Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1898-01-19
SOME RAMBLING THOUGHTS.
BY MEMO.
copyrighted by Dave & Tabor. I


There came across my path few days
ago, young man of wide reading but not
of deep thought. who had among other
things, saturated his mind with the
thoughts of Schopenhauer, the pessimist.
In weary tones he told of the disappoint-
ments and sorrows of life, OF the selfish
ness of human beings, of the savagery into
which some of us find it SO easy to drop,
of the curse of education in opening be-
fore US all vast fields of learning that Time
prevents us from traversing, of the mock
cry OF life in giving us mere peep of
great things and then sending us onward
into death and darkness The dreary cat
alogue OF Woe stricken thoughts grew
more and more irksome az it progressed,
and fear there We're replies given more
forceful than polite. Since he is one of
class, may just in few crowded words,
repeat some things that were said during
my portion of the conversation?
believe that man talks only in such
gloomy fashion when he Is an intense
egotist; 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
humanity: and that his own little tooth
ache or his own little misery Is alone
used in estimating the feelings Of others.
l 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 and glory OF a blazing ann cause the
desert, 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 ar
IDENTIFY spent for self and therefore hostile
to every other human being | must
belive this or else regard the Creator as a
mere teaser OF men.
believe that seltishness OF human be-
ings Is more talked about than real. Even
among the rand that includes most
of us-there is so much unseiish helping
of one another. little doles of kindness
given with free hand out of almost empty
wallets, that one is compelled to believe
that the example OF the majority OF
will finally become the guide of the world.
As Sir Edwin Arnold says: 'All the poor
are pteous to the poor so long as the
poor last, pity will last, and when the
poor and grief strained cease, pity will no
longer be needed
| believe that though savagery and
grossness Turk in the breasts of all of us,
Ia
itary inner savage, and that the general
orderliness OF daily life proclaims 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 soeiety-made up of units
like yourself-expects of you.
believe that when We rise from the
first keen feeling OF our own littleness,
after education has opened our eyes, We
are driven to a fuller understanding OF
what living really means; that it leads us
to look around for the same unity that
pervades the universe, wherein each body
in the heavens moves with apparent in
dependence and yet all are moving to-
gether in one vast progress through space.
| believe this unity OF the human race will
some day be more than a mere glittering
dream-even an actual fact, with only
here and there an erratic creature NOV
ing like a comet across the paths OF
Others. l believe that pessimism regard
ing education arises from wrenching 1t
out OF its proper sphere. Rightly used it
gives us larger views 1t makes life more
varied, fuller and more interesting. II it
does not do this, it is because we have
loaded ourselves down with its pebbles in
stead OF its rubies, and found darkness
where brightness alone should be.
believe that the shortness OF life Just
serves to show us that the race is more i'm
portant than the individual and that
therefore the test Of valued life will some
day come to be-not how much for self
was gathered and scraped together, but
how much service was done to repay some
thing to the race for the pleasures and OPP
portunities that are our heritages as
members of one great human family.
/ believe he world is thrilling to new
century OF new opportunities. wherein
better men than ourselves shall hold
sway, but in whose progress the feeblest of
Us shall have a part ii we live our little
lives to their fullest.