The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1903-06-25
BY.
81. j. B.

VsezO has the following to say:
"fhe drunkard from choice de-
serves condemnation and is re-
ceiving more and more of it every
year. Time was, and not SO many
years ago, when even professional
men, jurists, doctors, lawyers and
so on were all hard drinkers, and
society looked on and said nothing.
All this is changed. simply as a
cold, business proposition. The
reputable saloonkeeper himself
does not want clientele of drunk
ards.'
The recent widespread destruc-
ton wrought by the terrible foods
in the lower Mississippi Valley is
another of the many forcible re-
minders that mans power and
strength are as nothing in the face
of the forces Of nature and the
action Of the elements. These
awful calamities should, and
doubtless do, serve to remind men
that they should not exult in their
great superiority over those in
dividuals who, as result of un-
toward circumstances, have failed
to make just as many dollars as
some of their fellows. When
food, fire, cyclone~er other force
wipes mans thousands, hundreds
of thousands or millions from the
face of the earth, the real mis-
fortune may be no greater than
that which prevented his neighbor
from accommodating anything.
These experiences remind us that
misfortune in greater or less
degree is liable to befall any of us
at any time and in form of which
we have never dreamed. We may
be in the best of health today and
tomorrow be physical wreck. We
may be happy with our loved ones
one day and have them taken from
us the next. We may be rich to-
day and poor tomorrow. Man
imagines himself strong and able
to overcome any obstacle, but
against the forces of nature he is
about as helpless as child. Per-
haps men need a jolt once in
awhile to teach them a little lesson
in humility, etc.
Men plan, build, achieve success
and think they are safe from dis
aster, and in an hour all may be
lost. Well may we wonder where
the horrible cyclone may strike
tomorrow, where the awful steam
ship and railway disasters will oc-
cur today, where millions may go
up in smoke tonight, where and
what calamity may sweep from
earth next week hundreds of lives,
homes and millions of dollars. A
calamity like that which has struck
the cities, towns and country of the
Mississippi Valley is SO tremen-
dous, so far-reaching in it's results
that people at distance can get
no adequate mental grasp of the
situation. The suffering, the i'm
mediate loss of life, the sickness
and future lives sacrificed as re-
suit of shock, exposure, accident,
disease, ETC., occasioned by the
awful floods are and will be ap-
palling. The tens of millions of
dollars in property swept away is
beyond comprehension and calcula-
ton. Men who were in comfort
able circumstances a few weeks
ago are penniless today. Men who
were wealthy are now poor. Homes
that were elegant have either been
rendered unfit for habitation or
swept away. Men who we're
prosperous, on the mountain of
Success, hard-hearted, Indifferent
to the misfortunes of their neigh
bors are now beneath the bottom
of the cheap
While the great flood ragged in
the West drouth prevailed in the
East and millions Of dollars went
up in smoke in the awful forest
fires in the New England states.
But while these calamities are
fearful to contemplate, there is
some consolation in the thought
that they might be worse. Most
of the poor unfortunates will take
courage and lift themselves above
the horrors Of the real situation.
The sun will shine, the grass will
grow, the ROSTERS crow, the flowers
will bloom and fill the air with
sweet perfume, the bees will mako
honey, birds will sing, crows will
grow, the swine and the bovine