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

'4lO M eM HH
"HE Book of Ecclesiastes has
had many commentators, and
by far the greater number OF
them have professed to discern
in the discourse of the Preacher flashes
OF wisdom that border on the marvel
ous. 1t would perhaps be difficult for
some of them to point out in what re-
spect the philosophy of the Preacher
differs from the philosophy of the COM
mon. superficial thinker-the corncob
pipe and corner grocery varieties. 1t
lis just possible the herd has been fol-
lowing the bellwether. In the obscure
t'long ago." someone having authority
probably panegyrized the Preacher, and
his contemporaries shouted applause,
and his successors found it convenient
to walk in the beaten track. A Glad
stone reads a book, and exclaims,
.sWonderful" Fifty thousand admirers
of Gladstone buy the book, and read it,
and feel in duty bound to exclaim,
~Wonderfulp The authors reputation
rs made.
The philosophy of the Preacher is the
philosophy of despair, the natural out
come of unbounded egoism. His life
was failure because he lived for HIM
self only. And when in his old age he
grew retrospective, he, because he had
found nothing worth living for,
straightway jumps to the conclusion
that all others must share his mourn
full, pessimistic view of life. The
Preacher in drawing conclusions from
his own experiences in life, falls into
the egregious error Of supposing that
his case fits all other cases; that his de-
ducements from memorized states of
consciousness and observed environ
mental phenomena may be formulated
into dogmas. Throughout the whole
discourse there is an undercurrent OF
egoism that is almost disgusting. The
Preacher never loses sight of Self.
There is no distinct mention Of labors
performed. for others, no glimpse OF
motives free from selfishness. He
seems to have labored only to promote
his own self-glorifcation. Had he
been truly wise 1T would not have taken
lifetime to convince him that with
the low incentives which seem to have
ruled him, all labor must necessarily
end in vanity and vexation of spirit.
His pessimistic-even misanthropic-
illumination eliminates in hatred of
everything he has dabbled in: "Yea, l
hated all my labor which had taken
under the sun; because should leave
it to the man that shall be after me
And who knoweth whether he shall be
Q wise man or q fool? yet shall he have
rule over all my labor wherein I have
labored, and wherein have showed
myself wise under the sun. This also
is vanity. Therefore I went about
to cause my heart to despair of all thu
labor which took under the sun. Fol
there is q man whose labor is in wis
dom, and in knowledge, and in equity
yet for man that hath not laboret
therein shall he leave it for his portion
This also is vanity and great evil"
That which may be considered as tn
source of altruistic feeling; that whicl
is the veritable root of human progress
tho desire of the father to provid
for his children, to leave in their pos
session the fruits Of his labor-th
Preacher looks upon as q great evi
Does he, in his eagerness to reduc
everything to dead level OF nothing
ness, forget that perhaps he inherite
more from his father than he can ieav
to his son? Or does he consider th
labor that benefits others besides th
laborer as labor wasted? How COZ
temptible is the view Of life taken b
the Preacherl How more than Col
temptible are those who condemn th
same views when expressed by "Uncl
Zeke" or aOld Rube," while smokin
their corncob pipes and drinking the
corn juice, but profess to feel vi
bounded admiration for the shallo
philosophy Of the Preacherl
After every new experience in III
the Preacher returns to his dictur
.All is vanity and vexation OF spirit
He delved into everything in order