The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1896-11-12
For the REPORTER.
COMPENSATION.

Inc primary slgHlIlcdacc OF l'il@ Npia
"a is well known, i pay for work or
services rendered, thus recognizing the
relations existing between employer
and employees. and the obligations of
the former to the AFTER.
The meaning, however, which wish
10 give it in this communication, and
which Is abuudantly justified by Lexi-
cographers. Is that which supplies the
place of something else. or makes good
efficiency or makes amends by sub
sttuting something in the place Of what
Is removed.
This great law of compensation, rs 1t
i aptly termed, evidently sci ia opera
ton. as part and parcel Of the Divine
plan. exists and operates the wide world
over. evening up and balancing what we
term evil and good, advantages and
disadvantages. both as applied to the
material universe, and the physical,
mental moral aud religious states and
condition Of mankind. God also hath
set the one over against the other, Is a
clear expression of this thought taken
from Holy writ.
II is interesting as Illustrative of this
idea to read the narratives of travellers,
who have visited various portions OF the
habtabe globe, and who have noted
the difference in climate, soil and seen
cry, in the pureness and temperature OF
the air and water. in the animals, their
pcaceableness or ferocity, and who
have also observed those striking char
acteristics, which distinguish the differ
ent races of men, and many other facts
and circumstances, all of which 90 10
show that God has not given all good to
one locality or people, but has so dis
tributed his blessings as to leave little
room for fault-finding, envy, or discon-
tent.
We have been accustomed TO think
that one of the most desolate and un-
desirable regions of all the world in
which to live, is that large, frozen, ice
bound country, stretching away towards
the Arctic circle, where for nearly all
the year the frost-king reignS supreme.
where vegetation has but stunted
growth and where the inhabitants
shelter themselves in rude and poorly
constructed huts, and make hunting
and fishing satisfy their wants. But
who shall say that Greenland and
Labrador and their people, have no
compensationfor the intense cold, bar
renness and desolation, which every
where prevails and surrounds them.
Does there not exist wonderful
adaptation of the Inhabitants to their
environments: They fad in abundance
and close at hand, skins and furs to pro-
tect them from the rgor of the seasons,
and plenty of fatty, oily food, for which
they have voracious appetite, and
which keeps up the heat OF the body,
and so helps to make their homes not
only tolerable but enjoyable. Strange
to US though it may seem, they have
their festivities and sports, and would
not exchange their country for the
milder climates and luxurant regions
of the south.
Our own United States, the best land
in all the world, as we have been wont
to think, shows wonderful extremes
and contrasts in soil and climate, in
means and facilities for making homes,
and procuring the necessaries of life, in
the mantanance of health of body and
vigor of mind, and in all that goes to
country in which to make the pilgrim
age of life.
We of New England find compensa-
ton for our rugged winters with their
intense cold and drifting storms, in our
beautiful summers, and the delightful
and variegated scenery of mountain and
valley, lake and woodland with magniti-
cent fragrant flowers on every hand, and
f..1 II Ia nd l1aly in
the cold blasts of this northern cline,
than suffer the fever aud ague of the
malarial regions of the west or south.
We are proud too, of our ancestry of
our superior opportunities for intel
lectual, moral and religious culture, and
of all we enjoy which goes to make
wholesome and refined society.
The people of other sections of our
country, say those who live in the lux
uriant valleys and on the rolling prairies
of the west and south, where the soil is
rich aud eXhaustless, and vegetation has
an exuberant growth, are fairly content,
and thankful that nature has made up
in these blessings something of good she
has given to others and denied to them.
But to come nearer home and down
to family and individual life
AS We IOOk tIlbO lilt ilOuUGS VI bHb pcO-
pie, where fathers, mothers aud children
dwell together under almost an infinite
variety of circumstances, we are i'm.
pressed with the thought that mans
ways and conditions here are not alto
gether of his own choosing, and that
this great law is ever active, making up
in some families for deprivations and
losses by affording them extra blessings
and advantages in other lines. Here, for
instance, is "A family where poverty hour
ly stared them in the face, but every
members cheek glows with health, and
rich enjoyment is found in honest, faith
full toll. Near by is a stately mansion,
where all within and around betokens
wealth, and yet it may be sickness and
pain reign there and life is burden
hard to be borne.
In one of the cities of Maine last sum-
mer, and Immediately after "a severe
shower, some few Irishmen were en-
gagged in clearing off the crossing of one
of the principal streets. 1t was near the
hour OF noon, and the day was intensely !