The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1928-10-19
the Best People. The Family Tree
brand is quite distinguishing


sort or another. One may even say
that to have ancestors is more or less
necessary-if one wishes to get on
But walk in the woods will convince
even the most Indifferent observer that
there are many of these old family
trees whose withered and fruitless
branches are so nearly dead that they
have barely life enough to keep their
hold on the ancient and sapless trunk
And they are poor timber, these sc
nearly dead limbs-gOod for neither
the hearth nor the shop.
You are right, no one Of common
sense will discount breeding. A grand
old family is grand old thing. 1t is
a very real and tangible asset. That
is, it is an asset if the strength and
glory which made it great in the past
are real and tangible in the present.
But what about these useless tag.
ends of grand old families that have
petered out? What of these well
bred imbeciles and noble idiots-these
social parasites who cling so pre-.
cariously to the edges of what, to
them, is the best society? Is a pitt
full Mr.. or Mrs. Lazarus, hanging
around the doorstep of certain house
hoping against hope for entree, while
feeding on the social crumbs which fall
from the table of some society Dives
is such a person, in fact, one of our
Best People?
Again, it would seem that the
test should be not who were your
ancestors, or who are your rela-
tives, but what good are you?
Then consider the brand Education
l mean the idea that ones rating in
life is determined by the school OF
schools which one attended.
To pronounce words correctly, with
the proper accent, and everything, is
of Importance. l wish I could. But
even though / am not educated l know
enough not to accept every graduate
at his own valuation.
To hold that people who have been
to certain schools are therefore ouI
Best People, regardless of how they
do, or do not use their education, is
to keep the shell and throw the milk
and meat of the coconut to the mon
keys.
AS l have said before, / would
rather receive a great, vital, living
truth from an illiterate backwoods
man, who violates every rule of gram
mar, than to have a university presi
dent lie to me in perfect English.
1t is the usefulness Of the grad
uate, not the graduation, which
counts.
Oh, yes, and there is the brand Of
Goodness.
Are not religious people, church
peOple-thoSe who make it their bust
ness to be good-are not these oul
Best People?
Well, not necessarily. Religion, yor
see, is not primarily something t.
get or something to "be," 1t i:
something to use. If one makes NJ
use of religion one simply has no re
| ligion to use.
you ought to see my boy, John,
said a fond parent. "He doesn'
smoke, he doesn't chew, he doesn'
swear, he doesn't drink, he doesn't d.
anything"
1t is not enough to be good;
one must be good for something.
By all of which am merely trying
| to say that to the Certified Accountant
| Of Life it is not what we have-fnan
cially, socially, Intellectually, or re
| ligiously-but what we do with it tina
determines our rating.
When ones balance sheet shows
gain of 80 per cent in service
received, against 1 per cent in
| service rendered, that one is headed
| straight toward bankruptcy. That
despicable toadies and social buns
make much of such insolvent in
dividuals does not alter their
credit with those who know.
After all, it really matters yer!
| little that comparatively small group!
of people, for one reason or another
| consider themselves our Best People.
A gentlemanly stranger says to me
"This brick is solid gold, eighteel
karats." Then he explains CAREFUL!
why he is giving me an opportunity t,
purchase this gold brick at less thar
| half its value. For all I know, tn,
man may honestly believe that tn,
brick is gold. If honestly believin.
things to be of value actually mad,
them of value we would all be rich
Well, all that the gentlemanly stranger
believes and says about his gold bricl
is very interesting and harmlessl.
amusing to me so long as 1 know tn,
brick is not gold. But the moment
accept his estimate of the brick ant
purchase it at his valuation, that mo
ment l am hooked.
| 1t does matter greatly that so man!
| Of the rest of us are ready to accep
| these gold brick Best People at theil
own valuation.
! We always have had our Gains ant
| Judases, and / suppose we shall al
ways have our moneyed degenerates
our social freaks, our educated incom
petents, our religious detectives. Blu
is there any reason why the rest of u!
should brand them our Best People?
There is only one standard by which
Life measures a life; usefulness.
If you were a castaway on a deser
island, in the last stages of starvation
and found an oyster containing {
| pearl of great value-which would yol
throw aside, the ornament or the
| edible?
| GO 1928, by the Bell Syndicate. Incl
Huge Monument for Flyers