The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-11-14
THR FORGOTTEN MILLIONS.
President Eliot Of Harvard Tells the Life
story Of a Typical Americans


The biography OF Mr.. John G LEY,
which President E lot OF Harvard re-
lates in the n Jvemoer Century, is by
no means an exciting story, and it Is
for this very reason that it is told. 1t
is typical o. the lives of what the
writer calls The Forgotten Millions"
and is the second Of a series of papers
under that general title:
To De absolutely forgotten in a few
years is the common fate OF mankind.
Isaac Watts did not exaggerate when
he wrote:
Time like an ever rolling stream
Bears all It's sons away:
They fly forgotten, as a dream
Dies at she opening day.
With the rarest e x3eptions, the death
of each human individual is followed
in a short time by complete Oblivion,
so far az living human memories are
concerned. Even family recollection
or tradition q Iickly becomes dim, and
soon fades utterly away. Few OF us
have aay clear transmitted impression
of great-grandparents; some of US
could not describe Jul grandparents
Even men accounted famous at their
deaths slip from living memories and
become mere shadows or word pic
tures-shadows or pi stures which too
often disJort Of m~isrepresent the origl
nails. Not one human being in ten mil
lion is really long remembered. FJr
the masso Of mankind absolute oblivion,
like death, is sure. Bat what if it is9
Should this indubitable fact affect In
~juriously the mortal life in this world
Of the ordinary human OeinR2 Not at
all. For most men and women the en-
.j0yments, interests, and duties Of this
world are just as real and absorbing,
at the moment, as they would be if the
enjoying, interested. and dutiful lodi
vIduals could imagine that they were
long to be remembered on this earthly
stage. A few unusually Imaginative
ana ambitious persons ara doubtless
stimulated and supported by the hope
of undying fame-a hope which in the
immense majority of such cases proves
to be pure delusion. Toe fact is that
tOrel1oking is not a common occupa
ton of the human mind. We all live,
as a rule, in the present and the past,
and take very little thought for the
future. NV, in estimating the aggre
gate well-oeing and happiness Of a
community or a nation, it is obviously
the condition of the obscure millions.
who are sure to be alb JoluEely forgot
ten, that it ia most important to g
and weigh Alright; yet history and
biography alike neglect these humble,
s~peechless multitudes, and modern fc
ton finds it profitable to portray the
most squalid and vicious sides of the
life Of these millions rather than the
best and the cOmm0nesG. Thus the
facts about the life OF the common
multitude go unobserved, or at least
uorecorded, while fiction paints that
life in false colors.
This paper describes with
the actual life of one of the to be for
gotten millions. Il this life a true
American types II it is, there is good
hope for our country.
This is the life Of n of the forgotten
millions It contains no material for
distinction, fame, or long remem
brance; but it does contain the material
and present the scene for a normal hu
man development through mingled "
and sorrow, labor and rest, adversely
and success, and through the tender
loves of childhood, maturity, and age.
We cannot but believe that it is just
for countless quiet, simple lives like
this that G ID made and upholds this
earth,