The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1876-02-04
Humble Means" the Best Condition of
Success.

~ ~
Prof. David Swing, of Chicago:
Theyoung man tells me that his idea of
life is high, but he hasn't the means of
reaching it. Well, wealth is not often
the means. The highest ideals are best
reached from the humble home. AL
most the whole column of great names
stands upon the bedrock of humble
property. Our statesmen, our thinkers,
our writer's, our judges on the bench,
our orators have all been born poor. In
all the history of man the pursuit of
gold has warred against the develop
ment Of self. The rock of poverty
seems hard and cold, but within il is
jasper. The pursuit and the possession
of money clip the wings of the soul.
All through literature, all through art,
the plain cottage, the unpretending
home stands for the triumph of earth.
The poets, the painters, the orators,
all these sensitive souls know where
human happiness has been found in all
the long experience of man. They read
the book of fate for us and tell us its
true meaning. And yet these inspired
brains, when they have wished to show
us the beauty of life, have never lead
us up to the door of Il palace, but al
ways to some place where the rose
blooms 10y u quiet spot, and where the
song of the birds and the light of the
sun meet in the same nterlacing leaves,
the waves OF light and the waves of
sound flowing together toward the
heart.
The magnificent kings have wished
often for the peace OF humble life. The
court of Charles ", sickcned my splen-
dor, repaired to the country and dressed
rs shepherds and toilcd for Il time that
they might touch life not IN its cares
but in its sweetness. In the novel Of
.Aucrbach it vas not Trina in the palace
that was so blessed, but lrna in her
mountain home that gave the writer
such Il picture of spiritual and physical
beauty. The care OF a large property
Injuries the soul by swerving it away
along which grow the sweetest and
most imperishable flowers. This is no
new view. 1t is not the telling of II Sc
cret. The world knows that Tie high
est happiness is found in the constant
pursuit of IN ideal and that the chase
for riches is only IN intoxication like
the fascination of the goblet of wine or
the cup of ilattery. We all drink these
cups not because they are valuable, but
because we are weak.
What is called "moderate property"
or even "humble means'' is the best
condition of success. An educated
book-keeper has within his reach q tri-
umph which the owner of the "bank"
or the business may never reach.
Emerson says, "Give me health and Il
June day and | will make the pomp of
kings ridiculous" 1t is necessary only
to throw down the god Money from his
pedestal, to trample that senscless idol
under foot and to set up all the higher
ideals-a neat home, vines of ones own
planting, a few books full of the ~inspira-
ton of genius, Il few friends worthy of
being loved and able to love in return,
Il hundred pleasures that bring no peni-
tence, n devotion to the right that will
never swerve, n simple religion empty
of all bigotry, full of faith and love
and to such a philosophy earth will give
up what JOY it knows. With these
sublime images around one, the heart
will rest in the center like the sun in the
midst of his attendants, with all the
bright planets around, radiant in light
and sweet in harmony.
This, my young friends, is not my
philosophy; it is Il theory Of life drawn
from all the worlds experience. Not a
generation has lived upon earth which
has not, after having tried all the paths
of action, bowed at last to the philoso-
ply that it is the steady light of noble
ideas that makes life pass in blessed
ness and in peace. Home, industry,
education, friends, honor, and religion
are the ministering angels that alone
are worthy to wait upon the human
soul. In their arms they shall bearyou
up.
To the young this philosophy comes
with peculiar power. There are many
persons in this house to whom all this
glowing theory of life is in vain. They
are far along in years. Its too late for
them to think of placing before their
eyes Il star that shall guide them and
never grow dim. They must compose
their hands for death, crossing them