Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1878-12-27
Uissatisfacti

II we were asked TO define the characteristic
feature OF our day we should unbesitatipgly
reply DISQUALIFICATION. There ia no. ma
ton peaceably content, profession comforta-
bly, satisfied. class without its grudges, nor
sect at perfect rest within itself, ia any quar-
ter of the globe. The Japanese seemed COM
fortably content till civilization broke in upon
them. The elderly old pashes of quarter of
a century ago used 10 demonstrate with pass
ing travellers upon the haste and turmoil OF our
revolutionary western world. Bnt these are
now things of the past. We have innocu-
lated with our own unrest every quarter OF
the civilized world. Even the barbarin is
taught as his first lesson from an age OF pro-
gress 70 be dissatisfied with what he has, and
to yearn after what he has not. Wives used
to be coniented, as general rule, with their
condition. Husbands were tolerably satisfied
with their wives. Now, if either party comes
TO the conclusion that he or she has married.
not for better but for worse, instead OF bam-
ing their i'll luck, or their own rashness, or
their own mismanagemeut they geOeralize at
once, cast their experience into the common
stock of matrimonial grievances, and lind
fault with the institution OF marriage. In
the same way II we suffer from the pressure
of poverty, we do not think Of blaming our
own want of faithfulness and integrity in the
days when we did not do dollars worth OF
work under two dollars. II does not occur
to us that we might have made our services so
valuable that an employer would now make
sacrifices rather than part with us. We do
not repent of our inprudences and our inn
providences our thriftles housekeeping; or
our bad habits, on which we have wasted
money we might more profitable have thrown
away, but we lay everything we suffer to the
unsatisfactory relations between capital and
II IL H. .,1n. Cd and
that humor there are some who lend willing
ear to the cry of the inernationals, which
proclaims the beggar's doctrine that society
owes every man a comfortable living.
The truth is that we have for years past been
endeavoring to secure the maximum of remu-
ueratiou for the minimum of labor. The
hired girl who does not SEE why she should
not get as good wages as anyboby-,hougE
she knows little of her work and intends to
give as little labor as possible for her money
finds her counterpart in the merchant, the
writer, or the man in profession. For good
many years past business men have been rest
lessly "hastenng to be rich" not by honest
labor but by speculation. Literary men and
artists have been looking TO success, not from
hare work and close study, but from a stroke
of good fortune. We have all got to come
back to honest painstaking, and to give bard
work for our wages. The world has not yet
got rid of the curse which onnects the bread
we eat with thesweat Of our brows. We may
as well give up Micaw berism, begin 10 earn
our dollar honestly and spend it wisely, look
ing to a return of real substantial good when
we part with t-not show and harm and vain
glory. No money has been ill-spent which
has brought US wholesome happiness, which
has tended to make-life more cultivated or
more genial, which has made ourselves OF
others wiser, brighter, better than before
Money spent on genial recreation is never lost.
1t brings US return Of present mirih, it is an
investment in pleasant memories which will
last into the future. All money that has
bought us pride, vulgarity and rivalry is worse
than lost TO us. In one sense discomfort is &
stimulous TO improvement, but only when it
is an incentive TO industry. Vague dssalis-
faction is al improbable state Of mind, while
a sense of want, which stimulates US TO exer-
ton, is a moral tonic. When we all get 10
believe that no money brings US blessings un-
less it has been fairly worked for, we shall
cease to feel grudgngs against the very small
minority in this nation Of toilers who may ex-
pect to earn their bread without having to labor
for 1t. Into that minority come few mothers
of families For women, while following their
natural profession as wives and mothers, are
among the most assiduous workers, and do
not spare themselves any in the performance
of their dntiae - RnJI;ynore american