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A Man Without Ambition—
Is a Watch Without
a Mainspring
at ». »
But Don’t Be Like the Toad That Swelled Up Until He Burst.
A reader sends in this letter, which we answer:
Editor The Georgian:
Dear Sir—You praise work and ambition in a man. Yet. Is a man not
happier and more contented if he remains in the humble place and station of
his birth? We are told a man should make the most of himself and be
successful and ambitious. Wouldn’t our prominent men be far happier if they
chose to be poor and unknown'.' Anyhow, after they are dead, what differ
ence does It make whether they were prominent or rustics? KlmJJ.v give your
views as to a man’s attitude toward ambition and contentment and happi
ness. Is It a man’s duty to advance in the world Instead of remaining in the
humblest station ? Yours sincerely, INTERESTED.
That interesting two-legged animal in charge of this earth,
called man, is wound up in a complicated fashion. Twelve pas
sions, or instincts, or attractions- name them as you please—
animate and control htm.
Os these twelve passions, NINE are actual moving forces,
THREE direct and control the other nine.
Among the nine MOVING forces in man there are three
that dominate—we will ignore the others for the present.
First, and most necessary, is THE INSTINCT OF SELF
PRESERVATION. That instinct kept men alive, forced them to
continue living on this earth under horrible conditions of cold
and hunger and brutality. Nature’s wisdom made the instinct of
self-preservation very powerful in primitive man to keep him on
this earth to do his work here. In the savage man of thirty thou
sand years ago, and of today, the instinct of self-preservation is
all-powerful. You see that in a burning theater, a sinking ship
or elsewhere, when the real nature of man comes out.
The second great moving force in mankind is the PATER
NAL INSTINCT, the instinct, of reproduction. This guarantees
that there shall be no other human beings on earth to follow each
generation as it passes away. In the savage, brutal man the in
stinct of reproduction is the strongest, next to the instinct of
self -preserv ati on.
The third great passion of the human mind is AMBITION,
our desire for change, for improvement.
As we have told you before and shall often repeat, the in
stinct of SELF-PRESERVATION keeps ns on this earth, the
PATERNAL INSTINCT provides others to carry, on our work
after death. AMBITION PREVENTS STAGNATION. BRINGS
ABOUT PROGRESS.
The friend whose letter we quote is one of many that ask
whether ambition is really worth while, what sort of ambition a
man ought to have, etc.
The first question may be disregarded. If von have ambition,
YOU’VE GOT IT. It’s like the measles, and it doesn't, make any
difference whether it is worth while or not it. must run its
course.
Every human being has ambition in youth. The young man
or woman without ambition is a. creature almost unthinkable.
As we advance in years, however, our forces diminish in in
tensity—for we have not yet reached the real stage of develop
ment which will bring about constant increase of intellectual force
and interest, at least for the first hundred years of life.
Ambition is the human emotion that dies most quickly. It is
attached and devoured by just such questions as our friend puts
in his letter.
The stomach says: “Why not feed me well arid enjoy my
digestive delights, instead of wasting your energies trying to do
something wni never can do?”
Vanity says: “Why don’t yon give up your foolish ideas of
duty’? Pile one dollar on another, dress well, cultivate the good
opinion of your neighbors, he liked and approved by little minds,
die fat and happy.”
The mind gets tired of repeated failures, it wants rest and
begs for it
Every little opportunity in life, every little comfort, tights
against man’s ambition, if his ambition be really high.
The average man at thirty begins already to put aside his
dreams of eighteen and twenty.
At fnrtv he has settled down into a little rut that means no
more growth
At fifty he has reached a stage where he looks pityinglv
down upon the men who possess the ambitions force that he lias
lost, and that he now calls “foolish dreamings.”
Out friend asks: “Anyhow, after they are dead what differ
ence does it make whether they were prominent or rustics""
In nur opinion, it makes a great deal of difference. It can
not be possible that the self conscious soul doing the work of
cosmic wisdom in the care of this globe should be perishable.
It is not believable that, in a universe where we know
MATTER and FORGE to be indestructible, the one thing to he de
stroyed should he that higher compound force which we call the
human soul, which has within itself the power to apply and to
distribute the force and the matter attache.! to this globe.
The soul MUST be immortal, for all through the govern
ment of the universe we see justice and kindness It is not be
lievable that men should he allowed Io suffer as they have suf
fered without recompense hereafter. It is not believable, espee
ially, that the passionate desire for immortality should be placed
in men only to be disappointed.
If we are immortal—and we MUST be—there is surely a re
ward for the soul that tries. The soul in which ambition per
sists must be a higher soul than that which gives in. and its
state must be higher when it leaves this body.
Various religions reward deserving men in various ways
with happy hunting grounds, with well-stocked seraglios, with
the peaceful nonentity that the worn-out Hindoo craves, with the
golden crown and the home of solid gold ami precious stones
which seemed desirable to the primitive civilization of the Rast.
Rewarded we SHALL be—pn sumably along lines of natu
ral growth; along the lims of our own desert.
But taking the gloomiest possible view of the question that
is asked, and assuming that it does NOT make any difference to
a man hereafter whether he did well or ill <>n earth, we ask in
turn:
How about the man that lives selfishly, tills the little stom
ach. decorates the foolish body fancifully- lives only for him
self ?
What good will that do HIM after he is dead
What good will it do hrtu. after Im is dead, tn have eaten ami
drunk so much?
Life passes as a second, and even the dull ummagmat i\<
man who believes that this life ends it all might wll del.rmim
* Continued in Last Column
The Atlanta Georgian
The Use of a Great Man
Om/’ Has Recently Died in France, and People Are Inquiring What He Was Good For
By GARRETT P. SERVISS.
A GRAND funeral was given in
Paris some weeks ago to
Henri Poincare, of whom,
probably, many readers of these
lines have never heard. The pro
cession to the grave was imposing.
7 here inarched, bareheaded,
through the streets, between side
walks crowded with spectators,
most of whom also respectfully re
moved their hats, a long double line
of the most distinguished living
Frenchmen. When the grave was
reached Impressive discourses were
pronounced by M. Guist’hau, who
spoke for the government and the
University: by M. Ctaretie, who rep
resented the famous Academic
Francaise; by m. Painleve, who was
the mouthpiece of the Academy of
Sciences, and by many others whose
names are better known to the
public than was that of the subject
of their discourses.
All the newspapers were filled
with praise of the dead man. and
nil the illustrated Journals printed
portraits of him. Everybody was
assured, and the assurance was re
peated from mouth to mouth, that
F rance had lost one of her great
est lights whose renown would Il
lustrate the pages of her history.
Everybody felt proud because his
country had produced so mighty a
genius.
But a singular fact soon became
evident, viz., that among the hun
dreds of thousands who repeated
the praise of this immense genius
hardly any one had a deflnite Idea
of what lie was or of what he had
done. They only knew that, some
how, he had been A GREAT MAN.
During his lifetime It was said
that there were only two or three
men In all Europe who could com
prehend him.
It Is almost certain that among
those who pronounced eulogiums at
his tomb there was none w ho could
follow his work with complete un
derstanding. Most of them did not
know even the A-B-C of it
Who He Was.
For Henri Poincare was a very
great mathematician, perhaps the
greatest since Laplace and La
grange. whom Napoleon, with his
vast practical genius, could not un
derstand. For most people mathe
matics. in its higher forms, is a
closed book.
Naturally, then, after the first
sensation caused by the departure
of this great genius had died away,
the question began to be asked:
"What was Jie good for. after all’.’"
Tlie question lias been asked, and
father indefinitely answered, in
many newspapers. It can not be
answered by giving a list of his
1,500 works, for even the most pop
ular of them, like the book on ‘’Sci
ence and Hypothesis,” are full of
things which only the expert can
road understandingly, w Idle most
of them are addressed to the ELITE
of science, the narrow inner circle,
it Courtesy in Business
By KLBKRT HI BBARD
Copyright, 1912, by International News Service.
x < > E an ruled by our habits.
\ZV Birst we form our habits,
and then our habits form us.
We are what we are on account
of what we have thought, said or
done. After having done a thing
once, there is a tendency in the
brain to do it again. If continued,
we get the habit: that is. we do the
tiling without thinking, .lust as a
matter of course. Titus does habit
become second nature.
"What kind of people will we he
In Elysium?” they asked Socrates
four hundred years before Christ.
And ins answer was. "You will be
the same kind of people you are to
day, because this life is a prepara
tion for the next, just as today is a
preparation for tomorrow."
Any man with the grouch habit,
the "piker" habit, the frown habit,
ttie cigarette habit, the dope habit,
the booze habit, is on the greased
chute, and he himself is swabbing
the slide Also, there Is a sort of
general disposition on the part of
everybody to give him a push down
the road to Davy Jones’ locker.
AH Good Things Are Catching.
In the heart of all of us Is the
tendency to pass back everything
that is handed to us.
Once there was a man who said.
"If I had been around that day
when the Creator was making the
world I would have made a few sug
gestions.”
And one of the auditors said,
"What would you have proposed?”
"I would have made good health
catching instead of bad.”
That Is just where the critic
lapsed. Tile fact is. good health is
catching All good tilings are catch
ing
If a man smiles, waves his hand
at you as you walk down the street
in the morning, you wave your hand
ba< K and smile in return uncon
sciously, and often one little expe
rience like this will key for you
the day joyously.
Courtesy, kindness. good-will,
generosity, liberality are all catch
ing.
Nothing is so contagious as a
■mile Try it on the tir t man you
Cast thy bread upon tin waters
WEDNESDAY. AUGUST 28. 1912.
111
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T1 Hi ifiTiT if KJFT A 1
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SBnBI
i —Lu
HENRI POINCARE IN HIS STUDY.
to enter which requires extraor- ways perfectly clear, oven to him
dlnary talent and years of applica- self, while for the majority of men
t" ,n - it was but a flash in the night
But it does not follow that some which showed them nothing. His
answer can not be given. The best successors, guided by the glimpses
answer is twofold, in the first he had, will make it all clear, and
place, one great use of such a man thus the domain of knowledge will
as Poincare Is the stimulation be extended.
which he imparts to the average Additions to Knowledge,
human being. He awakes the am- T _ •
» ~ , , * n second place, the useful-
bition of the race bv showing of „„„ « „ .
~ s ~ ’ .\, ness of such a man as Poincare
ia nut It is capable. He is the man >
nn th* inr v ti < consists in the actual additions
on the top of the apparently Inac- f u Qf « • , ,
... . , , . , , that he made to know-ledge. These
cessible mountain, who, bv his h.llll, b ..
, additions were purely mathemati-
inere presence there, shows to .
~ .. j- tn incapable of popular ex
fl He T R h y t . aS ' e " din « Planation, but there are men who
it. He is like the late Edward can understand th and
W hymper, waving his cap from the w|th THB IR successors will upon
summit of the terrible Matterhorn. huQtc whL>i i ’ /
. ... . . . . ihe basis which he left, erect a new
Anybody with good wind and ndifh-n nf u
cairn.e of science which all can en
s tong muscles can ascend the ter and admire. There was a time
Mattei hom now, because the way when Newton . g .. PrlncJpia .. wag as
' r?". 0 ".,". .. far be y o n d the intellectual reach of
But Po ncare would never have the avcrage man as Poincare . g
given an impetus to his fellow be- most abstruse work is todav but
ings >f he had not, like Newton now , thanks to the advance whlch
before him. and like all great men, lt , ltself> insplrerii any b in coI .
disclaimed the possession of any lege , with a mathematlcal glfl and
-tiPerhuman power. Newton said proper applh . ation . can read the
hat an he had done seemed to him whole .. Prini . ipia -.
but as the picking up of a pebble ln fact lt bae been dlsplaced b
on the shore of the boundless ocean
more recent work, just as Poln
of knowledge and Poincare de- care - s achievements will be super
dared hat the. mind of man 1. geded , n the
only a flash of lightning, illuminate
Ing for a moment a part of th,t Great men of this stamp are the
illimitable expanse around. pioneers of the human intellect, and
But these flashes succeed out happy is the country' that can pro-
another, and the race, as a whois, duce one In a century. It is the
letalns a little of what each re- Napoleons, whose work is easily
veals and adds to fl that which has understood, that get the great
already acquired. What was monuments; fl is these other gen-
revealed to the genius of the great (uses, whose own times hardly
French mathematician was not al- know them, that uplift the race.
and it shall return after many days
buttered, and sometimes with jam
on it.
The advantage and benefit of tel
ephone courtesy is beyond compu
tation.
But the use of the telephone re
quires a certain amount of pa
tience You must have faith that
the man at the other end of the
line has something to tell you that
is worth saying.
In the big central telephone of
fices operators are selected w ith es
pecial cate as to their voices. A
girl may have brains all right, but
if she has a voice that screams,
screeches or purrs, to that degree
she is incompetent either as a tele-
Ballade of Bugs
By J ACOB J EEIBSON
UT HEN. seeking joy s of solitude.
I 1 stretch myself beneath a
ttee.
A fussy Insect, rough and rude,
AAitli buzzing wings, alights on me,
I drive him off. and then a bee.
Upon my Adam's apple sings:
A beetle bites where I can't see.
I hate these bees and bugs and
things.
I quickly change my attitude
And hide my face within the grass.
A joyous jigger, seeking food,
Across my nose attempts to pass.
A most ingenious bug. alas!
Now beats my eardrum with his
w ings.
I wonder where they get the brass,
These most obtrusive bugs and
things.
Then speedily my patient mood
And spi its gay depart from me.
I will not be an insect’s food,
A centipede's collation free.
A hornet spies me from a tree
And all his fond relations bring.-.
I can not bide their company,
They bore me so. these bugs with
stings.
I,' Envoi.
Prince, peasant, clerk, whoe'er you lie,
*1 bough nature's joys the poet sings,
lust take this humble tip from me
Aou'il find no joy in bugs and things
phone operator or as a salesman.
To speak distinctly and pleasant
ly is a fine art. A good speaking
voice is not so much a matter of
training as it is of right thinking. A
person who thinks well of himself
and of other people has a voice that
assures. People who are anxious,
nervous, irritable, harassed, tired,
reveal impatience in their tones.
Any one who uses the telephone,
be he operator or patron, aristocrat
or plebeian, should practice tele
phone courtesy. He should speak
neither too loud nor too low, but
should endeavor to put a smile into
his voice, and not tears, doubt or
accusation.
Many people, on taking down the
receiver, will shout. “Who's this?"
Then, not getting an answer, will
say, "Who are you, anyway?” This
is followed up with "What do you
want?" All of which is quite dis
courteous. absurd and inoppor
tune.
Any one taking down the re
ceiver should announce who he is.
If you were a salesman, on enter
ing an office you would not shout
at the first man you met. "Who is
this.’ or "AVho are you?”
AA hen you call on a person you
have never before met. you cer
tainly do not demand that he should
rbveal his identity until you have
first revealed yours.
A ou moderate vour voice, and you
speak pleasantly.
On Good Terms With Public.
On taking down the receiver,
either to answer a call or to put
one in. when you get your party,
say, "This is Mr. Brown who is
speaking." Just assume a pleas
ant attitude of mind, and your voice
will follow.
I have noticed that trainmen on
certain railroads for the most part
have pleasant voices. They call
the stations in away so they are
understood, and they do not appear
to he bawling bad names at their
enemies. They are the voices of
mon who arc well nourished, who
get eight hours sleep, who think
well of themselves, who are proud
of their jobs and proud of the road
for w hich they work.
Thus are they placed on good
terms with their colleagues and
with the public.
THE HOME PAPER
Thomas Tapper
Writes on
How To Build a For
tune
TL
No. 6.---Getting Rich in a
Hurry
statement has recently
1 been made that in one year
the American people con
tributed about seventy-seven mil
lions of dollars to various fake in
vestment schemes. This means
that they dropped the money down
a bole, expecting- it to rush up
again in a golden shower. Instead
of that, there was a group of busy
men at the other end of the hole
carrying away the precious stuff tn
baskets —for they, too, have fami
lies to support.
The seventy-seven millions of the
preceding pa rag aph was not the
entire annual crop. This sum was
paid over to the get-rich-quick
concerns that were closed up by the
postoffice department. There were
many others that did business
without using the mails and were
undisturbed.
Why is it so easy to sell worth
less paper?
Answer No. I—People want to
get rich In a hurry.
Answer No. 2—Golden promises
make golden dreams. The thing is
so bright we actually arc fasci
nated by it. So we put real money
into a golden dream, and then we
wake up.
IT.
A promoter was talking one day
to an humble individual who did
not seem to know much.
“How do you invest your sav
ings?” asked the promoter.
“I put them in a savings bank,”
said the man.
Never Get Poor. Either.
"Well, you will never get rich
that way,” the promoter said.
"No." answered the humble indi
vidual. "probably not. but I’ll never
get poor that way either.”
In view of the countless ways of
investing money which promise
nothing less than "marvellous re
turns,” it takes a good type of mind
to stick to simple, direct ways of
saving The seventy-seven millions,
of which we have been speaking,
was not the money of rich men. It
belonged to those who could not af
ford to lose It—to widows, and to
wage earners of all classes.
A Man Without Ambition—
Is a Watch Without
a Mainspring
Continued from First Column.
to do at least the best work possible during his little moment on
the stage.
There are tivo strange hours for each human being
The. painful hour of his birth, when he comes into this
AA’orld. all unfitted for it.
The responsible hour of his death, when the man who is
conscious looks back over that which he has done.
Re sure that the man who has wasted his time, thought
only of himself, neglected his duty and pushed aside his amb»
tion, can suffer enough self-reproach in that last hour to mak*
up for many days of eating and drinking and of empty self-in
dulgence.
The only man worth while is the ambitious man. The onh’
child or woman worth while is the ambitious child or woman.
Ambition moves the world, as the mainspring moves the
Avatch hands.
And the human being without ambition is like the watch
without a mainspring.
Such a Avateh and such a human being, looked at from the
outside, are quite satisfactory—smooth and pleasing. BUT THERE
IS NO USE IN THEM.
The business of every human being is to cherish the spring of
ambition within him. and do Avhat little he can to move forward
the world in general—if he be big enough—or. at least, that little
corner of it in Avhich his life is passed.
The thing to do is to have THE RIGHT AMBITION. Don’t
mistake foolish egotism for ambition.
The frog in La Fontaine's fable Avas ambitious in the wrong
Avay. He Avanted to be as big as the ox. and he swelled himself
up until he hurst. Vanity—not ambition—was his mainspring.
We should like to write to the friend whose letter we publish a
few words as to the proper character and direction of ambition,
as Ave see them. That, however, must he reserved for another
editorial. This one is long enough.
There is a hackneyed quotation which says: ‘‘l charge thee.
throAv away ambition.’’ The wise man will do just the reverse'
He will keep alive the spark of ambition as a shipwrecked crew
would keep alive their smouldering fire. Once that spark goes
out. u man might as well he dead—he is only a shell, eating,
drinking and * waiting to die. The sooner he dies and
makes room tur •—•iher. the better
Bv THOMAS TAPPER.
When any one wants you to put
your money into a proposition that
will make you wealthy in a few
weeks, refuse to have anything to
do with it. as a matter of princi
ple. It can not be done. Rosy as
the dream is, it is still a rosy dream
and nothing more.
One of the fundamental rules of
investment is, the higher the inter
est yield, the greater the risk.
Bonds of the most conservative
character, with the highest guaran
tee as to safety of principal, yield
in the neighborhood of four per
cent; sometimes a fraction less or
more.
When some one quietly slips you
information that you can come in,
on the inside, and get 30 per cent,
or thereabouts—don't go in. All
the doors are locked, and when
they throw the victims out of the
back window their pockets are
turned Inside out.
TH.
The banker puts It this way:
Judicious investment is the art of
making the most of your money
WITHOUT EXPOSING IT TO
THE RISK OF’ LOSS.
"Be Patient,” the Great Rule.
That kind of safety has to be
paid for in small interest returns.
You may feel that at the rate
your surplus funds get Into the
bank you will never get rich. Re
member the remark of the humble
individual—you will never get poor,
either. The great rule Is "he pa
tient."
In an Interview recently. Mr. An
drew Carnegie is reported to have
•said this;
"The trouble with many men of
small means is that they will never
make a beginning, and keep putting
off the time when they have a nu
cleus for investing. The goal of
the wage-earner in saving should
be to acquire SI,OOO. PRUDENT
INVESTING OF SMALL SUMS
will help him to obtain this first
SI,OOO. Money grows surprisingly,
and if you have none now try the
experiment I suggest of getting
SI,OOO and see if I am not right.”
Notice that Mr. Carnegie speaks
of PRUDENT investing—of what?
Os small sums.