The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1946-06-21

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ways the pattern. or even usual
ly so; for ability is generally
inherited like everything else;
but it happens often enough to
be a familiar example to most
obscrvant people. Among the
billiards there are the OCCASION
al empty-headed women who
brag about their inability to
cook, wash, sew, keep accounts,
and who generally make a mess
of anything they undertake. They
think ii fashionable to be incom-
petent, and for some peculiar rea-
son they think it attractive, The
only thing that stands between
such ladies and the harsh knowl-
ego that life is hard, and q strug-
CLIO is their usually successful
and able husbands. Then there
is the male counterpart of such
a woman. the type who brags
about his own incompetence, his
lack Of mechanical ability" his
bad luck" with his type of work
or business, his lack of interest
in doing anything or learning
anything or trying anything.
These types are the two ex-
tremes. The average run of people
are folks who are eagar to learn
and to develop their capacities
at every opportunity-and who,
being average, find the process
of learning neither effortlesslyi
simple or impossibly difficult.
Learning is a struggle With them,
but if they have the energy te
endure ii, and stick with it, they
find after a little while that they
r making progress, and there
by are becoming bigger people
than they were before they an-
dertook the task.
This capacity of the human
mind to learn is the element of
pure magic in the dull clay of
which we are moulded. There
is a bit of this miraculous ele-
ment in each of US, even though
many of us forget it. When events
force US to extend our jnteilects,
our skill, the dexterity of cur
hands and eyes or the nimble-
ness of our brains, we find out
very often, in all modesty and
humility. that we are more cap
able than we, ourselves had
guessed. All that is needed is
that bright and< stimulating mo-
ment of ambition or of inspira-
ton, that spark which sudden
ly tells us that we must get up
and "try." In some lives, exter-
nal events exert their pressures
which produce this moment of
determination. In other lives it is
some inner hunger or eagerness
or tension that drives men to ex-
tend themselves, to become
smarter than they are, more skill
full. more rich, and sometimes
even more wise. And in other
lives, even in certain lives which
begin in fortunate circumstances,
with every favorable material
circumstance for bright achieve
ment, the spark for some rea-
son never comes, and lives that
promised to be so successful, in
the long run are seen to be empty
failures.
An English historian-whose
name escapes us7-has expressed
a great deal along these lines
with the statement that "some
men + born great. some achieve
greatness. while others have
greatness thrust upon Them
With as much truth it could be
said that some men r born
failures, some achieve failure,
while others have it thrust upon
them. The great majority how
ever achieve neither greatness
nor complete failure, but go
through life enjoying occasional
success and occasional misfor-
tune, which, in the long run seem
to balance one another. Our hap
piness is never so exalted nor
long lasting that we can free
ourselves from or forget the
memory of, or prevent the re-
c~urrence of pain and misfortune;
and misfortune is rarely so des-
perate and unrelieved that we
forget utterly the experience of
gladpess and good luck.
Within these congratulations,
there is a great deal that man
can do by his own effort to i'm
prove this individual lot. And
one of these things is to seek
constantly to be learning some
thing new, and never to be com
pletely satisfied so long rs he is
not. Too many of us never reach
our full capacities, or grow to
the intellectual stature that we
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