Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-12-24

plains To-Day, IL WOnld not be the bro wn
grass, the freshzscented flowers for an
untimely frost picked them, the wild
landscape, or the gray, cold-blooded
sunsets. 1 would speak of the prairie
zephyr, whose magic track gives the
brown cheeks Of rugged health, and The
elastic step of, the pioneer. Ergo--it
calls for another boiler of hay.
Apropos of the hay burner, we are not
.he only denizens of the earth who use
queer articles for fuel. The inhabi-
tants of the Western Isles, near Iceland
have to'cho6so between the Gold en-
brace of the Ice King, OF. the warmth
obtained from the carcaSses Of tough
old sea birds which they capture, split
in halves, and dry. In India the wo-
man collect the composite the pastures,
press it, and allow it to bake in the sun.
This is superior to the Dakota method,
which may be called primitive. X i
But do not mean that things mod
ern are generally superior to primitive
articles, viewed from social as we'll
as economic standpoint. 10 my anti
quated mind the civilization Of today,
with its perpetual strife and ambition,
is overstepplng the Bounds for which
it was really intended. 1t seems to be
impossible to civilize a rational being
without implanting in his mind the
thirst for gold. This thirst, thoilgh
more rational than that of the Nevada
miner who exchanged a bucket of gold
dust for pint of whiskey, can hardly
be natural it is acquired. 1t was Pla-
to's dream to found an ideal state,
where each inhabitant should depend
upon the others, and thus by d mutual
spirit of dependence to keep down ag-
gresslons. With us it is each man for
himself, and "the devil take the hind
most" The social problem of the fu-
ture will be the method to limit an in
dividual's wealth. We know it to be
wrong for any family to retain heredi-
tary right to rule over nation; and
is it not equally patent that one man
should not possess more wealth than is
necessary for his comfort? The sepa-
ration of civilization and gold will be a
far greater departure than the disestaD-
lishment Of Church. and state. If /
were not afraid of being called a dream
or this would be my prediction. *
Plato did not believe this visionary
republic would be an entire success.
Quite humanity he could not bring him
self to sacrifice so attr active Il god as
Plutus, even for the sake of his life
dream. He predicted that the decline
of the State would be brought about
by an exprbitant greed for gola to the
exclusion of other interests, quite as it
is with us today. Gold is talis,nIan by
| which We can move the stoniest hearts
but am of the opinion that it would
be better to keep such hearts hermetic-
ally sealed. The world needs rhst, not
sloth. but time TO- enjoy the fiee,ttlng mo-
ments, time to consider the welfare o.
others, time for charity and good deeds.
The Brahmins spend their lives pre-
pairing for death, and so does the aver
aee American. He may not see it in
this light, but the wolf must be met
at the front gate, and custom places
many onerous duties upon him; thus.
with very little time to CONSIDER the
real aim Of. life, he goes on his daily
round till the hdarse drives up to the
door. ..>y. =: