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

Z
whole. it seems rather depressing, and
/ fear that my opinion is not altogether
! personal. As / observe the lives of
my contemporaries. and listen TO their
talk, l find myself unhappily confirmed
in the opinion that they do not get
much pleasure out of things. And
certainly it is not from lack of try
ing; but il must be acknowledged that
their success is meagre. Where can
the fault be?
Some accuse politics or business;
others social problems or militarism.
We meet only an embarrassment Of
choice when we start to unstring the
! chapiet of our carking cares. Sup
pose we set out in pursuit Of pleasure.
There is too much pepper in our soup
to make it palatable. Our arms are
filed with a multitude of embdrrass-
ments, any one of which would be
enough 10 spoil our temper. From MORN
ing till night wherever we go. the people
we meet are hurried worried, preoccu-
pied. Some have split their good blood
in the miserable conflicts of petty pol
itics; others are disheartened by the
meanness and jealousy they have en-
countered in the world Of literature or
art. Commercial competition troubles
the sleep of not few. The crowned
( curricula of study and the eXigencies
of their opening careers, spoil life for
young men,. The working classes suf
fer the consequences of a ceaseless in
dustrial struggle. 1t is becoming dis
| agreeable to govern, because authority
is diminishing; to teach, because re-
spect is vanishing. Wherever one
turns there is matter for discomfort.
And yet history shows US certain
epochs of upheaval which were as lack
/
but which the gravest events did not
prevent from being gay. 1t even seems
as if the seriousness Of affairs, the un-
certainty of the morrow, the violence
of social commissions. sometimes became
a new source of vitality. 1t is not
rare thing to hear soldiers singing be-
tween two battles, and l think myself
nOwiSe mistaken in saying that human
joy has celebrated its finest triumphs
under the greatest tests Of endurance.
But to sleep peacefully on the eve of
battle or 10 exult at the stake, men
had then the stimulus of an internal
harmony which we perhaps lack. joy
is not in things, il is in us, and hold
to the belief that the causes Of our
present unrest Of this contagious dis
content spreading everywhere. are in
us at least as much as III exterior con-
ditions.
To give ones self up heartily to di-
version one must feel himself on a solid
basis, must believe in life and find il
within him. And here lies our weak
ness. So many of us-even. alas! the
younger men-are at variance with life,
and 1 do not speak of philosophers cnly-
How do you think a man man be
amused while he has his doubts wheth-
er after all life is worth Hving2 Be
obs III n
depression Of vital force, which must
be attributed TO the abuse man makes
OF his sensations. Excess OF all KINDS
has blurred our senses and poisoned
our faculty for happiness. human ma
ture succumbs under the irregularities
imposed upon il. Deeply attained at
at it's root. the desire TO live persistent
in spite Of everything seeks satisfac-
tion IN cheats and baubles. Ia medical
science we have recourse to artificial
respiration, artificial Authorization, and
galvaHiSm. So, too. around expiring
pleasure we see crowd Of its votaries.
eXCrtinC themselves 70 Teawaken II, to
reauimate it, Most ingenious means
have been Invented; it can never be
said that expense has been spared. Ev-
erythnE has been tried the possible
and the impossible But in all these
complicated alembjcS 30 one has ever
arrived at distillng a drop of Veritable
JOY. We must not ccHfound pleasure
with the instruments of pleasure. To
be a painter, does il suffice 10 arm ones
self with a brush, or does the purchase
al great cOst>of a Stradivarius make
one "A musician? No more, III you had
the whole paraphernalia of amusement
in the perfection of its ingenuity, would
il advance you upon your road. But
la FLf
makes an immortal sketch. II needs
talent or genius TO paint; and to amuse
ones self. the faculty of being happy:
whoever possesses II is amused at slight
cost This faculty is destroyeu by
skepticism, artificial living. oyer-abuse;
it is fostered by confidence. moderation
and normal habits Of thought and ac-
lion.
An excellent proof Of my proposition.
and one very easily encountered, lies
in the fact that wherever life is simple
and sane true pleasure acc 1mpanies
il as fragrance loes uncultivated flow
eIs BE this life hard. hampered, de-
void of all things ordinarily considered
as the very conditions of pleasure. the
rare and delicate plant. JOY, fiourishes
there II springs up between the flags
Of the pavement. on an arid wall, in the
assure of a rock. We ask ourselves
how il comes. and whence: but il lives;
while in the soft warmth of conserVa-
tories or in fields richly fertilized you
cultivate it AT golden cost to see il
fade and die I'm your hand.
Ask doct rs what audience is hap
piest al the play; they Will tell you the
popular one The reason is not hard
TO grasp. TO these people the pay is
an exception. they are not bored ny il
from over-indulgence. And, toe, To
them IL is a rest from rude toll The
pleasure they enjoy they have honestly
earned. and they know its cost as they
know that Of each sou earned by the
sweat of their labor More, they have
net frequented the wings. they have no
int; igues with the dcti esses. they do
not see the wires pulled. TO them il
is all reaL Aud 50 they feel pleasure
upalicyed. ! think ] see the stated
skcptis whose inonocle gIistens I'm thai
box, east q disdainful glance over the
smiling crowd.
Poor stupid creatures. ignorant and
gross.
And yet they are the true livers. while
he is an artificial product. mannikin
incapable of experiencing this fine and
salutary intOxication OF an hour of
frank pleasure.
UnhappiIy. righteousness is disap-
pearing. even IN the rural districts We
see the people Of our cities. and those
OF The country in their turn. breaking
with the good traditions The mind