The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1898-01-20
Some Rambling Thoughts.
BY ''NEMo." T"
ICopyrighted BY Dave 4 Taber.,


There came across my path few
days since, a young man of wide
reading but not Of deep thought
who had among other things, satur-
ated his mind with the thoughts OF
Schopenhaur, the pessimist. In
weary tones he told of the disap-
pOintments and sorrows of lite, of
the selfshness of human beings, of
the savagery into which some of us
find it so easy to drop, of the curse
of education in opening before us
all vast fields of learning that Time
prevents us from traversing, of the
mockery of life in giving us a mere
peep of great things and then send
ing us onward into death and dark
ness. The dreary catalogue of woe
stricken thoughts grew more and
more irksome as it progressed, and
| fear there were replies given more
forceful than polite. Since he isone
Of a class, may l just in a few
crowded words, repeat some things
that were said during my portion
Of the conversation. ..
/ believe that a man talks only
in such gloomy fashion when he is
an intense egoist that he regards
the world as under obligation to
circle for him and his pleasure that
he makes the, centre of the universe
mere speck of complaining human
ity; and that his own little tooth
ache or his own little misery is alone
used in estimating the feelings of
Others. "a at.,,,,
/ believe that rainy days have
their place fully as much as days of
sunshine in bringing forth the fruits
Of the earth. So / believe that none
of us bring forth our best when all
is sunshine. As the glare andglory
OF blazing sun cause the desert, so
perfect ease of life develops desert
men and women, who make the
counterpart of the wasted miles of
Sahara, in the wasted years of their
lives ardently spent for self and
therefore hostile to every other hui
man being. / must believe this or
else regard the Creator as mere
teaser of men.
l believe that the selfshness Of
human beings is more talked about
than real. Even among the poor
and that includes most of us-there
is so much unselfsh helping of one
another, little doles of kindness
given with freehand out of almost
empty wallets, that one is compcll-
ed to believe that the example of
the majority Of us will finally be-
come the guide of the world. As
Sir Edwin Arnold says, Gall the
poor are piteous to the poor; )" so as
long as the poor last pity will last,
and when the poor and grief-strain-
ed cease, pity will 10 longer be
needed.
| believe that through savagery
and grossness lurk in the breast of
all of us, there is an increasing con-
troll of the hereditary inner savage,
and that the general orderliness of
daily life proclaim this truth. To
prove it, run over in your mind the
things your impulses would drive
you toward; and then see how your
hesitancy is confirmed into active
enmity to those feelings by your
knowledge OF the standard society
made up of units like yourself-ex-
poets Of you. To see what we were
few centuries ago, one might go
to the natives of South Africa. Ac-
cording to the word of a missionary
bishop, they are SO unused to con-
troll by reason of centuries lacking
in it, that at present it is impossible
for the Roman Catholic church to
ordain native priests there. So fore
eign to their thought is any desire
for self-conqucst on behalf of others
that celibacy is an absolute bar
against them. But under our civil
ization when there is reason for re-
straint, both men and women pass
happy lives without floating away
,on the waves Of passion.
n tlH. Af4N