Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1894-06-29

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nation | include this beautiful and grand
old Commonwealth of Maryland until sixty
years oil this century had passed, We were,
IN the main, an agricultural people. The
lie was such as to develop individuality,
land, by. the. way, the formers and iashioners
OF this fair fabric of constitutional govern.
ment were iarmersD We were without large
manufacturing centers, where men are ag-
gregated like component elements of u ma
chine The professions were the law, medi-
cine and theology. The farmer had his
theory of farming, of politics, of religion
He had his political organ, which he stood
by, and his political idol, whom he would
ride ten miles to hear make a stump speech.
The society was that of the neighborhood-
the most charming and refreshing in the
world. There were diversity and compari.
son ofindividual views, but substantial unity
OF Interest and genuine bonds of friendship.
If there were frugal living there was genuine
living, and high thinking.
There came change! There came war
and the loesening of the foundations. The
war created voluminous currency; this
fostered enterprise and expansion. Then
came the colonization and development of
our Western domain; vast railroad schemes,
vast manufacturing schemes, the building of
vast cities, the Inauguration of vast specula-
tive combinations, and the vast accumula-
tions of capital. The iruition of this was
inevitable The effects followed in the tram
OF the causes. Seltishness, avariCe, the sever
ance from and discardal of old convictions;
the erection of new objects and criteria OF
success; the building up of caste, based on
money; meterialistc civilization, labelling
every designation of merit with the mystic :.
But in this case, as we'll, we should adopt
no sweeping inference, no conclusive judg-
ment | believe it Is transitional symptom
OF disease that is not organic. Ii our civil
| lization is worth living it will survive this
acute attack, as | believe II will.
said moment since that man was, in
large measure, the creature of his environ
ment. In this age education has to be the
same. Life, with the vast majority, is
struggle for physical existence. The Won
deriul inventions of the last thirty years have
been in the department of physical science.
We are blowing, sowing reaping, grinding,
travelling, writing and talking by machinery.
The steam engine alone by transmitting
space into time sent civilization 600 years
forward at bound. So amazing has been
this scientific progress that 1t has led TO
specialization in every direction; so that a
young man must perlorce adapt himself to
some specially, and pursue it with single
eye and aim in order to achieve success.
This is an memorable necessity; a fact and
y,
Annihilation of space by steam, OF distance
by electricity, together with the increase of
the human family and the dissemination of
knowledge have produced universal com
petition. For the present, State craft has
been superseded by statistics; and legisla-
ton is dominated by the syndicate and the
trust. With nearly all the available land
on the globe occupied or pre- empted, except
as to the Table Lands of Africa; with the
wealth of the world already aggregated into
the hands of a tenth of its inhabitants, l
think no man can forecast the economic
outcome la the United States with free
institutions, and with heterogeneous popu.
lation of white men, black men, yellow men
and red men--the whites differentiated into
English, Irish, German, Polish, Welsh, Scan
dinavians and Italian, | think we would all
agree that it would be rash to adopt any
hasty decisions as to the sociologic outcome.
But | must hasten.
Some one asked Aristippus, the Greek
philosopher and teacher, what things boy
should be taught "rhose things" said he,
(which he will use when he becomes
man" That was well enough under con-
stitution where every citizen was legisla
tor, judge, speaker, soldier, but it would be
lame and impotent conclusion to day. A
mans duty Is to work for six days In the
week and insomuch as labor ietches money,
1t has had temple erected to it with the
legend inscribed over its portals: "Laborare
est Orare." Labor is worship" which il IT.
means anything means that man is de-
veopment of the mule and the OK. The
highest aspiration OF the OK Is TO know his
masters crib Of man therefore 1t should
seem to be to know his own smoke house.
When God imposed the beneficent law OF
labor upon man He did 80 having regard -
mans faculties and his highest development
Was man not to labor on himself; to cult
vate his reason, his imagination, his sensl
biities In the language in which the New
Testament is written, he Is called Anthropos,
the being who looks upward. 1t is a Islander
ON him and on his Master to say that his
highest earthly good is wasting bread and
meat. "As a man MinkeM so is he" "On
earth there's is nothing great but man; 10
man there's nothing great but work, There's
not grain of sand upon the seashore there
is not q clod of earth in the valley which
does not hold wonderful history. In the
last analysis of the twig upon the tree you
reach up to the stars Young ladies and
gentlemen, you are fitting yourselves for
your own companionship through life. Find
out where your true work lies and do 1t with
your might Cultivate love OF reading;
il will prove the shadow of mighty rock
in weary land fountain of sweet waters
as the shadows of the evening fall across
your pathways.
If we adopt as our motto EVERY man
for himself, and the devil take the hindmost."
The devil will take the foremost and the
hindmost, too mo man liveth unto him
self and no man dieth unto himself, 10 In
the Bible If there were no Bible, 1t would
be tremendous reality, just the same. We
must have companionship and Affection ana
sympathy; and we must give them all To
keep US from the mad house or the bottom
of the river. In one Of our Western cities.
the friends of selfish and a rather conceited
citizen played practical joke on him. He
was somewhat of dude and wore stove
plpe hat One sutry summer day, coming
into store, where half dozen OF his com
panions were collected, and laying his hat
down to fan himself, one Of his associates
slipped under the oilcloth lining OF his tile
a thin slice of limberger cheese. soon alter
ward they disappeared from the store one
by one. AS they contrived TO meet him,
one at a time, that afternoon, they would
remark, "Why, what is the matter You
look as pale as ghostp The subtle power
of his Imagination at length caused cold
shiyers TO run up his back. He went home
and told his wife he felt Ill. After putting
him into bed, and sending for the doctor,
she observed TO him, that she had always
tried to be good and atIectionate wife 10
him, but that if his symptoms were TO con
tinue to manifest that peculiar aroma she
trusted she would not be wicked in hoping
that the attack would not be of long dura.
ton. She then asked him il he would not
| like to see preacher. He answered: That
| he had always tried TO do by himself as he
would have others do by him; but that, in
case he might have made any mistake any
where, it would. possibly, be as well to g. call
| in minister TO take account Of stock Inc
story, grotesque as it is, paints us moral
| hundred times better than can
| The hinhesL end Of man IS his hIghest