Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1869-03-26
Prosperity.

The conditions on which we may
hope to prosper in temporal affairs
are these-Temperance, Health, In
telligence, Integrity, Self-knowledge,
and Industry; without these there
can be no permanent prosperity. In
laying q foundation, therefore, Que
who seeks success and prosperity
must build upon these conditions.
Failing In any one, we come short of
our aims, and the fault Is more fre-
quently our own than most of us are
willing to confess or admit.
Why do we break down In health :?
IL 1t not, as rule, because Of i'm
proper or riotous living? Are we
sufficiently mindful of what We put
into our stomachs? Do we not stuff
that poor, dumb servant with great
quantities of the most indigestible
substances 2 Consider the hot and
cold slops; TIE greasy, salty, swine
fat; the poisonous pickles Of COM
merce; the adulterated CONNECTIONS
and condiments, not to mention the
vile fusil oils, ETC., contained i'm the
wines and liquors swallowed by the
masses Then think Of the quanti-
ties of opium. mercury, quinine, and
other medicines, sold by every drug
gist. Then add the immense stores
Of quack medicines, bitters, pills,
powders, and ether similar prepara-
tions with which thousands repale
themselves |! Is 1t any wonder shat
the best constitutions succunb and
fall victims to these destroyers of hu-
man health? BY these things our
appetites become perverted, our pas
sions unduly excited, and relief Is
sought in tobacco, or In other narcot-
les. Then come the late champagne
dinners, fashionable parties, severe
colds, sleepless nights, moro drugs,
slow fevers, consumption, and pre-
mature decay. How can one look
for prosperity when thus sapping the
very foundations on which all efforts,
nay, his very life, dependY
A fair degree of intelligence pre-
suppose the use, culture, and activity
Of ones faculties. II one be igno-
rant, he can not cope with another
who 10 moro Intelligent. "Knowl-
edge is power" only to him who has
1t. Intelligence invents labor-saving
machinery, and usos the elements of
light, heat, air, water, and electricity
to be his work or to forward his In
terests, the power Of which ignorance
knows nothing.
Integrity is one of the highest and
noblest attributes of human charac-
ter. To "do JUSTIFY Is command Of
God-"Whatsoever ye would that
man should do to you, do ye even so
to them." "Let us walk honestly"
Take away the faculty of conscien-
tlousness, aud mankind would be In
a sad predioament. Alas! there are
to-day far too many individuals I'm
this predicament: count the poor
creatures now languishlng within
prison walls, who, lacking integrity,
violate the civil law, and are thereby
lost to themselves and to society.
Such-and we may add many others
rs yet at large or out of prison-can
not be trusted, and OF course they do
not. can not prosper. To knQW man
to be dishonest, 10 10 shun him.
The first thing for q young man to
do who would succeed, is 10 establish
n character for unimpeachable integ-
rity. Honesty Ii far aboYe the best
policy. .
Temperance is, beyond all ques-
tion, as indispensable to prosperity
as intemperance is certain precursor
to misfortune, failure, and final ruin.
by temperance we mean exactly
what that word implies. One may
be rs intemperate In his eating as In
his drinking. A thoroughly tenn.
perate man eats and drinks to live.
He is master Of his appetite and pas
sions, and holds all his feelings sub
ject to his intellect. The whole ma
chinery OF his organization runs like
well-adjusted and properly fabricated
clock work, which, IL not neglected,
abused, or permitted to run down,
"keeps good time" on to a ripe old
age, fulfilling all the high functions
of Its office. There are vast num-
ber of very intemperate and imper-
feet human time-pieces In this world
on whom no dependence can be safe
ly placed. How can such as these
hope fer even the smile Of prosperi-
ity?
Self-knowledge. 30 important to
success, is not now so difficult to Oh
tain as IL once was. Science has
furnished key by which the casket
of knowledge may be unlocked, and
all who seek to know may look In
and examine the machinery through
which the human mind is mani
tested.
Bythis we become acquainted with
tho functions and uses Of each organ
and part, and thus learn what we can
do best; what to cultivate, and what
to restrain, In order to accomplish
nokI I.,r - ~.tl a..
knowledge Is within the reach of all.
This Is denied to mono, save those
who willfully and blindly refuse to
entertain 1t. Ignorance and preju-
dice are still to be met with, as In
the time of Christ and His A postles.
But, thanks be to God, the teachers
are no longer prosecuted or put to
death for proclaming the truth.