Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1904-12-16

fissure in rock. One asks oneself
how or from whence it came. But it
lives, while in the warm conservator-
les, with enriched soil, you cultivate
it with its weight in gold only to see
it whittier and die in your hands.
Ask the actors of the theatre what
public amuses itself the most with
comedy and they will tell you the
great mass of people. The reason is
not difficult to understand For that
class, comedy is an exception. 1t is
not saturated with it by having had
too much of it. And it is, besides, a
rest from its rude fatigues. The pleas
ure it finds in it has been honestly
earned, and it knows the price of the
little pennies earned b. the sweat of
the brow, and, moreover, it has not
frequented the green-rooms, and has
not been mingled with the intrigues
of the artists; it does not know any
of the Illusions, and believes in it ALL
BY all these means it enjoys an I'M
mixed pleasure. | see the blase
sleptic from here, with his eyeglass
shining, in that box, throwing a dis
dainful look at the laughing crowd:
Poor people, idiots, ignorant and
clownish."
And yet it is they who are the really
living beings, while he is an artificial
being, a mannikin incapable of feeling
that fine and healthful intoxicatiop
of an hour of frank pleasure.
Unfortunately, the unaffected art.
lessness is disappearing even from
the popular places. We See the people
of the cities, and those of the country
places later, break away from the
good old traditions The mind per.
verified by alcohol, the passion for
play, and unhealthy literature, con.
tracts, little by little, unhealthy tastes
The fictitious life forces it's way into
these centers formerly simple, and at
once it is like the phylloxera which
destroys the vines. The robust tree,
the joy of the rustic, feels its sap
cease to flow and it's leaves dye them.
selves with yellow Compare one Of
those outdoor fetes of the good old
style with one of the village festivals
so-called, modernized. On the one
hand, in the respected frame of secu-
lar customs solid countrymen sang
their songs of the country. danced the
country dances, in their peasants
attire, drank their native drinks, and
seemed to completely enjoy them
selves They amused themselves like
the blacksmith at his forge, as the
cascade falls, as the colts bound in
the meadow. 1t is contagious. and
wins your heart In spite of oneself
one says: Bravo! children; that is
just right" We would ask you to he
of the party.
On the other hand. l see villagers
disguised in Citizens" peasants rem
dered ugly by the dressmakers, and
as principal ornament of the festi.
val gathering of degenerates, who
bawl concert-hall songs; and, some.
times, holding the place of honor, a
few strolling actors of the tenth class
come for the occasion, to smooth of
the rougher points Of these rurals, and
to permit them to taste of refined
pleasures. For drinks, liquors based
on alcohol made from potatoes, or
absinthe. There is no originality or
picturesqueness in all of it. Of gay
abandon, perhaps, and vulgarity, but
not that abandonment which brings
innocent pleasure
This question of pleasure is capt.
\ tai one. The most sedate persons neg
lect it in general as a futility, the
utilitarians as costly superfiuity.
Those whom we designate men of
pleasure lay waste so delicate a do
| oil In, 40
do not seem to understand in the
least degree the immense human in
terest which is attached to joy. 1t is n
sacred flame which must be nourish-
ed, and which throws a dazzling light
over life. He who determines to enter
tain it accomplisheS work as profit
able to humanity as he who builds
bridges, piei ces tunnels, or cultivates
the ground. To conduct oneself in
such a way, that one maintains in
himself, in the midst of his labors and
the troubles of life. the faculty of be-
ing happy and that he may, like a
sort of salutary contagion, propagate
happiness among his fellow beings, is
to do work of solidarity in the no.
blest Specification of the term. To
give a little pleasure, to smooth the
careworn brow, throw little light on
dark paths, what a divine reality in
the plan of this poor humanity. But
it is only by a great simplicity of
heart that one can succeed in filling
it.
We are not simple enough to be
happy and to make others so. We
lack kindness and self-forgetfulness.
We spread joy as we spread consola-
ton, by such processes as give but
negative results. To console some
one what do We do? We insist upon
denying his sufferings, to dispute
them, and in persuading him that he
is mistaken in believing himself I'M
fortunate. At bottom. our language
translated in truthful words. would be
reduced to this:
''You suffer, friend? That is strange
you must be mistaken. for l do not