The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1893-07-13
THEGOSPELOF WORK
EMILE zoLAs STIRRING ADVICE TO
FRENCH STUDENTS.

and Happiness Explained.
Emile lola, the famous novelist, pre-
sided at a dinner given by the Students
association of Paris. In the course of
the evening he spoke as follows:
Did science ever promise happiness?
do not think so. Science promised the
truth, and 1t is questionable II happiness
can be made out of facts. To be con-
tent with them even for day one must
possess q stoicism, an absolute unselfish-
ness, serenity Of intelligence possible
only to the highest minds. Therefore q
despairing cry goes up from suffering
humanity. How, it asks, can we live
without delusions and illusions? II there
is not somewhere world where justice
reigns. where the wicked are punished
and the good rewarded, how endure the
denominations of human existence? Ma
ture is unjust and cruel. Science ends
in the monstrous law of the survival Of
the strongest. Reasoning thus, recoiling
from realities as yet i'll explained, they
seek dream, put confidence in the out
of sight and hope to satisfy in the be-
yond their yearning for fraternity and
justice.
This despairing appeal for happiness,
rising on every side, moves me infinitely.
Already music has responded to it, lit
erature is trying to satisfy the new thirst,
and art Is changing to show its syrnpa-
thy. 1t is the reaction against natural
ism, which is, they say, dead and buried.
At any rate the movement is undeniable.
II is felt in all the manifestations of
mind, and unless it is taken into ac-
count, studied and explained the out
look for the morrow is hopeless.
/, being an old and rugged positivist,
see in all this only halt in the march
ahead. Indeed 1t is not even that, for
our libraries, laboratories. amphithea-
ters and schools are not deserted. What
treasures me most is the fact that the
social ground is unchanged. For new
art to flourish, for new belief to give
humanity a new direction, there must
be new soil for them to germinate and
grow in. Ours Is still the democratic
soil whence the century rose. Faiths
are not resuscitated, and only mythol-
ogy can be made of dead religion. The
next century will affirm this one. What
will concede is that in literature we
brought the horizon too near, and per-
sonally / regret having endeavored to
limit art to proved verities.
The new men, by re-extending the
horizon, have regained possession Of the
unknown and the mysterious, and they
have done well. Between the truths ae-
quired through science, which are not to
be shaken, and the truths to be con-
quered tomorrow from the unknown,
which IN their turn will become immov-
able, there Is land Of doubt and inquiry.
This land belongs as much to literature
as to science. Into it we can go as pio-
neers, doing the work of precursors and
interpreting. according to our talents,
It's unknown forces. The ideal is only
the unexplained. 1t is well enough to
invent solutions for the unknown, but
we have no right to put in question and
DO deny facts already verified. As sci
ence advances the ideal retreats, and it
seems to me that this slow conquest,
though we have the melancholy certi-
tude of never knowing all, gives life its
only reason, its only JOY.
In these troublous days youth is told
to believe, but nobody tells it exactly
what to believe. Believe, they say, for
the sake of the happiness that comes
from believing, and most especially be-
ievc in order that you may learn to be-
lieve. The advice Is not bad in itself. Il
Is certainly great JOY to repose upon
fa.%
ter what. The difficulty is that one can
not believe by being willing to do so.
Feith is wind that blows where it list
eth, and there only.
In conclusion let me offer you a creed
the creed Of work. Young men, worki
! am aware that no counsel could be
more banal. In every school at the end
of every term il is given to every boy,
and every boy hears it with indifference.
But let NE, who have never been any
thing except q worker, tell you the re-
ward l have gained from the long toll
whose effort has filled my life. The
world was harsh to me at first. have
known poverty and despair. Later my
existence was battle, and even now the
fight goes on and my work is questioned,
cortradicted, insulted. Through it all
my support has been incessant work,
regular, daily, for an end never forgot
ten How often have seated myself at
my table, tortured by some great pain,
physical or morali And each time, after
tho first minutes Of agony, my task has
prsved solace. has given Inc strength
to continue the struggle and await the
mrrrow.
Work is the law Of the world-the
guide that leads organized matter to its
Unknown goal. Life has no other reason
for being, and each Of us 10 here only to
le,forin his task and disappear. Calm
rones to the most tortured if they will
Ectept and complete the task they find
under their hands. This, to be sure, is
pply an empirical way to live an honest
Ir,i almost tranquil life, but is it nothing
% acquire moral health and by solving
through work the question Of how to
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