The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1893-08-17
THE GOSPEL WORK
EMILE zoLA's STIRRING ADVICE TO
FRENCH STUDENTS.

Extracts From q Mastery Speech Deifv-
erred Before n Body of Young Men In
Paris-The Relation Science
and Happiness Explained.
Emile lola. the famous novelist, pre-
Eided at a dinner given by the Students
association of Paris, In the Of
the evening he spoke as follows:
Did science ever promise happiness?
l do not think so. Science promised the
truth. and it is questionable if happiness
can be made ont of facts. To be con
tent with them even for a day one must
possess a stoicism, an absolute unselfsh-
ness. a serenity of intelligence possible
only to the highest minds. Therefore a
d~espairing cry goes up from suffering
humanity. How. it asks, ear we live
without decisions and illusions? If there
is not somewhere a 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 it's sympa-
thy. 1t is the reaction against natural
ism, which is, they say, dead and buried.
AT any rate the movement is undeniable.
IL 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.
I, being an old and rugged p~ositivist,
see in all this only a halt in the march
ahead. Indeed it is not even that, for
our libraries, laboratories, amphithea-
tiers and schools are not deserted. What
treasures me most is the fact that the
social ground is unchanged. For a new
art to flourish, for a new belief to give
humanity a new direction, there must
be q new soil for them to terminate and
grow in. Ours is still the democratic
soil whence the century rose. Faiths
are moi resuscitated, and only a mythol-
ogy can be made of a 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 l regret having ~endeavored to
limit art to proved v~erities.
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 ac-
quired through science, which are not to
be shaken, and the truths to be con-
uuered tomorrow from the unknown,
which in their turn will become immov-
able, there Ia a land Of doubt and inquiry.
This land belongs as much to literature
% to science. Into it we can go as pio-
neers, doing the work of precursors and
Interpreting. according to our talents,
its unknown forces. The ideal Is only
the unexplained It is well enough to
invent solutions for the unknown, but
we have no right to put in question and
20 deny facts already verified. AS sci
e0ce advances the ideal retreats, and ii
seems to me that this slow conquest,
though WI have the melancholy certi-
tude Of never knowing all. gives life its
only reason, its only JOY.
In these troublous days youth is told
70 believe, but nobody tells it exactly
what to believe. Believe, they say, for
tho sake Of the happiness that comes
from believing. and most especially be-
fieve in order that you may learn to be-
lisve. The advice il not bad in itself. It
ID certainly a 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 a wind that blows where it list
eth, and there only.
In conclusion let me offer you q creed
the creed OF work. Young men. work.
lam aware that no counsel could be
more banal. In every school at the end
Of every term it is given to every boy.
ind 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. I have
known poverty and despair. Later my
existence was a battle, and even now the
Eight goes on and my work is questioned,
oontradicted, insulted. Through 1t all
my support has been incessant work,
regular, daily, for an end never forgot
tan- How often have I seated myself at
my table, tortured by some great pain,
physical on morall And each time, after
Ira FIRST minutes of agony. my task has
proved a solace. has given me strength
b continue the struggle and await this
morrow.
Work is the law of the world-the
guide that leads organized matter 10 1t,
mnAnown goal. Life has no other reason
fUr being, and each Of us is here only tx
perform his task and disappear. Calm
C0me to the most tortured If they viii
accept and complete the task they find
under their hands. This, to be sure. il
only an empirical way to live an homes
amd almost tranquil life, but is ii nothin,
10 acquire moral health and by solvinj