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Show T5y J. SCOFIELD ROWE. PlffiSIDSNT; ' 'I J 27w Metropolitan CcisuciJty Insurance Company ofN.y. ... NOTHIXG TOO Mi:cil Lt'-nd R;iys Mi it nbovo tho entrance to the cave of the Delphic ornele, to which all uncii'iit (Irerco uppejjed t'or counsel, were graven the words, "Nothing too mueli " TTio ornclo ims been slk-nt these twenty centuries but llii.5, the keystone of Ilelk'iile philosojihy, lins not lieen bettered since, mid fortunate r-re th(si) wlio liave learned iU lesson. Nothing so dipiilles a man as moderation, for though we nil make mistnkes of cxer.ss at times, lasieally we know that to be "captain of our souls" reijuircs tcrnperateness in all things. Under eivlllzntlon rnan'fl naturtd appetites liave been moderated by knowledge knowl-edge and se! I'-eontrol, laeking wliieh the intemperate learn too late that exceso has destroyed the good that moderation would have preserved Olid killed the very craving that It fed. Tho truLh Is always the strongest argument," wrote Sophocles, but exaggeration exag-geration is one failing of which as a nation we might stand accused the h:tliit of immoderate statement. We have forgotten the. comparative compara-tive and find ourselves reduced to using the same superlative expressions expres-sions to describe the stars of Heaven or the lights of Coney Island! To eat ls a pleasant necessity but a hungry world has magnified the pleasures pleas-ures of the palate Into u fetish. The advice of a modern sage to get up from tho table hungry ls a counsel of moderation the practice of which would go far toward promoting that health and longevity which most men desirei To drink, socially and moderately, lias since history began been one of man's cheerful diversions, a symbol of hospitality and good-fellowship, but tho excesses of somu w lio failed to appreciate moderation have been exaggerated into a universal vice with the result that this ancient social custom is now by law forbidden alike to the temperate and to tho intemperate. Even the best things work, play, eTcerxHse, study, hobbies which in moderation moder-ation tend to perfect man's development, can be done to excess to the detriment of health, balance and the shortening of life Itself. To keep the golden mean between too little and too much, to be neither a halting coward nor a rash fool In short, to be moderate is the basis oi that happiness, well being and prosperity which form the chief desire and goid of mankind. (Copyright M.C.I.C.) |