. We often see an old man who has
acquired riches working on and on because
of his hatred of idleness, and it is a pitiful
thing to behold one still feels capable of la
Dor retired against his will. He chafes and
is disquieted. He has formed the industri-
Gus habit and it does not let 60 of him when
he lets 60 of official responsibility. Bitterly
he dislikes the thought of a quiet session
with his own folded hands till sundown.
We are prone to covet rest till we get it,
feel that we are out of the procession, and,
though the faint strains of music are borne
to our windows, the place in the rank and
file that knew us once is to know us no
more, and we are saddened beyond comfort-
ing. The little man stops work to look for
credit; he presents his pay claim hourly;
his eyes are on the clock, and his thoughts
are afar upon pleasure ground or the sus-
surrus of the water brooks, where the fish
ing is good. He would care to command
which engages him for to hold that leader
ship he would have to forfeit hours of fun,
therefore he willingly remains an underling
and does not try to think of waysthat would
earn promotion. The workers who give
to every minute sixty seconds worth of
distance run" is not thinking of the hand
upon the dial, nor of emolument.
Selected.