diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/60826-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/60826-0.txt | 1372 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 1372 deletions
diff --git a/old/60826-0.txt b/old/60826-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 766e511..0000000 --- a/old/60826-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1372 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of How to Face Life, by Stephen Samuel Wise - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: How to Face Life - -Author: Stephen Samuel Wise - -Editor: Edward Howard Griggs - -Release Date: December 1, 2019 [EBook #60826] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOW TO FACE LIFE *** - - - - -Produced by Turgut Dincer, Nigel Blower and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - How to Face Life - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - THE ART OF LIFE SERIES - Edward Howard Griggs, Editor - - --------------------- - - - How to Face Life - - BY - - STEPHEN S. WISE - Rabbi of the Free Synagogue, New York - - [Illustration: B. W. H. logo] - - NEW YORK - B. W. HUEBSCH - MCMXVII - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY - B. W. HUEBSCH - - - - - PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - TO - MY LOUTINJIM - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CONTENTS - - - I YOUTH - - PREPARING FOR LIFE - - PAGE 9 - - - II MATURITY - - HOW TO SERVE AND ACHIEVE - - PAGE 48 - - - III AGE - - HOW NOT TO GROW OLD - - PAGE 62 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - I - - YOUTH: PREPARING FOR LIFE - - - “How beautiful is youth! How bright it gleams. - With its illusions, aspirations, dreams! - Book of Beginnings, Story without End, - Each maid a heroine, and each man a friend! - Aladdin’s Lamp, and Fortunatus’ Purse! - That holds the treasures of the universe! - All possibilities are in its hands, - No danger daunts it and no foe withstands; - In its sublime audacity of faith, - ‘Be thou removed,’ it to the mountain saith, - And with ambitious feet, secure and proud, - Ascends the ladder leaning on the cloud.” - - —LONGFELLOW: _Morituri Salutamus_. - -How to face life, how to prepare for life, are questions that must be -answered by those who believe, as Lecky put it, that the “map of life” -must be marked out, that in the words of Emerson there is such a thing -as the “conduct of life” which man is free to determine. - -We are assured incessantly in these days that we must enter upon a great -programme of preparedness for war,—back of which urging lies the -assumption that a maximum of preparedness must be arranged in order to -secure our land against the menace of aggression or invasion. If a -programme of preparedness, which in the last analysis involves -destruction and desolation, be impossible without the fullest planning, -how much less possible is it to shape a constructive life-upbuilding -programme without most careful and adequate preparedness. - -Into the mind of youth must penetrate the ideal of -self-preparedness,—not of external preparation for the outward life, but -of inmost preparedness for the inner life. Whether or not the -preparedness programme be, as some hold, more menacing to the soul of -America than foreign foe can ever become because it marks an immediate -invasion of the American soul rather than a possible aggression upon -American soil, it is certain that life cannot worthily be lived save -after preparedness in the fullest sense of the term. - -It is, in truth, easy to stir up excitement and even deeper feeling over -a purely external problem such as is that of war-preparedness, preparing -to do something to another whether an individual or a nation or a -continent. The easiest way is the way of external preparedness, the -militaristic way, for it involves a minimum of reasoning. But -preparation for life which I ask of youth involves the largest measure -of reasoning and planning and purposing. It is the hardest way rather -than the easiest way, though the pursuit thereof makes ultimately for -the way that is inevitably rightful and unerring. - -Is it needful to urge upon young people that they shall face life with -the determination to sketch for themselves a map of life as they see it, -as they purpose, if so be they purpose, to make it? What would be said -of a military commander who entered upon a land to him unknown without -securing in advance the fullest possible data, without gaining, as far -as it was possible so to do, an understanding of the outlines of the -country he proposed to enter? - -Curiously enough, it is often imagined that preparation for life is -largely a matter of the higher education and exclusively associated with -college and university life. This imagining may be due to the -circumstance that men and women step out of so-called preparatory -schools into higher institutions of learning. One sometimes wonders, in -very truth, whether, instead of college preparing men for life, it were -not more fitting to hold that after the college or university experience -men need to be repaired if they are rightly to live and toil and serve. - -My counsel is not for men alone but for men and women, for youth and -maidens alike. Let no man venture to offer two kinds of counsel, one to -men and yet another to women. There is only one manner of preparedness -for life, for life is life and it is not one thing for a man and yet -another for a woman. - -Though I have used the term “map of life,” map is hardly a happy -analogy. For maps presuppose that a land is become known and familiar. -And life cannot be foreknown and charted, if life it is to be, as every -life ought to be, a great adventure into the unknown rather than the -acceptance of a programme, a hazard of the spirit rather than a body of -prescriptions and ordinances. We are to fare forth upon the seas of -life,—without chart. But some of us attempt to sail the sea rudderless, -helmless, starless. Men and women embark upon life without ever having -given thought to the storms that beset, to the rocks that threaten, to -the unknown perils that may lie before. And then it is wondered why many -fail to make port, why the ships of life frequently founder upon the -high seas. The wonder ought rather to be that so many enter triumphantly -into the harbors of eternity, seeing how rarely men map out life in -advance, seeing how grudging is the time spent upon preparation, seeing -how seldom men diligently and consciously prepare to meet those -difficulties and burdens and problems which adequate preparedness for -life alone can fit the soul to face. - -Let not life be mapped out so definitely for you, so accurately and -systematically that no room will be left for the play of your own will -and the determinations of your own spirit. I would almost rather have -every map of life flung away than have life so mapped out as to leave -youth no freedom of choice, as to fail to spur men on to face the great -adventure, to be capable of daring to front whatsoever life may offer. -Not very long ago, I inquired of friends, whose little lad is a pupil of -one of the so-called best schools in the land, when they had applied for -his admittance, and they answered, “Before he was born.” It occurred to -me to inquire what dire thing would have happened in the event of the -lad having proved upon birth to be a little lass, but the comforting -assurance was at once given me that such contingency, not to say -calamity, had been guarded against, in a sense, through applying for -admittance to a girls’ school in the event of the lad being born a lass. -It seemed to me then as it does now an admirable thing to make such -comprehensive provision for a child’s education as to gain for it in -advance of birth admittance into two schools, irrespective of sex. - -But, without resting too heavily upon this illustration, is it not -possible to prepare another for life so definitely as to deny to youth -the privilege of willing, choosing, venturing, daring—even losing? It -were almost better that a youth go without the problematic advantages of -school discipline than have his school and college and university career -chosen and marked out for him rigidly and inflexibly. What greater wrong -can I do my child than to withhold from him the freedom of choice, than -so to cabin and confine his spirit that he must needs beat his wings in -the intense inane without knowing the atmosphere that magnifies freedom -and liberates the soul? Guide if you will the life of youth, but beware -of the danger of maiming and crippling life through so definitely and -completely mapping it out as to deny the soul of youth the peril of -adventure, the joy of combat, the glory of hopeless daring. - -Life must mean pioneering, not making one’s way, but breaking a way, -clearing a path of life for one’s self. It is the glory of life,—and -there is no glory like unto it,—to face the task of moral and -intellectual pioneering. There is danger lest in our time there pass out -of the life of men one of the most precious of things, that pioneering -spirit that comes to the man who after he has fared forth, braved every -danger, stood every peril at bay, declares in the word of the poet: - - “Anybody might have heard it - But God’s whisper came to me.” - -The whisper of God comes to every man or to every man it may come. The -opportunity for the performance of the task of moral or spiritual -pioneering is denied to no man. Americas of the spirit remain to be -discovered within the life of every one of us. What man or woman who may -read this will affirm that there has never come into his life a -revelation the gleam of which enables him to see that he is free to -reach a great decision, that his spirit may dare a great refusal, that -his soul may utter a great affirmation? The great moment of life is that -in which a man is revealed unto himself, in which his soul is laid bare, -in which it comes to him with the force of a revelation,—mine is the -power to will and to determine the content of my life, though if I am to -will I must dare to be myself, I must reach the decision, I must will, I -must be free. - -And the freedom of youth means freedom to be one’s self, to be a law -unto one’s self, not to be one’s self in lawlessness. Choose ye this day -whom ye will serve,—remembering that the responsibility of decision -rests with you and that, in the despite of all the lives that have been -lived and all the maps that have been drawn and all the plans that have -been sketched and all the precedents that have been set, you must live -your own life, and, if it be not your own life, it is not life at all. -Cherish the counsels of loved ones but remember that neither mother nor -father, uncle nor cousin nor any kinsman or kinswoman whosoever can -choose whom you are to serve. You cannot serve God unless yours be the -choice. - -Young men and women require to be warned against a thousand and one -influences ever lurking near at hand to deter youth from the hazard of -the spirit’s pioneering. Despise the counsels of the over-wise and -over-mature, the sum of whose low wisdom is that a man can make no -graver mistake in life than to wander from the paths which all men else -have pursued. The fear of seeming unusual obsesses the soul of too many -of us. Not a few men and women would rather be wrong than seem -different. Difference, variance, distinctiveness are not ends in -themselves, but may become and ofttimes are the means that must be used -by him who is not fearful of moral distinction. - -Outward differentiation is nothing, but inward distinction is -everything,—is the counsel I ever urge upon my fellow-Jews. We are not -to seem different for the sake of seeming, but we are to dare to seem to -be different in order to be distinguished, in order to achieve spiritual -outstandingness. When nice and refined and timid people say to you, -“Remember to be like everybody else, don’t attempt anything new, don’t -run the risk of seeming peculiar, don’t dream of venturing upon novel -courses whether in things great or small,” remember that there is a -possible invasion of the soul’s integrity that no man need endure. To -the counsels of the timorous fling back the command to the brave: -“Always do what you are afraid to do.” - -When men seek to affright you by their counsels of prudence, remind them -of the rule of one of the knightliest of Americans, the founder of -Hampton Institute, who laid upon one youth’s soul the burden: “doing -what can’t be done is the glory of living.” And when men seek to degrade -you to the level of their own base timidity, bid them to remember the -courage and nobleness that were in the act of Higginson in leading a -negro regiment touching which he said: “We all fought, for instance, -with ropes around our necks, the Confederate authorities having denied -to officers of colored regiments the usual privileges if taken prisoners -and having required them to be treated as felons.” - -Pioneering, moreover, presupposes unrest, discontent, just as it should. -I am not fearful for the youth whose soul is in a state of unrest, the -youth who has soaring ideals and knows not whether life is even worth -living. If that be his problem it is enough for him to know, -paraphrasing the word of the Jewish fathers, that whether or not life is -worth living we must live as if it were and we must make life fuller of -worth. Are you dissatisfied, are you discontented, so much the better -for you. Hearing from the mother of James Russell Lowell of his general -discontent with the conditions of society, Emerson wrote to her, “I hope -he will never get over it.” Better the nobly discontented than the -ignobly content. Did not John Stuart Mill say that pigs are always -satisfied and men are always dissatisfied. But let your discontent and -dissatisfaction be not with the world but with yourself, knowing that if -it be noble it shall lift you up. - -Grave consequences attend the too definite mapping out of life’s -programme. Men’s passion for and faith in the profession of soldiering -rest upon youth’s yearning for adventure. And if, perchance, to-day -great multitudes of men are yearning to take up arms, it is not because -they would destroy an enemy, but because they would obliterate the -emptiness of their own lives, because they are in revolt against the -absence in normal life to-day of the pioneering opportunity. It is this -lack of stimulus or impulse in the direction of pioneering which makes -for poor, mean, low substitutes in the realm of adventure. The low gang -takes the place of high comradeship, the debasing fling becomes a -substitute for ennobling adventure. The passion for glamour and glare, -as disclosed in the craze for the motion picture, is only another -expression of the thwarted sense of adventure which the soul of youth -dare not be denied. - -Seeing that the gang spirit is nothing more than a crude, imperfect, at -worst sinful, expression of youth’s passion for togetherness, what needs -to be done is to offer youth an opportunity for the expression of the -deep yearning for fraternalism. Do young men imagine that they must have -their fling? Is it not because life as lived is often so flat and stale -and unprofitable that the fling of the body is substituted for the -adventure of the spirit, that, failing to grasp hold of the eternal -realities and verities, men set out to magnify the passing and -perishable? When everything big is shut out of life it is not to be -wondered at that life becomes full of meanness and littleness and -unworthiness. - -Give yourself to something great, enroll under the banner of a high -cause, choose as your own some standard of self-sacrifice, attach -yourself to a movement that makes not for your own gain but for the -welfare of men, and you will have come upon a richly satisfying as well -as engrossing adventure. Either your spirit will greatly and bravely, -nobly and self-forgettingly adventure, or you will be in danger of -yielding to the dominance of your appetites, you will be in peril of -being overcome by your masterful passions. Dare to give every power of -your life to the furtherance of a mighty cause. Let your spirit come -under the dominance of a high and exalting enthusiasm. So will you gain -the mastery over yourself, not as a matter of prudence, not as a matter -of caution, not as a matter of timidity, not as a matter of duty. - -Let something so high and noble come into your life that it shall be -expulsive of everything low and mean. The men one honors most, the men -one has reason to cherish most highly, are those into whose lives -something so lofty and commanding has come as to have left no room for -the mean and petty. Having given themselves to the furtherance of a high -and exalted ideal, life leaves no place for the mean. The selfish and -the unworthy retreats with the precipitancy of the coward before the -imperiousness of the noble impulse, the divine aim. And to their honor -be it said, young men and women will rise to the highest level when it -invites or challenges. There is in the heart of youth a limitless -capacity for ardent devotion to causes of nobleness if but it be evoked -and guided. And youth, too, understands how noble the venturesome deed -may be even when utterly futile, how sublime in essence even when broken -and foredoomed. - -But men cannot finely pioneer nor nobly adventure until after they have -learned certain lessons in life. Men must learn to be self-reveringly -independent, which implies not the aloofness of solitude but the -aloneness when necessary of moral and spiritual self-reliance. Man must -learn to live his own life. There is no greater danger in our time than -that a man shall submit to the tyranny of the crowd. A man need not be -remote from nor yet alien to the world and yet he may live his own life -and live within himself. We suffer ourselves to come under the -domination of mob-feeling and mob-thinking, such as it is, because we -have not learned the art of shutting ourselves away at times from the -world. We seem never to dare to be alone because, though we know it not, -we would fain avoid facing life’s problems. We must understand, too, -that, if the problems of our own life are to be met and solved, these -things cannot be done vicariously. Not parents nor teachers nor -ministers can solve those pressing problems of our inner life with which -a man can cope effectively only amid the solitude of his inmost life. -Until you have learned the art of separating yourself for some time in -every day from the multitude, you will not learn how to think out and -think through life’s problems. You will not even know that there are -problems to be resolved. - -But while life is to be lived in the spirit of self-reverence and -self-reliance, life’s great questions cannot be faced aright unless they -be faced selflessly. Life is not to be egocentric but heterocentric. The -question that a man must put is not what is he going to get out of life, -how can he get the most out of life, but how can he put the most and the -best into life. Life is not to be interpreted in terms of self, of -individual gain, of personal advantage. If it be possible to -differentiate between two classes in the world, these classes are -respectively made up of the men who read life in the language of -privilege and advantage and the men who interpret life in the terms of -duty and obligation and responsibility. The selfless are the only beings -who know how to live, who have learned and mastered the art of life. It -is always possible to draw the distinction between the man who lives for -himself, for what he can get out of life, for the enhancement of his own -fame, for the enlargement of his own power, and the man who puts himself -second, who lives for the good of others, who lives for the good, who is -capable of denying self. The noblest of men and women are they who -prescribe life to self in terms of duty to the world. - -I venture to say to youth this day that there are two great needs in the -life of youth, if life is to be truly and finely faced. Have an ideal, -something to live by, and live for that ideal, wholly, steadfastly, -unwaveringly. Many men are willing to cherish an ideal, to behold a -vision, to catch a gleam, but they do not seem to understand that ideals -are not to be had cheaply, that a vision is not to be gained for the -asking. One comes upon men and women in every walk of life entirely -ready to pursue an ideal, but the pursuit must impose no difficulty, -must involve no sacrifice. These are the idealists who falter not until -sacrifice be demanded of them, and then their ideal is suffered to pass -as if the ideal were nothing more than a fair-weather friend rather than -a refuge in time of trouble, a bulwark during hours of trial and amid -the storms of temptation. - -Nor are ideals reserved for the great and outstanding in life. Every one -of us has a goal, and you are what your goal is. Your life will -ultimately define itself in the terms of your ideal. Let your ideal be -high and it will exalt you. Suffer your ideal to be low and it will be -sure to debase you. You are your goal: your ideal is you. Life often -breaks down here, in one of these two critical places, in the matter of -willing highly and of having holily. Some men have neither vision of -goal nor choice of way. Some men have the vision but stumble on the -way,—the men who think the goal more important than the way, forgetting -that the way is the goal. And so many falter and fumble, forgetting that -life’s most important choice is as truly of a path as of the goal, that -the way that leads thither is of the essence of the dream and the -triumph. What thou wouldst have highly thou must have holily. We will to -have high things, but we are not prepared to achieve them holily, as if -the manner of the quest were less holy than the matter of the goal. - -Who does not know of men in business who aim to secure a competence and -are resolved to put by the ways that are sharp and mean, after a fortune -has been secured? Men vainly imagine that after they have amassed much -they will neutralize the evil they have done by doing much good, but in -the meantime they have done evil to themselves and are no longer free to -live by the ideal. Giving themselves unholily to the quest of the high, -they have become transformed and debased into something mean and -strange. One knows of men in the ministry to whom is given the -putatively wise counsel to be discreetly cautious and evasively silent -until the time comes for the occupancy of a great pulpit, when, as it is -basely said, a man can afford to speak out of his soul. But when the -great pulpit prize is won, the gleam, alas, is gone, the vision lies -shattered. The man has been corrupted and his soul corroded and he who -was willing for a time to be silent in the hope that some day, through -the methods of silence, he might achieve the right of speaking out more -bravely, has in the meantime become a dumb dog who has lost the power as -well as the will to utter himself in fashion brave and unafraid. - -Seemingly good men, outwardly decent men enter into political life and -imagine that they must for a time strike hands with corruption until the -hour will come when they shall be able to smite corruption with their -own fists. They palter and they falter, whispering sorrowfully, “Truly -it is regrettable, but one must do these things.” One distinguished -statesman in American life declared to a friend many years ago that -there are times when a man must eat a peck of dirt in order to gain high -office. He gained the office, he ate his peck, and the tragedy is that -it is not only become the steady article of his diet, but he loves it -and he would not live without it, that it is become of the very essence -of his being. - -In other words, a man cannot wallow through the mire to the skies. No -man can have two standards, one to be followed until he be forty or -fifty, and then suddenly put away. No man can divest himself of the -lower ideal which he has adopted as a temporary expedient, because in -the meantime it has come to have the mastery over his soul. Putting -aside the great choice, the hour comes when a man finds himself -incapable of the great refusal and the standard to which he gave his -temporary adherence, to be abandoned in the years of opulence and -safety, becomes his despotic and inescapable master. It is no more -possible to have two standards in the world of the spirit than it is -possible to prescribe two different moral standards for men and women. -Unity must be sought and achieved at the outset, not a lowered standard -in the beginning and a higher standard in the end. The habit of the soul -cannot be altered at will. Once to every man and not a thousand times -comes the moment to decide, and the earlier decision will in part, if -not in whole, be determinative of every later choice. - -And if, young men and women, there were nothing else for which to -prepare, there is the future, there is the holy calling of parenthood to -be pursued by most of you. Have I not the right to appeal to young men -and women to-day to remember how much or how little they can make of -their own lives, and may we not base such appeal upon the truth that -they are to be the makers and the molders of the morrow; that unless -their lips and lives proclaim the voice of God in the soul of man, there -will follow a little-souled and mean-hearted generation instead of a -race of great-hearted and noble-souled men and women. - -A beautiful passage in an allegory recently presented upon the stage -tells of the song of unborn souls, which are dreaming of the parenthood -to be their lot upon earth and looking forward with heavenly joy to the -supreme felicity and benediction of parenthood. The most important duty -of youth is to prepare with consciousness and consecration for life’s -highest duty,—the duty of parenthood. Shall that future be polluted, -shall that heritage be befouled? In reminding young men and women as I -do that they are the trustees of the morrow, that they hold in their -keeping the destiny of all the future, I am tempted to ask a question. -What if I were to bring a little child before you, some beautiful child -of a year or two, and what if some man sitting in this company were to -come hither and for some unknown reason strike that child: would it not -be with difficulty that we could restrain ourselves from doing violence -to such a creature? What of the men and women committing a crime -infinitely more hurtful, who would not strike a little child, but who, -none the less, are ready to doom unborn generations to a heritage of -evil, of hurt, of shame? What young man or woman will not think upon -that? - -A further word should be spoken to young women who in every generation -are standard-bearers, and not only standard-bearers but -standard-lifters. I know it to be true that ofttimes women conform to -the lower standards which men impose upon them. Yet is it true that -women may be the makers of standards if they will, and that, if they -consent to the lowering of the standards, men will readily and, alas, -eagerly lapse to the lower levels. Will not young women understand that, -if they suffer standards to be lowered, if they for any reason yield to -the temptation to be their poorer, unworthier selves in the sight of -men, then will they corrupt men, then will they in very truth have -broken faith with the moral order which has vested womanhood with the -supreme privilege of exalting standards and by the exalting of standards -exalting men. - -I have said nothing up to this time about the place of God in the life -of youth. I never feel it my duty to urge you to believe in God as if -faith in God, as if trust in God, as if the acceptance of God were a -task to be superimposed rather than a privilege to be coveted. To young -men and women I would say that the one thing in the world they may not -omit to do is to leave room for God in their lives. But you cannot leave -room for God if your life be choked and clogged with things, and things, -and things. Leave a place in your life for the spirit of God and God -will find his way into your life and lead you to the making of a life -divine. - -Reviewing what has gone before, the great thing in life is to map it out -in youth. Not that one is to refrain from venturing upon the uncharted -sea but that, howsoever daringly one is ready to fare forth upon the -seas, one may not forget the guidance of the stars. It is a great thing -to venture upon the imperiling seas of life without the assurance of -safety and reward for one’s plans and toils. It is a greater thing so to -fare forth as to come inevitably under the direction of the fixed stars -in the heavens of the spirit divine. - -Upon a stained window in the dwelling of a noble friend I came upon some -lines which I commend to the soul of youth everywhere: - - “Climb high - Climb far - Your goal the sky - Your aim the star.” - - - - - II - - MATURITY: HOW TO SERVE AND ACHIEVE - - -Maturity, or the middle period of life, is in a sense the largest part -of life, and is not to be viewed merely as the period after youth and -before old age. It is relative only as all time is relative, but it is -absolute, too. In truth, it is the time of that self-dependence which -comes with the consciousness of power in maturity. It is the very body -and substance of life and least relative,—for youth is its foreshadowing -and old age the shadow which it casts behind. Middle age is not a link -between youth and old age, but that period of life to which youth is an -approach,—from which old age is an exit. Comparing life to a bridge, -youth and old age might be likened to the piers which must be builded, -but the linking together of the piers, the stretching of the cables over -which the larger part of life’s pilgrimage must be made is the task of -life’s middle period. - -Life is so constituted that it were almost within the limits of -reasonableness to urge that life need not pass out of the middle stage -into old age. Loath though one be to enter upon maturity, it need never -be left behind in return for age if it be entered upon in the spirit of -preparedness. Middle age is hard and bitter if youth have been misspent, -if youth have not been the stage of conscious preparation for life. - -Certain rules have been laid down for the governance of youth and the -question may be asked whether these are pertinent to the needs and tasks -of middle age,—namely the law that one must have an ideal by which to -live, and that one must not merely live by it but up to it. As for the -rules which are to be binding upon the middle period of life, who shall -venture to prescribe them, save that certain things are obviously -true,—that middle age shall continue that which youth initiates, and -that there shall be no sharp frontier dividing youth from that which -comes after. For middle age is not so much a part of life as it is life, -and life absolute. - -Middle age is but a part of the same life-long journey which in its -early stages is youth, which culminates in age. And yet in a sense a -different type of rules and ordinances is applicable to every one of the -three great periods of life. For life is not a journey, even and -unvarying, over a wide plain. Life may best be likened to the ascent of -a mountain and in turn the descent from its summit, and the laws that -govern life must be variously modified in order to meet the needs of the -different periods along the journey. - -In the early stages, during the hours of the ascent, the imperative -thing is that a man shall not over-tax his strength, that he shall not -overstrain his powers in the initial stages of the journey, that he -shall not attempt too much, that he shall not travel at too wearying a -pace. As man nears the summit of the mountain, it becomes needful for -him to conform to other rules. He must not lose the stride, he must know -how to go on, he must climb and climb without succumbing to the heat of -the day. Once the descent is begun, yet other rules apply, if one is -with safety to reach the end of the long journey. The glory of the -morning no longer upbears him, the splendor of the noonday sun no longer -maintains his strength. But as he leaves youth’s vigor and the power of -maturity behind him, the glow of the passing day may irradiate his -vision and reveal to him the distant horizon. - -Middle age seems too often a painful reluctance to leave youth behind -and to be a more painful hesitancy in the matter of facing the oncoming -of age. Unhappily for itself, middle age oft combines the childishness -of immaturity with the senescence of post-maturity so that it lacks -alike the charm of youth and the grace of age. Old age that is not -worthy of reverence is contemptible. Not less worthy of contempt is -middle age, if it have brought from youth nothing save youth’s foibles -and frailties. We not unseldom see—and it is always a pitiful -spectacle,—men and women whose bark of life is unballasted by the poise -that comes with strength and unsteadied by the serenity which ought to -be the mark of the maturer period. While men speak of the dignity of old -age, it is in truth the middle age which is in need of dignity, which -alas it too often lacks. - -Men frequently refer to the emptiness and the barrenness of old age, -when it is oftenest middle age that is empty and meaningless, for it is -the time when life’s emptiness is disclosed. It is in middle age that -men are made to face the bitter truth that theirs is not to achieve and -to serve because they have not set up any standards worthy of the name, -because their goal, such as it is, is too immediately accessible, and -they cannot serve because self, having been their very deity, has not -suffered them to will to serve or to learn how to serve. - -The temptation of middle age is to yield to the spirit of -disenchantment, though verily that is oft-times called disenchantment -which means nothing more than the absence of enchantments. The -temptation of middle age is not so much to give up ideals as to realize -that one is without them. Then men mistake their poor plans and -plottings, their puny purposes for ideals and wonder why they have lost -that which in truth they never had. Men rarely lose ideals. Poor, -imperfect substitutes for ideals are found out and find out their -owners,—if so they may be named. Men are not to fear losing ideals in -middle age. They are to fear not having them in youth so that they -cannot hold them throughout life. - -Middle age depends upon youth, and its disillusionments are due chiefly -to the absence of illusions in the time of youth. In middle and in old -age men suddenly discover that they cannot reap what in youth they have -failed to sow. That middle age finds the ideals of youth unsatisfying -and even unengrossing, indicts only youth and not itself, shows that the -map of life, if drawn at all and as drawn in youth, was not ample and -generous enough to have proved sufficing for a lifetime. - -Assuming that middle age is less joyous than youth, it enjoys one -supreme satisfaction, or rather reaps one supreme compensation, that of -the consciousness of two powers, two of life’s sovereign powers, the -power to achieve and the power to serve. If youth initiates, middle age -most achieves and best serves,—most achieves because it is a time of -fullness of intellectual strength and firmness of moral will; best -serves because the stains of self have been or ought to have been burnt -out and there is left the capacity of selfless enlistment under banners -unrelated to personal gain or private advantage. The middle age that men -find bare and unsatisfying is in truth that to them who have not -mastered the two arts of life, achieving and serving. - -Certain mistakes are not uncommon in respect of the interpretation of -middle age, for example, that it is not the period of high initiative. -Because things are not initiated with dash and flare, it is assumed that -middle age undertakes nothing. On the contrary, it is then and perhaps -only then that things are begun and achieved for their own sake, that -things are really undertaken in the consciousness of strength and with a -capacity for achievement. Moreover, while little can be carried into and -beyond middle age that is not initiated in youth, the soul of man has -not in the middle period forfeited or abandoned the power of -self-correction and self-redemption. It may not be easy, neither is it -impossible. - -Perhaps the supreme rule for middle age may be phrased in the fewest of -words,—_don’t stop growing_! Physical and intellectual maturity are not -interchangeable terms. The truth is that men almost consciously cease to -grow, and even will not to grow at thirty-five and forty and forty-five -and then proceed to wonder why life is so unsatisfying. Let men but -remember that there is no such thing as maturity in life,—if maturity -mean the cessation of growth,—for maturity were followed by -post-maturity, which is over-ripeness. - -Men need never cease to grow and mature. Men will either grow up or go -down. The great and satisfying lives are those of men and women who grow -on and go on until they are cut down. When Freeman died, he asked that -on his gravestone be carved the words, “He died learning.” He who grows -and learns dies not. Continue, as long as thou wouldst grow, to learn -and reason and purpose, nor yet imagine that life is done when youth is -ended. Nor let the middle-aged forget that going on is not the only -possibility. Even in middle age a man may reserve for himself freedom, -freedom of choice, freedom to revise life’s foundations, freedom to -begin anew if so be error have been made. - -Above all, middle age must not lose its admirations, its reverences, its -enthusiasms. The edge of enthusiasm may be dulled with the passing of -the years,—but the body and substance of one’s admirations need not be -diminished, and by our admirations we live. Anatole France, speaking of -the old campaigners of the Reserve, uses this finely stimulating word -with regard to them,—“they unite the elasticity of youth with the -staunchness of maturity.” There is another and an older way of -describing the characteristic quality of middle age, which must combine -“the wisdom of age and the heart of youth.” - - - - - III - - AGE: HOW NOT TO GROW OLD - - - “But why, you ask me, should this tale be told - To men grown old, or who are growing old? - It is too late! Ah, nothing is too late - Till the tired heart shall cease to palpitate. - - * * * * * - - What, then? Shall we sit idly down and say - The night hath come; it is no longer day? - The night hath not yet come; we are not quite - Cut off from labor by the failing light; - Something remains for us to do or dare; - Even the oldest tree some fruit may bear. - - * * * * * - - For age is opportunity no less - Than youth itself, though in another dress, - And as the evening twilight fades away - The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.” - - —LONGFELLOW: _Morituri Salutamus_. - - -Old age depends largely upon the attitude of men toward the whole of -life. Old age is not a joke nor a bore nor a trial nor a calamity, -though it may be any one of these as all of life may be. But what needs -to be stressed is that old age has no content in itself apart from the -whole of life. Old age may be as nothing else a foretaste of the kingdom -of heaven where faith and hope may meet and love crown all. But little -can come to old age that was not in and throughout life. Alas for the -old age of the self-centered and self-serving! If life have built walls -that shut out, these cannot be razed by age, which will forever have -made itself captive. - -The crown of old age is a term that trips lightly from our tongues. Are -we not in danger of forgetting that there must be something to crown? -For in old age inheres no magic to redeem and transfigures all that has -gone before. Old age purges the precious metal of life’s substance of -its debasing dross, but the precious substance must be there to be -purged. Age, like happiness, is neither to be sought nor evaded. It is a -by-product of life rather than life’s end. Not the aim nor goal of life, -but the way of life must it be. - -In the matter of reverencing old age, we rest historically upon the -firmest Jewish foundation. For the Jew as no other man before or after -him taught the world how to magnify childhood and to glorify old age,—to -rise up before the hoary head and honor the face of the old man. And -this revering solicitude for the aged is still one of the marks of -Jewish life. Jewish teaching has urged and Jewish practice has confirmed -the truth that blessing rests upon that home in which the aged have -found shelter. - -Indeed, one is almost disposed to hold that there is a possibility of -overdoing reverence for old age as old age, of becoming indiscriminating -in the honor which one metes out to the hoary head. If the people of -Israel have erred in any part with respect to old age, they have revered -the aged head too much irrespective of the head and the man. I would not -if I could break with that fine tradition, but, sometimes, it were well -to ask whether old age is to be respected as a virtue in itself, whether -length of days should be regarded as a merit apart from what has gone -before. Old age is judged compassionately on the principle that nothing -but the good should be spoken touching the dead or the nearly dead. - -One is sometimes moved to believe that if the aged are unhappy it is -because age brings with it not only opportunity for quiet meditation and -serene retrospect, but the necessity of thinking about the great issues -of life. And many of us have never learned how to think. We have put off -the evil day of taking thought upon life so that, when it at last comes, -its imminence appalls. Men and women put off their questions and their -problems to the end of life and when the end is nearly come, they lack -the strength and will to think them through. The need of solutions is -then cruelly pressed upon unpracticed and undisciplined minds. - -Though I ask the question, how to grow old and how not to grow old, are -we not, if we will be frank, more interested in the question how not to -grow old than how to grow old? In the question, pressing a little -farther, how to seem not to grow old rather than how not grow old? -Seeming not to grow old may be attained by artificial means. Not to grow -old may be achieved by inward grace alone. Need it be said that no one -is ever deceived by external methods of averting age, nor is any one -profited or helped save perhaps the chemist and the dye-maker, save the -babblers and praters of new substitutes for old faiths? Whosoever thinks -of old age aright, whosoever has fitted himself for the dignity of the -burden of many days will resort neither to renewing cosmetics nor novel -cults as a refuge from old age. - -Men speak of the penalties of old age and penalties there are, but what -of its rewards, rich and abundant and wondrous, richer indeed in most -cases than its desert? The old, because they are old, are treated for -the most part as if they were travelers returning richly laden with -stores of varied treasures from a voyage over remotest seas to some -strange and wondrous spot. Old age in itself is no more a reward than a -penalty. And yet what rewards, paraphrasing Shakespeare, accompany old -age, and how fitting that these rewards, friendship-bearing, -honor-bringing, should wait upon what might elsewise be life’s -melancholy end! - -The truth is that old age is not a period of rewards nor penalties in -themselves. It is a time of duties, as every period offers life’s cup -with duties brimming o’er. Duties there are,—but there are privileges -beyond estimate. And the privilege of privileges is to offer an example -to others in all ways and most of all in the way of facing life with -serenity. Finer far for old age to claim its duties than to enjoy its -privileges for the old ought to shun being pitied as weak and seek -rather to be admired as strong and honored as serene. - -When old age has the grace of exalting duty and subordinating privilege, -it ceases to be the period of mute resignation. From one point of view, -it is the age of resignation, for one wittingly resigns in part what -death is wholly to take away, but, be it made clear, resignation is not -inaction, renunciation is not willlessly surrendering torpor. These -things imply will, action, choice, not merely an awaiting of the end -without murmur or complaint. For old age waits not but wills; old age -surrenders not but whilst life is renders return for life. - -While different types of laws seem to obtain for youth, maturity and old -age, these yet are one and one spirit seems to pervade and dominate all. -Let youth hold high its aim and pursue high aims through holy means. Let -maturity serve and achieve and above all achieve only that it may serve -with unimpaired admiration and undimmed ideals. And let old age be nobly -wise and unafraid and unselfish to the end! - -Much, if not everything, of the content of old age depends on the things -for which one cares. If one care for the things that cannot survive -youth or middle age, whose value is inevitably lessened with the flight -of years, then old age must become barren and empty. Whether your old -age is to be void and meaningless depends almost wholly not upon what -you have and care for at seventy or eighty, but what it was you sought -to have at twenty, what you cared for at thirty, what you cherished at -forty. Certain things may be harmless, even admirable in themselves, and -yet are destined to be woefully disappointing if they are suffered to -become the pursuits of a lifetime and men give themselves to things for -which they cannot care when the years have multiplied. - -Myopia may interfere with one’s zest for looking upon motion pictures, -limbs may become too rheumatic for dancing, tragic though this may -sound, the hazard of games of chance may lose its fascination, even -money-making, the accumulation of things, may pall or become impossible. -But certain things there are that can never grow stale nor wearying nor -seem unprofitable. Upon these let men fix their vision and their aim, -the pleasures of the mind, the tasks of the spirit, the possibilities of -serving. It is almost life’s greatest danger that life will be lived -with care for things interest in which cannot survive youth and middle -age. What if a man were so to train himself physically that he could run -and do nothing else, so that after the period of running had passed, he -could not walk! Would not such modus vivendi seem unwise and sadly -blundering? - -Would you avoid growing old? Do you will even to seem not to grow old? -Then have a vision of life and amid a multiplicity of things have and -hold, cherish and pursue an ideal. To the man of ideals, to the man who -in other words lives, age comes not. Age cannot touch nor wither nor -blast the life pervaded and smitten through by ideals. Would you grow -old, or rather would you not grow old, then live, and live by the stars. -Such are the lives of the unaging. In order not to grow old, I say -again, grow on in faith and hopefulness, in vision and serviceableness. -Being without these things, some men cannot grow old, they are old. -Unhappily for them, they were born old, as other men, whatever be the -number of their years, die young. Having these things, age cannot ravage -the spirit. - -Such men and women are age-proof, their heads may be silver white, their -frames bowed, their limbs palsied, but age they know not,—the men I have -in mind, such men as that great physician who, after sixty years and -more of unwearied and unrivaled service, is still an impassioned pleader -for the right of the child, of the merest, puniest babe. Who will dare -say that he is aged, who at fourscore and more spends himself utterly in -the service of the least of these? I am thinking of yet another friend -of fourscore and more, whose life is nobly dedicated to the furtherance -of amity between faith and faith, who serves all men as brothers, who -proves that he is a Christian by the love he bears the Jew. And I am -thinking of yet another man who likewise has lived for fourscore years, -perhaps the foremost educator of our generation, a publicist of -matchless felicity in utterance and conduct alike, a man who at eighty -and more steps into the arena with all the power and eagerness of youth -in order to take up arms on behalf of another great though much wronged -servant of the nation. - -It was once said of Theodore Parker that he gave himself unreservedly -and with abandon to whatever truth, duty, love, the three sublime voices -of God,—the real trinity in our souls,—commanded. Truth, duty, love! -Have you tried these things? Have you dared to live by them and for -them, by and for any one of them? Does not this word bear out what was -recently said by a great American physician about a noble social -worker,—that individual, who has no object in life, who simply works day -by day, with the idea that he is making a dollar and is going to use the -dollar for his own comfort, cannot have a very peaceful mind. But if one -has an object in life, to attain certain things which will be helpful to -others, and whose day is filled with that sort of work, that individual -deserves,—and other things being equal,—will have an old age. - -Truth, duty, love,—obey their command and when you do you shall find age -a fiction and life alone a reality. What if old age be without teeth and -eyes if it be not without hope and faith and fadeless memories! - - “To suffer and endure, - To keep the spirit pure— - The fortress and abode of holy Truth— - To serve eternal things - Whate’er the issue brings - This is not broken Age, but ageless Youth.” - -If then life be centered on self, old age may rest in the certitude of -disappointment and disillusion. But if self be centered on life, then -may come what Morley described, touching Edmund Burke, as “an -unrebellious temper and hopes undimmed for mankind.” - -Twofold must be the hope of man,—for a future for self and for the -future for all. And when the soul is so freighted with hopes, then shall -it be said of a man as it was said of the great poet: “He was one of -those on the lookout for every new idea and for every old idea with a -new application, which may tend to meet the growing requirements of -society; one of those who are like men standing on a watch-tower to whom -others apply and say, not ‘What of the night?’ but ‘What of the morning -and of the coming day?’” - -My one word of counsel is,—let life not be centered on self, for to live -for self is to invite cruel disaster in old age. The saddest, in truth -the most tragic, lives I know are those of old men and women who have -nothing to live for because they have lived for self and self alone,—and -self is nothing. Their lives are piteously empty. For the restlessness -and excitement of youth may hide this truth, but age, like death, is a -revealer. And there are many types of selfishness. I speak of two which -must suffice. There are those who live for self,—for selfissimus, giving -not the utmost for the highest but all for the nighest,—self, self, -self, self’s pleasure and profit and power and vantage and fame. These -are the most crude and obvious types of the selfful, who shall pay the -penalty of their folly and their moral disease. - -But, though it be said to your dismay, there are other types of -selfishness, though less obvious,—the selfishness of those who project -self into and magnify self in family relationship. For there are those -who simply extend the horizon of self enough to include other forms of -self, one’s own, one’s nearest, one’s flesh and blood. And here, too, -disillusion is bound to come and ought to come, for one’s own cannot and -ought not to fill one’s life forever. One might well excuse our mothers -and fathers for giving their thought and attention to their own, for -these were many and life was hard and life’s struggle ofttimes bitter. -But for the fewest is such excuse valid now,—if ever it was -valid—especially seeing that we concentrate upon the giving to others of -things rather than upon helping others to their highest and best. In -truth, people concentrate upon self, upon their own interests and -wishes, and these things pass and little or nothing is left in life save -self. Live for yourself, and you live two years in one; live in the life -of others, and you divide your years with another. - -Is not all this a paraphrase of what Emerson has said better than any -other? He who loves is in no condition old. Not lives and lives for -self, not loves self and self alone, but he who loves! Emerson, building -better perhaps than he knew, has voiced the deepest truth of the soul. -Love cannot die and love will not let die nor yet grow old. And yet as a -final word, and more needed than all else, I would say that there is -only one way to grow old, and that too is the only way not to grow old. -That way is to know, to love, to serve. - - “Grow old along with me! - The Best is yet to be, - The last of life for which the first was made; - Our times are in His hand - Who saith, ‘A whole I planned,’ - Youth shows but half: Trust God: see all nor be afraid.” - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of How to Face Life, by Stephen Samuel Wise - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOW TO FACE LIFE *** - -***** This file should be named 60826-0.txt or 60826-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/8/2/60826/ - -Produced by Turgut Dincer, Nigel Blower and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no - restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it - under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this - eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you - are located before using this ebook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - |