The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1890-06-28
Does 1t Pay?

Does 1t ray!
An exchange publishes suggestive
picture in which two figures, the Chef
of famous restaurant aud the PreSi-
dent of Columbia College, are portray
ed. Under the former his annual
salary, $4,000, is shown under the
latter his salary Of $4,000 years. ex-
hibited. Above the illustration is the
query, "D0es a College Education
Pay2"
The question could probably be an
swered IN no better fashion than by
asking another-thIs Jne; Would the
editor who suggested the picture, the
artist who sketched it, the publisher
who paid for It,ra;her be the Chief out OF
the famous restaurant, with salary OF
$4,000, or the President of Columbia
College, with only $4,000 l year? Tn
chances are not orly nInaty nine out OF i
hundred, they are nine hundred ana
ninety nine out OF a thousand that the
reply of all three of them would De- the
same-they would prefer to be the
College President, with the lesser salary,
rather than the restaurant Chef, with
the larger one
Probably not one person in ten
thousand ever heard the name OF the
famous Chef. Possibly not even the
editor, artist or publisher who vaunts
his large salary ever heard 1t. What
they know about him, Is that he spends
the greater part of his days and nights
somewhere below stairs inventing and
making delectabl= Iii hes, sauces and
dressings for the hungry patrons above
stairs, among whom is probably the
President of Columbia College.
The latter, Seth Low, is known. no
doubt, to nine hundred and ninety nine
of every thousand of lis intelligent
countrymen. To know him is TO honor
him. He is still young man, who
has by superior aitainments, results OF
his collegiate education. and by great
natural ability, accumulated a fortune
so large as to enable him to retire from
active business and to devote his time,
talents aud laoor to the cause Of higher
education. Mr.. Low, even as man
CT business, was exceptionally public
spirited and a most useful citizen. He
entered z9alously into politics in Brook
Ign and effected such important reforms
as to induce his fellow citizens TO elect
him Mayor of that city. In that posi-
ton he showed such conspicuous
ability as to induce the trustees al d
faculty of Columbia College to ask him
to become their President. a college
graduate, a scholar, a prosperous man
of affsirs, a political reformcr, EuIllt-
spirited citizen, he was so successful
pecunia1ily as to be able to accept the
nominal salary OF $4,000 year, because
it carried with 1t a career OF distinguish
ed homer and usefulness. President
Seth Low crowns his earlier successes
as college student by becoming col
lege president, distinguished leader
in the work of higher education. To
the man who thinks, such achievement
and such position are worth good
deal more than the difference between
$4,000 and SIS, 200 year.
President Low, being man Of extra
ordinary ability, might and probably
would have won distinction had he
been denied the ben, fits of college
education. He might have risen to
equally honorable, useful heights upon
the foundations of a public school
education. That is not the real ques
ton here, however, for the young men
of the country to consider. The real
question is whether or not mere pc
cuniary success is the best kind of
success, or whether or not it Is the
only kind Of success which IS worth
contending for2
Those who have lived longest, ex-
perienced most, observed most and
| thought most wisely, do not agree that
money is the first prize in ise. To get
and have 1t in such measure as to rem
der its possessor independent OF the
world is a good and desirable thing.
| Abraham Lincoln, Louis Agasslz, Henry
w. Longfellow, Uly sses S. Grant,
| Horace Greeley, William Lloyd Gar
rison, were comparatively poor men
when they died, but their countrymen,
who loved them and who reverence
their memories as sacred belongings ct
this great Republic, never asked or ask
whether they were rich or poor. 1t
was rot what they did to accumulate
wealth for themselves which is so affe
c,ionatey, gratefully remembered, but
what they did for their country, for
| humanity.
A life of useful service to the world,
high thought and noble living, are
| better than life which has no better
aim than money getting. That should
be an incident, not the one controlling
purpose of a proposed career. The
Chefs have their place in the world,
and, ii they fill it worthlly, are duly