The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-01-11

SidIi tSCodIlI GINA
of Russian despotism, gives the lol-
lowing as his farewell message to the
world:
MY farewell message to the world
at my age every greeting IS ALSO q
farewell-is my view as to no" NE
should be framed in order thar 1t may
be h~encefOrtI, not as to heretofore
bad ard sad, but as COO Wlshes anL
and as We wish ourselves; that is, that
il ma be full Of happiness ana con-
tentment.
The attainment of this aim depends
upon the conception We have OF our
lives. If my conception OF lie IS
that my body 1the body OF ohm Pc
ter, or Mary) is given me III order
that I ma find in It as much pleas
ure, Joy and fortune as possible, IN
that case my life must always, under
all circumstances. be miserable or
bad. The reason is that what L desire
every one else desires. AS every one
wants the greatest amount OF pleas
ure, and as the sum total Oh pleasure
remains the same, there Is not enough
to go round. Therefore. every man
who lives for himself must take some
thing from others, hate others and
make others unhappy Even those
Who attain their are never
happy; they are tortured lest others
should deprive them Of their wealth.
and envy others who nave aCcuHlu-
lated more than they.
The life OF all men who live IN
the body must b. miserable. All such
men are unhappy, Life is given to US
for real happiness. But TO attain
such happiness q mar must under
stand that the real life is not IN the
body; that happiness Is not reached
in obeyinS the body's dictates, but IN
obeying the dictates Of the spirit
which 1iNaG lp ALI men The SDirlt
asks for spiritual happiness. And as
the spirit is one in all men asks for
tho happiness of all. To wish all men
happiness ~OreVer, means TO ioVo all
men. And the more q man loves,
the freer and more joyful is his life.
TIL world is constituted that despite
the best efforts no man can live as
his body demands, because what his
body demands is sometimes unattain-
able; and even il 1t be attained. that
Is only at the cost OF fighting with
others. But the spirit. the soul, can
always live happily, because all that
it demands is love. and to attain love
no man has to fight with another.
The more q man loves the nearer Is
he drawn to others. Why then do we
not love? Each will be happier and
more contented at the same time
and he will make others happier and
more cantented at the same time.
All holy and wise men Of the world.
n Christ himself, taught that our
life Is miserable through ourselves:
that Power that sent US into life.
which Power we call God. did not
send US in order that we might tor
ture ourselves, but rather that We
might attain the happiness which we
all desire. They taught also that we
fail to attain the desired happiness
only when we misunderstood life, and
do as we ought not to do.
We complain OF life, we complain
that it Is i'll ordered. We fail to un-
derstand that it is not our life which
is i'll ordered. but that the mistakes
is ours In doing what we ought not
to do. We act as acts a drunkard
who complains that there are too
many drink shops. forgetting that the
drink shops could not exist if there
were not SO many drunkards.
Life Is given to us that it should be
happy. 1t Is our own business to
make it happy. The way TO make it
a certain chain OF u~nbroken happiness
Is to live in love and not in hatred.
We near on all sides that life Is bad
and miserable because Of its bad in
stitutions; we need only, we are told,
to change the bad institutions into
good ones and life will change for
the better. Do not believe hat any
particular Institution can make life
better or worse. Those people who
Most tnlrstiy seek Tor the best nstitU-
tons are themselves living in discord
and quarreIng. The institutions
which some propose as the hest others
declare to be the worst; they desir.
) to substitute their own ideals. which
opponents agree to be very bad. And
even 1t all Institutions were the best
conceivable. men could not live with
them owing to their being used IN q
pad lie, and we are content with it
we pretend that We would live better
among better Institutions Put how
could Institutions be better while rnan
remain bad?
Must men be made better? Al nre-
sent all they do is promise You q good
NE II you, leading q bad life. fight
; Win other men, overthrow them nv
force and XIII them in order to attain
better condltlons OF life. That Is, you
are PROMISED a better life if you be-