The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1865-01-03
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.
The object Of the people. that which chiefly
puppies their minds, is to SO arrange their
airs and perform their duties, 80 as to estab-
b happiness for themselves. Every one
s. peculiar notions upon this subject, and
b every one who is engaged in the pursuit
happiness complains that the object por-
ed eludes his grasp. and consequently dis
ection and srumbling characterize the
nefican people. There is no com,nunity
earth more sensitive to its right, than our
yn; among our people rights are tho SUBJ
VI ct of universal declamatic.n. The rights of
Q working man, the lights of woman. the
ghts Of the peOI ,le are argued on every
Fad, and 80 jealous are the multitude of
*iese righrrs that almost all of them forget
at every right which may DO claimed pre-
opposes the discharge of duty, upon which
nat especial right is founded. Man was
certainly made to enjoy rights, but the Crea
or never intended that these rights should
N e enjoyed unless certain prerequisites had
cen complied with. Man was especially
reated for the performance of duties, and to
he extent that he neglects to become useful
his fellows, he disturbs the harmony and
,fectiveness of his nature, and in that very
proportion he excludes from himself the hap
oiness which might have been his portion on
,arth. There is no more pitiable spectacle
:han the mere pleasure seeker. His imagin-
alton is always on the stretch for some new
mode of enjoyment, and he concerns himself
,oot with the wants of bis fellow beings. He
neither sympathizes with their necessities.
nor lends hand to relieve them. Work is
beneath his consideration, and from day to
day he drsgs along useless existence. and
curses fate because he can get no enjoyment
from the pastimes to which he turns. He
has right to happiness. but neglects fool
ishly the very essentials upon which happi,
ness depends. This idleness in one class
leads to over exertion in another. The poor
man, encumbered with family, has to work
early and late to provide for the maintenance
of his offsprin If he has leisure day. the
prostration of his powers entirely incapaci-
tates him for enjoyme and he has no money
TO procure the means of recreation. His du-
ties are performed. but performed under a
forego pleasure on earth and defer his rights
until he arrives st a more propitious here
after. The loudest declaimers in favor of
human rights are those who spend their time
almost entirely in defamation. If such
would only 60 to work, they would find that
col h. &C
duty, But they will not work, and there-
fore we hear rawlings about the condition of
the working man, which only impede the
progress of the true worker and sdd u MS 10
bors the support of the drones who make
such everlasting clamor about human ights.
If our faculties are not employed about some
thing useful to our race, they produce mise
nv, and this fact sufficiently indicates the line
of duty to all. No one lives who has not
some peculiar aptitude, and there is some
thing useful which each of us can do better
than any other. live neglect this indica-
ton. we do so in defiance of our own inter-
ests, and every effort which our mind may
make to avert the misery which that neglect
produces, only ends Intellectually. We are
so constituted that il we follow the unsslfsh
promptings of our understandings we cannot
be miserable, and if by any chance we are
SO, we must trace the cause to faults com.
mitted, opportunities neglected, or mistakes
which we have previously made. Il along
the road side of life there are wrecked char
acters and fortunes. Here and there an in.
drvidual leaves his path, and by the steady
and heartfelt performance OF duty, finds hap
piness, unsolicited, attend him in his career
but the multitude does not perceive this. II
has never had the resolution to encounter the
difficulties which the abandonment of selfish
ness primarily imposes, and consequently
that state is never reached where rights ar,
fully guaranteed to the proper Performance,
of duty.