ii Btkalf of « « Eargt r and more ^optful Ww of Oft * * B J JUL2018M LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Chap.J^_„ Copyright JS T o.„ Shelf_2l^fc„. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. BY THE SAME AUTHOR: Mooted Questions of History. New York : Benziger Bros., Publishers. Handsomely bound in cloth, 220 pp., 75 cents. Quite a valuable little book which compiles the data of history and the judgment of histo- rians fairly supposed to be free from bias re- garding events which popularly receive a one- sided treatment.— American Eccl. Eeview. The Church and The Law. WITH SPECIAL EEFEEENCB TO ECCLESIASTICAL LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. Chicago: Callaghan & Co., Law Book Pub- lishers. Bound in sheep, $1.00. "Will be found instructive upon the topics treated not only by laymen and clergymen, but by lawyers. . . Mr. Desmond was one of the attorneys who argued and filed a learned brief in the celebrated Edgerton Bible case and was well prepared to write such a book. I cheerfully commend it to those who wish information on the subject.— Hon. J. B. Cassoday, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, Outlooks >d Insights. an< In JSebalf of larger an& fiDore Hopeful Wewa of Xtfe, By Humphrey J. Desmond. "Care not, while we hear A trumpet in the distance pealing news Of better, and Hope, a poising eagle, burns Above the unrisen morrow." —Tennyson. New Yoke Chicago D. H. McBRIDE & CO., Publishers, 1899. *$« 38350 Copyright, 1899. By H. J. Desmond. f m 4J MrU^ W Via ^ <\ CONTENTS. Above the Sordid- Ossification. - Side Lines. What a Monk Wrote. Keep Sweet. .... An Un-austere Saint. A Happy Disposition. Seeing Life. As a Man Lives — The Ruling Passion. Small Vices. .... Even Worldlings See It. Sane Insanities. The Anti-Social Feeling. Turning Points. The Philosophy of Moderation- The Flying Years. *~- Would We Live Our Lives Over Again? Something Must be Missed. A False Aim. The Measure of Success. - Spiritual Force — The Will To Do. Be Just and Fear Not. The Kernel of Progress. - Courage of Conviction — In the Living Present, Right, Rather than Popularity. "Respectable" Opinions. Avant Couriers. - The Brave Man Chooses. s PAGE. 7 7 8 8 9 - 10 12 13 - 16 16 - 17 18 - 18 20 - 21 24 - 24 26 - 27 28 - 30 33 ■ 33 34 - 37 40 - 40 41 . 42 44 - 46 CONTENTS. Now is the Appointed Time- page. 48 Get Into Action. ----- 48 To-morrow and To-morrow and To-morrow. 49 Action is Power. ----- 50 The Society of the Energetic— Daring to Do. . - . - The Discipline of Mind. Prescience. .... The Opportune Moment. - Suaviter in Modo — Serenity. - - - - Morbid Periods. The Impolicy of Quarrels. The Art of Persuasion. The Point of View— The Poet's Eye. - The Habit of Satire. Shapes of Vice. - Not All One Way. The Wisdom of Our Elders. Perspectives— Narrow-Guage Statesmen. Radicalism. - Time for the Puritan. - A Lesson in Public Spirit. "Only a Sentiment." Attitudes- Power in Repose. One's Own Individuality. Signs of Character. Recurrences— New Causes. "Paramount Eights." Lost Arts. - Reverence. 52 52 53 54 56 60 63 65 67 67 69 71 73 74 76 76 78 79 81 87 92 95 97 4 CONTENTS. PAGB. The Knowledge of Evil— - 101 A Question of Innocence. 101 An Apostolic Caution. ■ 102 Degenerate Tendencies. 103 The Black Art. .... . 105 Enlarging Vistas— - 108 The Unfinished Bible. ■ 108 Hush! Hush! 109 In God's Time. .... • Ill "Think Ye?" 112 Theological Insularity. ■ 114 Ideas in the Pulpit. - - - 116 Repairs on the Church* 118 The Gospel for the Poor — 121 Moral Sanitation. - • 121 The Poor We Have Always With Us 123 A Civilization of Water. - • 125 After Dinner Charity. .... 128 Mediaeval Charity. - • 128 , Education in Giving. .... 130 Brains and Heart. - - 132 Americanism — ■ 134 What is Americanism? 134 A Matter of Environment. . 137 Beyond Their Station. 139 Rise in the World. - - - - ■ 143 The People King — - 147 Ordinary People. - 147 A Lesson in Ethics- - - 149 Level Up. - 151 The Hard Pacts — - 155 A Balance of Power. .... 155 The Boycott Family. - 157 Cannot Use the Church. .... 159 Outlooks and Insights. ABOVE THE SOEDID. Ossification. When we grow old the veins and arteries harden. The muscles grow stiff. The lungs and the heart are clogged with limy deposits. If some means could be discovered to rid the body of waste material, or some diet followed which would throw less work upon the excretory organs, most of us might reach the century mark. But we also ossify in our minds and in our souls. While there are experi- ences in life which chasten and purify — and sorrow which does not crush, is one of these — there are routines in life, ways of living and sordid aims which destroy every God-given sympathy, rob the mind of all its generous impulses, cramp the soul and drive all poetry and beauty out of life. What does the social or political or pecuniary success, which leaves us thus ossified in brain and soul, amount to ? To be hard of heart, OUTLOOKS AND INSIGHTS. calculating of mind and iron-willed, is simply a condition of moral death. Side Lines. Mrs. Browning in one of her poems says : "Let us be content in work, To do the thing we can and not presume To fret because 'tis little." There is, however, a chance for every one, no matter what may be the ordi- nary duties of life, to develop little in- terests aside from avocations by which one's living is earned. In his Wilhelm Meister, Goethe says: "One ought every day, at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, speak a few reasonable words." Some people are so happily constituted that they are able to go out of their way to do an act of kindness every day. Monk* A monk wrote these lines away back Wrote. ^ n ^ e « g enial and irresistibly Saint. winning." Words spoken of St. Philip Neri, who walked the streets of Rome some three hundred years ago. 10 ABOVE THE SORDID. Sad people went out of their way to meet him, for the sight of his face made them happy. It is said that after his death, depressed people went to his room to have their hearts raised. His presence was sunshine. His very look calmed troubled souls. His words in- spired confidence. His step was the signal of good cheer. All this is quite credible. It should seem plausible to us in these days when there is belief in personal magnetism. Have we not all observed in a less de- gree the influence, either for gladness or depression, of certain individualities ? What a power for good a man gifted as was St. Phillip Xeri might be. How much better employed is this happy endowment when it is devoted to the welfare of one's fellow Christians rather than to winning office or trade. St. Phillip Xeri was eighty years of age when he died, and at his death and all through his life we may believe that he gained more satisfaction in using his great gifts in diffusing happiness, than if he had ruled the Papal court or sat as a prince among Venetian merchants. 11 OUTLOOKS AND INSIGHTS. Disposition. Life in its totality is both sad and glad. But it is gladder and brighter with those who determine to make it so. A happy disposition is worth half one's fortune in life. Things do seem to come out right in the end for those who look away from the gloom, keep up their courage and trust to the good time coming and the kind Providence that watches over all. If we study the processes of the mind, we begin to be more and more per- suaded that nothing in life is irremedi- able or irretrievable. Time seems to cure the deepest afflictions. The wor- ries of yesterday are trifles to the mem- ory of to-morrow. A merciful Creator has so constituted us that we rise from the profoundest grief to bear with forti- tude the saddest bereavements. A lost love finds balm in the treasure house of the future. What seems the awful decree of Fate, which rives hearts and makes the years to come seem black and bleak and cold and desolate, is less awful and less tragic as the months roll on. Men smile again, though their fortunes are broken, though poverty succeeds affluence, and though obscur- ity follows power. Every cloud has a 12 ABOVE THE SORDID. silver lining. The darkest hour is the hour before the. dawn. These considerations and this knowl- edge of the recuperative power of the mind, advise us of the good sense of looking on the bright side. Let us raise our hearts. We may be happy yet. The sun is still shining, if we but get in the sunlight. Eeturning seasons still new flowers bring. After all, 'tis a good old world to live in. And our faith is that we were created to be happy, and not to be miserable in it. So much of the unhappiness of life comes from being morbid over afflic- tions and crosses. It is the mistake of looking on the gloomy side only. The evil of the bereavement and the sadness, are deepened by brooding, and the sor- row sometimes leads to catastrophe and tragedy. What is needed are physi- cians of the mind to prescribe diver- sion, hard work, new interests, and more sunlight. Seeing ^ famous German writer has aptly said, "You must treat a work of art like a great man. Stand before it, and wait patiently till it deigns to speak." 13 OUTLOOKS AND INSIGHTS. In the art galleries people stand for a long time before some famous paint- ing. New beauties and finer lines are constantly revealed to them. It has taken the artist, a long time to execute his great work. He has put his heart and soul into the creation, and we can- not expect to appreciate or understand it if we simply give it a passing glance. If there are hidden meanings in life we do not see them by haste in any manner — whether in hurried travel or in eager pursuit of wealth. There are more beauties — there is more "soul" — in the relations cultivated by a good Christian life and in the duties it in- volves than can be revealed in the great- est work of art. The painter, after some 3 r ears of labor, exhibits his mas- terpiece on canvas. But the active and useful life of twenty or forty years has its masterpiece in the character formed and developed; and one may see in its acts and its thoughts, its self-denials and its heroism, something more ad- mirable than any art gallery possesses. Let us not hurry through the corri- dors of time without appreciating what is good and true and beautiful in char- 14 ABOVE THE SORDID. acter, and let us develop those human sympathies and , that Christian faith that give life its nobility. 15 AS A MAN LIVES. Ru!m ^ HE blacksmith's arm is developed Passion. t a fi ne proportion because he uses it ; the dancer's leg or the cycler's calf comes to be, what it is, by use. The blood flows where it is called. As with the muscles, so with the brain. If the brain is used to write poetry, the brain development is poetic; if to plan benevolence, it takes on the benev- olent aspect, even to the face. If we think good thoughts we show them in our faces; if evil thoughts, depravity looks out of our eyes — and with the strength of these parts, grows the dis- position as well as the facility. Gamblers so attune their nervous sys- tems that they cannot be comfortable unless they are playing at some game of chance for some stake. The lecher is sent along by his insane wit to the excitements and incitements of liber- tinism. This is what is meant by the expression, "possessed by one's sin," "the ruling passion strong in death." It is a fearful fact, not fully realized 16 AS A MAN LIVES. until men are in the maelstrom of their own evil natures.. A man thus builds up the tendency of his own life by the way he lives it. And as he lives, so is he apt to die. vices! ^ HE avera g e man i g n °t a bad fellow. His vices are usually the small vices. He does not see them himself in their pettiness. Few men act on the philoso- pher's surnma of human wisdom: "know thyself/' They can't perceive their weak vanity, their sneaking lust or their mean avarice; simply because the outcroppings are in small and not in gross vices. Society is sometimes shocked by the fall of men currently held in high esteem. It is wondered how one of such heretofore irreproachable life could thus sin. But the answer is found in the existence of small vices. They who pinched the poor of their dues were already far advanced in dis- honesty, and they who went voyaging out upon the sea of a guilty imagina- tion were already whited sepulchres of corruption. If OUTLOOKS AND INSIGHTS. Woddii Men of evil lives are not wise to plan See it. or shrewd in action. "A heart to re- solve, a head to contrive and a hand to execute" co-exist only in those who live in accordance with right mental, moral and physical laws. The old saying, "Whom the gods de- stroy they first drive mad," means that those who encounter wreck and ruin are chiefly responsible for it themselves. Their evil temper, their reckless actions and their foolish vagaries constitute their madness. A sensualist is never a good busi- ness man. A drunkard is a poor poli- tician. A libertine is always a social failure. Any moral weakness corrupts the whole mental and physical system. "Errors in morals breed errors in the brain, And these, reciprocally, these again." In the great affairs of life all wise decision and prudent action should be based on right living. The mental and moral vision should be normal. Nerves should be natural and the environment wholesome. Otherwise we labor under the stress of unwise circumstances. Sane ; m Some experts on the question of in- 'sanity hold that there are kinds of 18 AS A MAN LIVES. sanity more disagreeable, dangerous and anti-social than some of the insani- ties cooped up in asylums. Where avarice and miserliness run in a family, resulting in sordid lives, rack- renting landlords and bitter family feuds over property, it is a question whether this is not a curse both to the family and to the community infested by such a family, far worse than mental imbecility or the tendency to senile dementia. There are some families which spawn their progeny upon society with the inevitable consequence that the sons must "sow their wild oats" before they settle down to decent living. In the process, there are saddened homes, broken hearts and ruined lives. This species of heredity moral unsoundness is a worse infliction on society, and per- haps a worse heritage to the individuals concerned, than actual mental insta- bility. What of the cranks, the hopelessly impracticables, the fanatics, the bigots, and id genus omne? They are all in- flictions upon society and all measur- ablv victims of a deformed mental or 19 OUTLOOKS AND INSIGHTS. moral constitution — although their de- formity is not actual insanity. Christianity, in the mild, even tem- pered and kind spirit of its Great Pounder, is the true sanitary force tending to dissolve the mental and moral deformities that afflict society and to make us all gentlemen and gen- tlewomen in the true sense — consider- ate, kind, upright, with our angles rounded off and our idiosyncrasies smoothed away. 4 Anti : Sociai Insanity in its final analysis is an anti-social feeling — war against the saner usages and desires of the com- munity. Want of social sympathy is a mild form of insanity. The eccentric who growls at the approach of his fellow- man: the unneighborly who takes pleasure in being disagreeable: the so- cially isolated who repels rather than attracts communication, are of this class. Easy associations with one's neigh- bors, affability of expression and smoothness of manner denote sanity. Pleasant greetings, the taking of a per- AS A MAN LIVES. sonal interest in others, congeniality of companionships, politeness, defer- ence and courtesy are qualities which fit people rightfully in the social sphere. Society gives such people strength, and they in turn strengthen society. Points 15 ^ E a ^ reac k turning points in life — times when events and reasons concur in urging a change of course — possibly a complete reversal of our previous direction, possibly a turning off from former aims to newer ends which seem to us wiser and better. Under the influence of certain motives a man has concluded that his happiness lies in attaining special con- ditions — such as a fair degree of wealth, or eminence in a profession, or the applause of his village as an orator, or a pleasant home life, or a political position. But along in the toil of attainment a higher wisdom than that of his youth comes to him, and what was gilded seems now paltry, and what he thought of with a zest now seems a barren ideality. These turning points come too, in conviction, and habits and ways of 21 OUTLOOKS AND INSIGHTS. living. Not merely does the liberal become the conservative; but the par- tisanships of earlier years mellow into the charitable, considerate and judicial opinions of middle life. The most pos- itive men are continually learning something new, veering ever so slightly in their views, tiring even of their own iterations. Eays of light coming through change of environment, through the lessons of sorrow, or through a variety of other inspiring causes lead men to give up the pursuit of false gods and turn toward purer purposes. In this pro- cess, the turn in life may be of a more or less drastic character. In the story of the saints we read of men giving their wealth to the poor and forsaking the world, as a means of divesting themselves of the clogs which held them to a state of life from which they craved freedom. They burned the ships of their old world behind them, so to speak — there could be no turning back. To regain bodily health men have given up business and broken up their homes ; why not similar sacrifices, to regain moral health, although, per- haps the reward is greater to win the 22 AS A MAN LIVES. battle on the ground, without retreat. To entrench against impending failure in business, men have braved the loss of social prestige and denied themselves accustomed luxuries ; why not like mor- tification to protect and safeguard character, honor and virtue? When it is thus reasoned we come to the "turn- ing point" — implying the yielding up of what the heart has craved or what pleasant association has endeared or passion has coveted — these less worthy ends of existence, going by the board, to reach that greater success which a good life, with a clearer view, makes for. 23 THE PHILOSOPHY OP MODERA- TION. Flying ^ wo score y ear s or three score — the Years, difference is very slight in the eternity of time — and the end is soon reached. Up through the golden years of youth there is anticipation; but the wealth and success and position, for which men labor, can be enjoyed but briefly. It takes thirty or forty years of frugality to acquire what is called "competence" ; and competence can be possessed only during the ten or twenty years when most of us are on the down-grade of life. We know all this, our attention is frequently called to it; but yet there is a zest in living. We find this a dear old world — no other place like it — and we are in no hurry to leave it. Even old men racked with rheumatism, bereft of teeth and with little in life to anticipate and none of its illusions remaining, are in no hurry to be through with it. They see each new summer sun rise and circle in its 24 PHILOSOPHY OF MODERATION. meridian with an interest as grateful as that of their childhood. That everything on earth is brief and transitory is no reason that life should be without enjoyment. That death is certain is no reason that we should stand always with the shadow of the tomb upon us. Nature assuages the hardness of this fate by letting us forget it; and by prompting us to live on and hope on and enjoy each day as if life were to go on forever. If we take life in that way —and the mass of humanity in greater or less degree do so take it — we are taking it at its best. But while we allow nature and a kind Providence to carry us along oblivious of doomsday, we shall also provide for our happiness by being wise enough to see that there is an end, and that vio- lent passions and over-mastering ambi- tions are foolish, in view of the fewness of our years and the burden such travail puts upon us. In most in- stances that which embitters life, is disappointment resulting from placing two much stress upon the things of this world, — its wealth, its successes, or the pursuit of its pleasures. It might be 25 OUTLOOKS AND INSIGHTS. well if those who have thought to find their heaven here, and are bitterly disappointed, could realize the heaven of the hereafter; but religion holds out little of such hope to the voluptuary, the miser and the worldling. Here in fact are the real life failures : they who for the prizes of this brief life let go the promises of eternity. Wonidwe Somebody, writing in a current mag- 8ver Lives az i ne > discusses the question : "Would Again? we ]^ ve our ^ veg Qver a g a i n ?» -j us t a3 they have been, of course. And the writer comes to the conclusion that, ask the question of the majority of Americans, and "they would answer 'I pass' even when holding a full hand." Life and the new years coming to us seem pleasant because of the illu- sions, with which our imagination fills them. The sweetest pleasure, like the Hebrew verb, has no present tense. Unless we place our calculations within the limits of moderation and govern our desires by the higher motives of Christian philosophy, we are bound to be disappointed. 26 PHILOSOPHY OF MODERATION. Observe the cases of Byron and Goethe — two men of genius and also votaries of pleasure. One would sup- pose that the former had a pleasant time of it here — "a short life and a merry one"; yet he would admit that he had only two days of genuine happi- ness out of it. Goethe lived to die at eighty or more, and all he counted out of his years of breathing was eleven days of a good time. "He who has supped at the table of kings And yet starved in the sight of luxurious things ; Heard the music and yet missed the tune; who hath wasted One part of life's grand possibilities — friend, That man will bear with him, be sure, to the end, A blighted experience, a rancor within. You may call it a virtue— I call it a sin." Something It is all in the forecast, depending on Must Be <. •, Missed, whether you are the votary of pleasure and passion, as Owen Meredith shows himself in the above lines, or the ascetic and the wizard, as other men have been from choice, — following a philosophy expressly opposite. Actual achievement in any worthy department of human exertion seems to enforce a measurable self-denial of 27 OUTLOOKS AND INSIGHTS. what are termed "the pleasures of life." The earnest teacher, the zealous preacher, the faithful jurist, the live editor, the successful banker or mer- chant, can not go and come to pleasant climates with the flocking of the birds, nor drink deep, nor turn night into day, nor dance attendance on beauty, nor shake care and responsibility. Plain living is a condition for high thinking. Devotion to one's specialty is a necessity if any eminence is to be gained in a life's work. Consecration to the work of God in the experience of the Catholic church requires the priest to forego domestic ties. The illustra- tions are numerous. The poet and the epicure may protest. The fact remains. a False There is a familiar fable which Aim. represents a knight in hot pursuit of a receding phantom. Again and again he stretches forth his arm to seize the fleeting fraud. Again and again it eludes him. So he spends fruitless years and vain endeavors grasping at expectation and realizing disappoint- ment. The fable is varied, but the PHILOSOPHY OF MODERATION. moral remains the same, in the labor of Sispyhus, who rolls his great round stone up a moral incline only to see it roll down repeatedly when near the top; or in the hopeless task of "drop- ping buckets into empty wells and growing old in drawing nothing up." What, with old Kome, was ease with dignity — otium cum dig filiate, and what the modern Italians dream of as dolce far niente, a time of pleasant leisure, has been the aim in life of thousands of men. To get the means therefor, they have toiled all the day and troubled all the night; saying: "Some day wealth will buy this ease and comfort; some day a golden key will unlock the rare enjoyments of life." Carlyle says : 'Whoever has six- pence is sovereign over all men to the extent of that sixpence; commands cooks to feed him, philosophers to teach him, kings to mount guard over him — to the extent of that sixpence/ Let us, therefore, hoard up these very potent genii called sixpences. The more of them the better, and the further they will go and the more limitless will be their power. 29 OUTLOOKS AND INSIGHTS. So the man is transformed into the machine called Gathergold. Tenny- son's hero in Locksley Hall utters a malediction upon this slavery of civil- ization when he curses the "Social wants that sin against the strength of youth." Too bad that the best time of life must be devoted to amassing merely that which will insure food and shelter to an old man. Youth is chained like Milton's Sampson, "At the mill with slaves Condemned to labor under Philistine yoke." But the yoke is a voluntary one. The youth is like the knight in the fable. He has elected to pursue a fraudulent ideal in life. His tantalus leads him through all kinds of labor. When all is over he is too old to obtain the substantial worth of life. Measure of ^ E are inclined to protest that Success. mone y should not be the measure of success in life, yet all our modern biog- raphers and all our modern novels, which are more or less expressive of the moral level of the time, are stamped with this notion of success. To say of 30 PHILOSOPHY OF MODERATION. a young man, "he is making a great deal of money,". is a challenge for our respect and esteem. "He is growing rich," "his practice is worth thous- ands," "he is doing an immense busi- ness," "he has gotten hold of a gold mine," are translated to mean that he, whoever he may be, is getting the true value out of life. When we come to think it over, we will reflect that all this money-gather- ing may co-exist with other conditions that do not promise happiness with wealth. One may make money and yet develop no character. Then the enjoy- ment of his wealth or the power that money confers belongs to somebody who takes or inherits from him. He may win wealth and lose health. He may pile up riches at the expense of his personal salvation, his truth, his honor. He may rise in the world, isolated from any genuine friendships or relationships. Let it be granted that if a man makes much money and yet keeps his health, develops his character, retains his friends and saves his soul, he is truly successful. What proportion, think you, of those who amass wealth 31 OUTLOOKS AND INSIGHTS. do this? Not one-tenth, we surmise. An Abbott Lawrence among Boston merchants is produced at the rate of two per generation. The effort to suc- ceed notably and grandly, in other directions as well as in the money direc- tion, break the man down if he tries it ; but usually he does not try it, for his eagerness after money dwarfs his growth in character, deprives him of the privilege of friendship and en- dangers his soul. 32 SPIRITUAL FORCE. The win The will to do the right as we see it is spiritual force; and spiritual energy is the best development of what is called "force of character." It is a thing of the mind, a matter of wishing and striving, strongly, deeply, continu- ously. Passion is always playing across the purposes that our moral being puts forth. Men of good intention are thus veered from the straight course. "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" — which is the time-honored apology for want of spiritual force. According to the old moralists the utterly reprobate are those who have not the will to turn from their beset- ting sins. They may, at times, repent, but are never sincerely resolved to give up their pleasures. The intellect of conscience remains, but its will is dead. 'That is the best blood which has the mo3t iron in't To edge resolve with." That is the true spiritual life which makes for the right with forceful deter- 33 OUTLOOKS AND INSIGHTS. urination. It is so earnest in its ends that it calls to its aid every assistance. Altogether, aside from any religious considerations, the influence of prayer, mortification and the avoidance of temptation must be recognized in the growth of spiritual force. From a purely psychological standpoint, fer- vent prayer is fervent wishing for the good resolved upon. It is an exercise and a formulation of spiritual force. The avoidance of temptation is the weakening of those passions which play across the moral purposes. "Refrain to-night. And that shall lend a kind of easiness To the next abstinence; the next more easy. For use almost can change the stamp of nature." And mortification and self-denial still further strengthen the spiritual will. Thus, when the will to do right is strong, there is also clearer mor- al vision. Make-shifts, compromises, bribes of time and circumstance, are thrust aside and the man of spiritual force sees without hesitation that "If right be right, to follow right Were wisdom in the scorn of consequence." Be Just and THERE IS a strength about lUSt COn- Fear Not. ■ ° ■ * duct and the policy of justice itself that 34 SPIRITUAL FORCE. is commonly misprized. The judg- ment of many .men is warped into believing that finesse is better than honesty, or that expedients and tricks are shrewder than straightforwardness. If a victory is not predicated upon truth, it is barren, joyless and transit- ory. To take broad views is to look at matters as they transpire in the long run. In the long run the indirect, vacillating policy is rejected. In the long run the man of tricks and in- trigues is well understood by his neigh- bors in the community, and his influ- ence is discounted accordingly. On the other hand — for an honest, consistent policy, presented openly and above board, there is generated a proper esteem. If it be sound and beneficial, it will eventually have its way. Simil- arly with the man of honest methods. His candor is respected; his refusal to take short cuts and to employ doubtful expedients, wins him the esteem of all who get to know him. His personal influence becomes a matter of much weight. All this is argued from the stand- point of good policy. There is a higher standpoint, if we discuss the 35 OUTLOOKS AND INSIGHTS. question in the light of a man's duty to himself. What cause is so sacred that a man must lie for it? What gain is so great that one must warp his nature into that of a hypocrite in order to win it? Character is more important than great wealth; it is a poor exchange, for a man wilfully to transform himself into an habitual liar, a moral coward and a penurious epi- cure, in order to amass property. Eather be just and fear not. Con- duct regulated on that principle will not prevent prosperity. It will not destroy influence or esteem. It will, on the contrary, merit the approval of one's own conscience. "And more true joy Marcellus exiled feels, Than Caesar with a Senate at his heels." But Caesar is extinguished more fre- quently than Marcellus is exiled. The business man who is the soul of commercial honor, the incorruptible servant, the guileless clergyman and the mechanic, whose soul, through every vicissitude of fortune is still his own, are the types in demand. Whatever place they occupy — high or low — they are the models called for. u Tall men, sun crowned, Who live above the mob In public duty and in private thinking." 36 SPIRITUAL FORCE.