THE LUMBER ROOM

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 2, 25 September 1937, Page 4

THE LUMBER ROOM

"PAUL PEY»" mmmmm

By irS!^ ms ■

To Strike a Balanoo. That mUch can be done to increaso the efficiency of democraqy to meet modern needs is junquestionUble. The point, however, that must never be lost to sight for a moment — per haps a fatal moment— is that in trying to "make democracy work" we do not de6troy democracy itself. We cahnot have such doubtful advantages as there may be in the instant commands of oue man and retain personal freedoin. We have to strike a balance between what we demand of government and what We demand of life itself.— J. T. Adams. A Colossal Rele^se War, to the typical young fellow, is a collosal release. The problem of making a living in a stupid and unappreciative world departs from his shouders _ He ceases to be a Aonentity and becomes a publie figure, cheered by his jelatives, his friends, and the popuiace jn general. There is someone to clothe him, and someone to tell hdm what to do. He has g. gun in his hands and feels like a man. His country needs him, and tells him so with many a slap on the back, though in a little wbile it may forget bim. Tho soldier stands proudly above all th© ordinary laws, even tbe laws of economics are repealed for liim.— H. L. Mencken. Nobody's Rainbow. We know that the objective rainbow is an illusion. Raindrops break sunb'glit up into rays of -many colours, and the coloured: rays which entOr any man's eyes from the rainbow be sees; but as the rays which enter one man's eyes can never enter those- of a second man, no two men can ever see the same rainbow. Each man's rainbow is a selection of his own. eyes, a subjective selectiofi from an objective reaiity which is not a raiabow at all. — Sir James Jeans. Mere ideals* Mere, ideals are tho cheapest things in life. Everybody has taken them in some shape of form, personal or general, sound or mistaken, loW* or high; and the most wortMess ' sentimentalists and dreamers, drunkards, shirks and verse makes who never sliow a grain of courage or endurance, have them on tho most copious scale. But the more ideals a man has, the more contemptible is he, if the matter ends there, and if there is no coUrage shown, no pnvatkms undergone, no scars contracied to. get them realised. — Wiiliam James. is it So Small a Thing. Is it so small a tbiUg To have enjoyed the sqn," To have lived light in ihe spring, To have loved, to have thought, to have doue, " " v To have advanced true friends, and beat down baffling foes. , Matthew Arnold. To Arouse Entiwsiasm. Ability to arouse enthusiasm among mcn is the greatest asset a man can have, affd the way to develdp the best that is in a man is by sppreciation. There is nothing that so kills ihe om* bitions of a man as criticism from nia superiors. Be therefore anxious to praise but loath^to find fault. The man is yet to be found, however exalted his station who will not do better work aiad put forth greater.effort under a apirit of approVal than under a spirit of criticism. — Daic Carnegie, Perverted Proverbs. A hair on ihe head js worth two on the brush. A little Widow is a dangerous thing. Every man has his price, and •very Woman her figure. People in fast blouses ehouid'nt ahow bones. . ■ Charity begins at a Bazaar, and often ends iii a deficit. Talking of Railwaya. Before a committee of the Hduse 01 Commons it was expressed that wjtli the improvement of the locomotive tbe speed upon a railway might be fifteen miles an hour or eveu twenty miles per tiour. These opiuions were cklled "gross exaggerations of the powers of the locomotive steani engine" .Further it was coiitended tliat even if such a speed could be attained, tlie dangers of bursting boilers and broken wheels would bo so great that we shoiild as soon expect people to suffer themseives to be fired Off in a rocket as to trust themseives" to tlie mercy of a machine goiug at sucli a rato. As to persons wlio speculate on making' railways geiieiral througbout .tbo country .... we deem them and their visionary schemes unworthy of notice. — Quarterly Beview. T!ls Pugltlves. Tli© waiora ars fia-ehiag, The white hail is dashiug, The lightiiings are glancing, The hoar spray is dancing— Ajvay 1 The whirlwind js rolling, The thunder is tolling, Ihe forest is swinging, Tho minister bells ringiug— Como awayl The Earth is like (Jcean, Wreck strewn and in motion; Bird, beast, man and worm Have crept out of the storm— Come awayl Slielley,