Evening star., 1925-03-01
Howe About
Writing and Acting; Success Easier Than
Failure; The Cure-All Idea.
BY E. W. HOWE,
"The Scge OF Potato Hill"

~ EOPLE love to enumerate the
Great Outrages. But not much
can be done with them. / can
enumerate a dozen for which
there is no remedy whatever;
the only thing we can do is to make
them less outrageous.
X 4 y y
A man writes me about an old
maid school teacher he knows who
lives with her mother and two para
site sisters. These are always grum-
bling about the school teacher, say
ing she is "stingy" and does not pro-
vide for them as she should, although
she devotes her entire income to them.
L confess the statement surprises me.
I can understand the mother and two
parasite sisters wanting more money
to spend. but / cannot understand
their finding fault with a sister who
supports them by means of hard
work. Under such circumstances 1
should think the mother and sisters
would grumble at the husband and
father who left them poor, and great
ly admire the sister who does so much
for them.
In a certain town wife walked up
shot him in the back, killing him in
stantly. The police took the pistol
away from her. Now that she has
been freed by jury, she is demand
ing that the pistol be returned to her;
also that there be less delay in pay
ing the husbands life insurance to
her. She was acquitted on her own
testimony. The neighbors had never
heard of any of the dreadful things
she testified to.
X x X
I once wrote book called Success
Easier Than Failure" 1t has long
been out of print, but I received a
good many letters asking for 1t. One
man has copy and has asked per-
mission to have an. edition printed, as
he wishes to give away several hum
dred. The question is always coming
up: What do you mean by the
statement that success is easier than
failure?" And 1 can only reply:
Precisely what the statement implies
that success is easier than failure.
I have often illustrated my meaning
with this simple illustration: A fair
ly Industrious, honest and useful man
will find life a task, and meet with
many rebuffs and discouragements
but, in the end, lives an easier and
more agreeable life than the idler,
who is always in trouble with the po-
lice and with his neighbors because
of,bad habits. Trouble dogs the foot
steps of every man, rich or poor, and
it is his first business to get rid of as
much of it as possible. All / contend
is that a man who lives a fairly de-
cent life gets rid of more natural
trouble than the tramp is able to do.
When rheumatism twinges appear he
is better able to find such relief as
there is in rheumatism than the
tramp sleeping out in the fields on a
wet night. When the decent man
gets down finally he viii be more
comfortable than the tramp, who is
sent to a poorhouse. There is a good
idea back of poorhouses, but they
are all dreadful; their inmates are
not much better off, in many cases
than alley cats. A child is born into
| the world and has his life to live. He
| can live it more agreeably in every
way and attain sufficient success by
pursuing the decent rather than the
| indecent course. By successful man
| do not mean a rich man, but one OF
| the decent average. able to hold a jot
or manage a business, with sufficient
intelligence to insure respect. There
| is no doubt that such a man lives ar
| eacier and more agreeable life thar