The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-05-29

man; of the merchant and the men
of affairs. Our business men today
are practically slaves to their bust
ness; they are the subjects of sys-
tenn as hard and tyrannical as ever
was that which oppressed the blacks
at the South.
Work Beneficent.
Work is beneficent. In the necess-
ity to work which is laid upon us lies
our salvation. Many a successful
business man of Chicago can easily
trace his success to the fact that he
was born poor and obliged to work.
We ought to be supremely thankful
that we have to work. We need the
discipline of hard and daily toll. It
saves us not only from moral evil,
but it saves life from growing stale.
We should not regret putting our
children to work. In it lies the max
ing of manhood, and the promise of
success. But we are apt to reverse
the true order. Life is not for work;
but work is for life. It is blessing
when we are master of it. 1t becomes
curse when it masters us and drives
us with goad and spur; when it casts
its shadow over us even during our
sleep, and by it's overpressure causes
men to break down in the prime of
life. When work so drives men that
they have no time for their family
life, nor for social life, nor even for
reading or other culture; when it un-
fits one for all higher ends and aims
of life; when it leaves men so ex-
hausted they cannot even go to
church and worship, but are too tired
to follow the thought of the preacher
or to enter into the spirit of the place;
when they can only lounge listlessly
all day Sunday without life enough
for worshipful aspiration, men have
lost their balance in life. Yet is not
this the condition of many of our
business men.
Calling a Halt.
Is it not high time to call a halt
and try to readjust our lives? us
not the life more than meat and the
body than raiment?" Is life worth
living under such conditions? Is our
success worth the price we are pay
ing for it? How foolish are those
travellers, who, in ascending a noun
tain, are so bent on reaching the sum-
NIT that they have no time to pause
in their ascent to enjoy each new
view which every little eminence
yields; for often it happens that
when they reach the summit it
is wrapped in clouds so that they
wholly miss the vision they had
worked for. How often it happens
that men lose all the beauty. of life
while looking to the attainment of
some height of ambition, which, when
reached, is surrounded by the clouds
of ill-health or the death of friends
which ruins the expected enjoyment.
Had we not better live more simply
and have time for something else
than our business, than to be but
drudges living in palace7 Can we
not better afford to go without car
pets and damask linen and cut glass
and fine china, than we can afford to
go without life itself?
Lions are Gagged.
Christian, on his heavenly journey
was frightened by lions standing in
the way ahead; but, advancing, he
found them chained. So the pilgrim
along this road to freedom sees his
lions. He feels that he must sup
port his wife in fashion. But what
true wife will not prefer, thousand
times, the love and life of her hus-
band to multitudes of goods. 1t is
not the wives who demand this sacri-
fee. But it is said that the children
must be provided for.
True, here is duty, but the best
and wisest legacy one can leave to
children, outside of an unsullied
name, is sound bodies, fair education
the discipline of daily work. The
chances for achieving an honorable
success in life are ten times as great
for the boy with this equipment than
for him who starts with a fortune. To
amass fortune for ones children is
a dangerous experiment. sour chill
dren have not the advantages that we
had," said one man of wealth to an
other. "Why so?" replied the other
in establishment. because we had
to work for a living" No doubt
children would be better off without
so much of luxury. Here, also, the
balance must be struck between the
want that pinches and binders and
the luxury that enervates.
But no one is called on to make a
slave Of himself to bring up children
in affluence. Each has right to his
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