Republican vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1857, 1849-12-03
rnE WORLD OWES ME- A LIVING
BY HORACE GREELEY.

|
'The world owes me a living; and III have it,
says some blackleg, as he finishes 4 luxurious
repas; here landlord, another bottle ofyour prime
Madeira ~ Halfa dozen empty headed fors,
who SIT gazing on him by stealth in silent adnli-
ration, hail the sentiment withrapturousapplaus
That's it That S it. That's it the world
owes us a good living, ard we will have it =
Landlord more wine here! we won't go home
till morning Let. S go it while we are yong.
Who cares for expenses y The consequence
OF this is, the pilfering eli money drawers, the
| lgnominious loss OF employment, genteel loater-
ism, Ne. &c, until one Of these entelprisag gen.
1 tlemen il eager pursuit Of COED living the
~Sefid owes hial, puts the wrong man lape 10
check, or i'll some kind of q way gets a ticket
for the marble palace at Sing Sing, where the
State provides living for those it considers de-
serving, but net such one as consists with their
own estimate OF their exalted merits
The great error in this case is III tie original
maxim Il is false and deteslahle. The world
owes you aliving? Have yen earned it BY good
seryictsz ii you have, whether on anvil or in
the pulpit, or as a teacher, yon have acquired d
Just right 10 livelihood. But if you have eaten
as much as you earned, CT verse still, done little
OF no good, the world owes you nothing. lou
may be worth milliol and able to enjoy every
imaginable luxury without care CT effort but il
YOU have done nothing to increase the sum Of
human comforts, instead OF the world owing you
ANYTHING. as fools have blabbed, you are II orally
bankrupt and beggar
Mankind is Just awakng to a consciousness
Of the duty resting on every man TO be active
and useful i'll his day ard in his sphere. III are
net called to die and hoe--or pow Or plane
but every man has sphere Of usefulness allotted
to him by Providence, and is uniaithful to his
high trust il he deserts it for idle pomp and
needless luxury. One man may be fitted by
nature and Inclination tor an artizan, another
for a sailor. and third for merchant but no
man was ever born fitted for an idler and q
dfoue. These who become such'are the victims
OIL perverse circumstances, and a ieplorable false
education
But has not a rich man right to enjoy his
wealth Most certainly. We would be the last TO
deprive him OF il. He has natural and legal right
to possess and enjoy it in any manaer not injel
rions to Others, but he has no moral right to be
useless because he has superior means OF being
useful Let him surround himself with all the
true comforts and true luXuries Of life; let the
master pieces OF art smile upon him i'll his gale
ries, and the mighty minds OF all ages speak to
him from his library. Let plenty deck his board,
and the faces OF those he loves gather loyously
around it. Let him possess III abundance the
means OF satisfying every pure and jnst desire
of his nature and becomes wiser, nobler, larger
in soul, than his less fortunate neighbor. But
lei him never forget. aud if he is psopesls train
ed, he never can, that it his solemn duty 10 be
useful TO his fel!oH crpatur"s, especially 10 the
d pressed AMI slltierih Go labor for their bene-
! fit, and suffer if need be for their elevation.
The serrile idolatry it'll which ignorance
and vuloafitv have looked up TO power and
weallh-ihe hoslnnahs which the trampled
! millions have surg before the cars of conquerols
and other scoulees of the eartll-are fading ard
fitting forever In the twilight which succeeds
his GROSS darkness there comes a season Of mo-
raj anarchy, when men, having lost faith in the
| uoolts hich once blinded and bound them,
resolve to believe nothing-to decry and pros
tlate all that rises above its lowest level Now,
The aborer with his sinew, returns hatred Tor
the contempt once cast upon him, and says
.:What good is there in anything but manual
labor away with all else ! those whose labor is
chiefly mental are deceivers and moths !" But
This is a transitory ebulIition. The world soon
learns TO respect It's benefactors in whatever
sphere, and to realize that he who truly and
honestly exprts himself in some department OF
useful effort, may justly claim a brotherhood
with all who toll, and make and earn. Let the
rich cense to look down on the poor--the mer-
chant on the porter; let each respect the dignity
fman, and whether in his own person OF that
of his less fortunate broiher--let hauohin( IS and
pride cease on one side, and envy, jealousy, and
haired, win their trains OF diretul consequences
will vanish from the other, s all be animated in
common concord to the attainment of the high
est good.