of nature, the real significance of art and inspiration, and realize how their beauty and charm overtower all the squeaking voices and perking poses of artificiality. This does not mean that we should worship dullness, exalt stupidity, nor favor the dead level. Exactly the contrary. Only when we have discovered the Average Man and learned his worth have we rid ourselves of the fogs of deception that prevent us from seeing real worth, real distinction, real nobility, real genius. Emerson says something to the effect that fools wonder at the unusual, wise men at the usual. Put it down, therefore, in your little book that if you are just an Average Person you have the best chance in the world to succeed. That the “gift” which another has, whom you envy, very probably will get in his way, disturb his vision, or tie his feet at life's critical moment, and prevent him from relying upon those average virtues which you possess, and which are the best guarantees of triumph. He will depend upon his “gift”; you will fall back upon the much surer reserves of hard work, common sense, honesty, fidelity, and persistence. The tortoise in the fable won the race over the hare. The Average Man is the tortoise. In the language of the street, “He gets there just the same. Ungifted ones, do not be afraid! The world ness. is your oyster. Believe in yourselves! Dare, and go forward! The very fact that you are conscious of no extraordinary talent will force you to fall back upon the average qualities, which, after all, usually win. You can write. You can make a speech. You can paint. You can build up a prosperous busi You can be congressman, governor, or president. You can acquire an education, and become expert as a physician, a statistician, or a financier. You can make money and hold your own in any cultured company. You can be as good as the most ascetic and puritanical. You can get all there is out of love and work and play, and the other vast reservoirs of satisfaction that make life full and sweet. Abraham Lincoln used to say that the Lord must like common folks, He made so many of them. There is shrewd truth in this remark. This world was made for the Average Man. Its fields of joy, its peaks of attainment, its orchards of contentment, are unfenced, open to him. TEN GOOD RESOLUTIONS The road to heaven is paved with good resolutions. You have heard it said that it is the road to the Other Place that is so paved. It is both. For there is only one road. What you call it depends on whether you go down or whether you go up. This is written for them that have a mind to go up. Good resolutions have their use. Of course they get you nothing without action and persistence, but they are valuable for giving you a good start. There's no use hurrying unless you know you are headed the right way. Ten resolutions are given here. Read them the first thing in the morning. Line up your will, your conscience, and your ambitions by them. And at least you will start in the right direction. They may save you more than once during the day from making a fool of yourself. They may make this day one of your memorable yesterdays. They may save you several bitter regrets tomor row. The habit of establishing certain principles and sticking to them has been followed by the wisest men. Benjamin Franklin has given us his rules. George Washington was not above setting down such a list. And Marcus Aurelius so regulated his life. So it may not be a bad thing for you. The success of your day depends upon two things: First, the things that may happen to you; these you cannot control. And, second, yourself; this you can control. Therefore, at least half of the issue is in your hands. What fate may do to you, you cannot help; fortune may favor or misfortune may strike you. That is in the lap of the god's... But for yourself no power in heaven or earth is responsible but you. Success is cooperative, between you and all that is not you. And you can do your part. With these, or some such guiding resolves in your mind, you will not be a Drifter, tossed about by every wind of happening and arriving at the evening port an empty wreck. You will steer by the fixed stars. You will be Self-Mastered, not Self-Driven. And thus you will find contentment -and poise. Perhaps the most satisfactory, of all life's attainments is poise. It is that exquisite satisfaction of feeling that, though buffeted, you are not upset; though bewildered, you are not lost; and, though you cannot see through the føg, you can feel that your feet are upon the rock. Hence, make these resolves : 1. I will live one day at a time. 10. I will satisfy my conscience. These statements may sound like platitudes. They are platitudes. But the greatest truths of life are necessarily those that are most familiar. They are the paving-stones to achievement, worn smooth by the trampling of many feet. If you are looking for something new and strange to guide you, some startling discovery unheard of before, you are not only ignorant but fatuous and gullible, a fit subject to be taken in by the first charlatan that comes along. This old human race has been moiling along several thousand years. It has tried everything. Millions of eyes have searched the road. If there were any Patent Pill or Hidden Secret to unloose all our troubles, it would long ago have been found. There is a secret, but it is an open secret. That is why so many wise and clever miss it, and so many simple-hearted find it. Let us not, then, despise these commonplaces, |