The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1915-07-31
LEISURE HOUR REFLECTIONS
FROM A QUIET CORNER.
By DENNIS s. THOMPSON.

IL is a. bGIuub1 ~ SAOMNh Will
scentless flowers. Many a time we,
who have in mind some splendid
shrub whose blossoms fill the air with
fragrance, trample our opportunity un-
der foot and never know it.
But your ability is the measure of
your responsibility, to whom much is
given much will be required, but aft
er all, doing what one can is all that
is to be expected. In passing a home
recently where the father was water
ing the lawn, / was greatly amused at
the little boy who was helping papa as
his childish fancy prompted. He
would bring his toy watering pot to
papa and he, reducing the force of
the stream, would fill it from the
hose.
AS / watched the father watering
the lawn with the hose, and the child
with the little watering pot, l was
greatly impressed with the impor-
lance of taking account of the little
things of life. 1t was a matter of lit
tie consequence to the grass andflow-
e RS whether the water which they
needed was given through the hose
or the small watering pot. On the
other hand, it matters little to the
world whether you are an individual
of one OF ten talents, so you give it
the best you have. The man of one
talent giving his best, is far better
than the man of ten talents giving his
worst.
It is not how much you give to the
world, but what you give to it. There
are always a great many more little
things to be done than big ones, and
we must not lose sight of the fact
that the things done for ourselves will
soon be forgotten, but the things done
for the worlds uplift are immortal.
The best way to secur a position
superior to that which you now occu,
Ply is to outgrow your present posi-.
ton. If the certainty that you are
too big for your place causes you to
work in a half hearted, indifferent
manner, the probability is that your
employer is fast coming to the con
clusion that you will never grow
enough to fill your present position
satisfactorily. The only way to out
grow your job is to do more work
and better work, than it calls for.
Cut yourself loose as far as you car
from your past mistakes; it is moi
possible of course to do this alto
gether, but at least you can refuse
to keep them continually before you
as some of the old time aspirants fol
saintliness always kept a human skull
in view. Undoubtedly all mistakes
have a lesson to teach, but if we mas
ter the lesson once the time spent il
worrying over them is worse thai
wasted.
Once in so often the piano tunel
makes his appearance in music loving
households and overhauls the piano
The wires are stretched, the harmon
les are not what they should be; thu
keys give out discord rather thai
sweetness. After the piano tuner
visit, the scale runs true from key t,
key, and music again becomes one o
the possibilities.
1t is a pity that we do not always
realize it when we ourselves are GU
of tune. 1t does not matter whether
the reason is ~selfishness or WEAKNESS
the fact remains that every chort
struck produces a ~discordant jangle.
Sometimes what we need is a va
cation to put us in tune, and some
times we need to take ourselves in
hand and deliberately eliminate what
ever is occasioning the discord. But
in either case, no time is to be lost
The happiness of home life, the sue
cess of our work, the love of oul
friends are all imperiled while we are
out of tune.
There are so many times that one
hears the remark that Mr.. Jones oil
Miss Sarah is too busy to do this
thing or something else. But it hap
pens that it is the busy men and WON
en- who are doing the real work o.
the world.
In the home, in the church anG
schoolroom, in every branch of socie
ty, in every branch of scientific re
search and endeavor, it is the busy
people who are achieving. The
people who have got plenty of time
and some to spare, and is always
ready to help the other fellow out
with his job, is not likely to con
tribute much towards making the
world better.
The world is not looking for PEG
pie with an overplus OF time, but fol
busy people, because it is always the
busiest people who are doing the
things that count for the most goot
in life.
A good proportion of the people We
meet are in need of a lift of SOM
sort. Some need material assistance
work, food, fuel. Others need to b,
cheered, and others still to have theil
good resolutions stiffened and con
firmed.
we can not always tell when thu
person with whom we are chattin,
is in need of a lift, and the only SAT,
way is for us to be continually Civ
ing out u best. 1t would be a dis
aster, indeed, if an overcast face add
ed a new weight of depression to tn,
heart already ~overburdened, or on,
careless speech confirmed some wa
vering listener in the belief that /
| did nAf 49, - -. ~.