The morning call., 1893-10-15

Java or Borneo. There lave been moraIist
teachers in India VINO have swayed thou
sands of millions down the enturies in
the round of daily life and duty. but their
teaching was nobler and purer in the dim
past, and advancement there has been
none. So with China. which is not,
however by any means fercely
hot country, save in the south. What
vigor i: has is to be expected in the north.
Just in proportion as we admit that the'
tropics are unsuited for the white man aud
are his grave, so we virtually say that
work is necessary to mans ascendency in
the scale Of life.
1t is still more remarkable. however,
that in the temperate countries. where
man hay attain his highest development,
the law of work as factor in elevation of
character and intellectual capacity Is ac-
centuated quite as remarkably. Those
who work may be great and leave name.
but those who DO not live uneventful,
dronish lives, and pass away unnoticed and
upremembered save by few friends. A
man born to great wealth is as rule born
to great failure, a humdrum career when
he is good and virtuous, and all igDoble
one, with few redeeming traits. when he is
vicious.
Range all over Europe at your will and
select great man in literature, science.
IDnllaTy OF naval cdpdClLy OE SLdtcSiudu-
ship who was born with high rank and
inherited great fortune. You will find it
impossible to select one irSt-class name
among monarchs, noblemen or any of the
hereditary ruling classes. They are born
with all the seeming advantages, but in
reality they have none. They profess to
be athletes, but they are awarded the
prizes without running or wrestling. You
may put away all the feeble babble about
the eminence Of monarchs in war or states
manShip. 1t is mostly fiction. Frederick
the Great was a worker, but his success
came from his trials of adversely. What
other kings of Prussia come near him?
Do you imagine that William the First
fought the AustriaDs and French single
handed. or that he had much to 90 with
the strategy?
The late Emperor Frederick also had his
generals who did the real work and shoul-
dered the real responsibility. What re-
cent King of France has any place as a
| soldier? Napoleon, who was a plebeian.
ratified the crowns about the heads of all
the monarchs of Europe, and would have
bowled England over, too, had not the sea
stood in his way. Bonaparte's marshals
were also able. but whence came they?
From the stable. from the ranks of life.
and under the inspiring direction of genius
they almost acquired touch OF genius
themselves. Spain, Italy. Russia and Eng
Is there a George in England whose
effigy is worth keeping in a wax show?
We have TO run back TO the Henrys and
the Edwards to find monarch who was
man, save and alone William the Third.
The CharleseS and Jameses are pltiful spe-
cimens. Marlborough takes precedence of
them all as a soldier and statesman, and
he also outweighs them in baseness and
vices. He came TO the front from obscur-
ity through ignominy and left only the
latter qualities in his descendants from
inability to transmit capacity for work.
Wellington was of good family and earned
his distinction by work quite as much as
by favor Nelson had the merit of rising
from the lowest station in the navy, and
so have all the English Admirals of any
note, and especally Lord Cochrane. who
was so very poor that relative had TO pay
for his middy's uniform.
1t is the same thing in statesmanship.
The able men toll hard. They have ability
to begin with, but the exercise of tn cir
talents converts them into the giants that
impress nations with their foresight, sa-
gacity and achievements In leadership.
They are not born with a silver spoon in
the mouth and overwhelmed with an adu-
lation that clouds their brains. They play
their part with vgor in the arena of strife,
and emerge from the conflict in keeping
with their ability, perspicuity and energy.
What do Bismarck and Gladstone, the
foremost figures in European statesman
ship of this century, owe to rank and in
herited fortune? Nothing. Had they not
possessed commanding ability, and had
they not worked with Herculean applica-
tion, they would have been left in the
surging crowd of mediocrity and probably
many things in Europe would not have
happened.
The gospel of work has blessed Glad
stone as IL has few other men. In his
eighty-fourth year he is as eager in toll as
he was at 40. He admits that the bow
should not always be bent. Personally he
only puts on a new string, a change of
work. He flies from the affairs OF a nation
to his library. delves into Greek literature.
Italian poetry. Gaelic traditions, church
history. philosophy; delivers a speech on
Greek art and the excellence of Tanagra
ware, or modern pottery and the ideal Of
beauty; utters a homily on fashions;
gives practical advice on Horticulture and
frpit-growing and the making of jam; and
Is in short so universal iu tastes and love
of knowing all things that he never, like
Othello. can say his occupation is gone.
He is living illustration Of the great
virtue of work.
In science. literature and art, the Illus
trious are all toilers, and the mediocrites
are only respectable in proportion to their
application, although IL may seem an in
fiction to bestow much on humanity when