The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-03
WHERE IS YOUR GRIT?
By SOPHIE IRENE LOEB.


 During the week a mother was complaining that she could not get her daughter to stick to anything. She had given her music lessons and an opportunity in private school, and now the worried mother was grieved over the fact that the girl insisted on going into the movies
 "She just hasn't any grit" com plained the mother, bitterly. 'The thing that amuses her in the begin ming. and afterward becomes work, has to be discarded for something with novelty in it. And I am at a loss as to what on earth to do with her"
 This Is the case with many A mother who has to urge her child to hold on to something until it devel- ops into better things.
 Without this quality engendered in childhood many a fortune would be shattered and many a home would be ruined and many person would lose all individuality. As wise soul has said:
 "The grindstone that has no grit in it-how long would it take to sharpen an axe? And affairs that had no grit in them--how long would they take to make man?"
 And In accordance with this, an- other thinking one has added:
 He is happy whose circumstances suit his temper; but he Is Nore ex- cellent who can suit his temper to any circumstance" And that is what grit means--to suit your temper and convenience to the thing at any and all times.
 The man who burns the midnight oil to work out some problem; the woman who stands in a tiny shop all day because it is her very own and she has to watch every penny; the young man who is working for al most nothing, but Is learning busi- ness that will get him somewhere. some day-these are the people that have the grit and will reach their goal.
 After all is said and done, grit means to stick to something that Is not pleasant all the time. It Is easy enough, indeed, to do something that gives one joy, but much harder, Of course, to carry on when tho thing seems humdrum. Yet 1t is these seemingly sordid tasks that, if mus tered through, bring rewards in other ways.
 In truth, it is the very process of practicing grit that gives ono the ability to cope with bigger things when they come.
 The. very act of going through something that brings out the best in you and puts you on your mettle and shows the stamina of which you are made--to stand something-this very means develops one as nothing else.
 Perhaps there is no quality in the human game that is as much to be desired as grit Grit will bring you many coveted "greenbacks," if those are what you want; but you will have to go through with much tha. you may not like, and perhaps hav- ing gone through 1t, you will know better how wisely to spend those ..greenbacks" when you get them.
 The man who has earned them certainly knows how hard it is and will spend them with greater wisdom than he who acquires them from the labor of someone else.
 And this mother who complains might better have begun at the very beginning to cultivate the trait of grit in her daughter. A child should be made to stick to his studies even when he dislikes them: provided. of course. he is well and strong. He cultivates grit in this way. In like manner he should be made to do un- interesting things, if for no other reason than to imbibe some of the clements of grit.
 Coupled with this, there should come the hope of reward at the end of such tiring task; but the gr'' that sustains man in the bigger work is that which has been inculcated in him in his earlier days.
 An. yes, dear mother perhaps much of the fault is yours that your