The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-03-17
A LOST CENTER TABLE
u MODERN CLUB MAN CRITICIsEs
THE MODERN CLUB WOMAN.
He Also INDUCES i'm Lamentations
Over the Degeneracy of the Times
Too Much Organization.

apoiis Literary Club on March II, was re-
ceived with such marked approval by the
members present that the Journal has Sc
cured the writer's permission to give it a
wider hearing:
1t had been a long, hot and dusty day in
and dusty days. The sun mad gone off duty.
leaving. his heat behind him. and darkness
came down out Of the twilight with OPP
preSslve silence. Everybody who was any
body had taken q last warm look at the
thermometer and fled to other, if not cooler,
chimes; IL seemed that night as If we three
were left alone in all that bleached and
clustering municipality. The town was ours.
possession Of the Very c0m thing P we DESIRED
least. We sat In silence that was tangible,
and as we pulled our smoke against the
blue of heaven we gazed at the stars and
wondered IL they looked down on any cooler
SPOT y this side Of purgatory. The stiffness
memory. Not a footstep came up out of
the silence;, not a wandering breeze dis
sen your subject YETI" In that twinkiing Of
an eye which we read of SO often silence
seemed to me, both rude and untfmely. I
warmed up a degree or two, and, with the
, sTest mm and kindly Isn1 feeling aSo Of q W vel
t.eth and the last time. I had for several
months been overhauling my mental ward
! had some present interest, which did not
transgress my .essayistic limitations and
which was worthy of the club.
one of the other two, you might as well
settle settle It avs now w as an moths i time Inn have have the
YOU going to write ona, "on the Center
table, / yelled. with all the vehemence of
and, with one voice, replied. Then let It
however far ! may have strayed, in what
ever corner sought the muse, l always in
To every man, at Some time during the
great human march, there comes the ire
sistible desire to step out from the ranks
against the CALLING limitations of his en-
~vironment: to declare that he is the victim
traditional irony Of fate has fixed the
stripes on his sleeves or the stars on his
cry falls dead on the ears of them that
hear It; that the army continues its ~victori-
the road 1,ade he and hhhi his protest ps sn1 have Nsai BEEN saln for-
gotten. He does not seriously expect 1t to
Is Hsa plea aseii' TO put cali ~ the rai ineyit afd,ns assignment wnar mt
of fate he eases his own conscience and
apologies to himself for his own apparent
ground telling his troubles to an audience
too thoughtless to heed, too busy to care,
field Of battle. and with distorted vision
sees the joy and the peace of his comrades
just ahead OF him, and contrasts them with
too young or too blind to see that happiness,
like the milk sickness. is always just in the
saw before, the charm and beauty of his
neighbor's wife, the strength and power of
his OK, while the braying of his ass is to his
ears as the sound Of sweet music. So in
that unfortunate moment of review not only
does he lose contentment and find unrest.
but he loses courage and finds vanity; for
as he stands irresolute he can point out
have illumined the whole world, he can
name the vocation. which, had he been al
have met him half way with open arms.
He knows beyond a doubt that had he not
been forced by cruel circumstances to pre-
side over, the destinies of a bargain counter
he could have run for lawyer and led the
ticket. Or, had he not been compelled by
his poor, weak way the footsteps Of Black
stone, nothing could have prevented his be-
coming a prince among merchants
A MENTAL JAUNDICE.
Now, it seems to me we have. without
thought, come to regard these outbursts too
much as a matter of course, as a perfectly
natural unnatural condition of mind, which
every young man is as likely to experience
as he is the measles. as a kind Of mental
~jaundice for which we have no remedy, the
medicine of advice having proved Intellectual
and the experience of others, no matter
how scientifically administered, has seldom
been taken with beneficial results. We feel
that 1t is but an incident IN a mans ca
reer. and we say, IF he has the stuff in
him. he will come out all right. Much in
49, w ROt@Ah VIVA oto
theory. than which no more foolish or per-
nicious doctrine exists. Fortunately, a
great majority of men do come out all
right. frequently with cleaner minds and
never get out of their veins this virus of
discomfort, who viii NOT run the race set
before them, whose life is one long kicking
against the pricks, and whose strabismic
eyes are finally closed on what has seemed
world. Do not understand me as decrying
that laudable discomfort which is often the
destroying variety which is the father of
envy hatred, and malice and all unehari-
fableness. In these end Of the century
renaissance of REFORM: we have been re-
forming everything. good, bad and indiffer-
ent. all alike-all Is grist that comes to our
mill. and we swallow 1t up and grind 1t OUT
and send II. new-made, on its way rejoics
along all the lines of life, and. as is our
custom. we have gone after the big things,
vestigate. and then reorga qsen and i inves IN
gate the organizers, We appoint presidents
and secretaries and committees. and send
them into all the world to teach our gospel
of organization. The forces that make for
Righteousness organize to attack the vicious
element, and the vicious element, quickly
taking the cue. organize to hold the ground
already gained. So ii is the same old fight,
stead Of individuals. We have a great or
ganlzatlon for the suppression. of intemper-
s sar th ana he we , na d;etran, national organization
We have the Young Peoples Society of
Christian Endeavor on one hand, and the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks
on the other. We have organized charities
guarding, the unwary from the deceits of
organized paupers. We have organized la
Dor, and recently we have witnessed the
unique and picturesque spectacle of organ
lied fdleness. Much good has been done
and much yet remains to be accomplished
by this kind OF effort. Socially, as well as
individually. organization is indispensable to
growth. But bylaws and constitutions will
not bring about the millennium: we cannot
organize ourselves into the kingdom of
heaven, and there in danger in these vast
united effoTts-danger to the individual;
even now he is rapidly being lost sight of,
crushed under the aggregate weight, The
time was. before the introduction of labor
saving machinery, when a cabinet maker
could, with his own hands and a kit of
tools. turn out complete any article of fur
niture. from a delicately carved cabinet to
q Kitchen table. Now, the same man, by
the aid of intricate machinery. evolves a
table leg or a chair back. And SO it is with
the organizations destroys the individual
Wilderness, it denies the Incentive to fine
Individual effort. But in our mad rush to
band ourselves together there is danger to
the very organization for which we are
striving. There Is such a thing as working
IL too hard: the Irresistible reaction may
set in ard public opinion rise up in spon-
fanP0uS organization and Smite the whole