Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1904-12-08
CHAPTER II.
THE ESSENCE or SIMPLICITY.


plicity i'll its very essence, for in regard
to it people commit the same error that
we have just denounced, confounding
the secondary with the essential, sub
stance with form They are tempted
to believe that simplicity presents GER
tain external characteristics by which
it may be recognized and in which it
really consists. Simplicity and lowly
station, plain dress, 4 modest dwelling
slender means, poverty-these things
seem to go together Nevertheless this
is not the case. Just now l passed
three men on the street, the first in his
carriage. the others on foot and one of
them shoeless. The shoeless man does
not necessarily lead the least complex
life of the three It may be, indeed,
that he who rides in his carriage is sin
cere and unaffected. III spite of his po-
sition, and is not at all the slave of his
wealth. 1t may be also that the pedes-
trian in shoes neither envies him who
rides nor despises him who goes I'M
shod; and lastly it is possible that I'M
der his rags, his feet in the dust, the
third man has hatred of simplicity,
of labor of sobriety, and dreams only
Of idleness and pleasure, for among the
least simple and straightforward of
men must be reckoned professional
beggars, knights of the road, parasites
and the whole tribe of the obsequious
and envious, whose aspirations are
summed up in this-to arrive at selling
a morsel, the biggest possible, of that
prey which the fortunate of earth con-
sumo
And to this same category, little
matter what their station in life, be-
long the protiigate, the arrogant, the
misery, the weak, the crafty. Livery
counts for nothing; we must see the
heart. No class has the prerogative
Of simplicity; no dress, however hum
Bile i'll appearance, is its unfailing
badge. Its dwelling need not be a
garnet. hut, the cell of the ascetic
nor the lowliest fisherman's bark. Tn
der all the forms in which life vests
itself, in all social positions, at the
top as at the bottom of the ladder,
there are people who live simply and
others who do not We do not mean
by this that simplicity betrays itself
in no visible signs. has not its own
habits, its distinguishing tastes and
ways; but this outward show, which
may now and then be counterfeited,
must not he COMPOUNDED with its eS-
sence and its deep and wholly inward
source. Simplicity is n state of mind.
1t dwells in the main intention of our
lives A man is simple when his
chief care is the wish to be what he
ought to be-that is honestly and nat
urally human. And this is neither so
easy nor so impossible as one might
think At bottom it consists in put
ting our acts and aspirations in ac-
cordance with the law of our being,
and consequently with the eternal in
tention which willed that we should
be at all. Let a flower be a flower, 4
swallow Il swallow, a rock a rock, and
let man be a man, and not fox, a
hare. a hog or bird of prey. This is
the siIm OF the whole matter.
Here we are led to formulate the
practical ideal of man. Everywhere
in life we see certain quantities of
matter and energy associated for GER
tain ends Substances more or less
crude are thus transformed and car
ried to higher degree of organization.
1t is not otherwise with the life of
man. The human ideal is to trans
form life into something more excel
lent than itself. We may compare ex-
istence to raw material. What it is
matters less than what is made of it,
as the value of a work of art lies
in the Towering of the workman's
skill We bring into the world with us
7i1ferent gifts One has received golG.
another granite, a third marble most
of us wood or clay. Our task is to
fashion these substances. Every one
knows that the most precious material
may be spoiled, and he knows, too,
that out of the least costly an immor-
tai work may be shaped Art is the
realization of permanent idea in an
ephemeral form. True life is the
realization of the higher virtues-Jus
tice. love, truth, liberty moral power
in our daily activities, whatever they
may be- And this life is possible in
social conditions the most diverse and
with natural gifts the most unequal.
1t is not fortune or personal advan-
tage. but our turning them to ac-
count, that constitutes the value of
life Fame adds no more than does
length of days. Quality is the thing.
Need we say that one does not rise
to this point of view without a strug-
gle? The spirit of simplicity is not an
inherited gift, but the result of labo-
rious conquest Plain living, like high
thinking, is simplification. We know
that science is the handful of ultimate
principles gathered out of the tufted
mass Of facts, but what groupings to
discover theml Centuries of research
are often condensed into principle