The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1920-07-21
LACK OF SELF-RELIANCE
.a BREEDS WORLD Discomfort
From the Kansas City Star.

Lack OF Seif-rellance is the DeSetIiHS III u Tic
world today-that is what Ralph Waldo Emer-
son would say, were he still living. -,
1.-THE sinew and heart of man seem to be drawn
out, and we are become tnnorous, Responding
whimperers," Mr.. Emerson would tell US causti-
cally 1--WE are afraid of truth, afraid of fortune,
afraid of death and afraid Of each other.
"Our age yields no great and perfect persons
We want men and women who shall renovate LIE
and our social state, but we see that most ma
lures. are insolvent; cannot satisfy their own
wants. have an ambition out of all proportion to
their practical force, and SO do lean and beg day
and night continually. Our housekeeping is men-
dicant, our arts, occupations, our marriages,
our religion we have not chosen, but society has
chosen for US. We are parlor soldiers. The rugg-
ed battle of fate, where strength is born, we
shun
"Man is timid and apologize; he is no longer
upright; he dares not say think, i am but
quotes saint OF sage.
"Discontent is the want of sef-rehance; it is
infirnity of will. Regret calamities if you can
thereby help the sufferer if not, attend your own
work and already evil begins to be repaired. Our
sympathy is just as base. We come to them who
weep foolishy and sit down and cry for company,
instead of imparting to them truth and health in
communication with the soul.
welcome evermore to gods and men is the self
helping man. For him all doors are flung wide.
Him all tongues greet, all honors crown, all eyes
follow with desire. TO the persevering mortal
said Zoroaster, the blessed immortals swift
"Insist on yourself; never initiate. Your own
gift you can present every moment with the
cumulative force of whole lifes cultivation; but
- IL, %c1o 80 %bo, how
extemporaneous half possession Shapespeare
will never be made by the study of Shapespeare.
Do that which is assigned you and you cannot
hope too much or dare too much
"All men plume themselves on the improve
ment Of society, and no man improves. Society
never advances It recedes as fast on one side as
it gains on the other. It's progress is only appar
emit, like the workers Of treadmill. It undergoes
continual changes it is barbarous, it is civilized
it is christianzed it is rich it is scientific; but
this change is not amelioration. For everything
that is given something is taken.
eThe civilized man has built a coach, but has
lost the use of his feet. He is supported on
clutches, but lacks SO much support of muscle.
He has got a fine Geneva watch but he has lost
the skill to tell the hour by the sun. Greenwich
nautical almanac he has, and so being sure of the
information when he wants it, the man in the
street does not know star in the sky. The
solstice he does not observe; the equinox he knows
as ttle and the whole bright calendar of the year
| is without dial in his mind. His notebooks i'm
pair his memory; his libraries overload his wit;
and it may be question whether machin-
dents; and it may be question whether machin-
: (1oeaseek = whether we have not lost
<fgy, by Christianity en-
IS and forms some vigor
~ stole was stole, but
the Christian?