Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-04-09
" DOROTHY DIX

A young man pronounced word incor-
rectIy. Whereupon a candid relative cor
rected him, and even went to the trouble to
get out the dictionary and prove to him that
he was wrong.
81 don't care what Webster says" retorted
the complacent youth That's the way
pronounce the word and that's the way I'm
going to pronounce it. We've got free speech
in this country, and I'm going to pronounce
words as l please"
! wise old man, who had been listening
! to the controversy sighed. I'm disappointed
in that boy" he said sadly. Il mad hopes
of him, but if he has reached the place in
| his development where he doesn't desire to
learn anything more, he has come to the end
of his tether. He has reached the limit of
his achievement and there's no hope of his
| ever being any more than he is at the present
| time, or of his even doing anything better
| "He is done growing. He has become senile,
even he is only in his twenties, for age is
nothing but the hardening of our perceptions
and the petrfactiOn of our inclinations. We
are young as long as we are continually
learning and can change our point of view,
and ways of doing things, and can keep
step with modern thought.
whenever we get to the place where we
are satisfied with ourselves and don't want
| to learn anything more, we are old, no mat
ter how few birthdays we have had. And
we are only interesting and valuable hence
| forth as specimens of the fOsSilized remains
| of the past.
eff I could give one especial piece of adj
| vice to the young, it would be to keep their
| eyes open and their minds supple and pl1a BILE;
we keep always learning and always grow
| ing and to be forever on still hunt for a
| better way of doing things, instead of rest
ing COmplacently content that one S own way
| is the only way.
| 81 count it even virtue for people to keep
up with the foolish fads of the hour, for it
shows, at least, that they are willing to learn,
and that they are not so encased in self-con.
ceit that new ideas cannot penetrate to them.
There's always hope for those who are recep-
tive and anxious to be taught, and so between
the man who knows it all and the man who
is trying to learn the latest thing, I back the
up-to-theminute chap to win out.
"Our young friend here says that he has
| the right to pronounce word the way he
pIeases. That's where he is wrong. The
casual listener will set his INSTRUMENTATION
down to ignorance, instead of recognizing
that he is asserting a constitutional right to
free speech, and the balance of us will smile
over his egotism, and dismiss him from our
minds as one who has reached his growth.
"Self-conceit is the nice, soft, cushy grave
in which a lot of ability buries itself. The
minute perfectly satisfied with our
selves and our attainments, that minute the
race ends for us. We never advance one
inch, for spend our lives gloatng over
our achievements instead Of straining on to
another goal.
Its the people who are always learning
who succeed. A very great man said once.
| l have made many mistakes in my life, but
| / have never made the mistake the second
| ime.'
That's the stuff of which are made the
men and women who accomplish big things.
they make mistakes. Plenty of them. But
| they don't go on laundering along commit
| ting the same stupid mistakes over and
over again, as long as they live. They learn
from every error.
1T is small thing for a young man to
pronounce word incorrectly, for instance.
or to make a mistake in grammar, or to eat
with his knife He may have had few adj
vantages of education and association and
so IS not to be blamed for not being a purist
in language, or a Chesterfield in mannersI
One can easily excuse his lapse the first time,
but II he continues making the same mis-
takes after he has had them pointed out to
him, it shows that he is either too dull or too
conceted to learn.
1T is the young chap who is on the alert
to improve himself in every way who gets
there every time, not the egotistic dub who
is perfectly satisfied with himself as he isl
and who is too lazy and self-indulgent to
| change.
at takes a lot of courage to look yourself
in the face and canddly appraise your short1
cOmings, and to set about remedying them !
| 1t takes a lot of self-denia1 to give up old
slOvenly, slouchy, comfortable habits OF
speech and customs, and it's hard sitting fod
any of us on the bench of humility, where
we have to gaze up to other people and adj
NIT that they know more than we do.
| But it pays. For the pangs we suffer
when we lop off our faults are growing palms,
They mark our development, and some day
we realize that we have reached the stature
that we never could have attained if we had,
spared our vanity and coddled our self-loveI
tits the people who are willing to changel
who are eager and anxious to learn, Wild
keep on growing until at last they reach a
size commensurate with the big places. u
have seen this happen a thousand times. Two.
boys will come up from the country. One
will correct his pronunciation and drop his
rural manner of speech, and shed his viii
lage clothes, and take on the polish of the
city almost as if by magic. The other never
! brushes the hayseed out Of his hair, on
changes his uncouth speech, and after fifty
years of city life he is still provincial. And
nine times out of ten the boy who changed
| is the one who succeeded. And the reason
was that he was willing to learn.
For ability to learn marks our limit.
We can never go beyond that"
! Copyright 1921, by the Wheeler Syndicate,I
Inc.)