this at some convenient season, and finally found themselves without a taste for
these things! How many of us have felt an interest in some benevolent work, but
at last discovered that our inclination had died before we found time to help the
cause! How many of us, young as we are, do not at this moment lament the
passing of some interest from our lives, or are now watching the dying of some
interest which we had fondly supposed was as stable as Gibraltar? The drawings
of every interest which appeals to us is a voice crying, "Now is the appointed
time!" What impulse urges us today to become or to do, we must begin at once
to be or perform, if we would attain to the coveted end.
The Value of a Strong Interest.—Nor are we to look upon these transitory
interests as useless. They come to us not only as a race heritage, but they impel
us to activities which are immediately useful, or else prepare us for the later
battles of life. But even aside from this important fact it is worth everything just
to be interested. For it is only through the impulsion of interest that we first learn
to put forth effort in any true sense of the word, and interest furnishes the final
foundation upon which volition rests. Without interest the greatest powers may
slumber in us unawakened, and abilities capable of the highest attainment rest
satisfied with commonplace mediocrity. No one will ever know how many
Gladstones and Leibnitzes the world has lost simply because their interests were
never appealed to in such a way as to start them on the road to achievement. It
matters less what the interest be, so it be not bad, than that there shall be some
great interest to compel endeavor, test the strength of endurance, and lead to
habits of achievement.
4. SELECTION AMONG OUR INTERESTS
I said early in the discussion that interest is selective among our activities,
picking out those which appear to be of the most value to us. In the same manner
there must be a selection among our interests themselves.
The Mistake of Following Too Many Interests.—It is possible for us to
become interested in so many lines of activity that we do none of them well.
This leads to a life so full of hurry and stress that we forget life in our busy
living. Says James with respect to the necessity of making a choice among our
interests:
"With most objects of desire, physical nature restricts our choice to but one of
many represented goods, and even so it is here. I am often confronted by the