necessity of standing by one of my empirical selves and relinquishing the rest.
Not that I would not, if I could, be both handsome and fat, and well dressed, and
a great athlete, and make a million a year; be a wit, a bon vivant, and a lady-
killer, as well as a philosopher; a philanthropist, statesman, warrior, and African
explorer, as well as a 'tone poet' and saint. But the thing is simply impossible.
The millionaire's work would run counter to the saint's; the bon vivant and the
philosopher and the lady-killer could not well keep house in the same tenement
of clay. Such different characters may conceivably at the outset of life be alike
possible to man. But to make any one of them actual, the rest must more or less
be suppressed. The seeker of his truest, strongest, deepest self must review the
list carefully, and pick out the one on which to stake his salvation."
Interests May Be Too Narrow.—On the other hand, it is just as possible for our
interests to be too narrow as too broad. The one who has cultivated no interests
outside of his daily round of humdrum activities does not get enough out of life.
It is possible to become so engrossed with making a living that we forget to live
—to become so habituated to some narrow treadmill of labor with the limited
field of thought suggested by its environment, that we miss the richest
experiences of life. Many there are who live a barren, trivial, and self-centered
life because they fail to see the significant and the beautiful which lie just
beyond where their interests reach! Many there are so taken up with their own
petty troubles that they have no heart or sympathy for fellow humanity! Many
there are so absorbed with their own little achievements that they fail to catch
step with the progress of the age!
Specialization Should Not Come Too Early.—It is not well to specialize too
early in our interests. We miss too many rich fields which lie ready for the
harvesting, and whose gleaning would enrich our lives. The student who is so
buried in books that he has no time for athletic recreations or social diversions is
making a mistake equally with the one who is so enthusiastic an athlete and
social devotee that he neglects his studies. Likewise, the youth who is so taken
up with the study of one particular line that he applies himself to this at the
expense of all other lines is inviting a distorted growth. Youth is the time for
pushing the sky line back on all sides; it is the time for cultivating diverse and
varied lines of interests if we would grow into a rich experience in our later
lives. The physical must be developed, but not at the expense of the mental, and
vice versa. The social must not be neglected, but it must not be indulged to such
an extent that other interests suffer. Interest in amusements and recreations
should be cultivated, but these should never run counter to the moral and