The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1928-12-14

man what does lot of thinkin' about
other folks is most generally a man
you can tie to."-Preachin' Bill.
THINK II over ana you Will see
i that words are very much like
people.
words, tricky, sly, mischievous, shifty
words. There are soft, mushy, fat,
fiabby, hard, hot and cold words.
There are words that pretend to
mean one thing when they actually
mean the very opposite. There are
downright vicious, quarrelsome. fight
ing words, killing words, and words
that are kind, hearty, true, honest,
steadfast and reliable. There are
great many big words that are very
snowy and impressive, but really do
not amount to much, and there are
some little unpretentious fellows that
don't take up much room but are of
tremendous Importance.
l sometimes think that words are
spirits, good or evil, moving in and
through all things to ends both good
and evil. l am quite sure that they
are just as much alive as you or /.
OF course, though, some words are
much more alive than others-just
like human beings again. Consider
such words as childhood, comrade.
son, daughter, sweetheart. friend
how alive they are; what wealth of
humanity is in them! The word
death, how alive il Is! No word is
more instinct with feeling. 1t Is vital
with sorrow and weeping. 1t is so
charged with mystery and awfulness
and ffnality that its appearance in
any company is invariably greeted
with a solemn hush.
BY universal consent our most
beautiful word is mother. But the
biggest, broadcast, tallest, strongest,
most comprehensive, most inspiring
word in any language, think, is the
word WE.
And the meaneSt,. most contempt
ible, vicious, poisonous and deadly
word in any tongue is that little two
letter arrangement: Me.
Without question, ME is at the bot
tom of 80 per cent of all the trouble
and sorrow and wretchedness and
woe that human beings experience.
1t has wrecked more characters,
ruined more happiness, caused more
untimely deaths than any other thing.
In the world. 1t is the chief cause
of all the wrongs we human beings
suffer.
You remember the man who said
"Me and Cod? And you remember
what inconceivable agony, what in
calculable loss of life, what incredible
torment of pain and starvation and
disease followed.
No, do not mean to say that the
simple phrase ME and God" caused
the World war. But / do say most
emphatically that the spirit which
puts the individual self first before
any consideration of others, the spirit
which puts self-interests before the
welfare and happiness of all other
fellow beings, the spirit which would
even put itself first before God-that
spirit, i say, has caused all the wars
that have ever been fought since hui
man wars began.
Yes. and that ME spirit will con-
row and death. If we could drive that
spirit of ME out Of life and out of
our affairs, we would insure the
peace, well-being, and happiness of
the world. And the only power in the
universe which can Danish this de-
structive spirit of ME is the spirit of
WE. ~
1t is often said that life is a gam
BILE. This makes us all gamblers, with
the odds in favor of our losing. But
we go right on taking chances just
the same.
There are no safe bets, no sure
things. The surest thing-the one
safest BETS to stake your all on
the man who has the WE habit-who
always says WE, and always thinks
WE. Ninetyeight times out of hun
dred you will come out winner if you
bet ON the WE man.
Homes where the WE spirit is a
member of the family are never
think and say WE, and who live WE.
continue in their happy oneness even
unto the end of their days. Fathers
who have the WE habit are rarely
dishonored by their children. Mothers
who are WE mothers are never for
their sons and daughters.
Business enterprises in which the
WE spirit is the head of the firm sell
dom fail. People who think and say
WE-who have the WE habit-sel-
dom double-cross their associates.
Such people never take selfish ad-
vantage of another's generosity. They
never cash in for themselves on the
confidence which their friends have
I'm them. They never betray or rob or
short-change those who trust them.
Between you and me, no friendship
of WE. And the WE spirit must be
actively manifested in everyday
thought and speech. Ii is not enough
to have the WE spirit theoretically.
There is no such thing as a theo-
retical WE. The WE spirit is actual,
spontaneous. operative, always evil
dent in thought and word and deed,
or it does not exist.
When any one of two or more per-
sons who profess friendship and
CARP ARE VETERANS