Norwich bulletin., 1920-03-06
THE MAN WHO TALKS

W ny ID IL theAG d1&USt pSOp1S unIy lOUh
 at one side of a question. The side
 that is seauly and unfavorahle. Is it
 because it is easier for the feelings to
 express themselves than Judgment?
 Whether it Is due to our ignorance, | prejudice or obstinancy, the fact is that most of us rate things by the ef- fects they have upon our feelings. Possible it may be due to the unfort- unate habit some of us have acquired of looking only on the dark side of things. If we look through blue glass l es only, it is perfectly evident that l | the whole world will seem blue. There | are those who read their own desires | into the questions they consider. It | is an instance ''of making the wish the | father of the thought" If they want |
 things to be thus and so they will construct their arguments according ly. There are others-and this takes
 in more than we are ready to ac- knowledge-who always see the reall
 value of things only from the stand point of personal inconvenience. That 1 is, they loudly praise those things that add to their material comfort, or contribute to their pleasures. But they are equally loud in denouncing other things that cause annoyance, or
 call forth little extra effort. They upbraid all weather conditions that interfere with their engagements. If we are selfish or prejudicial we shall
 simply look at things, but not through them.
 A an illustration take the great body of snow that now holds sway
 over a large part of our land. Is it looked at first of all, or last of all, in
 it's scientific aspects, or from the . standpoint of personal discomfort?
 If this old fashioned orthodox New ESrRo person 1t would have been driven weeks ago into Brewsters Neck by
 the knocks it has received. We kick 1 at storm because the snow shovel gives us a backache because the other fellows sidewalk, when not inpassa- ble, is slushy or slippery; because
 somebody's ashes are tracked in on . our valuable rag carpet; because the 8 gutters are so clogged with ice that in I the sweet bye and bye" we are go- ]. ing to have an awful flood; because r it is, very expensive to scrape the snow
 off our main streets and dump it into . the Shetucket river; because trans portation is demoraIized and we are 3 not sure of a car when the movies are S over. verify believe that the French S people for four years in wading . 1 through seas of blood growled less !, than the American people in wading - through the slush to their places of business during the last four weeks. On the other hand ought we not to remember that snow has much to dc ? in maintaining that fxity of climate Is on which our human affairs depend n The snow protects many forms oi f. vegetation during their sleeping life $ which otherwise would perish. As il
 is good non- conductor of heat il
 forms an admirable covering for the
 1 earth from the effects of radiation, fol
 it often happens in time of great cold d that the soil is 40 degrees warmer l. than the surface of the over1ying snow 10 The flooding of rivers from the melt io ing of snow on the mountains 1T
 summer carries fertility into regions 's which would otherwise remain barrel n wastes. The fertilizing value of snow n has also been long recognized. Would 1t it not be well for us before we grum y ble to view the matter from tn i- larger standpofnt7
 a Did you eyer think how much eli
 mate has to do in producing and sus s. taining both ability and character ,s The bieakness of this present winte tv brings the subject afresh to our at >' tention. Is it not very suggestive tha ie the great world personalities, for tn Tn most part, have been the productfo ok of the north temperate zone? B t. world personalities" mean the me he and women who have been foremos is in every branch of human activity ar Judea furnished the Christ with tn, 'P highest conception of religion; Greco . the philosophers; Rome the warrior Fly in ancient times. In the middle age on Europe produced nearly all the world d. greatness. and in more recent time tn 1t has been supplemented by Nortl of America. Now all these regions i within the north temperate zone; th , r zone that is under the sway of the ic Ne king in winter; where the climate n- rigorous and severe; where natul at does not spontaneously provide all
 mans necessities, but where he mu ,ei3 put forth the supreme effort to liv ,is But this is the climate, however = which white oaks thrive that outla " the century; also white oak character we that are stamped with immortaIit fer Sonora, Mexico, is about a quart
 larger than New England. It's cl to mate is mild and balny. Its fields e,
 ceedingly fertile and its mineral d. he posits. including the most precio1 t. metals, are inexhaustible. But ho many great characters can you mel no ttion that Sonora has given to th ner world in spite of all these natur her advantages?. New England has wh not we often call "beastly' climate. 1 .u fields are comparatively poor al ie- rocky, and Is almost entirely lackil ing can anurna-.+o om +ho 1Ai.u a. yet W; 'oo with which New England has enric
 ed the world? Weatherwise New En
 land may not be exactly parallel
 New England, but it is never conspi .,,t uous for winter tourists as Florida ou and yet what equal area within t put tropics has ever furnished the wor
 with such splendid man power
 Scotland? The nations are doubtle get justified in turning down German, is leadership, but we must all admit ey
 if we do not always admire the
 tality of her intellectual life B of in the matter of climate, neither Scc so land nor Germany is a reminder
 Dante's Paradise. The conclusit
 1 then. is that the rigors of climate 2
 conductive to human greatness.
 .om The most unpopular man in
 world today = not exceeding the C
 kaiser himself-is that intangi somebody known as the "profiteel the But do We stop to realize that it is ' the ourselves, the consuming, spendthr s a public, that has set up the profit
 in his lucrative business and is kee
 ing him there? And still we, his I has irons, are inconsistently bowling r his marked success. Like fitfuI b, +h we laboriously build up a snow ins
 that doesn't suit us, and then thr . mud balls at it. We, the public, n,
 CT had money in such Jumps as n, Ine and we know how to spend it only cer- lunpS The retailer would like