The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1903-05-14

fessions, trades, agriculture or hertz
culture; whether it consists in the man.
agement of great railroad system or
in conducting an enormous manufac-
turing plant.
Happiness does not consist in sitting
idly by while your neighbor puts mis-
shoulder to the wheel of progress and
exerts himself I'd advance his own
condition, thereby aiding mankind. If
every man does his full duty in this
life we will hear less about the concen-
tration of wealth, for it lies within
every healthy man to reach point in
life where hescan rest content in the
future, feeling that he has done his
duty to his fellow man and provided
for his own declining days. "Happiness
is condition of the mind" condition
more often found in the worker than in
the dreamer. To say that man must
needs be miserable simply because he
is the possessor Of great wealth, is to
assume that man in abject poverty |
has attained the realms of supernal |
bliss Neither riches nor rags can |
bring joy or peace Or contentment to a |
tortured soul. But an honest heart |
and clear conscience, fortified by
enough of this worlds goods to supply
every need, together with sufficient
labor to keep mans time reasonably
we'll occupied, is certainly conducive to
that condition. To assume that all
men are selfish and dishonest, simply
because they have been successful in
business, is according to the conven-
tional idea; but the conventional idea
is also state of mind, and, sad to say,
it is usually an unhappy one; fed upon
the food of envy and avarice.
Truly, "happiness is pursuit" and
it is we'll that it is so. 1t is a part of
Gods plan. Were it otherwise, man
would be content to sit with idle, folded
hands, in primeval savagery. There
would be no higher civilization, no ad-
vancement, no ambition. Man would
sink to his lowest level, living only in
today; careless, needless of the future.
To the animal grazing on one side of
stream, the grass on the other side al
ways appears greener and more succu-
lent. So it is with man. The farmer sees
in city life with its modern conven-
fences and its inexhaustable fund of
entertainment and its shorter hours of
labor, his Utopia. His visit to the ex-
position or state fair marks an event
in his life. 1t is all so new and strange
that it is no wonder that he is dazzled
by its glittering pageantry. But to the
man who has spent forty years of his
life in the country this would soon pail
and he would hasten "back to the
music Of the running stream and
swaying trees, back to the fields and
pastures and woods and mountains
where the birds and beasts and even
the very insects bespeak the joy that
comes from Nature alone" Yes, he
would go back. But he would not "give
up the chase for the dollar" Not he!
Why should he? 1t is q legitimate,
commendabIe chase. In fact with
most of us it is necessary one.
The city cousin, taking his summer
vacation, or reading some poetic fiction
of country life, becomes enamored with
its allurements, and being in "pursuit OF
happiness" straightway takes up his
abode in the country. A few month
of daily routine such as have describe Il
are usually sufficient to disiflusion hin !.
He is not practical farmer and his
experience usually costs him something
more than the shattering of his ideals.
He returns to the city, poorer in dollars
but richer in experience, and he can
appreciate the feelings of "Uncle Josh"
who has made his first visit to the city
in search of wealth, only to find that he
has purchased a gold brick.
F. T. is brilliant writer with a fine
poetical imagination. He can makethe
inexperienced feel that the farmers life
} is the only life. Buthe fails to picture
with his talented pen, the lofty aspira-
: tions and their abandonment; the hero
ic strivings and the noble defeats; the
ambitions and their disappointments;
the daily drudgery, the woes and the
. heartaches that surround the farmer
Look at that knotty hand, misshapen
almost to deformity 1.-The symbol of un-
, remitting toll; look at the lines in his