The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1900-08-04
Rev. Father Nugent Addresses the
Chatauquans.

| Last Thursday was Texas Colorado
day at the Chautauqua. The speaker
/ of the day was Rev. j. F. Nugent Of
the Diocese of Davenport. Iowa.
| Father Nugent was to have addressed
/ the Chautauquans the previous sun
| day, but did not reach Boulder on
/ time. The subject of his eloquent dis
| course was The Struggle For Life.
| In part Father Nugent said:
MANY people in the world ask them"
| selves the questions: What was 1 borE
| for?' What does all this struggle for
| life mean?'
What is life? Life is physical zZld
/ intellectual health. The whole struggle
of the human race is to attain physical
and intellectual health.
I'VE used to say that it would be
easier to live when We had all the lux
uries of invention and civilization. But
| high pressure civilization means high
pressure living. The struggle of life
is just as intense now as it was in the
ages of the past.
In all ages the sum total of happi-
ness has been about equal. Our su-
perior advantages have given RIs su-
periOr responsibilities.
Men used to be content to live in
| their spheres, but unrest possesses the
men of today. 1t is in the order Of na-
ture to struggle for the unattainable.
'The days for pastoral simplicity and
| poetry are past and gone. Cows are no
| longer allowed to wander slowly Ger
/ the lea Times are too busy. The cow
boys round them up and the milkman
milks them quickly in the barn. The
fair milkmaid' and sylvan haUnts' are
unknown today.
Our advancement is bewiIdering.
The conditions of life are being forced
I
The tendency is for higher life, a quest
for physical and intellectual health.
The point of desire is always little
ahead of the point of possession. The
great misfortune is that culture and
education and wealth only increase the
unrest. We can never be satisfied in
this world.
IF the intellect could only be salts
fed it would not be human intellect.
1t would then make US, as Markham
says, a brother to the OK What a vast
price we have to pay for the little we
get! Is life worth living? Men have to
sacrifice the end of living for the sake
Of living.
There are inexOrable laws lying un-
der every system of economics. There
is the law of aggregation, the love Of
man for man. But the law of hunger
keeps the law of aggregation from be-
ing abused Hunger and the love Of
people for their children make the race
spread out over larger fields.
THE law that decreed that Longs
peak and Pixies peak should rise above
the other peaks deCreed that some men
should rise above other men. If the
world were level it would be unfnhabit-
able. If all men were musicians or phi
losophers or poets, the world would be-
come intolerable. The normal condition
of men is ignorance.
." We had hoped that with our sys-
tenn of government the native genius
of our young men would rise to the sur
face very quickly is the cry pf some.
but machines are taking the place Of
men, For every machine that is made
a new impulse is set in motion, and the
hundred hands which have been de-
prived of work have set in motion re
brains behind the hands.
1.-The struggle of life must go on. and
it means the progress of the world, but
it means also pain and labor. We must
pay for everything we get. Sometimes
we pay for it on the installment plan,
and sometimes we pay for it all 1T once,
but all struggle means labor; all happi-
ness means pain.
What is it all for? There is only one
place where the human life8findS rest
and contentment. If this life ends
everything, then the struggle for life Is
a farce.
1.-The human intellect is gradually
realizing the divinity that is in it. The
world is growing better The golden
thread of charity is running through all
our actions. Is life worth living? Life
is a gold mine in which are buried all
the possibilities of the future, all the
good thugs of the better life"
The famous lecturer was applauded
most enthusiastically. and everyone
felt the better for having heard him.
1t is rumored that Rev. Father Staf-
ford, the celebrated lecturer of Wash
ingtOn, Rev. Father Brannen of Texas
and Very Rev. Father Roberts, c. p,
will be among the speakers at the
Chautauqua next year.
q. H. Airis. Pres. r. W. Nlcol. sec'y.