Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1905-02-16
CHAPTER XIV.


spirit and manifestations of the
simple life to make it evident that
II there is here q 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.
It will not take him long to perceive
that in renouncing 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 viii to shine, in ceasing 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
win 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
consistence 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 is the culture of the component
parts of society. of the individual man.
Everything in the present social or
ganism leads us back to this element.
In negectng it we expose ourselves
to the loss of the benefits OF progress,
even to making our most persistent eff
forts turn to our own hurt. If in the
midst of means continually more and
more perfected the workman diminish
es i'll value. of what use are these fine
tools 1T his disposal: BY their very
excellence to make more evident the
faults of him who uses them without
discernment or without conscience.
The wheelwork of the great modern
machine is infinitely delicate. Care
iessnesS. incompetence or corruption
may produce here disturbances of far,
greater gravity than would have
threatened the more or less rudimen-
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. Ey-
erything within us and without us be-
comes smplified 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;
spirit of simplicity we should arrive
then. at giving to public life a stronger
cohesion.
The phenomena Of decomposition and
destruction that we see there may all
be attributed to the same cause-lack
be possible to say how contrary to So
cial good are the trifiing interests of
caste. of coterie, of church. the bitter
strife for personal welfare. and. by 4
fatal consequence, how destructive
these things are of individual happi
ness. 4 society in which each member
is preoceupied with his own well being
is organized disorder This is all that
we learn from the irreconcilable con
nicts 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 Il debtor.
and our dealings with our fellows con
sist in inviting them. in tones some
times amiahle sometimes arrogant, to
discharge their Indebtedness to US. No
good thing is attained in this spirit.
For in fact, it is the spirit of privilege,
that eternal enemy of universal law, that
obstacle to brotherly understanding.
which is ever presenting itself anew.
In Il lecture delivered in 1882 NJ Re
nan said that a nation is "A spiritual
family and he added, THE essential
of a nation is tlrat all the individuals
should have many things in common,
and also that all should have forgotten
much" 1t is important to know what
to 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 sectaiian but his essential
quality. which is to be Il son of his