The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-12-31
Degradation in Malice.

There is degradation to us if we feel envy and
malice and hatred of ones ncighbor. for any
cause, and If we envy him merely because Of
his riches. we show we have selves low ideals
Money is a good thing. II is foolish ahcctation
to deny it. But it is not the only good thing.
and after n certain amount has been amassed
it ceases to be the Chief even of material good
things. II Is far better, for instance, to do well
a bit Of work which is well worth doing do
not care whether this work is That OF an cnei-
ncer Oh great railroad captain of fishing
boat, or foreman in a factory or machine shop
or section boss. or division chief or assistant
astronomer in an observatory, or Il second liel,-
tenant somewhere in China the Philippines
each man of these has an important piece of
work and if he is really interested in it and
has the right stuff in him, he will he alto
gether too proud of what he is doing and too
intent on doing it well, to waste his time in
envying others.
From the days when the chosen people received
the decaloguc to own, envy and malice
have been recognized as evils, and Woe 10 those
who appeal TO them. To break the tenth COM
is no more moral now than it has
been for the past thirty centuries. The vice
OF envy is not only dangerous but also
mean vice. for it is always a confession Of in
ieriority. 1t may provoke conduct which will
be fruitful Of wrong doing to Others; and il
must cause misery TO the man who feels it. |.
will not be any the less fruitful OF wrong and
misery, If rs is so often the with evil
motives it adopts some high sounding alias. The
truth is, gentlemen, that each one of us has in
him certain passions and instincts which if they
gain the upper hand in his soul would mean that
the wild beast had come uppormost in him.
Envy, malice and hatred arc such passions, and
they are just bad if directed against class
~ group of men as ii directed against an indv-
dual. What we need in leaders aud teach-
'rs is help in snppressing such feelings, help in
,rousing and directing the feelings that are their
extreme oppositcs. Woe to us as a nation if we
,ver follow the lead of men who seek not to
smother but to inHame the wild beast qualities
II the human heart. In social and industrial, no
css than in political reform, we can do healthy
work, work fit for n free country, fit for self
governing democracy, only by trcading in the
footsteps OF Washington and Franklin and Adams
md Patrick Henry and not in the steps OF
Nlarat and Robespierre.
So far what | have had to say has dealt
mainly with ogr relations with one another in
yhat may be called the service OF the state. But
he basis of good citizenship is in the home. 4
nan must be Il good son, husband and falheru IL
Woman, n good daughter. wife and mother rfSt
md foremost. There must be no Sinking OF
luties in big things or in little things. Tile
nan who will not work hard for his wife and
Ms little ones; the woman who shrinks from
'sarng and rearing many healthy children;
hcse have no place among the men and women |
Who are striving upward and onward. OF course
he family is the foundation of all the things /
n the state. Sins against pure and healthy |
amily life are those which of all Others are |
ure in the end TO be visited most heavily upon |
he nation in which they take place We must |
,Gware, moreover, not merely OF the great sins, |
mt of the lesser ones which when taken to-