The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1905-05-04
CHAPTER XIV.
CONCLUSION.

Y THINK / have said enough Of the
spirit and manifestations Of the
simple life to make 1t evident that
\ there Is here whole forgotten
world of strength and beauty. He can
make conquest OF It who has sufficient
energy to detach himself from the ia
tai rubbish that trammels our days
1t will not take him long to perceive
that In renounclng some surface salts
factions and childish ambitions he in
creases his faculty Of happiness and
his possibilities of right judgment.
These results concern as much the
private as the public life. 1t is incon-
testable that In striving against the fe-
verish will to shine, In ceaslng to make
the satisfaction of our desires the end
of our activity, in returning to modest
tastes, to the true life we shall labor
for the unity Of the family. Another
spirit will breathe In our homes, Great
ing new customs and an atmosphere
more favorable to the education Of chill
dren. Little by little our boys and girls
will feel the enticement Of ideals at
once higher and more realizable, and
transformation of the home will in
time exercise its influence on public
spirit
As the solidity OF wall depends
upon the grain Of the stones and the
conslstence of the cement which binds
them together, SO also the energy OF
public life depends upon the individual
value of men and their power Of cohe-
sion. The great desideratum Of our
time IB the culture Of the component
parts of society, Of the individual man.
Everything in the present social or
ganlsm leads us back to this element
In neglecting II we expose ourselves
to the loss of the benefits OF progress,
even to making our most persistent Of.
forts turn to our own hurt. II In the
midst of means continually more and
more perfected the workman diminiRh-
es In yalde, OF what use are these fine
tools at his disposal? by their very
excellence to make more evident tho
faults of him who uses them without
dlscernment or without conscience.
The wheelwork OF the great modern
machine is infinitely delicate, Care
lessness, Incompetence or corruption
may produce here disturbances Of far
greater gravity than would have
threatened the more or less rudlmen-
tary organism of the society Of the
past There is need, then, Of looking to
the quality Of the individual called
upon to contribute In any measure to
the workings OF this mechanism. This
Individual should be at once solid and
pliable, inspired with the central law
of life to be oneself and fraternal. Ev-
erythlng within us and without us be-
comes slmpllfed and unified under the
influence of this law, which is the
same for everybody and by which each
one should guide his actions, for our
essential interests are not opposing;
they are Identical. In cultlvating the
spirit of simplicity we should arrive,
then, at giving to public life stronger
cohesion.
The phenomena Of decomposition and
destruction that we see there may all
be attributed to the same cause-lack
of solidity and cohesion. II will never
be possible to say how contrary to So
cial good are the triHlng interests OF
caste, of coterie OF church, the bitter
strife for personal welfare, and by a
fatal consequence how destructive
these things are Of individual happi.
ness A society In which each member
is preoccupied with his own we'll being
is organized disorder. This Ia all that
we learn from the irreconcilable con.
fllcts of our uncompromising egoism.
We too much resemble those people
who claim the rights of family only
to gain advantage from them, not to do
honor to the connection. On all rounds
of the social ladder we are forever put
ting forth claims. We all take the
ground that we are creditors; no one
recognizes the fact that he is a debtor
and our dealings with our fellows con-
sist In inviting them, In tones some
times amiable, sometimes arrogant, to
discharge their Indebtedness to US. No
good thing is attained in this spirit.
For, In fact, 1t ls the spirit Of privilege,
thateternal enemy OF universal law, that
obstacle to brotherly understanding,
which is ever presenting itself anew.
In q lecture delivered in 1882 NJ. Re
pov aaEd that a uafiCv "a ga aptY1tuaI
family" and he added, "The essential
of nation is that all the individuals
should have many things in common,
and also that all should have forgotten
much" 1t is important to know what
10 forget and what to remember, not
only In the past, but also in our daily
life. Our memories are numbered with
the things that divide US; the things
which unite us slip away. Each Of us
keeps at the most luminous point Of his
souvenirs a lively sense Of his second
airy quality, his part of agriculturist,
day laborer, man of letters, public off,
Ger, proletary, bourgeois. or political or
religious sectarian, but his essential
quality which is TO be a son Of his
country and n man, is relegated to the
shade. Scarcely does he keep even
theoretic notion of It. So that what oc-
cupies us and determines our actions is
precisely the thing that separates us
from others, and there is hardly place
for that spirit of unity which is as the
soul Of Il people,
So, too, do we foster bad feeling in
our brothers. Men animated by
spirit of particularism, sxclusiveness
and pride are continually clashing
They cannot meet without rousing
afresh the sentiment Of division and
rivalry. And so there slowly heaps
up In their remembrance stock Of
reciprocal III will, of mlstrust, Of ran
cor. All this is bad feeling with its
consequences.
1t must be rooted out Of our midst
Remember, forget! This we should
say TO ourselves every morning, In all
our relations and affairs. Remember
the essential, forget the accessory!
How much better should we discharge
our duties as citizens II high and low