The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1916-07-27
Character
BY Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Passing along Madison Square recently small
army of men was observed encompassing almost the
entire block Men stood four abreast and were pack
ed in as tightly the proverbial ssrdine in the box
They were slowly and patiently waiting to make
their way to the entrance of a certain building
where large posters announced pugilistc contest
was about to begin.
1t is good thing for to be interested in
athletic sports; it is good thing for man to un-
dersland wrestling, boxing, fencing and whatever
tends to self-defense and the defense of Others but
it a misfortune when wastes his time his
energies and his ideals of life in prize fighting 1t
is only step beyond to the brutality and savageness
of bull fighting.
There is song which ought to be sung and
played at all these gatherings where meet to
witness what they call sport" This song is
titled Are You Half the Man Your Mother Thot
You'd Be?' That is good title for song. 1t is
haunting title and with simple. appealing music it
is sure to stay in the memory of who has heard
it sung a few times.
There is not one mother in thousand who does
not dream high and happy dreams about her little
boy. Even mothers who are not good women and
who have bad habits want their boys to become
good and great men and the simplest and humblest
have often the greatest ideals for their child
rem. They ready to make any sacrifice and to
deny themselves any comforts in order to give their
children what they call chance in life. They
not always wise in their efforts to produce these
results. They often awaken ambition rather than
aspiration in the minds of their children.
But their impulse is right. even when their
methods wrong.
Almost every remember the pride he
felt when his mother praised him for good
deed some unsel6sh act, for bringing home a
good report from his teachers He recall how,
in those moments, he planned to do wonderful
things and to make his mother proud of him when
he became man.
The song, Are You Half the Man Your
Mother Thot You'd Be?' is an address to men with
such memories:
Have you kept your promise to her that you made
while on her knee?
Can you truly say you're half the man to-day that
she always thot you'd be?
Is she proud to be your mother; is it joy sorrow
in her eyes you see?
Are you all she planned ana prayed Tor, all she
raked and scraped and shaved for?
Are you half the man your mother thot you'd be?
If you can't answer these questions in the af-
frmative why not right about face and begin over?
There is really no work earth so interesting as
the building of character There is a genius of
sculpture in America now, Mr.. Borglum who has
taken contract to carve on the rock of mount
ain in Georgia. the whole history of the South 1t
will take ten years TO accomplish it; it is magnf-
cent idea and when accomplished the work will last
as long as the mountain lasts, which may be a few
hundred years. or few thousand, or few million.
cataclysm might occur which would cause
the mountain to be sunk under be swallow
ed in an earthquake, whole continents have been
swallowed and sunk in gone by. But the
sculptures art is supposed to be the mperish-
able of all the and there is deep joy in his
heart when he is carrying out his ideals.
Each human being has more wonderful work
before him than any sculptor if he chooses under
take the reshaping and rebuilding of his own
character. Character is the thing that is i'm
mortal Men die. nations pass away, continents
sink into the seas, dry up and mountains fall
but character lives on from epoch to epoch, until it