Smyrna times., 1893-08-09
THE GOSPEL OF WORK
EMILE zOLA's STIRRING ADVICE TO
FRENCH STUDENTS.

Extracts From n Mastery Speech Deliv-
cred Before a Body of Young Men In
Paris-The Relation Between Science
and Happiness Explained.
Emile Zola, the famous novelist, pre-
Iided at 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 it is questionable If happiness
can be made out of facts. To be con-
tent with them even for day one must
possess a stoicism, an absolute unselfish-
ness, serenity of intelligence possible
only to the highest minds. Therefore a
despalr1ng cry goes up from suffering
humanity. How, it asks, can we live
without delusiOns and illusions? If there
is not somewhere world where justice
relgns, 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 sympa-
thy. 1t is the reaction against natural
ism, which is, they say, dead and buried.
AT any rate the movement is undeniable.
1t 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.
l, being an old and rugged positivist.
see in all this only halt in the march
ahead. Indeed it is not even that, for
our libraries, laboratories, amphithea-
ters and schools are not deserted. What
reassures me most is the fact that the
social ground is unchanged. For a new
art to flourish, for a new belief to give
humanity Il new direction, there nns+
be new soil for them to germinate and
grow i'll. Ours is still the democratic
soil whence the century rose. Faiths
are not resuscitated, and only a mythol-
Ogy can be made of a dead religion. The
next century will affirm this one. What
l will concede is that in literature we
brought the horizon too near, and per-
sonally l regret having endeavored TO
limit art to proved verities.
The new men, by re-extendinr the
hol1zon, have regained possession of the
unknown and the mysterious. and tbev
have done well. Between the truths ac-
qulred 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 a land of doubt and inouirv
Ihls land belongs as much to literature
as to science. Into it we can 20 as MO
neers, doing the work Of precursors and |
interpreting, according to our talents
Its 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 |
so deny facts already verified AS sci
ence advances the ideal retreats. and II
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-
lleve i'll order that you may learn to be-
lleve. The advice is not bad in itself. If
Is certainly great joy to repose upon
the assurance given by any faith, no mat
ter what. The difficulty is that one can
not believe by being willing to do so.
Faith 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. work.
am aware that no counsel could he
more banal. In every school at the end
Of every term it is given to every bov
and every boy hears it with indifference
But let me, who have never been any
thing except a worker, tell you the re-
ward have gained from the long toll
whose effort has filled my life. The
world was harsh to me at first. | haye
Known poverty and despair. Later nv
existence was battle, and even now the
lght goes on and my work isquestioned
insulted. Through It ali
ny support has been incessant work
'egular, daily, for an end never forgot.
en- How often have l seated myself at
ny table, tortured by some great pain.
physical or moral! And each time. after
he trst minutes of agony, my task has
proved solace, has given me strength
o continue the struggle and await the
morrow. '--0
Work Is the law of the world-tbe
'ulde that leads organized matter to its
Unknown goal. Life has no other reason
or being, and each of us is here only 10
ertorm his task and disappear. Calm
ONES to the most tortured if they will
ccept and complete the task they find
nder their hands, This, to be sure. is
My an empirical way to live an honest
nd almost tranquil life, but is it nothing
acquire moral health and by solving
nrough work the question of how To
9cure ON earth the greatest happiness
nus escape from the danger of the
ream?
have always distrusted chimeras.
Ilusion is bad for a man or people; it
uts an end to effort, it blinds, it is the
anity OF the weak. To remain among
'gends, to contemn realities, to believe
lat dreaming of strength gives force
o have all seen to what disasters these
lings lead.
The only strong men are the men who
'ork. Work alone gives courage and
ntn; 1t alone is the pacifcator and the
beratOr2
When first taken from the mines, opals
re SO tender and friable that they NAV
D picked to pieces with the finger nail,
Wearing the Hair In Japan.
,JaDanese mon ord - =. 4.