Waterbury evening Democrat., 1891-04-20

fingers with his eyes upon it.
81 was in a passion yesterday, sir,
and no doubt spoke too sharply" said
the youth; s'but I think did not mis-
represent nor scarcely do the subject
justice. The wrong and the facts /
think remain the same. Your business
methods are not less pure, perhaps,
than those that shape the common
current of affairs, but wherever the
principle is applied, that to take all
one can get is quite as legitimate as to
take only what is exactly just, and it
seems to me, this, like poison virus,
runs through all the operations of the
time; it can not be but corrupting to
every one whose hands are dabbling
in it. OF course it turns on what one
may consider honesty, but it seems to
me that it can not be hard to see that
if you take more than an exact recon-
pense for your trouble of buying and
bringing the merchandise to him who
buys again, you take what does not be-
long to you; when you add indirec-
ton, in however slight a degree, in
order that you may take this illegiti-
mate profit it only intensifies the wrong.
1t seems to me you can not but see it"
81 think see one thing clearly, and
that is that you ought to be preach
er," said Joel, with a dry kind of
smile.
mo, SIR" sal the youth, earnestly,
Il can not see that this question has
sach tendency as you imply by that
This matter is a question of doing
right for rights sake, and the man who
IS governed by any other incentive can
wrong. 1t is a question of being hon.
h1o oO1xy anH iI1St. NUbU n
to me that every man who stands
squarely on the earth in the image of
God should feel too proud, too
honorable. too respectful of HIM
self, to injure any one; to do mean
ness like a beast; to prey upon his fell
lows, and take what belongs to them
to feed himself upon"
The book-keeper, who had been
sitting motionless upon his stool with
his head bent down and his pen poised
above figure, took out his handker-
chief and wiped his forehead. Joel sat
still with his face flushing us he looked
at the fob between his thumb and
finger, and John Earling walked up
and down, speaking in kind of sor-
rowful, passionate way. Joel looked
up as he finished. Under your doc
trine how would you expect any body
to get rlch! he asked.
.Men should get rich honestly or not
at all. o that is the curse! the curse!
the curse! The world is polluted by
it! The world is full of starvation,
distress and misery from it. This in
sanity, this greed, this hunger, this
worse than foolish desire to have more
than one can ever use! What can there
be in it? Emptiness! Vapor! or hard
oh HUif
moral rot within your He stopped
before Joel, breathing hard. 81 know
1 am but a boy, SIR" he said, land
perhaps am immoderate and unwise,
but it hurts me, sir; it stirs me to see
the few rolling in tinery and comforts,
nay, with mountains of plenty heaped
up behind them that they can not
use, while the many toll on in
penury and want, stunted, pressed
down, with cruel narrow limits for
their lives. 1t can not be right. it can
not be right; no amount of pleading
the rich mans privilege can make it
so. 1t can not but bring trouble in the
end; for we are not bound down as the
poor and miserable are in Europe by
the iron military rule of Kings; here all
is loose and free, and as the rich and
comforting fabric of our wealth is
gradually unraveled and wound in
great balls before which the rich set
down leaving the masses bare, what
think you is to come of it at last?'
II don't know as 1 ever considered
the matter" said Joel, little huskily.
What is your remedy for this state of
things?"
Honesty; nothing else can compass
it," said John Earling. Honesty
k0 ~
allay, well-nigh all the troubles of the
world"
" If it was practical it might"
at is practical! The perfectly incon-
ceivable wisdom of that which has dis
played itself in the making of the ma
chinery of worlds, and all the beauti-
full and unutterable things that fill
them, never made the most reasonable,
the most beautiful, the most natural
principle that operates upon them an
impractical thing. 1t is dishonesty,
sir, that is impractical and unwise,
for it never brought any man aught
but trouble in the end, and hardship
for those who are the victims of it. I
do not wish to be rude, sir; do not
wish to say that l had not ought to say,
for you have been kind to me, and in
my heart of hearts am grateful to
you. but can not willingly be an i'm
strument to injure others with, for it
seems to me that out of self-reverence,
| if for no other nobler cause, every man
should keep his motives and his prac-
tice pure"
81 suppose so," said Joel, taking out
| his knife and beginning to pare his
broad finger-nails. "Have you got any
idea what you are going to do?'
II have gone to work in the office of
Bower & Woodman. 1 have thought
for long time 1 should ultimately
enter the law if could bring it about"
Joel colored little. "Well," he
said, pulling himself straight in his
chair, 'you certainly have the gift of
\ CAB. and 1 guess that is what law
yer wants; but when you get there
with your all-wool, superfine honesty,