Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1904-12-08
No. AZ

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 IL 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 strug
gle? The spirit Of simplicity Is not an
inherited gift, but the result Of labo-
rious conquest Plain living, like high
thinking. is simpliflcation. We know
that science is the handful Of ultimate
principles gathered out Of the tufted
mass of facts, but what groupings to
discover them. Centuries Of research
are often condensed into a principle
that a line may state. Here the moral
life presents strong analogy with the
scientific. 1t, too, begins In certain
confusion, makes trial Of itself, seeks
to understand itself, and often mis-
takes. But by dint Of action and ex-
acting from himself strict account Of
bis deeds man arrives at q better
knowledge of life. It's law appears to
him, and the law Is this: Work out
your mission. He who applies himself
to aught else than the realization OF
this end loses in living the raison d'etre
Of life The egotist does so, the pleas
ure seeker, the ambitious; he con-
sumes existence as one eating the full
corn in the blade; he prevents 1t from
bearing Its fruit; his life Is lost. Who
ever, on the contrary, makes his life
serve q good higher than itself, saves 1t
in giving II. Moral precepts which to
a superficial view appear arbitrary and
seem made to spoil our zest for life
have really but one object-to preserve
us from the evil Of having lived In
vain. That is why they are constantly
leading us back into the same paths;
that Is why they all have the same
meaning: Do not waste your life; make
II bear fruit; learn how to give 1t in
order that It may not consume itself!
Herein is summed up the experience OF
humanity, and this experience. which
&lch man must remake for himself, is
hore precious in proportion as It costs
more dear. Illumined by its light be
makes moral advance more and more
sure. Now he has his means of orien-
tation, his internal norm to which he
may lead every thing back, und from
the vacillating, confused and complex
being that he was he becomes simple.
By the ceaseless influence Of this same
law, which expands within him and Is
day by day verified In fact, bis opin-
ions and habits become transformed.
Once capdvated by the beauty and
sublimity Of the true life, by what Is
sacred and pathetic in this strife OF
humanity for truth, justice and broth
erly love, his heart holds the fascina-
ton Of 1t. Gradually everything sub
ordinates itself to this powerful and
persistent charm. The necessary hier-
archy of powers is organized within
him; the essential commands, the sec
ondary obeys, and order is born Of SIM
plicity. We may compare this organ
ization of the interior life to that OF
an army. An army is strong by Its dis
cipline, and Its discipline consists in re-
spect of the inferior for the superior
and the concentration of all its ener-
giles toward q single end. Discipline
once relaxed, the army suffers. 1t will
not do to let the corporal command the
general. Examine carefully your life
and the lives Of others. Whenever
something halts or Jars and complica-
tions and disorder follow 1t is because
the corporal has issued orders to the
general. Where the natural law rules
In the heart disorder vanishes.
despair Of ever describing simplici-
ty in any worthy fashion. All the
strength of the world and all its beau
ty, all true joy, everything that con-
soles, that feeds hope or throws a ray
of light along our dark paths, every
thing that makes us see across our
poor lives a splendid goal and bound
less future, comes TO us from people OF
simplicity, those who have made an
other object Of their desires than the
passing satisfaction Of selflshness and
vanity and have understood that the
art Of living is to know how to give
ones life.
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