Conscience.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13367, 17 August 1907, Page 4 (Supplement)

Conscience.

A NATIONAL ASSET. Poetry, Art, Music—these are real factors of tine wealth in a State. But a Stats ne"us moro than tlios? to make itstable. It nestj-; a conscience, a sen,'e of of conscience may ha worth more to a bs done at all hazards and wrong is to 1)2 avoided, no lna-i-t.-r what th-.; cor.se(juences. A conscience is sometime; a' wmly thing to ;keep, but it L-; far more cost'y in tho.end to try to live- without it. A great writer -has said that one tradition of eoncscienee may, I).' worth more 'to a nation lian t'ee'.i: or aiaiies. The brightest and most gloiious page's : - in history are those which lecord the trials and triumphs of conscience. There arc ci:".qui:ting signs that con-.«ei.-nce is not the power it once was in our race. The averag?. man and woman do not ask themselves too seiiously about a question is it right? Thy aivk instead of it prudent, or customary, or profitable, or pleasant, or popular, or clever? "T'bxmost important column in the world," says one of th.H great writ;:,;, "iz the vertebral column. It took ages to fashion it, and nothing good, or gnat, or lasting is possible without, it. A backbone'ess acrobat h a tnasiiio in iw eirciv, but little use or ornament anywhere else." Yet ppople persist in thinking differently. The lack oi principle among politicians is a. r.tanding joke. But it not politicians only that aie lacking in the application of high principle to daily life. After all it is th- people who make the politicians, as it is the audience who make the actors. A great criminologist has said that, every community has th i criminals it deserves. So it is with politicians. They are but the reflex of the electois. Wo are all too ready to be slack in our morals —to keep the sunny side of the stresfc and take things easy. Wo are not over-anxious to ask Is this right ? We nrj satisfied if it is customary, or profitable .or prudent, or popular. " Itis always host to do what 'the mob does," says Mr Pickwick. " But. suppose there ai-.> two mobs," suggested Mr Snodgrass. "■Shout willi .the largest," reiili.« Pickwick. Not. a f-.:w in even- splice of life •ir- under the sp-ll of this Pi. kwiikian philosophy. 1 hough when rtaU.l th":; briefly and baldly v.-.- w.m'd all l •.•radiate it. Wo would lis none '•'••s- v.-:;v-- 'f a. dash of Puijiaiijs n in our bh-.-od. The Puritan i< not popular, and th re \< :>. T''->i' nr-jsm thai i.-. i r.ainly not lively. Pnt i'.e-" is anrtliet' Pin-if;ini--m, thai, h:-..-. a y, p sage for it still, because it, contained ;.ud expressed external truth. Simplicity of life, devotion t-o duty, loyalty to" c-on-;.cim: •, choosing and doing i-hdi, at all hazards—flier, wire Puiitan ide-d . and it will go ill with us if we forsake them. We ' • aimiit k-ep (he flower if we cut away tho root. The ros- in thn va,-e may look for tha mom-.-n-u as beautiful ?.:< tliat on the but there is one thing it will not do: it will not propagate its kind. (From the "• Thmedin Star.") I