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CAN YOU STAND RIDICULE?
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Ridicule /x a Deadly Vyeayon, It Helps the Race as a Whole. It Kills Individuals, i BHe
Ridicule Destroys and Diseonraycs the Spirit (d Children. Deliberate Ridicule of Others j 111 7 11111 l Bfl
. Is a Crime. Happy th Han Who, Like the Han in This Picture, Defies Ridicule When I
He Knows That He Is Dight and Goes Ahead with the New Idea. . I?’"' |
Copyright. 1912, by the Star < > ■ tßn in Ki:; 1 Uenern'd
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RIDICULE UF OTHEub.
Many a man leads a life foreign to his na-'ure because
he fears ridicule.
Millions of women dress extravagantly, pinch their
ieet, squeeze their waists, impoverish their husbands,
because they fear ridicule. They dart not be out of the
style.
Ridicule has killed men.
Keats, the young poet, of wonderful promise, died
almost in his boyhood—killed by harsh criticism and
ridicule.
Ridicule has helped civilization immensely, for to
establish the fact that a thing r ridiculous puts it under
the ban. makes it abhorrent, makes men and women dread
it more than they dread actual suffering.
Ridicule has kept many a man fi on; being a coward—
when physical cowardice was a fatal thing for the general
welfare.
Ridicule developed the manly qualities in men—a
development that was necessary.
And ridicule developed the womanly qualities in
, vomen—als< necessary.
Many a man has marched to death in defense of his
country or of his family, and lias been called i hero.
,vhen he was really a man so much afraid of ridicule that
le would nuch rather die than be laughed at.
One Frenchman who had arranged to fight a duel
•shot himself the night bi-f- re the duel He w,<s afraid
shat he would not have courage on the duelling ground
rnd that others w uh ' laugh al him. He had the com <ge
i■ kill him-"’*. H< ouragi i the risk
of being laughed at
< ♦ *
Fathers and mcir.ei-- tight to understand the power
of ridicule. remember it nd fear it in the education
of their children.
It is well en >ugh to teach mys and girls, gradually,
to develop indinen nee to ridicuh
But it is wrong to expect too much of children. The
lathers and i
history of cur race ridicule, ‘'LAUGHING AT THAT
WHICH IS NOT GENERALLY Al PROVED,” has been
cne of the greatest educative forces. And the race in
its babyhood and
enced by ridicule more tl mi by anythin else.
It is stupid and brutally cruel t compel a little boy
. to wear long cur’ . ther boys.
The boy that mi ht hav<
cculd be utterly ruined and :ade ini a crii ring, m >rbid
child by that piece cf stupidity.
It is brutal and cruel t con pel .■ t wear sh rt
, trousers or other that i rk them out f r
i ridicule among 1 ■
1 The foolisl mot le • r fat ■ •. , p
in a Lord F antler, y costume rce cellar ant? velvet
■bracket
"A ■criminal when such a < j ... be’ndicuk 1
by~»fe/ normal b.-.ys.
chi dren t,
I laaWßri’.le- ,r.- .
[I Don t expect thei.-i in t.md ridicule. v.-; cu it > i
i » iw ,-wr i 1 • t.n, ttn; . i.cmorvcu
'ET us talk to day about ridicule, it:.
I power, the good and the harm that it
j does.
Many a man who can .stand cruel
punishment, suffering without flinch
ins, CANNOT ENDURE THE
. UGHTER, THE SCORN, THE
*• » j— - - •
possible for them to stand, the ridicule which comer
when me child is singled out and made different from
he others in appearance.
Lucky the man who can be guided by the common,
sense of history which expresses itself sometimes in
ridicule—ridiculing that which is preposterous, effemi
nate, vicious, unworthy.
Millions of men have been cured of chewing tobacco
by ridicule—and a verv useful ridicule.
Other men have been ridiculed out of idleness and
limlessness in life.
Unfortunately, many a man who might have been
useful, and added to the world’s knowledge, has been
driven from 1 is useful line of thought or of effort by
the ridicule of others.
The man who will do the real thing in this world,
which is THE NEW THING, is the man who can stand
ridicule, who will not be discouraged.
Almost every inventor, without exception, if he has
finally succeeded, has been compelled to endure ridicule,
to listen patiently while others tcld him how foolish he
was—and go on working in spite of it.
Every new idea is laughed at by fools—and the fools
are a vast majority.
Every attempt at better living is laughed at by those
that live viciously.
Many ■ man who would stop drinking or some other
vice is kept in his evil ways by the ridicule of men
worse than himself.
The history of the human race and its progress is a
history of ridicule.
They laughed at Columbus, thought him crazy, when
he started on his journey which meant so much to the
human race.
The assembled steel and iron makers of England, the
ablest men in their profession, laughed immoderately
when a man poor and diffident g-A up to explain a new
method of making steel. They said it was stupid and
preposterous, and they decided, unanimously, to strike
his remarks iron; the record, so as ‘ not to make the
convention of iron makers ridiculous.”
The man at whom they laughed was Bessemer, who
revolutionized the steel business, whose invention has
produced thousands of millions of dollars in steel.
One man, by the way, who happened to be there, who
heard what Bessemer had to say, spoke kindly to him,
took a little int his idea, and MADE A FORTUNE
OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS OUT OF IT. Sometimes
it pays to treat kindly the man at whom others laugh.
William H. Vanderbilt, second of the line of very
rich Vanderbilts, laughed at the idea of an elevated
railroad in New York, and ridiculed the suggestion.
‘' The people are fools, ’ ’ said he, *' but they are not fools .
enough to ride on stilts.”
He laughed at the man who had the idea of the ele
vated railroad, but he did not discourage that man.
If William H. Vanderbilt had laughed less, and
thought more, he might have made about one hundred
millions of dollars out of the ide.; at which he laughed.
The Gould family refrained from laughing, bought
the elevated railroad—and the hundred millions that
iglit have belonged to the Vanderbilts went to the
Goulds.
a a a
Fuller, was laughed at when he s/arted his first
te. iiboat and, creaking and puffing, managed to send
it along over the water.
Ti e newspapers I ridiculed him. The crowd*
■i- d > ! e ■. rt : h;ug , 'ing, t set the thing blow up.
' u ri ■(’ .. bdn t discourage Fulton. And therefore
HtLoug’ i f aas >1 by tw » to.- usand years the first that
- ■ ■, ■■■■■■■ - I
ever thought of using steam in ships. HE WAS THE
FIRST MAN THAT EVER MADE A STEAMSHIP GO
AND SUCCEED COMMERCIALLY.
Even the great Napoleon, while he was planning to
cross the English Channel and land his troops in Eng
land, sent word to Fultcn, who called upon him, that he
would give him one minute.
He had no time to listen to Fulton’s idea of the steam
boat.
If Napoleon had had time to listen to Fulton, and
had experimented with steam, he could have landed his
troops in England, regardless of the wind—and the whole
of history might have been changed.
It is a fortunate thing, probably, that Napoleon
would not listen to Fultcn.
If Fulton had been afraid of ridicule, easily discour
aged, he would probably have stopped in his efforts when
the great Napoleon told him there was nothing in the
idea.
But Fulton could fight ridicule—that is why the
steamship came when it did.
If you can withstand ridicule when you know that
you are right, if you can teach your boys and your girls
to disregard ridicule w’hen they know that they are
right, and when they have reached an age when it is
reasonable to expect of them indifference to the taunts
of others, you will succeed in your career as far as it is
possible for you to go, and yon will set your chi/dren on
the right road.
A. man who invented the porcelain that we all use
now, who gave great industries and work for hundreds
of thousands of men to the world, was laughed at as he
burned up his fence and even the furniture in his bouse
to keep het the even in which he was baking the porce
lain. But laughter combined with dreadful poverty
did not discourage him. For that reason Palissy suc
ceeded.
The men who wanted to build the first steam rail
lines were laughed at. They were told, in the first
place, that if you kept the men moving inside, cf a car
for two or three hours at such a high rate of speed as
twenty miles an hour it would certainly kill them.
They were also told that it would be necessary to
put high stone walls on both sides of the railroad track,
as the wind from the cars would kill the neighbors.
The scientific men of England with very few excep
tions united to explain how the thing was utterly im
possible—and then it went through, and those gentle
men lived tc ride on the steam cars at which they
had laughed. . ‘
A A A
We are not all inventing steamboats, or railroads,
or new methods for making porcelain. We are not all
poets cruelly attacked by stupid critics.
But every single one cf us could be better off, more
prosperous and a better citizen if he could learn to be
indifferent to ridicule.
HOW MUCH OF YOUR MONEY DO YOU SPEND
BECAUSE YOU ARE AFRAID OF BEING LAUGHED
AT?
How much could you save if you had the courage to
do what you ought tc de for the sake of your wife and
your children ESPECIALLY FOR THE SAKE OF
THAT FUTURE WHICH WILL BE VERY GLOOMY
AND COLT. IF YOU HAVE NOTHING SAVED UP
WHEN OLI AGE COMES?
How much do women spend < n clothes because they
ire afraid of ridicule?
How much do men give their wives to spend stupidly
'ec.iust they are afraid "not to hive their wife dressed
■ well as any man’s wife?’
In every big city tens of thousands of men and worn
en live in houses or apartments more expensive than they
can afford—and they cut down on actual necessities,
good books, the right kind of food for themselves and
their children, perhaps. Many a so-called “kitchenette”
is the foolish expedient of a family that is afraid oi
ridicule, that prefers a big parlor in which tools may
sit to a comfortable home and decent kitchen in which
proper food may be prepared.
Many a man and woman live in the city, spend
ing what they cannot afford, because they are' ashamed
to live simply in the country, where they and their chil
dren would be better off.
It is not necessary or wise to deny your family ANY-,
THING THAT YOU CAN AFFORD.
If your wife wants to look like a first class bird of
Paradise, and you car afford it, let her look like a bird
of Paradise and keep her happy.
If you and she want a large, grunting automobile
and you can afford it, have it by all means.
But don’t let the ridicule of others, or fear of what
others will say or think, persuade you to spend what
you can’t afford, and throw away to-day as a sacrifice
to ridicule that which you will bitterly need when old
age comes along, or when the children get older and need
and have a right to demand help in their education.
A A A
Do not. however, mistake personal conceit, egotism,
blind confidence in your own ideas for indifference to
ridicule.
There is a great difference between conquering ridi
cule and making a goose of yourself.
The unfortunate woman who dresses like a man, cuts
her hair short, wears a stiff collar, and thinks that she is
indifferent to ridicule, is simply silly, and setting a bad
example.
The foolish individual who wears his hair long and
uurly, has a flat, turned down collar, and a flowing silk
tie, and ridiculous clothes, and high heels, is net indif
ferent to ridicule—he is simply a foolish peacock.
The ridicule of the public in general is wise ridicule.
The people, as a whole, r idicule that which is bad.
The older brother usually educates bis younger
brother by ridicule. * <
Ridicule is a great educating force, and those that
are ignorant are made to learn BY RIDICULE.
Learn to distinguish between the cruel ridicule
which checks growth, which kills original thought, and
that useful, necessary ridicule which keeps the human
race more or less uniform in its methods, and enables
us to go ahead as a united body instead of scattering in
ail directions like monkeys hopping about a cage.
Ridicule keeps the human race a solid army of
progress. It is a splendid tiling for the race.
But ridicule too often keeps the individual from
achievement.
Learn to distinguish.
At first think for yourself, and when you have
learned to think for yourself don’t let the ridicude or
the thoughts of others step your thinking. The man in
this picture, excellently drawn by Tad, shows one tvne
that succeeds. It is the type that can fight ridicule
There is a better type than that in the picture one
with less chin and more forehead, and that better’type
is more apt to fight successfully against ridicule.
When others know more than you do, learn from
them, listen tc what they have to say.
At some time in your life, h-wever, you have eot. to
make up your mind WHAT YOU WILL DO. You have
-,ot tc reach decisions, stick to them. Then you have
got to learn to be indifferent to ridicule. If you can ri?
that, you can carry out ymr own line <>f work. And if
you caa’t carry out YOUR OWN hne of w rk vmi f an’t
"•et anywhere