iSI. 



THI-: HARDWOOD Ki:CORD. 



The Ma^rv About Town. 



TH£ PUEASUKES OF MODERATION. 



II hiis hIumvs s<-i'iin'<l tn iiir tlinl iiuin's 

 III St duty Is to lilnisolf. That inny sopiii 

 a jvltlsh precept, but scltlRlim-ss. ns I un- 

 ilerstiind it. is not so bnd n thiuR. 



If 11 nuin's llrst duty Is to hitnsolf tlion 

 it is Ills tirst and boundou obllpition to 

 jtct tlio frreiitost possible nniovint of pleas- 

 ure out of life. I do firmly believe that. 

 I do tlrinly believe my first duty is to iiet 

 all the enjoyment out of life that I possibly 

 can. 



I cannot prore that I am rlpht in this 

 belief, but it loolis reasonable. I do not 

 know Avhy Go<l put us liere to travel a 

 little space upon the earth, nor does any 

 n\an linow. and so lonp as that purpose is 

 hidden from us why does a man not owe 

 It to himself to make his journey as pleas- 

 ant as possible? Some people say that 

 they believe it is a man's first dutj- to make 

 the journey as pleasant as possible for 

 others, but I do not subscribe to that be- 

 lief. Nor do I believe it is seriously enter- 

 tained by many people. 



1 believe that a vast majority of people 

 order their lives upon the tlieory that a 

 n.an"s first duty is to himself, but they are 

 ashamed to admit that they believe in that 

 theory. It seems to me to be better, how- 

 ever, to face the matter fairly and admit 

 that our principal aim in life is to get the 

 greatest possible amount of enjoyment out 

 of our involuntary journey. .Vnd not only 

 should we admit it, but we should contend 

 that we are justified in our belief. 



It is not, it seems to me, good policy to 

 attempt to influence a man to get upon 

 the lofty plane of self-abnegation and live 

 and move and have his being there, by 

 urging upon him that his chief duty is to 

 live for others. 



Such a doctrine does not appeal to many 

 men; not to one in ten thousand. And 

 when you find a man who will subscribe 

 to such a doctrine and attempt to live up 

 to it, he generally makes a mess of things. 

 As a general thing people don't want others 

 to live for them. As a general thing they'd 

 rather be let alone and be allowed to live 

 for themselves. 



I do not want people going around living 

 for me. nor putting themselves to incon- 

 venience for me. I want people to do tor 

 me only that which it will add to their 

 pleasure to do. If a friend has two cigars 

 it will often give him more pleasure to 

 smoke one himself and give me the other 

 that I may smoke with him. than to smoke 

 alone, knowing the while that my mouth 

 is watering. If it will add to his pleasure 

 so to do, I will, of course, be glad to have 

 th(! extra cigar; but if ho only has one 

 cigar I don't want him to give it to me and 

 then sit around and gloat over me while I 



DY C. D. STRODE. 



sn;oke it. If he only has oni- cigar let him 

 smoke it liimself. 



I do not say that my doclrlne of every 

 iiinii pleasing himself is a gooil doctrine to 

 preach to uneiilighteneil people. Like a 

 gootl many other doctrines, It Is only safe 

 for the cultured mind. And you should 

 lake it well that 1 consider you to be of 

 sulUcient culture and strength of mental 

 liber th.at such mental diet is not too 

 strong. 



To the undeveloped miiul the ten coni- 

 iiijindments represent a scheme of life 

 which must be followed, not because of its 

 Justice and fairness and righteousness, but 

 bf cause, if it be not followetl, he who vio- 

 lates it will lun-n in hell's fire. 



The undeveloped mind must be con- 

 trolled by fear; but the enlightened mind 

 controls itself, because it recognizes the 

 necessity for control, and that it is only 

 hy self-control that the hightest satisfac- 

 tion may be obtained in life. 

 • • • 

 I do not subscribe to the Golden Kulc; 

 "Ho unto others as you would have others 

 do unto you." That is too far-fetched to 

 be practical. It is a good thing to advo- 

 cate in a sermon or an essay if you wish 

 to stand well with a certain kind of peo- 

 ple, but it is a ridiculous rule for anyone 

 to attempt to live by. 



To begin with, when you are doing unto 

 some oilier man as you would that that 

 man should do to you, you may be doing 

 tliat which will greatly annoy him. For 

 there is a great diversity of opinion among 

 men as to what they like to have done to 

 them. You may like to have something 

 done to you and yet if you would do that 

 thing to me I might not like it at all. It 

 is better that you do things for yourself 

 and let me do things for myself. That 

 will simi)!ify matters and save a lot of un- 

 necessary effort 



I have a neighbor who is a strong advo- 

 cate of the Golden Rule. Not only does he 

 advocate that others should live by it. 

 which would not be so bad. for nobody 

 would do it. but he tries to live by it him- 

 self. And he is the greatest nui.sancc I 

 ever saw. 



He has a fairly good library, which he 

 calls the "Golden Rule Library," and he is 

 always trying to lend me a book out of it. 

 He has a somewhat extensive lawn, laid 

 out in walks and flower beds, with rustic 

 scats and things, and he is forever grab- 

 bing somebody and pulling him into this 

 place, which he calls "Golden Rule I'ark," 

 and telling him to enjoy himself. Or he 

 will force a bouquet upon him or insist 

 that he pin a flower in his buttonhole. 

 And there isn't a neighbor that won't walk 

 around a block to keep from meeting him. 



Xow maybe that man is doing as he 

 would like to have others do unto him. I 



believe he Ik slui-orely trying to do that. 

 Hut because he would like to have people 

 s( ikI him all sorts of liodUs and afterward 

 (lulx him to si-e If he has n-ad them, Is not 

 by any means a sign that I like treatment 

 of that kliul. I feel tempte<l sometimes to 

 wish that his "Golden UtJle Library" was 

 at the bottom of the lake. 



And because he always has a bunch of 

 llowers pinniMl on him somewhere and un- 

 doubtedly enjoys wearing them. Is not at 

 all an indication that 1 am similarly con- 

 stituted. In fact, I strongly object to 

 wearing flowers and I don't want to argue 

 about it or explain why I do object. But 

 I hate, too, to be a hypocrite. I don't like, 

 imder that man's insistance, to pin a flower 

 on my coat and then as soon as I get 

 aroimd a corner pull It off an<l throw It 

 away; and I tell you that if that nuin 

 keeps up his Golden Rule foolishness I'm 

 going to move out of the neighborhood. 



Another illustration of how the Golden 

 Rule Is not practicable; When I climb the 

 stairs to the elevated station to board a 

 cai for downtown of a morning, much de- 

 pends on my getting a seat. That half 

 hour on the elevated is all the time I have 

 to read the morning paper. There Is no 

 half hour in the day which I enjoy more. 

 II' I fail to get a seat I must stand and 

 hang to a strap, missing tlie reading of my 

 morning paper altogether. And when I 

 miss reading my morning paper I seem to 

 start off on the wrong foot and the whole 

 day is thrown out of joint 



Xow, when I fail to get a seat, as 1 do 

 occasionally, what I should lita^ to have 

 someone do unto me is to get u^'^and give 

 me his seat. No one ever does, but I 

 should like mightily to have him. 



Applying the Golden Rule to this case it 

 would be my duty each morning to get up 

 and give my seat to someone. And if we 

 all followed the Golden Rule what a lot 

 of bowing and scraping there would be on 

 that elevated train every morning. 



I'.ut I do not follow the f>olden Rule, nor 

 does anyone else. He gets a seat who can 

 and holds onto it. I give up my seat un- 

 der some circumstances, of course. If 

 some gentleman or lady, so old as to be 

 feeble, or if a woman with a baby, or any- 

 one who seems weak or ill or crippled, gets 

 aboard, and there is no empty seat, I gladly 

 surrender my own; but not from any Iqfty 

 motive. 1 surrender my seat because I 

 know I will be more comfortable standing 

 while the.\^ sit than I could po.ssibly be 

 sitting while they stand. I do it to please 

 mjself and add to my comfort. 



But as for doing a thing merely because . 

 I would like someone to do the same unto 

 n:e — no, thank you. 



• • • 

 I feel very kindly to this tenement of 

 clav which God has given me to use dur- 



