Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1905-02-09
No. 6.

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. Ev-
erything within us and without US be-
comes slmplified and unified under the
influence of this law, which il the
same for everybody and by which each
one should guide his actions, for our
essential interests are not opposing;
they are identical. In cultivating the
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
of solidity and cohesion. 1t will never
be possible to say how contrary to So
cial good are the trifing interests Of
caste. Of coterie, of church, the bitter
strife for personal welfare, and, by a
fatal consequence, how destructive
these things are of individual happi-
ness. A society in which each member
is preoccupied with his own well being
is organized disorder. This is all that
we learn from the irreconcilable con-
flicts 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 debtor
and our dealings with our fellows con-
sist in inviting them, in tones some
\ times amiable, sometimes arrogant, to
| discharge their Indebtedness to us. No
| good thing is attained In this spirit.
! For, in fact, 1t is the spirit of privilege,
that eternal enemy of universal law, that
obstacle to brotherly understanding.
which is ever presenting itself anew.
In lecture delivered in 1882 NJ. Re
nan said that nation is "a spiritual
| family" and he added, "The essential
| of a nation is that 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 sectarian, but his essential
| quality, which Is to be a son of his
country and man, is relegated to the
shade. Scarcely does he keep even a
theoretic notion of it. So that what oc-
cupies US and determines our actions is
precisely the thing that separates us
from others, and there is hardly place
for that spirit of unity which is as the
soul of a people.
| So, too, do we foster bad feeling in
our brothers. Men animated by
spirit of particularism, exclusiveness
and pride. are continually clashing.
They cannot meet without rousing
| afresh the sentiment of division and
rivalry. And so there slowly heaps
up in their remembrance q stock of
reciprocal Ill will, of mistrust, of ram
cor. All this is bad feeling with its
consequences.
1t must be rooted out of our midst.
Remember, forget! This we should
say to ourselves every morning, in all
our relations and affairs. Remember
the essential, forget the accessory!
How much better should we discharge
our duties as citizens If high and low
were nourished from this spirit! How
easy to cultivate pleasant remem-
| brances in the mind Of ones neighbor
by sowing 1t with kind deeds and re-
framing from procedures of which in
spite Of himself he is forced to say,
with hatred in his heart, "Never in the
world will forgetv'
The spirit of simplicity is great
magician. 1t softens asperities, bridges
chasms, draws together hands and
hearts. The forms which it takes in
the world are infinite in number, but
never does 1t seem to us more admira-
BILE than when 1t shows itself across
the fatal barrier of position, interest
or prejudice, overcoming the greatest
obstacles, permitting those whom ev-
erything seems to separate to under
stand one another, esteem one another,
love one another. This is the true So
cial cement that goes into the building
OF people.
THE END.