7 1925
j 3
MAY 8
The Chemawa American
Printed at Chemawa,
Vol. XXVI
Oregon, and Devoted to the Interests of Indian Education
Wednesday, January 21, 1925
A MASTER LIFE
Abraham Lincoln said: “I am bound towin in
what I attempt, but I am bound to be a man. I am
bound to be true to the best I know. Any departure
from this is contemptible cowardice.”
Let us urge each one of our young readers to try
and realize the necessity of making life a masterpiece,
not so much on account of the results as on account of
the effect upon your daily life.
There is in the career of every human being a pos
sible magnificent masterpiece, or a wretched distorted
failure. Whichever it proves to be will be hung in
civilization’s gallery. It will be exhibited to the
world as the embodiment, the evidence, of that for
which each life has stood.
One’s career is not only an exhibit to the world, a
contribution to civilization, but it is also our exhibit
to our Maker, on account of that which wehave done
with our talent—how we have invested it and the
returns wehave gotten out of it. Young people, the
sort of a man, the sort of a woman, you will make of
youiselves, how you will be regarded by the world,
whether people will admire and respect or despise you,
whether you win the approval or condemnation of
yourself—all this is in your own hands. No matter
where your lot may be cast, no power on earth can
keep you from making a man, a woman, of yourselves,
superb characters—masterpieces.
The size of your bank roll, the size of your house,
the quality of your clothes, may be more or less an
accident, but the size of the man or woman you will
bring out of your career rests absolutely with you.
This will not have to run the gauntlet of fire, of flood,
of panic or disaster. It will not be subject to loss or
ruin by change of location.
There are people who seem to chink they are under
no obligation to make life as complete, as successful
as possible. But this is exactly, precisely, what we
are here for—to evolve the real man or woman. We
cannot be true to ourselves and shirk this obligation.
Each one of you was placed here with a divine mes
sage, to honor it royally, not to distort or mutilate it.
The message is the work of a lifetime, the evolution
of a superb manhood or womanhood, the grandest
achievement of which a human being is capable.
No. 14
You cannot make the most of yourselves until you
look upon life as a magnificent possibility, the material
for a great masterpiece, to mar or spoil which would
be a tragedy. Without such an ideal, without an
ambition to live the life triumphant, the life worth
while, that which will call out the largest, most com
plete, most superb man or woman one is capable of
being, there rs no possibility of true success.
The object of your vocation should not be merely
a living-getting. This is only an inferior motive
compared with the grander motive of making a life.
Self-expression, self-enlargement, self-growth, the
calling out of the man or the woman, the exercising
of all one’s mind and body and soul—this should be
the real meaning of an occupation
The opportunity
to be a man, a woman, the chance to unfold your
powers; this is what your work should mean to each
of you. The money you earn will afford you a very
petty and mean satisfaction compared with that yielded
by the opportunity of making such a superb character
as will raise one’s manhood or womanhood to its
highest possiblity.
Life is a great university for the unfolding of the
mind, for developing character. In choosing your life
work remember this, and choose that which will call
the biggest man or woman out of you, and not
that from which you can always coin the most dollars.
It does not matter so much how you earn your living,
provided you do it honestly. Self-training, self-disci
pline, self-improvement, the acquisition of personal
power, should be your real aim.
Making life a masterpiece does not necessarily mean
that one mnst engage in some high profession, some
great special work or learned calling. All honest labor
is dignified and ennobling. It may sometimes be
necessary to make a living on a lower level than that
of your highest ideal, but at the same time you can, if
you choose, also make a life. Whatever one’s voca
tion, one is always free to invest in that which will
make one a larger, broader, nobler being, that which
in the long run will be infinitely more valuable than
many investments in stocks and bonds.
No matter what your occupation, though it be wash-
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