The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1916-09-28

SOuAt tAdu Jul ., VI tAClI NIIHCUlty
in mastering the meaning of some of
the words we use in every day life.
While it is generally conceded
that English grammar Is probably
more difficult to learn than any other,
owing to the lack of tlexi bility of the
English tongue, it is also conceded
that good working vocabulary can be
rapidly acquired with little trouble
Very few words in general every
day use contain more than two or
three syllables. In comparison with
foreign languages English is easy to
learn. This conclusion was brought
to the writer's mind the other day in a
forcible manner
While studying the hierogl yphics
printed in lieu of English in a series of
advertising cards IL a foreign news
paper, one word stood prominently to
the front. recurring eighteen times on
one page. The word (perhaps it was
the equivalent of paragraph in Eng
lish) was PA1KANvALITYsTOIM
twenty-one letters, to say nothing of
the few marks of accentuation.
Any person who can read langu-
age containing words of such proper
lions should have little difficulty mas
tering even the most intricately con-
structed words in the English tongue.
No, do not know what the word
means.
One of the finest attributes of
human nature is the faculty of sympa-
thy. Not the lachrymal sort tina. sheds
downpour over the sight of prick
ed finger, but the we'll balanced kind
that emanates from pure understand
ing. The kind that appreciates ntelli-
gent effort and sympathizes with the
ambition.
The true quality of sympathy is
not sought consciously. The mere
fact that one seeks sympathy convicts
the seeker of egotism and an exagger-
ated idea of his Importance in the
world. 1t is not the man that benefits
posterity; it is the work he does.
With this view firmly fixed in the
minds OF both worker and sym athizer,
the stimulant of intellectual sympathy
affects not the ego of the worker, but
enhances the quality of his ambition
and eliminates the quality of self con-
seriousness from his product.
Few people are in tune with our
ambitions, partly through our own
diffidence in making contidants be-
cause Of our fear of being thought
egotistical. The thought of attract
ing ridicule makes us even more chary
of confding fully our ambitions until
we have tested the quality of the SYM
pathy extended.
Victor Hugo gained great inspir-
alton from the Intellectual sympathy
of friend-to her keen insight he
attributed much of his success. The
fact that the world did not approve of
the source of his inspiration failed to
effect him, for he worked for posterity,
not for himself. Therefore the likes
and disllkes of people failed to effect
him. He was greater than his environ
ment.
A favorite strategy employed by
soldiers and statesmen alike, the world
over, is "clouding" weak spots to pre-
vent attack. The method employed in
this age-old operation is the erection
of barriers screening the operations
going on behind the works. The big
guns are trained upon other detectives,
far away from the weak spot.
We are being bombarded with
policies having to do with our foreign
relations with a dozen more or less
distant countries. These questions
are apparently paramount in import
ance to the people, rather than intern