The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1914-08-06
SOMETHING LEFT
IN LIFE FOR ALL
"An Eye for an Eye" Theory
is Giving Way Fast
A BETTER FEELING
But We Must Act, and Not
Sit Down and Supinely
Wait for Something
to Turn up
From, the o. p. Neaos.

John and Robert Peter and Paul
GOd in His wisdom created them all
John was preacher. Peter knave,
Robert banker and Paul was slave;
John and Robert, Peter and Paul.
God. in His wisdom, created them all.
Chemistry of Character.
The following article was inspired
by prisoner who exclaimed the
other day that there was nothing
left in life for him--and the man
who said that, barely topped thirty
years. We incline to the firm be-
lief that there is something in life
for all of us and that our present
situations add to the magic lure of
making bricks without straw.
Nothing for Nothing is Given
Here" is sign suspended over the
office of the japanese war minister
in Belasco's great masterpiece of
of drama, The Darling of the Gods.
Nothing for Nothing is Given
Here" might we'll be hung over the
gates of every city, village and ham
let in the civilized world, for it Is
symbolic of the undercurrent that
rules this age of progress and
achievement.
Keeping pace with the ancient
Mosaic law of An Eye for an Eye
and Tooth for Tooth" the rule
of Nothing for Nothing" is, always
was and always will be the pivot up
on which the tide of life's battles
turn. The milk of human kindness
will never run dry, the Good Sa-
maritan will always be found ever
ready; charity and good. will always
be rampant and the quality of mer-
cy will ever follow in its wake. But
the great mass of men and women
who make up the heterogeneous pop
ulation of Mother Earth hew firmly
to the rule of Nothing for Nothing
with a tenaclty of six thousand
years standing.
Something From Nothing
Countless millions of lives have
paid toll to this rule and countless
millions have placed their necks in
it's cruel yoke, while marching tri-
umphantly on throughout the aeons
of time ever in the lead-are the
strong men and women who have
ruthlessIy and by sheer exercise of
will, brushed aside the barrier of
this rule and who have achieved
Something out of Nothing.
We do not include in this class
the men who sit down and supinely
wait for something to turn up
something to miraculously material
ize out of nothing. These will nev-
er change. There will always be a
great majority who laugh at endeav-
or. scott at knowledge. mock at op-
portunity and follow gladly the lines
of least resistance. Day after day,
month after month and year after
year, until the grim Reaper takes
us out into the Great Beyond, most
of us remain square pegs in round
holes, waiting for something to turn
up. while impotently railing laws,
customs. brutalities, injustice and
the manifest inequality of things.
Meantime the hands of Father
Times clock tick slowly and surely
on. while legion of Something's"
pass before us. to be seized, con-
quered and turned to good advant-
age, not only for ourselves but for
our progeny and for posterity. We
can never create Something out of
Nothing however, until we cast off
the ragged garments of dull resent
menl, futile despair and the lassitude
of broken spirit. taking on the new
er garments of hope, renewed ener-
gy ard determination to turn Fail
ure into Success, feats that not only
the history of the world is replete
with, but of which the history Of
prisons and prisondom abundaptly
abound.
Stranger than the fiction of Jules
Verne, more fascinating than the
tales of Dumas and Hugo, and more
wonderful than the miraculous mag
ic of Alladin and his lamp, are the
records, emblazoned in letters of un-
dying fame. of what has been ac-
complished by men and women. os-
tracized by society and branded
with a felon's number.
The first great lesson the gray
brotherhood must learn is TO forget
the word convict" Do not brood