Norwich bulletin., 1917-10-20
Sunday Morning Talk
THE FINISHING TOUCH.

An agricultural friend of mine has a grievance against amateur garden
 CTS. Aoe claims that most of them have bungled their work. On his trips to town he passes hundred eagerly watched in July. neglected
 in August, and little more than patches of weeds in September. The most the average man accomplished. he ayers. who gaily p1owed his been to elevate the price of seed and fertilizer for the regulars.
 We. must discouna. this. complaint
 as inspired by some degree of pro- Cornta ssfe some ground, for his con te ntion. There were certainly a good many war gardens that began well end ended, to say the least less well. CTS who made brave showing be- tween the blow handles in spring. hut were considerably less active with the hoe and the paris green later. ir some cases. hardly. as much as they put in. They are like the man :n the Scripture parables who began to build, but was not able to finish.
 The crucial time in almost any un- dertaking is when the first vigor of effort has subsided. because no thrill Of novelty remains. It is 50 much more exciting to begin something new than to keep doing the same old things over and over again! Every social worker knows tine slump that comes midway in the life of most good projects. Workers fall by the wayside who are sustained by any thing less than strong convictions ard ingrained principle.
 The spiral involved in a. bad finish is too great to be ignored. Failure in pluck. and persistence becomes quite tragic, indeed, when it means as so oftea, that victory just in sacrifice must go for naught when a triumphing cause is abandoned at the eleventh hour. Military experts now tell us that another hours bonn tleships on March 1s, 1915. would have silenced the batteries on the the enemy's am3.z1nition having become exhausted. A single days work could then have swept up the mine fields and the Allied fleet would have been able to appear off Constantinop1e. March 21 would have seen the elimination of Turkey from European affairs. Disheartened by the punishment received, the al attack at time when the Turks had just armor- piercing shells left in all their forts. If the advantage 90 gallantly gained could have been
  been the course of the war!
 The errors we make. as individuals, If not 50 tragic in consequences. are yet serious enough in their way. We where we can hit the target, and then quitting before ringing in a bulls eye. Almost to succeed in any hu- man undertaking is hardly better down a mile outside the terminal, it is as bad for passengers as though it had not started at all. So it Is with many an excellent project well begun but never completed.
 Nowhere is a strong finish more to be desired than in the matter of that anyone, of course, attains to a really completed product in this world. But he may we'll strive to bring a few ideals at least down put Of the clouds and set them walk ir.E the earth on two feet. He may aspire to do one or two good things we'll. preached to others, he might himself l at the last, be a castaway. His re- joicing at the end of life was because he had actually done the thing ha set and kept the faith. His life job was l and there were no rough 1 corners nor frayed edges on it..
 Sympathetic observation of the ] more good beginners than good fn- 1 shers. There are so many half baked theories, so many partly real xed ambitions, so many near good 1 For all of us life Is a | fight to a, finish. It makes such an | difference whether men Ire content to quit in the early aft l .rnoon, or to push on with resolu- ion till the sun goes down-aH the difference between a botch and a mas- erpiece.
 THE PAHSON.