The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-10-29
NEITHER POVERTY NOR RIC-Es.
Some Very Practical Thoughts by Prof
David Swing in "Alliance.s

David Swing I'm Alliance
Give me neither poverty nor riches.-Prov. XXI: &
What is called "middle class" has long
existed in the world; has been so large in
numbers and so great in influence, and for
the most part so happy, that there must be
certain philosophy of that condition.
Such a constant and immense form of hu-
man life cannot be the result Of chance,
but must be rather part of the method
Of Him who placed man upon this planet
The prayer of Agur reveals the existence
Of second estate as far back as history
runs. The constant presence OF this class,
its quality in all times, and at last its i'm
mense numbers, make 1t worthy of our
study.
The moderate property man should be
the most fortunate, because all through
Nature the law of the golden medium runs.
Nature dislikes excesses. 1t is fond of
averages. A shrub below the forest gets
too little light; tree above the forest is
blown down. The trees, therefore, stand
shoulder to shoulder In the great woods.
A soil exclusively poor grows nothing,
and soil excessively rich will grow only
mushrooms, that have no leaf or flavor or
fragrance. The rose and the wheat must
| wait for the thin soil to be made rich or for
the luxuriant soil to be depleted by sand
or clay. Thus the fields seem to send up
the prayer for neither poverty nor riches.
But there is safer ground than such anal
ogy 1t is not probable that the Creator
of the world would make that the worst
condition in which the larger part Of His
children must pass life.
If we discover condition which must
absorb the millions, and il we find two
other conditions, that of poverty and that
Of enormous wealth, which are being con-
stantly emptied into the middle class of
liberty and industry and educa ton, 1t may
be inferred that God has not made most
ptiable that estate in which the most mill
ions are to be grouped. The "middle con.
dtion" renders industry essential. Pow
ertv robs the heart of hope and thus de-
strovs industry; and immense fortunes
either check action or else turn it along
channels Of mere pleasure. The beggars
OF Italy Or Spain or America will not
work because they have not property
enough to beget wish to add anything to
| it. A person who has no learning at all
desires none. The African Bushman has
not the least desire to possess any infor-
nation, for he knows nothing, and hence
has no hunger for any adjoining fact.
1t is after the mind has mastered the
| first book that it longs for the books that
are inwoven with the first volume. BY
this law of relative suggestion, the beggar
hopes for nothing, for he has not that to
which little money could attach itself
and become more. This middle estate
possesses just enough of life to stimulate
the hand and the brain. Everything is
before it. The members of this class
must rise early; their step must be quick
their minds must be awake; their blood
must not stand, but it must flow. Riches
are old age. They are Autumn. And
poverty is disease; it is consumption or q
famine; but the middle estate is youth
it is spring and the early summer.
If YOU look around for moment you
will perceive what immense mental re
suits have come from the enforced indus
try Of the middle class. You may assume
that the learned professions repose large
ly upon the fact that their thousands o
new learned men we're driven to mental
industry by the problem of pecuniary
support Thus, under all the learned pro.
fessions, lies the quality of this middle
estate, the absence Of money that stimu.
lates, and not that utter absence which
makes the hopeless beggar Read over
the catalogue Of all the eminent men OF
our day and YOU will mark that almost
the whole army Of them were thrown
out upon the field by the pressure Of hum
bic means. To such all extreme degree
| is this true that it has been suggested
that all biographies of the great might
begin with the words, "Born of poor bu
honest parents" The natural philosophy
of the 'iniddle class" must therefore liz
largely in the fact that that class is the
arena where industry does its perfec
work In the mind, and transforms youth
into manhood-the farmer BOYS, Clay ant
Webster, into eloquent statesmen.
The "middlc condition" is a pleasan
subterflge of Nature for beguilng us in
to action, because out of action came civ
ilization and all the splendor of letters, ar
and religion. 1t has always thus come tt
pass that the families of moderate proper
ty have been in the beginnin. and tn,
end of each Nation the Nations chic
hope. Nations have died by raising one
half of their number up to aristocracv
and by sinking the other half to beggary
The Nations have all died between thes,
two millstones-the vanity OF the highes
and broken hearts of the lowest 1t thu
appears that the PRAYER Of Agur involve
one Of the laws Of idividual and Nationa
life Not only is the humbest condition
the happiest, but it stands as fundamen
tai law of human triumph.
Are You already in the middle class,
and bless God perhaps we are all there
ther, marx we'll the deep meaning OF tha
lot, and make no effort to climb neigh
on which all have become dizzy, and from
which all have ut last fallen Remen,b be
intellectual power, the mental harvest o
arts, and sciences which has alwavs wave,
upon that soil; and remember the 81,
preme happiness which the rich and loft,
have found at last to bless the plain man
home. Are YOU man of indastrv, @
integrity, are YOU cam PEELED to take u
- i y