The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-11-30
on f2elz1 f.
REAL PERSON
BY DR.. HARRY EMERSON FOSDiCK|
Caruso Once Held Opera Curtain
An Hour Because of Stage Fright

nearly an hour the raising Of the
curtain at the Metropolitan Opera
House because he had an attack Of
stage fright. John B. Cough, g
marvellous orator, remarkable fol
his se1f-possession once said thai
before each address he always felt
''This is the time when I shall fall
Writers of biography commonly
select a few dominant patterns
and simplify their portrait by ar
etcher's art. They present a much
more orderly and single minded
individual than actually existed
Nevertheless, far from being al
loose ends within themselves, such
persons may have achieved pow.
erful concentration of purpose ane
drive.
Personality is dynamic: 1t Is
going concern; like a river, it.
unity consists not in the absence
of cross-currents and back-eddies
but in its total flow and main di-
rection. A river can have rapids
and waterfalls, and still move
powerfully one way. While, there
fore there are fortunate dispositions
gifted with temperamental calm
whose happiness lies In tranquility
they alone do not exhause the
meanings of Indignation. Some hap.
mess Is not calm but fierce.
So David Livingstone, after costly
years Of toll and suffering in Africa
doing what most of all he wanted
to do, said that he had never made
sacrifice in his life. His expert
ence had been full Of struggle, In
ward and outward. He had buried
his wife at Shuanga, crying, "Oh
my Mary, my Mary! how often We
have longed for a quiet home, since
you and I were cast adrift at Kolo-
beng"
The unity Of his life consisted not
in the resolution and ending OF all
conflict, but in the liberation OF
certain inevitable conflicts under the
dominance of a controlling purpose.
Christ himself cried. "Now is my
soul troubled; and what shall ]
say?" and in Gethsemane, Exceed
ing sorroWful even unto DEATH" he
prayed "in an agony and "his sweat
became as it were great drops of
blood falling down upon the ground
but he was at the very least, mar
velously integrated person.
Personalities, therefore, fall into
three general classes. Some never
get themselves together; they either
fail to grow up into psychological
maturity, or they go to pieces under
strain.
Others do get themselves together
bu on low ethical levels; they be-
come egocentric; they acquire abb
sorbing devotions-money, prestige,
fame, even alcoholic the pursuit
of which they subjugate all their
powers; they fall under the spell of
some single and uniflying aim, con-
corning which they feel as Frederick
the Great felt about glory-"Glory
is folly, but it is folly that you
cannot shake off, when once you
get 1t fastened upon you"
Still others, however, achieve we'll
organized lives on high levels. They
find value supremely worth serving.
Their lives become coherent, steady,
one directional. They identify
themselves with something greater
than themselves, to which they give
themselves. They face inner tension
and at times vehement struggle in
maintaining the chosen pattern of
their lives, but they maintain it.
They become practicable characters
TOMORROW: Modern freedom
places great strain on the individual.
Copyright, 1913, Harper & Brothers,
New York