The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1905-02-23

they have a chicken In the pot the
ask for goose; when they have tn,
goose they wish 1t were turkey, ans
80 on. We shall never learn how fata
this tendency is. There are too manJ
humble people who wish to initiate tn,
great, too many poor workingmen VIII,
ape the well to do middle classes, tot
many shopgirls who play at being la
dies, too many clerks who act the club
man or sportsman, and among those II
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 turbulent and seditious
crowd, legion Of tyrants In miniature.
A man enslaved to his needs may best
be compared to bear with a 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 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 exlgent
needs.
Let me tell you the story of an ex-
cellent man whom / 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 exiling himself to a
distant colony, leaving his wife and
children in the mother country. /
don't know how the poor man can feel
or 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, he
will migrate to the moon If there is
hope Of larger stipend. In other
cases the roles are reversed and the
wife and children are sacrificed to the
ravenous needs Of the head of the
family, whom an irregular life, play
and countless other costly folles have
robbed Of all dignity. Between his ap-
petites and his role of father he has
decided for the former, and he slowly
drifts toward the most abject egolsm.
This forgetfulness of all responsible
ty, 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 is great ado for bread Why?
Because too much money is needed by
the father To speak only of the ex-
pendlture 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 q man desires for himself the
less he can do for his neighbor, and
even for those attached to him by ties
Of blood.
The destruction of happiness, indie
pendence, moral ineness, even of the
sentiment OF common interests-such is
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 1t is absorbed with the present,
sacrifices to 1t the conquests of the
past, immolates to 1t the future. After
us the delugel TO raze the forests in
order to get gold; to squander your pat
rlmony in youth, destroying In a day
the fruit of long years; to warm your
house by burning your furniture; to
burden the future with debts for the
sake of present pleasure; to live by ex-
pedients and sow for the morrow trou-
Bile, sickness, ruin, envy and hate-the
enumeration Of all the misdeeds of this
fatal regime has no end.
On the other hand, II we hold to sim
pie needs we avoid all these evils and
replace them by measureless good. |
That temperance and sobriety are the
bSob SuulhluAo VI ntdllu Is an Olu slO- |
ry. They spare him who observes them
many misery that saddens existence.
They insure him health, love Of action,
mental poise. Whether it be ques-
tlon Of food, dress or dwelling, simple
ity Of taste is also source Of indie |
pendence and safety. The more SIM
ply you live the more secure is your fu-
ture. You are less at the mercy Of
surprises and reverses. An illness or
a period of idleness does not suffice to
dispossess you; a change of position,
even considerable, does not put you
to confusion. Having simple needs.
you find 1t less painful to accustom
to the hazards of fortune
You remain man, though you lose
your office or your income, because the
foundation on which your life rests is
not your table, your cellar, your horses,
your goods and chattels or your money.
In adversely you will not act like a
nursllug deprived of its bottle and
rattle, Stronger, better armed for the
Struggle, presenting, like those with
'haven heads, less advantage to the