ROUTINE AND IDEALS A SCHOOL AND COLLEGE ADDRESS THE older I grow, the more strongly I feel that the best thing in man or woman is being "there." Physical bravery, which is always inspiring, is surprisingly common; but the sure and steady quality of being "there" belongs to comparatively few. This is why we hear on every hand, "If you want a thing well done, do it yourself;" not because the man who wants it done is best able to do it, but because to many persons it seems a hopeless quest to look for any one who cares enough for them, who can put himself vigorously enough into their places, to give them his best, to give them intelligent, unremitting, loyal service until the job is done, -not half done, or nine tenths done, or ninety-nine hundredths done, but done, with intelligence and devotion in every nail he drives, or every comma he writes. Some are reluctant, some afraid of doing more than they are paid for, some indifferent, some obligingly helpful but not well trained and not so deeply devoted as to train themselves. I suppose that in one sphere of life or another a number of these persons earn what they get. Yet sometimes I think there are only two kinds of service, that which is not worth having at any price, and that for which no money can pay. All of us know a few who give this latter kind of service, and know what they are to us, and to every one with whom they deal. These are the people who are "there." Now being "there" is the result of three things, intelligence, constant practice, and something hard to define but not too fancifully called an ideal. Of intelligence everybody can see the need; |