Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-01-07
guage translated into truthful speech
would amount to this: You suffer, my
friend? That is strange. You must be

would amount to this: You suffer, my
friend? That is strange. You must be
mistaken, for 1 feel nothing" AS the
only human means Of soothing grief is
to share 1t in the heart, how must a
sufferer feel consoled in this fashion?
To divert our neighbOr, make him
pass an agreeable hour. we set out in
the same way. We invite him to adj
mire our versatility, to laugh at our
wit, to frequent our house. to sit at
our table. Through it all our desire to
shine breaks forth. Sometimes, also,
with a patrons prodiGality we offer
him the beneficence of public enter
tainment of our own choosing. unless
we ask him to find amusement at our
home, as we sometimes do to make up
party at cards, with the arrieTe-
pensee of exploiting him to our own
profit. Do you think it the height of
pleasure for others to admire us, to adj
NIT our superiority and to act as our
tools? Is there anything in the world
SO disgusting as TO feel oneself patron
lied, made capital of, enrolled in Il
claque? To give pleasure to others and
take il ourselves we have TO begin by
removing the ego. which is hateful,
and then keep it in chains as long as
the diversions last. There is no worse
kill-joy than the ego. We must be
good children. sweet and kind, button
our coats over our medals and titles
and with our whole heart put our
selves at the disposal of others.
Let us sometimes live-be 1t only for
an hour. and though we must lay all
Il
sacrifice is only in appearance. No one
finds more pleasure for himself than he
who knows how, without ostentation.
to give himself that he may procure
for those around him a moment of for
getfulness and happiness.
When shall we be so simply and
truly men as not TO obtrude our per-
sonai business and distresSeS upon the
people we meet socially? May we not
forget for an hour our pretensions, our
strife, our distributions into sets and
cliques-in short, our ''parts"-and be-
come as children once more. to laugh
again that good laugh which does so
much to make the world better?
Here l feel drawn TO speak of some
thing very particular. and in so doing
to offer my well disposed readers an
opportunity to so about splendid
business. / want to call their at
tentiOn to several classes of people
seldom thought of with reference 10
their pleasures.
1t is understood that n broom serves
only to sweep, watering pot to water
plants. n coffee mill to grind coffee,
and likewise it is supposed that a
nurse is designed only TO care for the
sick, professor TO teach, a priest to
preach, bury and confess. n sentinel to
mount guard; and the conclusion is
drawn that the people given up to the
more serious business of life are dedi-
Gated to labor. like the OK. Amuse-
ment is Incompatible with their activ-
tiles. Pushing this view still further,
we think ourselves warranted in be-
lieving that the infirm, the afflicted,
the bankrupt. the vanquished in life's
battle and all those who carry heavy
burdens are in the shade, Ike the
northern slopes of mountains and that
1t is so OF necessity; whence the con-
clusion that serious people have no
need of pleasure and that to offer it
TO them would be unseemly. while as
to the afflicted. there would be lack
of delicacy in breaking the thread of
their sad meditations- 1t seems there
fore to be understood that certain per-
sons are condemned to be always Sc
rious, that we should approach them in
a serious frame of mind and talk to
them only Of serious things So, too,