OCR Text |
Show PURPOSE. Men and women may be divided into two classes, those who have purpose and those who have not. These two classes are capable of subdivisions almost indefinite. Those who have purpose naturally divide themselves into two classes, the one class has a general purpose, the other a definite and specific purpose. The aspiring young man or woman full of noble impulses, of high ambitions, of indomitable energy, for a time expends his or her volition in accomplishing general results. As the forces within them crystallize, they concentrate themselves on special courses, and form definite plans and purposes, marking out a line along which they hope and determine to achieve success. There are those who from their early years know the special direction in which their highest development lies. Of these are artists, musicians, soldiers. And there are a great number of persons who have no special talent, but are able to develop capacity in a good many directions, and whose final decision as to what they shall do is determined by circumstances outside of them entirely. <br><br> Those who have no purpose from [form] a very large class in every society. They belong to the great family of leeches, of barnacles, of horse-hair worms, of butterflies. God has made all of these and they have a right to be, and to be what He made them; but looking at them, the student of Nature must be glad to believe in the Darwinian theory of evolution. A leech is an animal composed of a mouth and a sack. He gets his living by sucking. He attaches himself to whatever creature has blood in it, and thrives as long as he can hold on and there is any blood left in the veins of his victim. A barnacle attaches itself to the first ship it can reach, and often in mid-ocean great ships must stop and clear themselves from barnacles before proceeding on their course. So, often men and women are so weighted down with parasitic incumbrances that they are brought quite to a standstill in their progress forward. Agassiz estimated that the eggs of a horse-hair worm (the name is an utter misnomer) amounted to "not less than eight millions." As soon as hatched the worm "creeps into the legs of grasshoppers and burrows its way into the abdominal cavity of these animals," where it grows until the grashopper (grasshopper) bursts and the worm returns to its aquatic life. Of these eight million eggs precious few worms survive the first few hours of their release from the egg. We all know how butterflies live and what becomes of them when the snow comes. Possibly a vigorous butterfly might prolong his days could he or she find a warm nesting place with a pot of honey-dew contiguous. Doubtless these creatures all have a part in the scheme of creation but they are not classed with the noble animals. New Year's is a very good time for one to take his or her bearings, to find out in what direction his or her craft is going, and what port it is likely make. To drop the figure, it is a good time for men and women to consider what they are in this world for, and whether they are doing what they were placed here to do. Those who have no more purpose in life than leeches, barnacles, horse-hair worms and butterflieds, perish as these creatures do, leaving not a vestage (vestige) behind them. A woman without purpose is as weak as a man without purpose, and as useless. There is in the nature of things no more reason why women should not be self supporting than why men should not be self-supporting. Certainly there are enough departments of industry open to women to employ all their capacities and to give them a good maintenance. It is as ignoble for a woman to marry for a living as it is for a man to marry for a living. Marriage is degraded by mercenary motive on either side. When our daughters are brought up to do some one thing well enough to make a living by it, and our sons are trained to some trade or profession upon which they can depend for maintenance, the list of mercenary and unhappy marriages and of divorces will be will be very much less than it is now. |