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Show An Atutover to a Pe$4?imt4?t. I O, cynic, deem the world no more all base, And scoff no more with either tongue or pen, You do not see the face behind the face, As God exists there must be noble meu. And many who to us seem hard and cold Have sunshine in their hearts as pure as gold! I have read with interest, and some distress, the bitter and cynical articles -by a frequent contributor contribu-tor to your valuable weekly a contributor who seems to take delight in signing himself "The Pessimist" Pes-simist" If you should use this crude and imperfect imper-fect expression of difference with the writer in question I am most anxious that it should not be taken as a desire on my part to enter into any controversy on this or any other subject that attracts at-tracts his attention. I am only anxious that some opposing phases of the development of the race to a higher plane should be presented to those readers who may have been interested in, or who fail to assent to the views of "The Pessimist." And for this reason I hasten to declare that much nay, nearly all the statements of "The Pessimist" as to man's proneness to yield and submit to the control con-trol of other men is undoubtedly true. But, in spite of it all, man is making progress; and while the advancement from age to age may be almost imperceptible so imperceptible as to leave the viewer on lire's shore, for the time being, unable to determine whether the tide of civilization is receding reced-ing or flowing in still those who watch it for longer periods do know that the tide is rising higher and higher, steadily. To man's shame be it said he fails to take advantage of all that he gains, and it would seem to those who view the struggles of the race from a closer proximity that he only throws off one yoke that it may be replaced re-placed by another, but there is gain in the knowledge knowl-edge that he does throw it off, and throws it off with greater frequency. Does not "The Pessimist" concede much when he confesses that the form of domination employed by those who prey upon their fellows is changed after each succeeding resolution? res-olution? For this-proves that even those who live upon their fellows recognize the fact that man will not again be wronged by the systems or condition condi-tion he has revolted against when presented in the same way and clothed in the same raiment. Unhappily there have always been men of light intellectual caliber who esteem themselves above their genuine worth, and, by combinations of clr. H cumstances, are accepted by the mass of people to IE whom they are allied by religious or political ties IE at the value they place upon themselves. Such a one is this man Smoot, I presume, and this is no unusual occurrence. When summer seas prevail, cookie shell boats and fragile barks skim the shin. ing waves and win plaudits from idle and thought, less spectators on the shore of life. But when winds whip the ocean into foam and the waves run swift and high and wildly beat themselves into froth on the resisting shore the shallow crafts seek safety and are forgotten. Then the ocean liners steam majestically forth, unmindful ol storms that beat or winds that howl, or waves that oppose, and sail onward to the destined haven, filling the souls of thinkers with wonder and thankfulness thank-fulness for their strength and sureness. When occasion demands it the strong soul will arise I and mankind, wondering, will follow when the I whiffets who, in peaceful hours, crowd to-the front, I are forgotten and relegated to the deserving ob- I livion that awaits them. I It is much gained that man has faith in man. Better this faith, to his continual undoing, than ' that he should be wanting this quality altogether, and that the race should falter and fail of its destiny des-tiny when the pregnant hour arrives the great man appears or all the people's of earth should fail of the advantage assured for future generation genera-tion because, once deceived, mankind would rather lose all than chance being deceived again. Nor is it wholly .hopeless that man should form j habits of thought and be slow to abandon that j which has for generations afforded those assurances assur-ances which confirm .him in the belief that a certain cer-tain line of conduct will be rewarded with given results. Tardy as the advance of the race has been, there has still been an advance. "Whether or not he will go as far as surely he will agree that the development of man to higher ideals and better standards of conduct "has been more rapid by reason of his unwillingness to change his faith and. his line of conduct with reference to his fcl low-creatures than would have resulted if he had lost all faith and changed his environments at gt-ery gt-ery breath of suggestion. If man's upward progress prog-ress has been retarded it has not been becaues ol his faith in man and his timidity toward vital changes in the systems that have grown up and encompassed him by his thoughtless consent and to his palpable hurt, but it has resulted because he fears change of any kind, and fears most of all I to abandon the traditions of his fathers and to abandon systems that have been built up, bit by bit, through countless agds. Man's natural desire is to be confirmed in the convictions he holds or, rather, to be confirmed in the convictions that hold him. If we are candid with ourselves, and think fairly, we will find that man reads rather for the purpose of proving true the ideas he cherishes than with the object of learning the truth itself. Even "The Pessimist," when he thinks of his doctrine of despair, or reads on any subject, finds a deal more pleasure in some idea that accords with the views he holds than in having their soundness disproved. I do not know fully why this should be the natural and I sentimental attitude of men, but it is true.' Perhaps Per-haps the opposition that involuntarily arises at the suggestion that our ideas are wrong that we have cherished convictions which are unsound comes from the sentiment that prompts one to E protect his offspring from harm in any form. As-I As-I suredly ideas and convictions are the offspring of the brain and since we cherish them as part of ourselves, it wounds our vanity to learn that they are unworthy the esteem and affection we have bestow ed upon them and wholly unsettles the mental men-tal habitation we have built as a haven for our 1 ideals and ideas. Let me submit for the consideration considera-tion of "The Pessimist" that he might accomplish j more were his capable efforts directed to persuad-I persuad-I ing men to read and think for the purpose of learning learn-ing the truth than justifying them in seeking for the confirmation of ideas and convictions that already al-ready hold them as in a- vice. If this" could generally gener-ally be accomplished among men, how vast and how rapid the strides toward" the emancipation of the race from wrong thoughts arid detaining and destroying systems, it sdems Impossible to conceive! con-ceive! Surely that was a noble prayer which is credited to Solomon, who asked God simply for i an understanding heart. And mankind can do no I greater service to the race than to seek for such a If blessing day and night H But to the development of the race: If recorded history or the speculations or our wise are en- I titled to respect, man was a sorry animal before the ' gregarious instinct developed in him. Rude, sav-1 sav-1 1 age, living in caves and subsisting on raw flesh . B and uncooked herbs, he did not present much to warrant the proud distinction that, little by little added to from generation to generation has come" to him through his existing descendants. Bloody and dismal the record of the intervening years, 'tis true. Slow, oh, how slow, and with what countless count-less backsets, has his ascent been! Yet between the man of that day and the child of this hour how immeasurable the gulf! How glorified the results! re-sults! Who shall compute what the changes, what progress are to be, in all the ages that are to come? "Who dare set bounds? "The Pessimist" himself, with all his bitter cynicism, Is one of the triumphs of the race over the apparently unsurmountabld barriers that environ his ambitions and that bind him in chains (almost hopeless of breaking), to the conditions he would alter and to the things he despises. de-spises. And yet his spirit soars aloft; his ideals rise ever before him like a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day to guide him to a perfection yet to be attained, compared with which the race triumphs of this day are as the beginnings of the mankind when it sheltered helf in caves and lived' upon raw meats. I am not one of those . "Who fears time's upward slope shall end On some far summit, and descend Who trembles lest the long born light, Far seen, shall lose itself in night." Perhaps I dream, but my visions of the future are based upon some knowledge of a part that has made a man, imaged like his maker, out of a being which was at one time little removed from the' beast AN OPTOMIST. |