The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-12-11

most men, few concise lines would
answer. Their regime is in general OF
supreme simplicity. and SO long as they
follow it. all is well with them. as with
every obedient child Of Mother Nature.
Let them depart from it. complications
arise. health fails. gayety vanishes.
Only simple and natural living can
Keep body in full vigor Instead of
remembering this basic principle. we
fall into the strangest alterations.
What material things does "a man
need to live under the best conditions?
a healthful diet. simple clothing. a san
1tary dwellingpl air and exercise
j am not going TO enter into hygienic
details, compose. menus, or discuss
model tenements and dress reform. My
ann is to point out a direction and
tell what advantage would come TO
each of us from ordering his life in a
spirit of simplicity. To know that this
spirit does not rule i'm our society we
need but watch the lives of men OF all
classes. Ask different people of very
unlike surroundings, this question:
What do you need to live? You viii
see how they respond. Nothing is more
instructive. For some aboriginals of
The Partisan asphalt. there is no life
possible outside a region bounded by
certain boulevards. There one finds the
Tespirable air. the illuminating light.
normal heat, classic cookery. and. in
moderation, SO many other things with
out which ii would not be worth the
while to promenade this round ball.
ON the various rungs of the bourgeois
ladder people reply to the question.
what is necessary to live? by figures
varying with the degree of their ambi-
ton or education: and by education is
oftenest understood the outward GUS
IONS of life. the style of house. dress,
Ia ble-an education precisely skin
deep. Upward from a certain income,
fee. or salary. life becomes possible:
below that 1t is impossible We have
seen men commit suicide because their
means had fallen under a certain mini
mum. They preferred to disappear
rather than retrench. Observe that this
minimum. the cause of their despair.
would have been sufficient for others
o. less eNacting needs. and enviable to
men whose tastes are INQUEST.
ON lofty mountains vegetation
changes with the altitude There is the
region OF ordinary fora, that Of the
forests, that of pastures. that of bare
rocks and glaciers. Above a certain
zone wheat is no longer found, but the
vine stil prospers. The oak ceases in
the low regions, the pine hourishes at
considerable heights. Human life. with
its needs, reminds one Of these phe-
nomcna of vegetation.
At certain altitude Of fortune the
fnancieT thTives the club-man. the So
cicty woman. all those i'm short for
whom the strictly necessary includes a
certain number of domestics and equi-
pages as well as several town and
country houses. Further on dourishes
the rich upper middle class. with lie
own standards and life In other re-
EiCns we find men Of ample. moderate
o. small means, and very unlike ext
Eencies. Then come the people-arti-
sans. day-laborers. peasants: i'm short
tho masses. who live dense and serried
Ike the thick. sturdy growths on the
SUBMITS OF the mountains, where the
larger vegetation can no longer md
nCurishment. In all these different re-
giuns Of society men live, and no mat
ter i'm which particular region they
flourish. all are alike human beings
bc2ring the same mark. How strange
that among fellows there should be
such a prOdigious difference I'm require
mcnts, And here the analogies of our
comparison fails us. Plants and animals
OF the same families have identical
wants. I'm human life we observe
quite the contrary. What conclusion
shall we draw from this, if not that
with MS there is q considerable elastic
fty i'm the nature and number OF needs?
rs il well. is IL favorable to the de-
yClopment Of the individual and his
happiness and To- the development and
happiness OF society. that man should
have a multitude Of needs. and bend
his energies TO their satisfaction? Let
Us return FOR a moment To our COM
parison with inferior beings Provided
that their essential wants are satisfied
they live content. Is this true Of men?
No. in all classes OF society we find
discomfort. I leave completely out OF
the question those who lack the neces-
stiles Of life. One cannot with Justice
count in the number of malcontcnts
thoee from whom hunger. cold and
misery wiring complaints. ] am cOnsid-
ermE now that multitude OF people who
live under conditions at least support
able. Whence comes their heart burn
ing? Why is ii found not only among
those of modest though sufficient
means. but also under shades OF ever
increasing refinement, all along the as
cending scale, even 10 opulence and the
SUBMITS of social place. They talk Of
the contented middle classes. Who talk
OF them2 People who, Judging from
without. think that as soon as one be-
gins To enjoy ease he ought 10 be sat
isfied. But the middle classes them
they consider themselves sat
listed? Not the least I'm the world. II
there are people at once rich and con-
tent. be assured that they are content
because they know how TO be so. not
because they are rich. An animal is
81 tisfied when it has eaten; it lies down
and sleeps. "A man also can lie down
and sleep for a time, but it never lasts.
When he becomes accustomed to this
cCntentment. he tires of il and demands
q greater. Mans appetite is not ap-
peased by food; It increases with eat
ing. This may seem absurd but it is
strictly true.
And the fact that those who make
the most outcry are almost always
those who should find the best reasons
for contentment, proves unquestionably
that happiness is not allied 10 the num-
Der Of our needs and the zeal we put
into their cultivation. II is for every
ones interest 20 let this truth sink
deep into his mind. II il does not. il
-DSS NV ~ uFtlSift dCtiDi SutEttG
IN limiting his needs. he risks de-
scent insensible and beyond retreat
along the declivity of desire.
He who lives 10 eat. drink. sleep,
dress. take his walk,-in short. pamper
himself all that he can--be 1t the cour-
tier baskins IN the SUM- the drunken
1sborer, the commoner serving his
belly, the woman absorbed in her tot
lettes the DrOniRatp Of lou- aetata -,
high, or simply the ordinary pleasure
lover, q good fellow" but too obedient
20 material needs-that man or woman
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