Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1905-01-19

ground. 1t terminates and brings forth
harvests. This Is the secret which ex-
plains why so many people have failed
while employing the very processes by
which others succeed. Automatons do
not reproduce their kind. and merce-
nary labor yields no fruit.
Cnquestionably we must bow before
economic facts and recognize the diff
culties of living. From day to day it
becomes more imperative to combine
we'll ones forces in order to succeed
In feeding, clothing, housing and bring
ing up family. He who does not
rightly take account of these crying
necessities, who makes no calculation.
no provision for the future, is but
visionary or an incompetent and runs
the risk Of sooner or later asking aims
from those at whose parsimony he has
sneered. And yet what would become
of us If these cares absorbed US en-
tirely-if, mere accountants, we should
wish to measure our effort by the mon
ey it brings, do nothing that does not
end in a receipt, and consider as things
worthlessN or pains lost whatever can
not be drawn up In figures on the
pages of q ledger7 Did our mothers
look for pay in loving us and caring
for us? What would become Of flial
piety If we asked it for loving and
caring for our aged parents?
What does 1t cost you to speak the
truth? Misunderstanding, sometimes
sufferings and prosecutions. To de-
fend your country? WEAKNESS, wounds
and often death. To do good? An
noyance ingratitude, even resentment.
Self sacrifice enters into all the essen
tial actions of humanity. l defy the
closest calculators to maintain their
position in the world without ever
appealing to aught but their calcula
tions True, those who know how to
make their r-spile" are rated as men Of
ability, But look a little closer. How
much of 1t do they owe to the unself-
ishness of the simple hearted? Would
they have succeeded had they met only
shrewd men of their own sort, having
for device mo money, no servicef'
Let us be outspoken. 1t Is due to GER
tain people wha do not count too rigor-
eusly that the world gets on. The
most beautiful acts Of service and the
hardest tasks have generally little re-
muneration or none. Fortunately there
are always men ready for unselfish
deeds, and even for those paid only In
suffering, though they cost gold, peace
and even life. The part these men
play is often painful and discouraging.
Who Of us has not heard recitals Of
experiences wherein the narrator re-
GREETED some past kindness he had
done some trouble be had taken, to
have nothing but vexation In return?
These condolences generally end thus:
TT was folly to do the thing" Some
times it is right so to judge, for it Is
always a mistake to cast pearls before
swine. But how many lives there are
whose sole acts of real beauty are
these very ones Of which the doers
repent because Of mems ingratitude!
Our wish for humanity is that the
number Of these foolish deeds may
go on increasing.
And now l arrive at the credo Of the
mercenary spirit. 1t Is characterized
by breyity For the mercenary man
the law and the prophets are contain
cl Ill tllS OllC dAlOli. w III hiOhSs sCu
can get anything" From a surface
view of our social life nothing seems
more evident. 'sThe sinews Of war;"
'the shining mark" 'the key that
opens all DOORS" king money - if
one gathered up all the sayings about
the glory and power of gold he could
make litany longer than that which
Is chanted in honor of the Virgin, You
must be Without penny, IL only for
day or two. and try to live In this
world of ours, to have any idea of the
needs of him whose purse is empty.
l invite those who love contrasts and
unforeseen situations to attempt to live
without money three days and far
from their friends and aequaintances-
In short, far from the society in which
they are somebody. They will gain
more experience In forty-eight hours
than In a year otherwise. Alas for
some people! They have this expert
ence thrust upon them. and when yeri-
table ruin descends around their heads
it Is useless to remain in their own
country, among the companions Of
their youth, their former colleagues,
even those indebted to them. People
affect to know them no longer. With
what bitterness do they comment on
the creed OF money! With gold one
may have what he will; without it, i'm
possible to have anything. They be-
come pariahs, lepers, whom every one
shuns. Flies swarm round cadavers,
men round gold. Take away the gold,
nobody Is there. oh, 1t has caused
tears to flow, this creed of gain-bitter
tears, tears of blood, even from those
very eyes which once adored the gold
en- calf!
And, with II ail this creed is false,
quite false. 1 shall not advance to the
attack with hackneyed tales of the
rich man astray in a desert who can
not get even a drop of water for his
gold or the decrepit millionaire who
would give half he has to buy from
stalwart fellow without cent his
twenty years and his lusty health; no
more shall attempt to prove that one
cannot buy happiness. So many peo-
pie who have money and so many more
who have not would smile at this truth
as the hardest ridden of saws. But !
shall appeal to the common experience
of each of you, to make you put your
finger on the clumsy lie hidden beneath
an axiem that all the world goes about
repeating.
Fill your purse to the best Of your
means and let us set out for ane OF the
watering places OF which there are 50
many-I mean some little town for
merly unknown and full of simple folk
respectful and hospitable, among whom
it was good to be, and cost little. Fame
with her hundred trumpets has an
nounced them to the world and shown
them how they can profit from their
situation, their climate, their person
atty You start out on the faith of
Dame Rulnor, flattering yourself that
with your money you are going to find
q quiet place to rest and, far from the
world of civilization and convention,
weave bit of poetry into the warp Of
your days.
The beginning Is good. Natures set
ting and some patriarchal costumes,
slow TO disappear, delight you. But |
as time passes the impression Is spoil |
ed The reverse side of things begins |
to show This which you thought was |
@,.t,a anfi for mi lu hairlnnma Ia