St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-07-29
A shadow of glou
[ loved,
SIT IS BUSINESS"
Joseph Donnelly.

Humanity is prone to the initiative in
what IS Objectionable and even oppres-
sive i'll business ways. while tolerant
and liberal ideas are generally regarded
with distruSt, and are left 10 a fanatical
minority born 10 eccentric;ty. Out of
many hard and often cruel conditions
of existence have come men OF superior
character, models OF industry aud integ-
rity. But even when decrying such
conditions N one SenSe-the uuani nous
inference these men would have YOU
accept, to the exclusion of any other, Is
that such conditions were the very mes
that were essential to their develop
ment.
The' glory in the ign 0miny of their
novltiate to ultimate great business
success, and they would never have
you forget contrasts almost as rank as
Hamlets corroiing category to his
mother. Directly or Indirectly these
dramatic unitieS in their business his
tory are always i'll the hands or dram
itiSt called Self, who never misses his
situations or his points. 1t eXcites
wonder at times that there should be
such dlSagreea5le candor for the mere
pleasure of self vanity. Wonder is
merged into thinking OF the contrari-
ties i'll human nature tnat reveal and
revel in the publicity OF facts, which,
without the taliSman of money, would
be held as secret as crime. The gra-
tuitous exposure OF all the details, that
i'll some Instances nearly make the
listener hold his nose, disclo SEES an ire
parable lack Of instructive delicacy that
no wealth can ameliorate, and for which
neither poverty nor squalOr in them
selves can be held wholly amenable.
Dellcacy in its trueSt essence is not ins
frequently found among the poor and
lowly. Lady Clara We're de Vere's is
only the refinement of it; the faceted
luster of the gem in the Iapidary's
finish.
A rebuff to Croker. the California
CrGsuS, is often told-how at Nice he
sat dining without his coat, and boaSt-
ing about being of such con manding
self-make, that, like the wind, he had
the license to blow all he pleased. A
listening EngliSilman, to whom a bath
and coat meant more than the Magma
Charta, solemnly said: ''Really, now,
don't you know, we are all immensely
relieved, to be sure, that the Creator is
not responsible for making you"
Perhaps, however, the moneyed self
glorifying is not altogether that-but
the desire of proving an melting ex-
ample. The good man proudly con-
SciOuS Of his rise to a financial and
social standing, unimaginable at the
beginning, finds an exquisite qualification
in general recognition of his early
stru ggle. 1t may be that the trying eX-
perience of going, in privationS and
miseries, from lowly to luxurious cou-
ditions has made the lucky man kindly
and helpful. Knowing how rough and
disheartening the way is from his own
ordeal, he strives to ease the strain and
the burden for other wayfarer5 over
that f1inty road called ''beginning the
world" The familiar fable of the tw
pilgrims who put peas in their shoes as
a penance before walking to their
destination is pertinent allegory.
One man walked steadily and easily on,
while the other limped and halted and
moaned, finally getting to the journeys
END footsore and scarcely able to move.
Then his companion told him the reason
why he got over the ground with so
much ease. He had the forethought to
boil the peas he put in his shoes.
That canny pilgrim is the predeces-
sor of the majority OF business men OH
life's highway. Their methods ara
their own until at the end they can
point moral with them-untl, i'll fact,
they no longer care to use them. The
man who would give the information
and the assistance at first Is scarce, the
other is legion upon legion, until the
journeys end sees so many ''old stray
glers." Because his beginning was
mean and hard and grinding he is not
going to insist for those under him, and
for all po5terity, as we'll, that it is the
only way to success. He does not be-
lieve in being bound out" to All UNI
necessary apprenticeship of hardship
and humiliation, even if it be the old
| conservative preparation and test.
Poverty" says victor Hugo, "is the
cruclble into which Fate Casts a man
when she wants demon or demigol."
| The sun blackenS some substances and
| whitens others; the tried and discern
| ing man knows that hard and bitter
| poverty is often mnre demoralizing than
| behshciai in training. So he will bo