The Washington times., 1920-10-19
Beatrice Fairfax
GIVES
Failure.

Beware of desperate steps. The darkest day
Live till tomorrow-win have passed away
Have you ever stopped to think how many
girls stirred to jealousy by the beauty and
luxury of the butterflies of the moment7 And
have you ever stopped to think how little we
know OF heartache these same butterflies feel
in the midst of their painted paradises? The
little verse above is a good sentiment for all
who would play the game of life successfully
and well, and play it decently and bravely to
the finish.
Beware of desperate steps" You see there's
no finaIity about any of the aches and pains and
disappontments of life The "unendurable"
isn't uncomfortable at all. It's just hard to bear
But in the bearing of what seems too much
there's chance for growth and development
No athlete who's training for Marathon
starts out by dashing off his twenty-five miles
He works up to it. Well, the terrible trials of
life are perhaps bit strenuous training. for
learning to a race; but once endured each
makes the next difficulty easier to met OF a
basis of the training afforded by the last
THE UNDESIRABLE.
The thing that seems beyond endurance and
cruel and torturing comes at last to be a COM
Portable enough thing to live with. Folks learn
to adjust themselves and their lives to lame
ness, to blindness to all forms of cruel physical
disability. Broken hearts have a way of mend
ing Sometimes there aren't any scars.
Nature repeats all her processes in every stage
of life and on every plane of existence. The
tree that is riven by lightning doesn't die il its
roots and trunk stand. even II it is denuded of
branches. Tie living tree renews itself 1t
puts forth branches again. 1t heals it's scars
We humans like that too. We survive
surgery of the mind and spirit weel as sur
gerry of the body.
Only the weak give in to the moment of pain
Only the weak away from living Only the
stupid have so little imagination, little gam
bling spirit that they refuse to things
through to their logical conclusions. The diff
culty that's endured, that's worked oi is
likely enough to be a stepping stone to victory
No was ever so down and out that he
couldn't pick himself up again and make good
No one who lives is deprived of chance to
make good--if only he has the will to fight, the
spirit to strike.
endurable, it has probably reached it's worst
stage. And when you get down into the trough
of the wave you can't get any lower, you are
your way to the crest! ..
But one of the queer upsldedown, perverted
reasons why folk who think they're down and
out must find somewhere the courage to fight
through lies in n contemplation of the fact that
those who seem to have everything haven't
much, perhaps
You see we humans prone TO jealousy
We get furious at life because it seems to
divide its prizes so unfairly. But the things
which appear to be prizes may not be rich gifts;
and the things which seem to indicate poverty
and hardship may really spell the best The
sad little creatures who for all their youth
and beauty and wealth and plcasure-found life
too much for them, prove thnt--dont they7 You
see, none of us knows how much another of us
Is enduring. None OF us know how much capac-
ity for enduring another Is developing. None
OF can read the last chapter OF any lifc's
book until come to IT,
And the only way to insure the happy ending
is to build character. strength. power OF endur-
ance, and willingness to wait for tomorrow's
solution OF the problem. Any OF us who will can
see anything through to a successful conclusion.
One of our present day most successful voting
authors had 122 rejection slips before he sold n
story, He had to keep on working and beIiev-
ing through 122 failures.
Fourteen years OF failure and disappointment
preceded the final triumph OF n playwright who
has during the last two years, had as many as
three successful plays running Broadway at
tmie.
Their success was guaranteed from the first
Not by their gifts. BY their power 20 endure
failure. BY their willingness to live through
dark days in the belief that tomorrow might
be bright