Page images
PDF
EPUB

and emptiness to be without resolute purpose and lacking in energy. Such people are Nobodies, and have nothing to hope for.

:0:

CONSISTENCY.

THERE are few qualities more generally appreciated or less commonly understood than what we call consistency. It is one of the highest compliments which can be paid to a statesman to say that he is consistent and in every walk of life the virtue is admired, and credit for consistency prized and coveted. Mistaking its real nature, men and women go about to imitate it. They create the semblance of certain effects which consistency is seen to produce on the general character and conduct, forgetting that, unless the fruit we covet is borne by a genuine and healthy tree it must be corrupt and unreal, however pleasant to the eye or seemingly good for food. There is something wondrously impressive in a reputation for consistency. It seems to supply the one quality needed to give the hall-marking of sterling gold to character. It imparts the stability of age to youth, and gives credit to opinions formed by a mind as

yet immature. If it can be said of a man that he is consistent, that at once marks him as a person to be treated with respect even when those around him fail to understand his conduct or policy.

Consistency implies a certain continuity of action which is supposed to be impossible without principle and strength of judgment and character. A consistent person is therefore felt to be one to lean upon and look up to. The less self-reliant love to follow a leader whose policy is distinguished by this trait. The weak and wavering seek shelter under the wing of such a friend and counsellor. It seems as though, while they, poor erring mortals, are blundering and straying, the possessor of this high quality of consistency must be looking steadily far ahead, and pressing onward to the goal with undimmed vision and unhesitating step, because he walks straight before him like one who knows the way and has anticipated all its vicissitudes and difficulties. There is some truth and not a little error in this presumption.

It is possible for a clever man to earn repute for consistency without possessing the least real claim to credit for the deeper virtues of instinct and principle which the characteristic is supposed to indicate. I have no wish to depreciate the value of consistency. It is an eminently useful and,

when it springs from genuine sources, a priceless quality; but, like every other good thing, it may be counterfeited, and, seeing how this particular characteristic passes current in society and among all sorts and conditions of men, it would be strange if there were not much spurious metal in the market, and seemingly excellent persons, enjoying the highest character for consistency, were not occasionally found to be tricked out in meretricious ornaments, while lacking the stability and principle that make human nature trustworthy and entitle it to confidence and respect.

Consistency of conduct is one thing, consistency of principle another. The former is only valuable as it springs from and betokens the latter. The wise will esteem the sign only so far as it indicates the thing signified. To be worth the name, consistency must be deeper than the surface. Credit is not unfrequently gained for stability of purpose by dull stupidity—a low level of intelligence that does not rise to the dignity of being moved by passing events and circumstances. Another variety of the spurious quality is that which consists simply of plasticity combined with inertia. The surrounding conditions being the same, the "creature of circumstances "is the same, and therefore seems to be consistent.

Looked at from a common-sense point of view, and with an intelligent knowledge of human nature in its manifold phases, the sameness which is often mistaken for consistency ought at once to be recognised as incompatible with that quality. A dull lifeless uniformity of opinion or conduct indicates nothing so much as insensibility; and a lack of quickness in perceiving the force of circumstances can scarcely co-exist with that high principle which is the essence and source of genuine consistency. The man who claims to be considered consistent because he thought, said, or did precisely the same thing years ago which he is thinking, saying, or doing now is asking to be credited with intense stolidity. As time rolls on, it is hardly possible that what was consistent with his age and the surrounding circumstances so long before can be consistent still.

The consistency that commands respect and inspires confidence is more than the fact-we might almost say the accident-of saying and doing the same thing again even under similar circumstances. A lump of clay and a piece of wax will assume like shapes on being thrust successively into the same mould; but the two materials have little in common beyond their plasticity. No inherent formative principle determines their configuration. Everything

F

depends on the force acting upon them from without. They are quite as likely to take one impression as another. The form assumed by a living organism, whether a growing plant or animal, is governed by a principle incorporate in the seed and developed in the structure as it rises to maturity; external conditions may modify its details, but they can never change its nature. It is just so with the human character-the quality of consistency, which we all admire and revere, is genuine only when it springs from indwelling principle, a governing force independent of and often triumphing over the aggressive force of circumstances.

It is of the highest moment to discriminate between these widely and essentially different causes, which not uncommonly appear to produce identical results. Weak or simply pliable minds, with no mortal stamina, may, under propitious influences, long preserve an appearance of excellence and seeming strength of character because they chance to remain under the same or similar influences, but, when the outward support is removed, they yield to pressure, and display other qualities possibly antagonistic. The collapse that occurs is the simple consequence of that utter lack of real consistency too frequently illustrated in experience.

The only true consistency is that which is found

« EelmineJätka »