Year: 1874

participation in humble pleasures tC
which bis eyes have been stranger;
at home. There is a sad side to tbi;
pleasant picture. Much Of this ap
parent contentment and enjoyment
undoubtedly comes from the hopeless
ness of the struggle for anything bet
ter. An impossible gulf exists be.
tween them and the educated and
aristocratic Classes gulf which
they have recognized from Their
birth; and, having recognized this
they have recognized their own i'm
itations, and adapted themselves tc
them. Seeing just what they can dc
and cannot do, they very nationally
undertake to get out of life just whal
their condition renders attainable
There is no far-off, crownirg good
for them to aim at, so they try to gel
what they can do on tie way They
make much of fete days, and social
gatherings, and music, and do what
they can to sweeten their daily toll
which they know must continue
while the power to labor lasts.


In America it is different A hum
ble backwoodsman sits in the presi-
Dental chair, or did sit there bat
recently a tailor takes the highest
honor of the nation; canal driver
becomes a powerful millionaire; q
humble clerk becomes merchant
prince, absorbing the labor and sup.
plying the wants cf tens of thousands
10 city, state and national politics
hundreds and thousands may be
counted of those who, by enterprise
and self-culture and self-assertion
have raised themselves from the
humber position to influence and
place. There is no impossible gull
between the low and the high
Every man holds the ballot, and
therefore, every man is a person o.
political power and Importance. The
ways of business enterprise are many
aud the rewards of success are mu
nifcent. Not year, nor indeed, 9
month, passes by, that does no illus
trate the comparative ease with
which poor men win wealth and ac
quire power.


The consequence is that all but the
wholly brutal are after some greai
good that lies beyond their years o
toll. The European always expect:
to be a tenant; the American intend:
before he dies to own the house ht
lives in. If city prices forbid this
be goes to the suburbs for q home
The European knows that life anC
labor are cheap, and that be cannot
hope to win by them the wealth
which will realize for him the dream
OF future ease the American finds
his labor dear, and its rewards com
paratively bountiful, so that his dream
of wealth is rational one. He there
fore, denies himself, works early anC
late, and bends his energies, and
directs those of his family into prof
table channels and for the grea
good that becons him on from th'
far of, golden future.


The typical American never live
in the present. If he INDUCES in
recreation, it is only for heslth's sake
and at long intervals, or in grea
emergencies. He does not vast,
money on pleasure, and does not ap
prove of those who do so. He lives
in a constant fever of hope and ex
pectation, or grows sour with hope
deferred or blank disappointment
0at of it all grows the worship 0
wealth and that decentralization
which results in unscrupulousnes
concerning the methods Of its acquir
ment. So America presents the ano
maly of laboring class with unpre
cedent prosperity and privileges, ant
unexampled discomfort and discom
fort.


There is surely something bette
than this. There is something bette
than a life long sacrifice of conten
and enjoyment for possible wealth
which, however, may never be ae
quired, and which has not the pow
er, when won, to yield its owner tn
boon which he expects it to purshase
To withhold from the frugal wifi
the gown she desires, to deny her th'
Journey which would do so much t.
break up the monotony of her hom'
life, to rear children in mean ways
to shut away from the family life |
thousand social pleasures, to relin
quish all amusements that have ;
cost attached to them, for wealth
which may or may not come whel
the family life is broken up forever
surely this is neither sound enterprise
nor wise economy. We would no
have the American laborer, farme
and mechanic become imprudent, bu
we would very much like to see then
happier than they are, by resort t.
the daily social enjoyments that arr
always ready to their hand. Nature
is strong in the young, and they viii
have society and play of some sort
1t should remain strong in then
until it is expelled by the absorbing
and subordinatlng passion for gain
Something OF the Old World fond
ness for play, and daily or weekly in
diligence in it, should become habit
ual among our workers. Toll would
be sweeter, if there was a reward q
the end of it; work would be gentlel
when used as the means for securing
a pleasure which stands closer thar
an old age of ease; character would
be softer and richer and more child
like, when acquired among genial
everyday delights. The all-subor
dinating strife for wealth, carried OF
with fearful struggles and constan
self-denials, makes us petty, irritable
and hard. When the whole Ameri
can people have learned that dol
lars worth Of pure pleasure is worth
more than q dollars worth of any
thing else; that working is not living
but only the means by which which
we win living; that money is gooC
for nothing except for what it brings
of comfort and culture; and that W,
live not in the future. but the present
they will be happy people-hap
pier and better than they have been
"The morrow shall take thought fol
the thinOs of itselfD ~ NAV not be ar