Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1905-01-12

laborer, the cOmmoner serving his bel
~, the woman absorbed in her toilets,
the profigate of low estate or high. or
simply the ordinary pleasure lover.
good fellow" but too obedient to ma
terial needs-that man or woman IS on
the downward way of desire, and the
descent Is fatal Those who follow 1t
obey the same laws as a body on an
inclined plane. Dupes Of an Illusion
forever repeated, they think, Just
few steps more, the last, toward the
thing down there that we covet; then
we will halt" But the velocity they
gain sweeps them on, and the farther
they 20 the less able they are to resist
h.
Here Is the secret of the unrest, the
madness, of many Of our contempora-
ries Having condemned their will TO
the service of their appetites, they suf
fer the penalty. They are delivered up
to violent passions which devour their
flesh, crush their bones. suck their
blood and cannot be sated. This is not
q lofty moral denunciation. have been
listening to what life says, and have
TeCOIueu us L uCulu lAClh cO4HG VI tiAG
truths that resound In every square.
Has drunkenness, inventive as 1t 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-
image, does it deaden the sting Of the
senses7 No; 1t enyenoms it, converts
int r1nrhfd OhsQcCfNn
and makes 1t the dominant passion.
Let your needs rule you, pamper them,
you Will see them multiply like insects
In the sun. The more you give them
fhe more they demand. He is sense
less who seeks for happiness in mate
rial prosperity alone. AS well under
take to fill the cask OF the DGnaides.
To those who have millions, millions
are wanting; to those who have thou
sands, thousands. Others lack twen-
ty franc piece or a hundred sous. When
they have d chicken In the pot they
ask for a goose; when they have the
goose they wish 1t were turkey, and
so on. We shall never learn how fatal
this tendency is. There are too many
uuIHpiC DCDpAc NAO " lSl " AhlAtAeC h-C
great, too many poor workingnen who
ape the well to do middle classes, too
many shopgirls who play at being Ia
dies, 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 pur-
pose than procuring pleasure for them
selves, only to find In the end that one
never has enough. Our needs, in place
OF the servants that they should be.
have become u turbulent and seditious
crowd, legion of tyrants In miniature.
A man enslayed to his needs may best
be compared to n bear with ring in
its nose that is led about and made to
dance at will. The likeness Is not fat
tering, but you will grant that 1t Is
true 1t is In 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 a step without ask
ing themselves If 1t might not irritate
their masters. How many men and
women have gone on and on, even to
dishonesty, for the sole reason that
they had too many needs and could not
resign themselves to simple living.
There are many guests in the cham
bers of Mazas who could give us much
light on the subject of too ezigent
needs.
Let me tell you the story of an ex-
cellent man whom l knew. He ten
derly 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 exlling himself TO
distant colony, leaving his wife and
children In the mother country.
don't know how the poor man can feel
Off there, but his family has a finer
apartment, more beautiful toilets and
what passes for an equipage. At pres
ent they are perfectly contented, but
soon they will be used to this luxury
rudimentary after all. Then madam
will find her furniture common and her
equIpage mean. If this man loves his
wife, and that cannot be doubted, be
will migrate to the moon If there IL
hope of larger stipend. In other
cases the roles are reversed and the
wife and children are sacrificed to the
ravenous neads of the head OF the
family, whom On irregular life. play
and countless other costly follies have
robbed OF all dignity. Between his mp
av,I M fafhAr In had
decided for the former, and he slowly
drifts toward the most abject egoism.
This forgetfulness Of all responsible
ity, this gradual benumbing OF noble
feeling, is not alone TO be found among
pleasure seekers OF the upper classes
the people also are infected. | 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 ia great ado for bread. Why?
Because too much money is needed by
the father. To speak only Of the ex-
pendture for alcohol, everybody knows
the proportions that has reached In the
last twenty years. The sums swallow
ed 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. The more
things man desires for himself. the
less he can do for his nelghbor. and
even for those attached to him by ties
Of blood.
The destruction Of happiness, indc-
pendence moral 1neness. even OF the
sentiment OF common interests-such IL
the result OF the reign Of needs. A
multitude OF other unfortunate things
might be added, of which not the least
is the disturbance OF the public wei
fare. When society has too great
needs II Is absorbed with the present,
sacrifices to It the conquests of tho
past, immolates to It the future. After
us the deluge! TO raze the forests In
order to get gold; to squander your pat
rlmony in youth, destroying In day
the fruit Of long years; to warm your
house by burning your furniture; to
burden the future with debtg for tho
sake OF present pleasure; to live by ex-
pedients and SOW for the morrow trou- !
bic, sickness. ruin, envy and hate-the |
enumeration OF all the misdeeds of this |
fatal regime has no end.