DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 260, 24 January 1928, Page 5

DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

THE FIGHT (Copyright, 1928) THERE is something in human nature that just naturally takes to a contest — any kind of a contest. I recently saw a movie in which two men raced beetles to see which one could go the fastest. Mark Twain’s story of the Jumping Frog is well known. This disposition sometimes leads us into the most , absurd competitions. Not only are there beauty contests, but there are coffee-drinking competitions, flag-pole sitters, and recently at the County Fair in Suffolk prizes were given for wives that could call their husbands in the most endearing tone. Prizes are offered in schools and the best scholar or the most diligent student receives a reward. And there have been prize poems, prizes for the best orators and so on. There continue to be aspirants for the glory that is to be reaped from flying across the Atlantic. It is doubtful whether any really good work is done for the motive of getting a prize, although prizes continue to be offered for everything. The best worker is one who is interested in his work and does the best he can. He does not desire to excel someone else, but is interested in excellence for its own sake. We have never heard of Shakespeare, Dante, Goethe or Homer competing for a prize, and we have never read a prize poem that amounted to very much. Even when the prize of great fame and glory comes to one who has done something remarkable, the hero does not seem to appreciate the prize so much as he is gratified at performing his feat well. We cannot all excel in everything, as no two trees in the forest can be the highest. The principal thing is to do well that which lies within our power and to do it as well as it can be done.