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Show Wkat Is Wrong With Society THE STUPIDITY OF CONVENTION BY LADY VIOLETTE GREVILI.E. Copyright, 1005, by Central News and Press Exchange The Bishop of London b;s rightly said that It is convention thai stlllei our lives. Many of us would like to live more simply but we cannot for f-nr of what our ser-vantt ser-vantt our friends, our employers would think If ye do not look pretty or smart or well dressed, our position, we ImHKlne suffer; If w- cannot hold our own In en- tertalnments, or visit yvith the besi set, we simii. hi n result, inevitably drop in the social soalc Many of these fears are wii grounded, for th, standard now Is thai of riches rather than merit Still. I do not believe we rhould really suffer so much, except 111 the opinions of very frivolous friv-olous people were We to assert our Indl- Id M v more foiiv Blmpli ItV. after all. like heaven. Is a state of mind; It belongs to no special class, and Is the appunaK if HO special BgC I' dwells In the heart There are people who talk simply, live simply, think simply, and W6 And this kind of refreshing person rather oftener among the poor than among tht rich it Is not necessary. In order to he simple, to go out Into the desert, like St. Anthony, or live alone in n hut like Thoreau There are many ways of slnipllf Ihk OUT lives without procefdlnir to bdent extremes ex-tremes Take for Instance, food, dress, social pleasures, With regard to food we all eat tOO mill h The King has done Kng-llsb Kng-llsb society K'iciI service h shortening the elaborate dinners which were In fashion thirty years ac.i A yvell-cbosen. light mid brief menu satisfies his Majesty. Sir amOS Paget n.OVer allowed more than two dishes to appear nt his table, but mam rich people, and tboso who can III afford It, still display unnecessary ostentation osten-tation In Wines lii varied and rich dishes Or It' 'prlmeuis" . f fruits and vegetables OUl Of nason. COStly and often tasteless. Ejttvnvr.gnnee in Dress Dross was m-yer so universally extravagant extrav-agant as at the present day. Vanity has penetrated from the ranks of the highborn high-born and the millionaires ln!. the serried masses of shop girls, domestli servants, and humble workers All these spend far mon than Is neceSSOTy, Q,,d far more than they can afford, on flimsy, unserviceable unserv-iceable linerv. often battered faded, or second-hand. 1 have heard of Bast End glils who wonl Without underclothing In order to possess a fine feather In their bats, and among girls of the upper classes far mon- Is lavished on the adornment of their person than their means warrant ;irls rarely have g penny to spnre; they ire generally embarrassed, and often In debt. Charltj musl go to (he wall while thej vie with one another In the brll-llancv brll-llancv of the It lothcs. Simplicity consists, also. In a better disposal dis-posal of our time. The enormous amount Of that commodity that Is wasted in hurrying hur-rying hither and thither In perpetual restlessness rest-lessness anil excitement could be saved .inl put to more profitable purpose. I lurry Is waste waste of time, waste of energy, waste of mental power. People have Inst the repose Which made our ancestors an-cestors so pleasant to live with which sweetened conversation and permitted an agreeable Intellectual interchange of wit and wisdom Why should It be either vsarv to play cards or go out In .;ir'h of the. amusement" That search fur amcsemnit is a wlll-'o-tht-w!sp; It evades US the more we pursue it. "En chcrchant 1c palslr en perd souvent le bonheur," and the worst of It Is that the rage for excitement defeats Its own ends; after a time people lose all power of enjoyment. en-joyment. Take pleasure In pilules. It gives you an appetite, take It In over-doses. It produces violent nausea and disgust. Why do yye suffer from nerves nowadays but because we lll-nse them, and by the Inevitable In-evitable law of Nature reaction sets In. A Too Strenuous Life. It Is not necessary to do ambitious things or attempt impossible athletic f its in order fo wear out our nerves. I knew a lady who broke down completely In health from playing In croquet tournaments; tourna-ments; and another on whom a round of London parties produced tho same effect; while a working woman could bring up I er ' hlldren and take In washing without f. ellng any ill effects. Simplicity Is attainable by all of us, If We really Wish 11 We have only to attune at-tune our minds to the right key, to seek Innocent pleasures, to read wholesome books, and associate yvlth people who rest rather than fatigue us. to think more of utile-! s anil less of ourselves, to exclude from our lives all the unnecessary, the expensive ond the frivolous, to study once for all the law Of proportion, and we shall flnel ourselves blossoming out Into something far more fruitful anel Interesting. Interest-ing. It Is not wise tO go Into extremes to dress in sackcloth dine on herb9, or teal down the pretty prints from our walK like a lady 1 heard of who In her efforts to he simple i harai terlaed them as "muck." Above all, let us bo ourselves, our-selves, truthfully and simply ourselves, not pretend we are rich or clever, or amused, when we are not so Let us Strive after Individuality, have an opinion opin-ion of our own. and live like- human beings, be-ings, men and women, with souls and hi arts a nd intellects The Ancient Gospel. In the lives of Socrates, of EpICtetUS, of Aristotle of Plato, of Marcus Anre-IIUS Anre-IIUS and many others whom yye may call "the pagan saints'! of early civilization WS Unci tlnd that they preached the gospel gos-pel i,f simplicity and elf-restralnt. In their si-arch aft. r the Ideal happiness, they found this was to be had. not In the gratification of sensual and sensuous ele-slres. ele-slres. not in luxury and wealth not In the number of one's belongings, not In Idleness and s i-e.illed pleasure, but rather in re-dijclng to the lowest possible- minimum min-imum the multiplicity of one s wants and in obtaining health ami peace of mind and body In plain living and high thinking think-ing Pecause this wisdom Ik old it Is not the less wisdom I'nl'ortuimtel people think that yye want new truths for a new acre Thev do not understand that the yy c.rld i f Socri I' . wn:, In the conditions ,md relationships of huninn nature nnd society, exactly the same as the modern vrl.l Then 08 nOW men of wealth and pleasure scorned the teaching of the philosophers Tin y said then, is they say now. "What do these fellows know of us and oui mode -if life1 What do they, In their poverty, know of ns and our money? The v know nothing of the responsibilities 01 the delights of wealth. They do not belong to our set Win n they bark at us. It is a case of sour grapes " Key to a Treasure V. I If they kneyy- It. this old philosophy Is a key that unlocks a treasure worth more than nil their gold the treasure ..f true happiness It Is unite mistake to think that the man of pleasure." yc ho Indulges all his passing desire s .rid "goes the pace," as thev s.iy really has more enjoyment In his life than the man of self-restraint anel laborious days. The I'oiiii'T ti.i' no donlit. have many ficree-l ficree-l exciting pleasures and Intense sensations sensa-tions which never e tne within the experience- of the other-. But these strong emotions are Inevitably followed by a re-OCtion re-OCtion by an actual lessening in the ia-paclty ia-paclty for c-njoymen: Luxury and self-indulgence self-indulgence defeat their own ends, by so debilitating the mind and body that the period of the pleasure experience Is shortened and the- power of pleasure Is undermined. So that If one could take the average amount of enjoyment or happiness hap-piness In the life of th' luxurious and frivolous and In Ihal uf the self-restrnined .'.nd Industrious. the latter would be foi.nd, In the long run to have the Im- niense advantage This is an ub.uiuic psychological fart which cannot be dls-prOVCd dls-prOVCd Those who plead for simplicity an not preaehlng a gospel ,,( painful denial, de-nial, but are really philosophers of true happiness nnel pleasure. Luxury a Mistake Luxury, however Is not only a mistake for the Individual; II i.j a crjins sealnst society. It has been proved over and OVOI again, in an absolutely unanswerable way. by all political economists, that, so far from doing gbpd 10 the trade of ,i nation na-tion and benefiting the pool Kixur wi dens the- gulf between rich and poor, and Impoverlshos the country, because In tt"-mass tt"-mass It Is Unproductive. John Btuort Mm w ho did nol i onsldi r the ethl ! of the question :'t all, prove! this tclen-tlftcall) tclen-tlftcall) utd Ruskln, whose political economy It ha been a fashion to ridicule, nas arguing upon thoroughly scientific. grounds when he sold, in his eloquent way. -There Is no wealth but lifelife including in-cluding all Its powers of love, of joy. and of admiration That countrj le Ihe richest rich-est whi.h nourishes the greatest number of noble and h,ipp human being', that man Is the richest who having perfected the functions of his own life to Ihe ut-most ut-most has also the widest helpful Influ once, both personal and by means of his possessions Over the lives of others." For luxury is net only nnproducllve, but it destroys the boneficent altruism of which Ruskin speaks li deadens the sympathies which should exist between e-lass and class. It breed. i seflsnne; nd when s nation or an empire has a largi population of s, itish parasites the end is nol far ,.rf The present condition of Russia is s most tragic Instance of tin. The same thing iccOunted for the terrors of the French revolution Th-early Th-early Italian republics owed their doom In no small measure lo the same cause if nation or an crqplre is to be prosperous, Its society must consist of clawes mu-luallv mu-luallv dependent and hcloful and sympathetic sympa-thetic li must full Into decay when ihere nri great gulf- of Ignorance and dislike between the higher ami the lower i in'.;v Luxurj erects barriers .of selflshneta and Indifference between rich and poor and Ifl therefore a dang, r to the commonweal. Not the Wealthy Alone. It is not only the wealthy . lasses, however, how-ever, who need bringing back tO the simpler sim-pler life. There' Is a gnat deal of wastefulness waste-fulness nnd foolishness In 'he poorer classes of society Personally. I am of opinion that all this BO-CgHed sport Which so possesses the publb mlii, I Is one of our greatest dangers Tin enormous crowds of working men who gather to see a football foot-ball match are Just like- those crowds who assembled to watch the gladiatorial combats com-bats in old Rome. Thev do not take part in the gaunti. The majority of them never play S game at all They go In get a mental Intoxication hv seeing the struggles strug-gles of hired athletes The only floiin that con be s;,t,i in favor of this is that it takes the factory worker.-: Into the fresh air but thev have none of the Isidllv benefit that comes from athletic contests none- of that In vlgoratlon of haraet.-r re sulting from the give-.incl-iake games in the Held I remember an lmpredve pns-sage pns-sage by Prof Seeley, the historian. In which he traces the- decay of the- Roman empire from the time when the Roman people abandoned their own games for the exciting Bpectacles Of paid professionals The Anglo-Saxon character is certainly not what It use-d to he The blood of the wealthy clases Is being watered and weakened bv excess of luxury, sad the i strong lough fibre of the old typo ol working man Is In danger Of being rotted by luxuries less expensive, but not ' SB enervs ting |