The Monitor-register., 1897-09-17

ing. You can get slandered and abused
cheaper than that. Take it on a smaller
scale. Do not be so ambitious to have a
whole reservoir rolled over on you.
But what you see in the matter of
high political preferment you see in
every community in the struggle for
what is called social position. Tens of
thousands of people trying to get into
that realm, and they are under terrific
tension. What is social position? 1t is a
difficult thing to define, but we all
know what it is. Good morals and in
telligence are not necessary, but wealth,
or a show of wealth, is absolutely in
Adispensable. There are men today as
notorious for their libertinism as the
night is famous for it's darkness who
nov in what is called high social posi-
ton. There are hundreds of out and out
rakes in American society whose names
are mentioned among the distinguished
guests at the great levees. They have
annexed all the known vices and are
longing for other worlds of diabollsm
to conquer. Good morals are not neces-
sarv in many of the exalted circles OF
society.
Neither is intelligence necessary.
You find in that realm men who would
| not know an adverb from an adjective
if they met it a hundred times III a day,
and who could not write q letter Of &C.
ceptance or regrets without the aid OF a
| secretary. They buy their Libraries by
| the square yard, only anxious to have
| the binding Russian. Their Ignorance
is positively sublime, making English
| grammar almost ~disreputable. And yet
the finest parlors open before them.
| Good morals and intelligence are not
necessary, but wealth or a show OF
| wealth is positively indispensable. 1t
| does not make any difference how you
| got your wealth, if you only got it.
| The best way for you to get into social
| position is for you to buy a large amount
on credit, then put your property In
| your wife's name, have a few preferred
creditors, and then make an assignment.
Then disappear from the community
until the breeze is over and come back
and start il the same business. Do you
not see how beautifully that will put
out all the people who are in competl-
ton with you and trying to make an
honest living? How quickly it will get
you into high social position? What is
the use of toiling 40 or 90 years when
you can by two or three bright strokes
make a great fortune? All, my friends,
when you really lose your money how
quickly they will let you drop, and the
I,uIC, ~ paf tho horlar won will Ifpn
There are thousands today i'll that
realm who are anxious to keep in it.
There are thousands in that realm who
are nervous for fear they will fall out
of it, and there are changes going on
every year, and every month, and every
hour which involve heartbreaks that
are never reported. High social life is
constantly i'll a fiutter about the delicate
question as to whom they shall let in
and whom they shall push out. and the
battle is going on-pler mirror against
pier mirror, chandelier against chande-
lier, wine cellar against wine cellar,
| wardrobe against wardrobe, equipage
against equipage. Uncertainty and ill.,
security dominant in that realm, wretch
edness enthroned, torture at a premium
and a life not worth living!
All Dead Failures.
A life of sin, a life of pride, a life of
indulgence, a life of worldliness, a life
devoted to the world, the flesh and the
devil, is a failure, a dead failure, an in
finite failure. l care not how many
presents you send to that cradle or how
many garlands you send to that grave,
you need to put right under the name
on the tombstone this inscription: Bet
ter for that man if he had never been
born"
But 1 shall show you a life that is
worth living. A young man says: 81
I'm here. l am not responsible for my
ancestry. Others decided that. | am
not responsible for my temperament.
God gave me that. But here 1 am in
the evening of the nineteenth century,
at 20 years Of age. l am here, and I
must take an account of stock. Here /
have a body, which is a divinely con-
structed engine. l must put it to the
very best uses, and 1 must allow moth
ing to damage this rarest of machinery.
LhO 1CSt, anu tlOy ASaA 4OCOulOblOus
Two eyes, and they mean capacity to
pick out my own way. Two ears, and
they are telephones of communication
with all the outside world, and they
mean capacity to catch sweetest music
and the voices of friendship-the very
best music. A tongue, with almost in
inity of articulation. Yes, hands with
which to welcome or resist or lift or
smite or wave or bless-hands to help
myself and help others.
Here is a world which after 6, 900
years of battling with tempest and acoi-
dent is still grander than any architect,
human or angelic, could have drafted.
l have two lamps to light me-a golden
lamp and a silver Tampa golden lamp
set on the sapphire mantel of the day,
q silver lamp set OIL the jet mantel of
the night. Yea, I have that at 20 of
age which defies all inventory of valu-
ables-a soul with capacity to choose or
reject, to rejoice or to suffer, to love or
to hate. Plato says it is immortal. Sen
eca says it is immortal. Confucius says
it is immortal. An old book among the
family relics, a book with leathern
cover almost worn out and pages almost
obliterated by oft perusal, joins the 9TH
er books in saying l am immortal. 1
have 80 years for a lifetime, 60 years
yet to live. l may not live an hour, but
then l must lay out my plans intelli-
gently and for a long life. Sixty years
added to the 20 l have already lived
that will bring me to so. I must re-
member that these so years are only a
brief preface to the five hundred thou
sand millions of quintillions of years
which will be my chief residence and
existence. Now, I understand my oppor-
tunities and my responsibilities. If there
is any being in the universe all wise
and all beneficent who can help a mar
in such a juncture, I want him.
The old book found among the family
relics tells me there is a God and that
for the sake of his son, one Jesus, he
will give help to a man. To him 1 ap-
peal. God help mel Here / have 60
years yet to do for myself and to do for
others. 1 must develop this body by all
industries, by all gymnastics, by all
sunshine, by all fresh air, by all good
habits. And this soul Unjust have swept
and garnished and illumined and glo-
rified by all that l can do for it and all
that l can get God to do for it. 1t shall
be a Luxembourg Of fine pictures. 1t
shall be an orchestra of grand har-
monies. 1t shall be a palace for God
and righteousness to reign in. 1 wonder
how many kind words I can utter in
the next 90 years? l will try. l wonder
how many good deeds I can do in the
next 60 years? 1 will try. God help me.
A Life Worth Living.
That young man enters life. He is