The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1905-03-16
lContinued from last week. I
CHAPTER VII.

myself unhappily confirmed in Ike
opinion that they do not set much
pleasure ont of things. And &c, fainly
it is not from lack of trying But it
must be acknowledged that their sue
cess is me&Gcr. Where an the fault
be?
Some accuse politics or business.
others social problems or miiltlrism.
We meet only an embarrassment Of
choice when we start to unString the
chaplet of our carking cares Sup
pose we set out in pursuit of pleasure.
There is too much pepper in our SOUP
to make it pal8tahlc Our arms are
filed with Il multitude of embarrass-
mentS. any one of which would be
enough to spoil cur temper From
morning till night. wherever we 90
the people we meet are hurried, wor
ried, preoccupied. Some have split
their good blood in the miserable con.
ficts of petty politics; others are dis.
heartened by the meanness ard ical
ousy they have encountered in the
world of literature or art. Commercial
competition troubles the sleep Of moi
few. The crowded cllrYicula Of
study and the cXigencies of their Open.
ing careers spoil life for young men
The working classes suffer the c3nsn-
quences Of Il ceaseless struggle. It is
becoming disaCreeable to govern bn.
cause authority is diminishing: &c
teach, because respect is vanishing
TIn,, - -.
discomfort
And yet history shows us certain
epochs of upheaval which were rs
lacking in idyIlic tranquility as is OH
own, but which the gravest events
did not prevent from being gay. II
even seems as if the seriousness of af-
fairs, the uncertainty of the morrow
the violence Of social c0nvulsions.
sometimes became a new source OF
vitality. 1t is not rare thing 20 heal
soldiers singing between two battles.
and l think myself nowise mistaken in
saying that human joy has celebrated
its finest triunphs under the greatest
tests of endurance. But to sleep peace
fully on the eve Of battle, or to eXult
at the stake, men had then the slim
illus of an internal harmony which
we perhaps lack, JOY is not in things;
it is in us, and hold to the belief that
the causes of our present unrest. of
this contagious discomfort spreading
everywhere, are in us at least rs much
as in exterior conditions.
To give oneself up heartily to diver
sion one must feel himself on solid
basis. must believe in life and find it
within him. And here lies our weak
ness. SO many of us-even, alas, the
younger men 49, are at variance with
life, and l do not speak of philosophers
only. How do you think a man can be
amused while he has his doubts wheth-
er, after ALL life is worth living? Be
sides this, one observes a diSquieting
depression of vital force, which must
be attributed to the abuse man makes
of his sensations. Excess of all kinds
has blurred our senses and poisoned
our faculty for happiness. Human ma
ture succumbs under the irregularities
imposed upon it. Deeply attainted at
its root, the desire to live, persistent il
spite of everything, seeks satisfaction
in cheats and baubles. In medical sci
ence we have recourse to artificial res
piratiOn, artificial alimentation and gal
vanism. So, too, around expiring pleas
ure we see crowd of its votaries ,ex-
erting themselves to reawaken it, to re-
animate it. Most ingenious means
have been invented; it can never be
said that expense has been spared
Everything has been tried, the possible
complicated alembics no one has ever
arrived at distilling a drop of veritable
joy. We must not confound pleasure
with the instruments of pleasure. To
be painter, does it suffice to arm
oneself with a brush, or does the pur-
chase at great cost of a Stradivarili7
make one a musician? No more. II
you had the whole paraphernalia Of
amusement in the perfection of its in.
genuity, would it advance you urua
your road. But with bit of crlyoH
a great artist makes an immoral
paint; and to aInuse oneself, the fac1i.
ty of being happy-whoever possesses
it is amused at slight cost. This fac,:l-
ty is destroyed by skepticism. artificial
living. overabuse; it is fostered by con
fidence, moderation and normal habits
Of thought and action
An excellent proof of my proposition
and one very easily encountered, lies
in the fact that wherever life is sim.
pie and sane true pleasure accompa-
MES it as fragrance does uncultivated
flowers Be this life hard, hampered,
devoid of all things ordinarily consid-
cred as the very conditions of pleasure,
the rare and delicate plant, joy, flour
ishes there. 1t springs up between the
flags of the pavement, on an arid wall
in the assure of a rock. We ask our
selves how it comes and whence, but It
lives. while in the soft warmth Of con
servotories or in fields richly fortified