Trench and camp. [volume] (Augusta, Ga.) 1917-1919, 1918-01-23

and not me.
The voyager entering a new county will
listen with attention to the traveller who
is just returning from its exploration;
and the young warrior bucl<lng on his
armor may be benefited by the expert
ences of the old warrior who is laying his
armor off. i have climbed the Hill Of
Life, and am past the summit, l suppose,
and perhaps it may help those just ven
turing the first incline to know what
think I would do if had it TO do over
/ have lived an average life. l have
had the same kind of foles. fears and
fires my twenty one-y ear-old reader has
/ have failed often and bitterly. | have
loved and hated, lost and won, done some
good deeds and many bad ones. | have
had some measure Of success, and have
made about every kind of mistake there
Is to make. In other words, have lived
full, active, human life, and have got
thus far safely along.
l am on the shady side of fifty. AS
people grow old they accumulate two
kinds of spiritual supplies one a pile Of
doubts questionings and mysteries and
the other much smaller pile Of positive
conclusions. There is a great temptation
TO expatiate upon the former subjects
Tor negative and critical statements have
a seductive appearance of depth and
much more of a flavor of wisdom than
clear and succinct declarations. But l
will endeavor to resist this temptation
and win set down. as conciSely as | can
some OF the positive convictions 1 have
gained.
For the sake of orderly thought viii
make Ten Points. They might of course
just as well be six points or forty, but
ten seems to be the number most easily
remembered, since we have ten fingers
first and "handiest" Of counters
If | Were Twenty One | Would "Do
the Next Thing"
The first duty of human being in this
world is to take himself off other peoples
backs. ! would go to work at something
Tor which my fellow men would be Will
ing Ias, to pa pay. ~, 4 would not wait for an
heard of was the one some other fellow
had.
It is quite important to find the best
thing to do 1t is much more import
ant to find something to do If l were a
young artist, / would paint soap adver-
tisements, Il that were all opportunity Of
fered, until | got ahead enough to in
dulge in the painting of madonnas and
landscapes. If ] were q young music
IAN l would rather play in a street band
writer. | would do hack work, if neces-
saFy, until I became able to write the
Great American Novel.
1 believe In the wage system as the
best and most practical means of co or
dinating human effort. What spoils it is
the large indigestible Jumps of unearned
money that, because OF laws that origi-
mated in special privilege, are injected
into the body polite, by inheritance and
other legal articificialities.
II | We're twenty-one | would resolve
To take no 0OlldE TOT winch L MAD not con-
tributed something in the world s work
Ii philanthropist gave me a million dol
lars / would decline It, IF rich father
or uncle left me a fortune, / would hand
it over to the city treasury All great
wealth units come, directly or indirect
ly, from the people and should go to them.
All inheritances should be limited to, say,
100000. If government would do that
there would be no trouble with the wage
system.
If 1 were twenty -one I would keep clean
Of l,1s,N
I have known have been those whose
bread and butter depended upon their
daily exertion.
Tiff / Were Twenty One | Would
Adjust Myself.
More people | have known have suffered
because they didn't know how to adjust
themselves than for any other reason
And the sophisticated people | have
met have been those that have the lnack
OF adapting thmselves to whatever hap
pens.
l would begin with my relatives. While
I might easily conceive a better set Of
uncles, aunts. cousins, brothers. and SO
on. yet Destiny gave me precisely the
but 1 need them SO of my friends and
acquaintance and fellow workmen Every
mans life is plan OF God Fate brings
to me the very souls out Of the unknown
that I ought to know If l cannot get
along with them. be happy and appre-
ciated, ! could not get along with an
other set of my own picking A man
who is looking for ideal human beings to
make up his circle of acquaintance
would as well go at once and jump into
the river
The God of Things as They Ought to
Be is humbug There is but one God,
and He is the God of Things as They Are.
Half of my problem is Me; the other
half is Circumstances. My task is to
bring results out Of the combination Of the
two
Life is not a science. to be learned; it is
an art. to be practiced Ability comes
by doing Wisdom comes not from others;
it is a secretion of experience.
Life is not like problem in arithmetic,
to be solved by learning the rule: it Is
more like puzzle of blocks. or wire rings
you just keep trying one way after an
other. until finally you succeed maybe.
think it was Josh Billings who said
that in the Game Of Life, as in game of
cards. we have to play the cards dealt
to US; and the good player is not the one
who always WINS but the one who plays
a poor hand well.
ill-If | Were Twenty One I Would
Take Care of My Body.
The comfort and efficiency Of my days
depend fundamentally upon the condition
of this physical machine I am housed
in. I would look out for it as careful