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imitator of the much beloved brother above
referred to. He represented the most pecu
liar combination that I have ever seen of a
native style, nipped in the bud, and the man
ners and methods of another grafted in upon
it. He was a sort of oratorical Dr. Jeckyl and
Mr. Hyde. In parts of his sermon he would
be himself, and there was power; but pres
ently, especially during the exhortations and
invitations, he would fall into the style cf the
other brother. The very gestures, the incisive
way of making a proposition, the pressing of
soul-searching questions, the peculiarly power
ful emphasizing of certain words and phrases
by repetition of them with longer quantity on
the vowels, the manly toss of the head, even
the characteristic pronunciation of certain of
the vowel sounds —every mannerism, natural
and powerful in the original brother —was here
imitated, until, at times, one almost imagined
that the other man was there before one’s eyes.
These peculiarities, through which the Holy
spirit moved with persuasive power in the orig
inal, were here a veritable mockery, because
they were hollow and unreal. They came from
without and net from within. It was apparent
that the speaker was not expressing himself
in his own way. He was trying to give out
himself, through the modes of expression char
acteristic of another, and the net result vibrat
ed between the humorous and the pathetic in
ame st tantalizing manner. A man can be him
self and make a fairly good out at it. He can
not be another man and succeed with the job.
After one of those meetings the inquiry was
made of a keen-witted little woman how she
liked the preacher. Her reply was, that she
i ‘liked the him part very well, but that she
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ago when we quoted to you face to face the
Gladstonian dictum: “It is the duty of govern
ment to make it as easy as possible for the
citizen to do right and as hard as pcssible for
the citizen to do wrong.” But your ears were
dull of hearing. You said you were then “open
to conviction” —but you continued to write ed
itorial “smart things” against the state-wide ef
fort and The Times-Herald of which you are
president and editor continued to accept pay
from “the liquor crowd” for advertising the
devilish stuff —yea, and'for advertising the
scare-head campaign canards while the prohi
bition forces were trying to “take Texas out
of the liquor business.”
What is “the state of Texas” if it is not the
wish of the people incorporated
What is into law ?
The State Do no£ the legislature and the
Os Texas? governor working together enact
laws or abolish laws?
Concerning everything else but the liquor
business, you recognize the fact that the way
to enact desired laws you must have the right
kind of legislators and the right kind of gov
ernor.
Did you try last time —or will you try next
time to elect legislators and a governor in fa
vor of “taking Texas out of partnership
with the liquor business?”
Os course you see the point,
Begin By Friend Robinson, and if you
Cleaning Up really mean business begin right
At Home now by cleaning up at home.
Drive liquor advertisements
from your columns —for a paper that adver
tises liquor for the money that’s in it is just
as guilty of selling liquor as the white-apron-
THE GOLDEN AGE FOR JULY 3, 1913
BE YOUR BEST SELF
By JOHN ROACH STRATON.
did not like the George Truett variations at
all.”
A short time after that I attended a stu
dents’ 4 prayer meeting. Here, once more, an
other young brother was an embryo Truett.
The same gestures, the same style, even down
to the finest shade of the tone color in “e’s”
and “r’s” were imitated and dovetailed in
with the natural manners of the young broth
er, until, in the light of the former experi
ence, it was positively laughable. His imita
tion was not altogether conscious, perhaps, yet
the young man had been so swept off of his
feet by the power of the other soul that he
had begun to surrender his individuality, to
leave the pathway of his own personality and
to ramble off along the way marked by God
for the other.
The evil effects of such imitation cannot be
overestimated. Thus, consciously or uncon
sciously, to copy another is subversive of our
best selves, our development and our power.
It is true that hero-worship has its place, but
it is liable to sad abuse. The inspiration which
we may gather by contact with a great per
sonality is good, and will mean much to us if it
works itself out through the tissue of our own
sturdy individuality, but we had better never
have a hero than to become his ape. To rest
content with being the weak shadow of an
other man is indeed a lowly ambition. To see
another who is great should fire our ambition
to be great ourselves. Not great by imitation
—by trying to squeeze ourselves into the oth
er’s mold —but great by the culture and de
velopment of our own talents and powers un
til they shall shine above our fellows and com
mand their plaudits and esteem.
To imitate another is fatal to ourselves. It
means a lowering of the standards of self-re-
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ed man who stands behind the counter and
sells liquor—why? For the money that’s in it.
The paper sells —the owner of the paper
sells the white virtue of its space like a wom
an barters the white virtue of her character
—0 God! for the money that’s in it.
The paper does not have to do the guilty
thing. It is done deliberately like the bar
room keeper takes cut his license and then
proceeds to sell all he can to make all he can
above the cost of the license which “the state
of Texas,” by the help of The Times-Herald
and other papers and militant citizens, delib
erately granted to him.
Just to get yourself in good run-
Drive the ning order for the glorious work
Barrooms o f “taking Texas out of the liquor
From Waco b us i ness ,” roll up your sleeves,
George Robinson, and lead a
“bully” fight to take Waco and McLennan
county out of partnership with the liquor
business. ’ ’
President Brooks and his one thousand stu
dents of Baylor University will grandly follow
your leadership, and thousands of praying
mothers and fathers all over Texas and the
South will rise up to call you blessed.
Remember, Friend Robinson, that the editor
of a daily paper which is read in well-nigh
every home is the natural leader in matters
of moral and civic reform.
Remember your last paragraph, Bro. Edi
tor: “Take the state of Texas out of partner
ship with the liquor business and there won’t
be a liquor question to divide us into hostile
armies. ’ ’
Yes! Yes! YES! But it can never be done
spect by the tacit acknowledgement of our in
feriority. It means an abdication of the throne
of our own reason. It means the surrender to
individual aspiration and growth. It means
the death of self-reliance and independence,
with its many attendant ills. It means the slow
growth of a most insidious form of dishonesty.
It means, above all, the creeping paralysis of
insincerity. And for a preacher of the Gospel
thus to steal the thunder of another is in
deed a sad and terrible thing.
Imitation tends to fasten its slimy coils
upon our souls unconsciously. Few men will
thus deliberately commit this sin. Slowly, in
sidiously, the habit creeps upon one, and, with
high resolution and firm endeavor, we must
shake it off. Better a little that is true, pure
and original than much that is second-hand,
imitative and stale. 44 Insist on yourself;
never imitate. Your own gift you can present
every moment with the cumulative force of a
whole life’s cultivation; but of the adopted tal
ent of another you have only an extemporan
eous, half possession. ” These ringing words
of Emerson’s are true. We must think our
own thoughts. We must set up our own ideals.
We must erect our own standards. We must
wield our own swords and fight our own bat
tles. Though natural growth may be slow, it
is sure and healthy. Any hot-house plan pro
duces a weakling. A pure heart, a simple
faith, a resolute will, the patience to wait, the
power to endure, aspirations that are high and
ambitions that are noble —these are the mighty
roots which bear fruit in honor, power, use
fulness and success.
“To thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.”
Baylor University.
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without the action of the law-making body
of the state and the vote of the people at the
polls.
“Hostile armies!” Alas, there are two —
those who march under the white banner that
waves over the home, the school and the
church, and those —God fergive them! —who
inarch under the black flag of debauchery and
death that waves over the horror and sor
row of the legalized saloon. Under which
flag do you march and write and vote?
Come into your own, George Robinson;
leave conscience to coronation, live up to the
inevitable logic of your own editorial, and
you will swing the Damascus blade of your
editorial intellect around the glorious orbit
fearless endeavor!
Your heroic action will electrify the whole
Lone Star Empire, and yours will be a hero’s
part in helping to take Texas out of “part
nership with the liquor business.”
Allegheny College, Meadville, Pa.
Dear Editor: I have wanted to thank
you for your strong and picturesque de
scription of righteousness in The Golden
Age as contrasted with the putrid “news”
to be found in so many sheets. I congrat
ulate the home into which The Golden Age
goes. It is a sure cure for pessimism. As
I have just returned from nearly a year
in the Arab country, I think I notice the
difference between your paper and the
average American newspaper more than
ever. Yours sincerely,
CAMDEN M. COBERN.
June 14, 1913.
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