The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1934-11-20
ON MISSING THE BETTER WAYS
OF LIVING

Bruce Cation takes as an example Oh d
misdirected life the case of the Illinois
banker who stole sum from the bank anu
fled TO the north woods of Wisconsin,
where he lived the simple life for time
before being captured by officers of the
law. That experience changed the en-
bankers views of life but it was, of course,
too late for him, as he will have to go to
the penitentiary and if ne survives that eX-
perience his life story is ruined by his
crime.
The banker appropriated money be-
longing to other people in order to engage
in speculation in the effort to get rich
quickly. He got close to Nature in the Wis
consin forests living in primitive way,
and finally arrived at the point where ne
could make a, more accurate and Satisfac-
tory appraisal of life than was possible in
his mOney-mad years.
Bruce Cation takes the rather peSSimiS-
tic view that we learn about the best ways
to live our lives after it is too late, after
by far the greater number of our years
have been misSpent, or we have missed the
goal through bad judgment or the pursuit
of wrong ideals That is undoubtedly true
of many thousands; and it is worth while to
sound the warning to those for whom it
does not come too late and to the young
who have life before them.
Man learns to live by experience. Nc
young person enters upon the activities of
manhood or wOmanhOOd with accurate and
complete knowledge of life and of how to
shape their course through this world.
Most of the things that are worth while are
learned by experience, despite the recOg-
nized value of knowledge acquired by
mental fact of life, many persons fail 70
learn by experience and continue to go
wrong in direct disagreement with expe-
riences which should teach them valuable
lessons.
The trouble with the Illinois banker,
however, was not inexperience which
made it difficult or impossible for him to
understand the meaning of his act in ap-
prOpriating the banks money to his per-
Sonal use, but lack of character of the sort
that is able to withstand temptation, that
has fixed belief in the truth that hon-
esty is the best principle as well as the
best policy. 1t is right at this point so
many persons fail to live in the best way
and make the best of life as an experience
in development of personality and charac-
ter building.
1t is a cOmmendabe and laudable am
bitiOn to desire business success or success
in any or all the undertakings of life, but
it is a false and dangerous philosophy
which teaches that no price is too great 70
pay for worldly success, for wealth or the
satisfaction of merely worldly ambitions.
An honest banker, who believes that hon
esty is fundamental principle which no
man can afford to ignore or cast aside, and
who having taken his stand on this princi-
pie, remains there amid the wreckage of
financial institution which his noblest eff
forts could not save because of forces over
which he had no control, has learned how
to live. Some of his fellow citizens may
write failure" as their estimate of his life
but the man knows in his innermost con
seriousness that the estimate is false.
Perhaps all of this is foreign to th'
point Bruce Cation was trying to make IL
his reference to the banker, which pro