News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1897-09-15

the Caricature, and the anathema, and the
oatGrwauling, and the filth, and they will
be rolled in it and rolled over and over in
it until they are choked and submerged
and strangulated, and at every sign of re
turning consciousness they will be barked
at by all the hounds of political partie,
from ocean to ocean. And yet there are q
hundred men today struggling for that
privilege, and there are thousands of men
who are helping them in the struggle
Now, that is not life worth living. You
can get slandered and abused cheaper thar
that Take it on 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 com
munity in the struggle for what is called
social position. Tens of thousands of peO
pie 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 intelligence are not necessary, but
wealth, or show of wealth, is absolutely
Indispensable. There are men today as
notorious for their libertinism as the night
is famous for it's darkness who move in
what is called high social position. There
are hundreds of out and out rakes in
American society whose names are men
toned among the distinguished guests at
the great levees They have annexed all
the known vices and are longing for other
worlds of diabOlism to conquer. Good
morals are not necessary 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 hundred times in day, and who
could not write Il letter of acceptance or
without the aid of secretary.
They buy their libraries by the square
yard, only anxious to have the binding
Russian. Their ignorance is positively
making English grammar al
most disreputable, and yet the finest par
lors open before them. Good morals and
intelligence are not necessary, but wealth
or "A show wealth is positively indispeusa-
ble 1t does not NIKE any difference how
you got your wealth, if you only got it.
The best way for you to get into social po-
sition is for you to buy large amount on
credit, then put your property in your
wife's name, have few preferred credit
ors and then make an assignment. Then
disappear from the community until the
breeze is over and come back and start in
the same business. Do you not see how
that will put out all the peo-
pie who are in competition 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
80 years when you can by two or three
bright strokes make great fortuneP All,
my friends, when your really lose your
money how quickly they will let you drop,
and the higher you get the harder you will
drop.
Torture at a Premium.
There are thousands today in 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 in flutter about
the delicate question as to whom they
shall let in and whom they shall push out,
and the battle is going on-pier mirror
against pier mirror, chandelier against
wine cellar against wine cell
lar, wardrobe against wardrobe, equipage
against equipage. Uncertainty and inse-
curity dominant in that realm, wretched-
ness enthrOntd, torture at a premium and
a life not worth living
A life of sin, life of pride, life of in
life of worldliness, life de-
voted to the world, the flesh and the devil,
is n failure, dead failure, an infinite
failure. care not how many presents
you send to that cradle or how many gar
lands you send to that grave, you need to
put right under the name on the tomb
stone this inscription, Better for that
man if he had never been born"
But shall show you life that is worth
living. A young man says: Il am here.
| am not responsible for my ancestry.
Others decided that. | am not responsible
for my temperament. God gave me that.
But here am, in the evening of the nine
teenth century, at 20 years of age. ! am
here, and l must take an account of stock.
Here have body which is diyinely
constructed engine. l must put it to the
very best uses and l must allow nothing
to damage this rarest of machinery. Tive
feet, and they mean locomotion; two eyes,
and they mean capacity to pick out my
own way; two ears, and they are tele
phones of communication with all the out
side world, and they mean capacity tC
catch sweetest music and the voices OF
friendship, the very best music; tongue
with almost infnity of articulation. Yes
hands with which to welcome or resist Of
lift or snite or wave or bless-hands t
help myself and help others.
Here is n world which after 5000 year,
of battling with tempest and accident Il
still grander than any architect, human
or angelic, could have drafted. have tive
lamps to light me, golden lamp and |
silver Tampa golden lamp set on tn
sapphire mantel of the day, silver LAM
set on the jet mantel Of the night Yea,
have that at 20 yearsGf age which defles al
inventory of valuables-a soul, with ca
pacity to choose or reject, to rejoice or t.
suffer, to love or to hate. Plato says 1t j
immortal. Seneca says it is immortal
Confucius says it is immortal. An oil
book among the family relics-a book witt
leathern cover almost worn out and page
almost obliterated by oft perusal-join
the other books in saying l am immortal
l have 80 years for lifetime, 60 year
yet to live. may not live an hour, but
then, must lay out my plans intelligent
md for long life Sixty years added t
the 20 have already lived-that will brin
me to 80. / must remember that these
years are only a brief preface to the fly
hundred thousand millions of quintillion
of years which will be my chief residenc
and existence. Now, | understand my OF
portunities and my responsibilities
there is any being in the universe all wis
and all beneflcent who can help a man /
such n juncture, | want him. The OF