The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1903-04-10


20 them. either 70 give up all needless ex-
travaganee and devote themselves 20 build
ing up a quiet home, or 10 give up the
blessings ~ home lie AMI hang on 20 ihs
luxuries and pleasures OF their set. Too Of
ten, under the spur OF social competition,
II Is the latter course that Is followed.
Home life Is deliberately, YES and Grimm
ally sacrificed for social life, and social lie,
so chosen becomes the vestibule through
which many a young husband passes into
the prison house OF debt. Uneonsciously
often, such a man enters race with his
fashionable associates, and they, not his
own personal comforts, create his standard
OF living He must dress as well as they;
he must entertain as lavishly as they; he
must keep up the same pace a. they. And
meanwhile these associates OF his are COM
peting with another set just a little higher
IN the social scale, until society becomes a
ulgar, feverish competition, In which
every bid Tor notoriety Is pampered, and
ever tne feeling is sacrificed One has but
10 read the so-called society columns OF any
daily newspaper 10 witness the disgusting
spectacle OF this competitive spirit in the
struggle for social supremacy. What place,
under such conditions, j. there FOR plain
living and high thinking"
\ third cause for the elaboration OF the
material side OF life in our time is the un-
due craving for pleasure. The emphatic
words are undue craving. / am not advo-
ci..n Ple.cure has, OF course, It's essential
place in the scheme OF righ. living, and 20
deny that place creates reaction which,
however ruinous. l. inevitable. But n our
time pleasure has become a tyranny. Its
despotism has invaded every day of the
week. lt has no respec: for time or sea-
sons. IL appeals TO every passion OF the
soul and by veiled suggestions II desecrates
the holiest emotions of lie. New York be-
comes every evening vast Vanity Fair,
where irrational and too often degraded
ple.sure lures men and women by the thou
sand 10 its glded shrine. and before that
shrine "high thinking and plain living are
nightly inundated.
These are some OF the things which stand
in the way OF the simple life here in New
York. What are some of the peri.s which
must inevitably result?
This life of luxury and extravaganza in.
tensifies class distinction. The poor man,
unable 10 share in these wanton extrava.
gances, chafes beneath the restrictions, and
hatred of his pampered betters bites al the
ropes OF separation In Europe, where a
certain hereditary distinction between the
rich and the poor Is recognized, this oass
bitterness IL not so keen, but in a republic
ike ours, where every man feels himself rs
good as another, these ostentatious displays
of luxurious extravaganza become a hotbed
of discomfort IN which anarchy and COM
munish ferment. Some years ago friend
OF mine was driving past one OF the beauti-
full o.d homes in rural England, standing in
it's stately park. He asked the driver who
lived there "Oh," said the man, eve used
to have lots of aristocratic company there.
They had plenty OF money and they spent
IL freely. We poor folks were well off
then. But now the place belongs 10
woman. and she is a Methodist, and every.
thing is going 10 the bad" So spoke the
countryman, and from his little view this
loss OF luxury and extravaganza was all
wrong. even for the poor man. But mean.
while there was another side to the picture.
That estate also included a large tenement
district in one OF the worst portions OF
London. In wretched novels surrounded
by saloons and low resorts the miserable
people paid their rents, eXorbtant Tor such
quarters. and these rents supplied the
funds for the luxury and extravaganza OF
the former owner. But now what has hap
pened? The lady who owns the estate 10.
day is using her revenues, not for her own
luxury, but In lettering these homes, IN
driving out these saloons, and in creating
a new spirit of respect and love between
her and her tenants. a few country yok-
els get less to spend for drink, but great
city population has more real JOY of living,
and the better class distinction between
wealth and poverty Is at an end.
A second penalty that we must pay for
our extravagant modes of life is that they
create unnatural appettes. The essence of
an unnatural appetite is that 1t demands
constant stimulus. u needs TO be pamp-
cred by new. sensations, and in the effort
to satisfy this false and unnatural appetite,
we are inventing forms of amusement so
foolish that even pagan Rome might ex-
claim with wonder, Behold how these
Christians amuse themselves" Under such
conditions, who cares for the simple mama
of the wilderness, even though it come
down from God, if he can fill himself with
ha hi Of EnNn fhnnnh
make himself slave to do so?
Once more, one other penalty must be
paid. and that is the heaviest of all. This
mode of life is absolutely at variance with
the spirit of the teaching of Jesus Christ.
1t is pagan, not Christian; it is barbaric,
not civilized. No man who is honest in
his effort to follow in the footsteps of Jesus
Christ can live life whose only thought
is TO satisfy the merely sensuous desires.
What is the one dominant note in the eX-
ample of Him who when He walked this
earth had not where to lay His head, but
this: that we should live simply, that we
should deny ourselves daily, taking no
thought of what we shall eat or what we
shall drink or wherewthal we shall be
clothed. for our heavenly Father knoweth.
The way of the cross Is the way OF simple
life; not the way of self-indugence and vul-
gar eXtravagance, but the way which lie
walked with bleeding feet is the path
along which we alone can find the Joy of
plain living and high thinking.
For some of us this secret of the simple
life cannot be learned. We have dwelt too
long in the cellar of our appetites. and the
reel; of the kitchen is in our brains. We
must die as we have lived, in the tyranny
of those tastes which our surroundings
have stimulated For such of us. plain liv-
ing and high thinking are both alike ,mpos-
sible. But there are our children. Please
God we need not, unless our imbecility
has become epidemic, condemn our off
spring to this nightmare of extravaganza
which has so shriveled ouc own intelligence.
We can al least ask Gods grace to help us
10 train the new generations in
That homely beauty OF the good old cause,
In simple innocence
And pure religion, breathing household
laws.
ror them at least we can make the beauty
of the simple life no poets dream, but
divine evangel for the generation yet to
come.
Making q Life.
M,l;p, Gfa is n Ia thing than rnaH.