Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-12-04

HE either fears his fate too much,
Or his deserts are small
Who dares notNput it to the touch
To win or lose it ALL"
Do you remember when every one
was glibly quoting:
Steve Brodie took chance?
The inference was that lives were
full of Brooklyn bridges from which
folks might leap successfully if only
they had the daring.
Most of us find ourselves at some
stage OF the game called life just
how much we could successfully
get away with" if only we had
the nerve" And. if our judgment
isn't good we're likely to take risks
in which all the inference and liza
bilities against us - chances where
were beaten almost before we start.
How are we gong to calculate
our chances so that we neither sit
quivering at home afraid to risk
crossing any of life's busy streets
nor dash into whirlpools of traffic
where were sure to be run down by
the juggernaut cars that bear down
on us from every side?
Between cowardly conservatism
and wild gambling there's a broad
middle course. But most folks take
instinctiVely to one side of the road
or the other.
Youth, of course, is optimistic,
bold, full Of faith in life and itself.
1t blunders in and wins, too. where
more sage counsel would hesitate
and be lost.
The aviators of our great war
were youth in either the compare
tive or superlative degree. Pve
heard that the average age of the
flying man was twenty-three, and
I've known several young heroes OF
the skies who were under twenty
one.
Given thirty-fve and the balance
and quiet calculation with which
it would face and weigh chances,
there was too much mental strain,
too much deliberate and conscious
heroism to make the sort of bird =
man likely to win through without "a
shattered nervous system. Youth,
daring and brave because un-
afraid instead of daring to be de-
liberately brave - was better
Youth, with its optimism, was sub
ject to less strain. There were,
however, great heroes in the flying
forces who were men in years. But
they retained some of the daunt-
less. adventuring spirit of youth
some of the dash and aplomb with
which youth plunges into all things.
That spirit of youthful optimism,
that spirit of hope for the best, that
belief that life is kind and generous
may live in a man of fifty-of sew
enty, even. And if it does live, it's
possessor is going to win through
the most tremendous obstacles, be-
cause he'll never know when he's
defeated and so he'll jump up and
start fighting again, when a lesser
spirit would have let himself be
counted out
Sounds a bit as if I were all for
the Steve Brodies of life, doesn't it?
Well, / am. But with a mental
qualification.
If you're going to jump off any
Brooklyn bridges in the chance-tak-
ing line, you've got to know some
thing about the current where you
will strike the water, and a lot more
about your ability to swim when
you do strike it. And il is well to
be posted about your chances of be-
ing rescued If your calculations
fail. In other words, you have TO
know what your strength is, what
the chances against you are, and
what chances there are for you in
the line of reserves.
IF you're going into aviation
you'll he tested out in dozens of
ways-heart, lungs, eyes, hearing,
sense of balance. ability to orient
yourself, and go through gamut of
qualities that make or break you as
a birdman.
Courage and daring to inspire you
to fly or dive or rush into the game
OF life boldly and win the high hope
of youth for victory.
But to Justify the courage and
daring these other things:
A steady shrewd head to rein
force your brave heart. A steady,
clever hand to carry out the bid
dings of your wise head. And
strong, efficient body to put
hand.
gutter stops before he reaches his
goal. The conservative doubts him
self justifably or timorously. All of
these fail because they are afraid OF
the risks without which one can't
even cross a teeming city street or
turn corner of a dusty country
road.
Bold youth sometimes succeeds
with high hope as its chief equip
ment.
But he who wins ninety-nine
times out of hundred is the man
who dares TO take chances. but cal
culates himself and them before he