The Washington herald., 1916-11-11
Falling Behind
By JOHN ID. BARRY.

Falling behind the times and grow
ing old. getting out OF IT, is like an
infatuation. People become infatuated
with themselves. as they have been in
the past. with their ideas, with their
hobbies, with their points of view.
They don't keep changing. They don't
keep renewing. They grow stale and
fiat and improbable. And the instant
they become Improbable they suffer.
The world turns on them and rends.
or turns away from them and forgets.
This kind OF stodginess there is no
market for. II damages every phase
Of service. OF all sickness 1t is. in
deed. one OF the most debilitating
kinds. And. remember. whatever we
may think OF other kinds OF sickness.
this kind is mental The remedy lies
side by side with the disease. All we
have to do is to see and to work.
In business and out of business we
can resist and gain a victory. II Is
never too late.
Perhaps victory is won the instant
We realize. For realization means
sense of loss. OF opportunities missed.
of the importance of catching up and
taking what is ours.
So many of US unconsciously fall
into the habit of excluding much OF
the good that comes in our way, both
people anu lnlnSs- OuE very
may be a means OF exclusion. Sup
pose We want to know only the good
people. OF all people. they may be
among the most stodgy. In their
goodness there may he the self-satis-
faction that is so sure a sign of retro
gression and decay.
Not till the sun excludes thee do
exclude thee" says Walt Whitman.
and the meaning of the words We
ought always to keep alive in the con-
sciousness
There is an old librarian who lives not
many miles from one of the big cities
His beard and his hair are long and gray.
He looks like an octogenarian, that is, at
first glance But at the second glance
he shows that his eyes are like burning
Goals. The spirit behind that mask OF
age is afiame, and the flame is continually
fed.
This man keeps abreast OF the times, by
loving his work and by loving all the
sources Of refreshment that come to
him through the work. The latest and
richest thought OF the world flows into
his mind he cares not merely for the
outside Of books, but for what is within,
for the soul To hear him talk is in itself
refreshment. He loves life so much
that he hates to go to bed. Far into the
night he sits up reading. He has reached
and where he feels that he must enjoy
to the full every day. He surely is an
example and a reproach to those OF
younger generations who find little in
life that is worth while. and who waste
a large part Of their thought and their
time in complaining about the dullness
that, as they think. lies outside them
selves, and that really is Of their own
creation.
An ambitious bushes man that hap
pen to know continually betrays his keen
competitive sense Success or failure In
those about him he believes he can
gauge to a nicely. Toward those who
are failing he adopts a manner very diff
ferent from that toward those yho are
successful In this way he apparently
thinks that he keeps himself in the sue
cessful current. But he forgets that he
makes a great many enemies among the
unsuccessful, who. any day, may become
successful. He Is unaware, too, that he