The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1890-06-07
Patrick j. Lucey spoke upon the
Good and Evil In History,

origin Of good and evil. There Is
continued and never ending struggle
IN the world between good and evil
Prehistoric man, living in caves anC
clothed with the skins OF wild beasts
Covering from the winters chill wa
little more than beast. All in hi
life was of "A bestial order. As the
ages passed he gained that knowledge
which God had given to man as "A her
itage, and by his manual skill II
fashiOning implements OF warfare ant
places OF habitatiOn, gained the mas
terry over beasts. Still he was moi
perfect as man. He was imbueC
with the bestial attributes-hatred
revenge and murder But God had
implanted in man an antidote for evil
conscience. Slowly he revealed t(
man the glories Of religion. He began
with His chosen people, the Jews, to'
the remainder OF the world was not
yet worthy Of Gods confidence. The
savage tribes administered justice ac
cording to their own ideas Of right
and equality. In the fullneSS OF time
Christ came to speak the truth for all,
Then there were dark days when the
light of religion was dimmed. Moral
ity ane equality seemed to have left
the earth. At the close OF the Middle
Ages the inequalities of man and man
in Europe were little better than in
Egypt. Persia and India. The people
were bought and sold with the land,
The remnants of this system still
remain in Russia and Turkey. lgno-
rance and superstition are the
stumbling block of progress. Even
the ancient philosophers were super
stitiouS. Against these the goodness
and wisdom and love of God have
been arrayed. Evil had often been
arrayed against evil, with good effect.
knowledge has inspired the growth of
literture, science and art, and with
the sympath Of religion, these form
the corner stone Of civilization.
Miss Carrie Formulas spoke upon
the life and character Of
Jean Vatican.
In walking through the busy thor
oughfares Of the city. how many differ
ent faces we encounter, and were we
but gifted with the power Of reading
human nature, the characters would
in all probability be as varied as the
faces. Misery, pain and woe are con-
Cealed under smilingOr blank ia &C..
1t has been aptly said, Zone half the
world knows not how the other half
lives" If some of the happier class
were to visit the novels and sQualid
dwellings of the miserable wretches in
the poorer parts of the city, where all
evidences Of the comforts, and even
necessaries of life are wanting, what
pictures of misery would meet their
eyes.
Seeing the injustice of the law, Vic
tor Hugo endeavOred, by showing the
consequences of it, to enforce upon the
minds of the authorities the need of IA
reform. He saw that though men, for
the most part, were willing and anX-
ious to work, they could not obtain
enough to live even with the Strctest
economy.
AS rule, the excess Of punishment
OverbalanceS the crime Seeing this
injustice V. Hugoin Les Miserables"
brings before US scenes which show
miseries in almost all the forms, and
at the same time he tells his divine
teachings of charity and love. He
shows us the noble, self-sacriticing
bishop, whose life is benediction.
While but four of Hugo's characters
are exempt from misery, the greater
number are orer1chelmed by it.
We see the poor mother Famine,
leaving COSette in what she supposed
to be good hands. We see the differ
Cnt stages of her life from happiness
to misery and we breathe thankful
prayer when at last she is laid to rest.
Little Cosette treated worse than
brute, rebutfed on all sides, has her
share of hardship and misfortune in
childhood.
MariuS Pontmercy, cast out into the
world for the terrible crime of loving
his father. feels all Suffering blotted
out when he meets and wins the fair
haired CoSette.
Among all these charaters Jean Val
jeau is the hero: man whose life is
an almost entire misery.
Jean was but small boy when his
mother and father died, leaving him to
the care Of his sister. As soon as he
was able, he was set to work cutting
wood. When he reached manhood,
his sisters husband died Ieavinga wife
and seven children without support.
Now was Jeans opportunity to re-
pay the kindness which his sister had
shown him. He worked hard and hon
estly, not only at his own trade but at
whatever he could obtain to procure
food for these seven hungry mouths.
One winter he could obtain no work,
and the poor little bodies dependent
upon him were starving He waited
as long as possible thinking something
might come to him, but at last grow
ing desperate, he went to the bakers
and thrusting his hand through the
window, seized a loaf of bread and ran.
The baker hearing a crash, turned and
saw a hand thrust through the win
dow sieze a loaf and withdraw.
Jean ran, hotly pursued by the ba-
ker. He was caught, arrested, tried
and being found guilty. was sentenced
to five years at the galleys for bur
glary, committed with violence at
night, in an inhabited house"
He plead his case as well as he could,
but the sentence was passed and he
was conducted to the galleys in chains.
We could not describe the terrible
suffering which one undergoes in such
a place. Fricndless, despised and de-
spising in return, hearing nothing but
terrible words, seeing nothing but
dark looks of hatred working in ball
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