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

few steps more. the last toward the
thing down there that we covet: then
we win halt But the velocity they
gain sweeps them on. and the further
they go the less able they are TO re-
sist IL.
Here is the secret Of the unrest. the
madness, OF many Of our contempora-
Ties. Having condemned their will to
the service Of their appetities they suf-
Ter the penalty. They are delivered up
to violent passions which devour their
flesh crush their bones. such their
blood. and cannot be stated. This is not
a lofty moral denunciation. have been
listening to what life says. and have
recorded, as / heard them. some of the
truths that resound i'm every square.
Has drunkenness, inventive as il is
of new drinks, found the means of
quenching thirst? Not at all. 1t might
rather be called the art of making
thirst inextinguishable. Frank liber-
lineage, does il deaden the sting of the
senses? No; it envenoms il, converts
natural desire into a morbid obsession
and makes il the dominant passion. Let
your needs rule you. pamLer them-you
will see them multiply like insects in
the sun. The more you give them. the
more they demand. He is senseless who
seeks for happiness in material pros
perity alone. As well undertake to fill
the cask of the Danaides. To those
who have millions. millions are want
ing; TO those who have thousands. thou
sands. Others lack a twenty-franc
piece or a hundred sous. When they
have a chicken i'm the pot, they ask
for a goose; when they have the goose,
they wish it were a turkey, and so
fatal this tendency is. There are too
many humble people to wish to imi-
tate the great. too many poor working
men who ape the wwell-to-do middle
classes, too many shop girls who play
at being ladies. too many clerks who
act the club man or sportsman. and
among those in easy circumstances and
the rich, are too many people who
forget that what they possess could
serve better purpose than procuring
pleasure for themselves, only 10 find
in the end that one never has enough.
Our needs, in place of the servants
that they should be, have become a tur-
bulent and sedititouS crowd, a legion
OF tyrants in miniature A man en-
shaved TO his needs may best be COM
pared to a bear with a ring in his
nose, that is led about and made to
dance at will. The likeness is not fiat
tering. but you win grant that it is
true. 1t is i'm the train of their own
needs that so many Of those men are
dragged along who rant for liberty,
progress, and | don't know what else.
They cannot take step without ask
ing themselves if il might not irri-
tate their masters. How many men
and women have gone on and on, even
10 dishonesty, for the sole reason that
they had too many needs and could
not resign themselves to simple liv-
ing, There are many guests in the
chambers of Mazas who could give
us much light on the subject of too
exigent needs.
Let me tell you the story of an ex-
cellent man whom / knew. He tender
ly loved his wife and children, and
they all lived together. in France. in
comfort and plenty, but with little of
the luxury the wife coveted. Always
short of money. though with a little
management he might have been at
ease he ended by exiting himself to
a distant colony. leaving mis- wife and
children in the mother country. I don't
kpow how the poor man can feel off
there but his family has a finer apart
ment, more beautiful tOilettes, and
what passes for an equipage. At pres
ent they are perfectly contented. but
soon they viii be used to this luxury
-rudimentary after all. Then Madam
Viii find her furniture common and
her eQuipage mean. II this man loves
his wife-and that cannot be doubted
he will migrate to the moon il there
is hope of 4 larger stipend. In other
cases the roles are reversed, and the
wife aud children are sacrificed TO the
raVenous needs OF the head of the fam
lily whom an irregular life play. and
countless other costly foilics have
robbed of all dignity. Between his appe-
titcs and his role Of father he has de-
cided for the former. and he slowly
drifts toward the most abject egoism.
This fOrgetfulnesS Of all responsible
ity this gradual bcnumbing of noble
feeling, is not alone TO be found among
pleasure seekers of the upper classes:
the people also are infected. I know
more than one little household. which
ought to be happy, where the mother
has only pain and heartache day and
night the children are barefoot. and
there is great ado for bread. Why?
Because too much money is needed by
the father To speak only of the ex-
penditure for alcohol. every body knows
the proportions that has reached IN
the last twenty years. The sums swal-
lowed up in this gulf are fabulous
twice the indemnity Of the war Of 1870.
How many legitimate needs could have
been satisfied with that which has
been thrown away on these artificial
ones, The reign Of wants is by no
means the reign Of brotherhood TIE
more things man desires for him
self. the less he can do for his neigh
Dor. and even for those attached TO him
by ties Of blood.