The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1874-07-24
Travellers Guide.
pKPAnTuRn or TnAInn.
Gtteqntelliqearer



No one can settle down In q European
city or village Tor month, and observe
the lShoring classes, without noticing
great difference between their aspirations
ambitions, and habits, and those Of cor:
responding classes in this country, he
may see great poverty In a continental
town, and men and women laboring Sc
verely and iaring meanly, and a hopeless
gap existing between classes; he may see
the poor virtually the slavesoi the rich I;
but he will witness a measure Of content
ment and q daily participation in humble
pleasure to which his eyes have been
strangers OF home. There Is q sad side to
this pleasant picture. Much Of this ap.
parent contentment and enjoyment I'M
doubleday comes from the hopelessness OF
the struggle for anything better. An i'm.
passable gulf exists between them and
the educated and aristocratic classes-a
gull which they have recognized from
their birth; and, having recognized this,
they have recognized their own limita-
tlons, and adapted themselves to them.
Seeing just what they can do and cannot
do, they very nationally undertake to get
out Of life Just what their condition rem
ders attainable. There Is no iar.off,
browning good for them to aim at, 30
they try TO get what they can on the way.
They make much OF Jete days, and social
gatherings, and music, and do what they
can 10 sweeten their daily toll, which they
know must be continued while the power
to labor. lasts. AZ
In America 1t is quite different. A
humble back. woodsman sits In the Presi-
DENTAL chair, or did cit there but recently;
a tailor takes tho highest honors Of the
nation; q canal.drlver becomes 8 powerful
millionaire; an humble clerk grows into
merchant prince, absorbing the labor and
supplying the wants Of tens OF thousands.
In city, State, and national politics, humid.
reds and thousands may be counted Of
those who, by enterprise and self culture,
and sell assertion, have raised themselves
from the humblest positions to influence
and place There Is no impossible gulf
between the low and the high. Every
man holds the ballot, and, therefore, every
man is a person Of political power and i'm
portance. The ways Of business enter
prise are many, and the rewards of sue
cess are munifcent. Not year, nor, In.
deed q month, passes by, that does not H.
lustrate the comparative ease with which
poor men win wealth and acquire power.
The consequence is that all but the
wholly brutal are after some great good
that lies beyond their years Of toll. The
European expects always 10 be a tenant;
the American intends before he dies to
own the house he lives in. II city prices
forbid this he goes to the suburbs for his
home. The European knows that lie and
labor are cheap, and that he cannot hope
to win by them the wealth which will
realize Tor him the dream Of future ease;
the American finds his labor dear, and itB
rewards comparatively boundful, so that
his dream Of wealth Ia q rational one.
he, therefore, denies himself, works carly
and late, and bends his energies, and d.
reefs those Of his family into profitable
channels, all for the great good that beck.
ons him on from the Tar of, golden future.
The typical American never lives In
the present. II he INDUCES in recreation
Itispurely for health's sake and at long
intervals, or In great emergencies, he
does not waste money on pleasure, and
does not approve OF those who do 80. He
lives in constant fever Of hope and ex-
pectRtion, or grows sour with hope deler-
red or blank disappointment. Out Of 1t
ell grows the worship Of wealth and that
Generalization which results In unscrupu.
louSness concerning the methods Of its &C.
quirement. 30 America presents the
anomaly Of o laboring class with unprece.
dented prosperity and privileges, and IN.
exampled discomfort and discomfort.
There Is surely something better than
this. There Is something better than Q
lifelong sacrifice Of content and enjoy.
ment fol. o possible wealth, which, how
ever, may never be acquired, and which
has not the power, when won, TO yield itE
holder the boon which he expects 1t Il
purchase. To withhold from the frugal
wife the gown she desires, to deny her The
Journey which would do 90 much To break
up the monotony Of her home life, to real
children in mean ways, 10 Shut away from
the family life athousand social pleasures
10 relinquish all amusements that have q
cost attached to them, Tor wealth which
may or may not come when the family
life Is broken up foreVer-surely this II
neither sound enterprise nor wise econo
my. We would not have the Ameri-
can laborer, farmer, and mechanic be.
come improYident, hut We woulF
very much like to gee them hap
pier than they are, by resort Z
the daily social egjoyments which
are always ready to their hand. Nature
10 strong in the young, and they will have
society and play Of some sort. II shoulC
remain strong in tho old, and does 70.
main strong In them, until tits expellet
by tho absorbing and subordinatlng pas
sion for gain. Something Of tho olt
World fondneSsfor play, and daily d
weekly indulgence in II, should become
habitnal among our workers, Toilwou
be BWeeter II there were reward al III
end Of III work would be gentle whel
used as q means Tor securing pleasur,
which stands closer than old age Of ease
character would be softer and richer AMI
more childlike, when acquired anon
genial, everyday delights. The ali
subordinAtipg slriie Tor wealth, carried o.
With fearful struggles and constant self
denials, makes Us petty, irritable an
hard. When the whole American PEG
pie have learned that dollars worth {
pure pleasure 10 worth more than dol
lars worth Of anything else under Oh
sun; that working is not living, but oll
the meAnR bV which We earn a livtno