The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1903-07-09
ECCLESIASTES.
M IN IN M IN M

\ N n DS
lcquire wisdom and knowledge for
PERSONAL ends. He sought happiness,
ind as necessary consequence he lost
lis way while seeking. Happiness is
never found by those who seek it.
is the reward of unselfsh-
ness; if it were possible for man to be
purely unselfish his happiness would
be absolute. Contrariw;se, selGshness
is the source of misery; in proportion
IS man is swayed by motives purely
selfish, will he feel inclined to subscribe
to the tenets of the Preacher. Gall is
vanity and vexation of spirit" must
be the logical conclusion of all who
build for themselves only. They build
on sand: the cornerstone of human
progress is laid on the solid rock of
Altruism. The egoistic Preacher may
cry, "vanity, all is vanity" the Workers
who think it not beneath them to help
lift the burdens of others can point to
different, to more satisfactory, results.
Time and again the preacher points
out that man has no better thing un-
der the sun than to eat, drink, and be
merry, which advice, if followed to the
letter, would mean the development of
the baser, and the suppression of the
nobler faculties of man. Mans chief
aim in life should be to enhance the
well-being of his fellow men; to do
everything in his power to make life
more worth the living, for himself, for
his contemporaries, and for all who
come after him. Whosoever falls short
In the endeavor TO promote the general
good fails to live up to the possibilities
within him-possibilities that distin-
guish him from the rest of creation,
and set upon his brow the stamp Of
Divine origin. He who shares what
soever OF joy falls to his lot with but
one kindred being doubles his original
store; he who shares his treasure Of good
things with the whole human race en-
riches himself infinitely. Unsel6shness
expands the MAN; selfishness ampli-
fies and strengthens whatsoever of
brutishness still resides in US.
The Preacher contradicts himself at
many points. The proverbs with which
his somewhat incoherent discourse is
interspersed contain grains of true
wisdom; but one noble example is
worth thousand precepts, and the
Preacher did not set q noble example.
The Preacher reaches the lowest level
of utterly Inwsrranted pessimism
when he speaks of womankind. II find
more bitter than death the woman,
whose heart is snares and nets, and her
hands as bands: whose pleaseth God
shall escape from her; but the sinner
shall be taken by her. Behold, this
have I found, counting one by one to
find out the account; which yet my
soul seeketh, but find not: one man
among Q Thousand have found; but q
woman among all those have I not
found" The Preacher was q married
Iman-a much married man. Seven
j ihnndred times was he taken by wicked
1 woman, and as, according to his OWE
statement, each taking implies sinful
ness in the party taken, it seems ths
| Preacher was inordinately sinful. b
3 this as it may, his judgment of The
tfemale sex is unjust. Or perhaps ont
should say he expected too much. AL
, this railing Of men against women
and OF women against men, is shee
} nonsense. Where men are loose II
] their morals, women will be likewise
and where women are not self-respect
> ing men will not be self-respecting
3 The fact that daughters inherit trait
3 of character from their fathers as wei
: as from their mothers; and, on the othe
, hand, that sons inherit traits Of charac
; ter from their mothers as well as from
. their fathers, must ever tend to reduc
0 i the moral disparity Of the sexes to
2 minimum. To say then that in th
+ days Of the Preacher there were n
: good women In Israel is to say ther
' were no good men in Israel In thos
days. Which may have been the casf
Q yet at subsequent time, when thing
j, wore yet gloomier aspect than in tn
!" days Of the Preacher, there were lei
0 1000 in Israel whose knees had no