The Jeffersonian Democrat. [volume] (Chardon, Ohio) 1854-1865, 1859-10-14
6 The World Owes Nc Living. !"

"The World Owes Me Living"
No such thing, Mr. Fold.up.your. hands;
the world owes you not single cent
You have done nothing these twenty
wears but consume the products earned
by the sweat of other mems brows.
You have eat, aud drank, and slept;
what then
WHY, eat and drank, and slept again.
And this is the sum total of your lie.
And the world owes you living For
what ? how came it indebted to you TO
ihat trifling amount? What have you
done for it? What family in distress have
you berriended ? What products have
YOU created 4? What miseries have ! GU
alleviatcd What acts have you per-
formed ? The world owes you living,
idle man Never was there more alb
surd idea. You have been "A sponge--a
tax upor the world ever since you came
into it. 1t is your creditor to vast
amount. Your liabilities are immense,
your assests are nothing, and yet you say
the worlds owing you. The amount in
which YOU stand indebted to the world is
greater than you will ever have power 10
liqudate.
You owe the world the labor Of your
two strong arms, and all the skill in work
they might have gained you owe the
world the labor Of that brain of yours,
the sympalhics Of that heart, the ener-
gies OF your being you owe the world the
whole moral and Intellectual capabilities Of
a man. Awake, then, from that dream
ing, donolbiug s,othfulness in which you
live, and let us no longer hear that false
assertion that The world is owing you,
until you have done something .-Er-
chpnge Paper.
There is deal Of truth ard good sense
in the above. We once copied an article
containing the assertion that "the world
owes every man good living and a re-
spectacle position in society" The ar;i.
Gle, in the main was excellent one and 50
lhis idea escaped our notice but we take
this occasion to say, that we believe no
such thing. Such an idea is false and
pernici0us. The world owes no man fur
more than he contributes, by his labor
and influence, 10 the general welfare
There is class of vicious idlers in com
munity, WHO seem to think that the wor Il
owes them an everlasting deb! Of graft.
tude for having been horn into it. They
do nothing to earn even an honest living
yet claim all the privileges that bene
, factors Of the race are entitled to, because
t like other animals, they draw the vita
/, breath. For the countless blessings tha
: these thankless creatures enjoy, they ow
" a debt which they can never repay. Wo
. would belide the world, if it were mad
' up exclusively Of such ungratefu an
:. presumptuous drones Men are gener
l.. ally,-at least in this Countrywide ARCH
Il tects of their own fortunes +; and, it the
b. do nothing that is noble or praise worthy
st they will attain no useful or honorabi
?; position in society, though they may b
D. permitted to drag out miserable exis'
ence, in ignorance and sloth.
Comparatively few men have ever lived
to whom the world is indebted Th
o. great mass Of mankind enjoy many ben,
- " fits which are not fully appreciated, an
which, if they do not over.balancc, al
equal 10 all the benefits they confer upo
ic The world. Great and good men hav
x lived, to whom the world is indebted
= Such men are always laborious men-me
l. o! thought and action. Few Of US in
r, prove as we ought, the means Of doin
~ good !hat we possess. Then let I'll
Or drones tell us no more, that 4" the worl
IN owes them good living and a respectab
m 70 position in society :" for il is not so.