The Detroit times., 1916-07-05
The Morning Star.
~ DR.. FRANK CRANE
Copyright. 1916. by Frank Crane)


flee or perform some unselfish deed, not
because | really feel like doing so nat
urally, but from sense of duty; because
know it is right, and from what have
read and heard about how good and
strong characters act. DO you think this
improves me? Will my nature change
after while if l constantly go against
tt"
To which answer may thus be made:
Your problem is as old and as common
as humanity.
Every career is a continued struggle
OF the two natures in us, the angel and
the brute. Everybody is more or less of
DR.. Jekyll and Mr.. Hyde.
There may be some rare natures, such
as Charles Kingsley calls natural king
dom-of-heavenites,' who always want to
do the thing they ought to do, but they
are scarce indeed.
The first thing to do, therefore, is to
recognize that all decent life must be in
terms of conflict. Because you feel this
unceasing war within you is no sign that
you are bad" or selfish, or meaner than
other people. You are simply human.
You might as we'll complain that you do
not have three hands, or that you do not
posses supernatural powers of vision or
hearing, as to complain that your incli-
nation does not always agree with your
duty.
Having recognized this fact, don't
worry over it. Don't grow morbid. Don't
develop self-contempt. And above all,
don't get into the mire of self-pity.
It's fight. You have to make it. Go
to it gayly. with high courage, and with
gladness that you are disposed to fight
and sure to win.
You can dodge the fight by yielding to
your lower nature. AS Oscar Wilde said.
THE easiest way to get rid Of tempta-
ton is to yield. But you know the nasty
side to that. 1t means weak, habby,
unclean mind, a spirit that must loathe
itself.
But you can be just as comfortable
as the sensualist if you make up your
mind that you will do what is right
every time, no matter how you feel.
That will not give you the same kind Of
pleasure that the self-indulgent have,
but better kind.
For there are two sorts Of enjoy
ment; one, that of yielding; the other,
that of overcoming. And it is the over
conner that gets the crown of life. His
is the morning star.
For instance, there is pleasure in
lying in bed, in eating and drinking, in
gratifying the various cravings of the
body in reading books that divert you
and require no mental effort, in going to
the theater, in being fattered, praised,
complimented, loved. In all these things
your pleasure is passive.
There is pleasure, on the other hand.
in exercise, in going without food and
drink for another's sake, in denying the
body's demands so as to satisfy the
wants of your intelligence, of pleasing
your conscience by trampling on an ap-
petite, of intellectual exertion, of disci-
pine, and the like.
All these are the solder kinds Of
joys. They are better than the soft kind
because they last longer, they strength
en- your mind and body, they make your
tastes finer, your whole enjoyment Of
life keener, your range of delights wider.
and altogether you get deal more fun
out of living.
The latter joys are just as Selfish"
as the former. But an intelligent sell
fishness is unselfsh. He that saveth his
life shall lose it.
Scientifically speaking, overcoming
makes development; yielding leads to de-
cay, the destruction of the organism.
Religiously speaking, all you have
to do to go TO hell is to do nothing at all.
The wind blows that way. Just do as
you please, don't resist, crafty all de-
sfres, never mind conscience, and hell
will be along pretty soon.
Heaven is up hill all the way. But
it's keen and bracing exercise. 1t means
healthier body livelier mind, and hap