（
爱丽丝学园之公主的骑）（
魔天记）（
都市极品邪少）（
情深如许）（
末世重生之妖孽）（
鬼王的毒妾）by jack london
i was bornthe workiiscovered enthusiasm, ambition, and ideals; andsatisfy these became the problemmy chil environment was crude and roughno outlook, butuploo placesociety wasth life offered nothing but sordidness and wretchedness, boththe flesh and the spirit; for here flesh and spirit were alike starved and tormented.
abovetowered the colossal edificesociety, andmy mind the only way out was up.to this edificarly resolvebove, men wore black clothes and boiled shirts, and women dressedbeautifu, there were good thingseat, and there was plentuch forthere were the thingsth above me, i knew, were unselfishnessesthe spirit, clean and noble thinking, keen intellectua all this becausead “seaside library” novels,which, with the exceptionthe villains and adventuresses, all men and women thought beautiful thoughts, spokeautiful tongue, and performed gloriou short,i accepted the risingthe sun, i accepted thatabovewas all that was fine and noble and gracious, all that gave decency and dignitylife, all that made life worth living and that remunerated one for his travail and misery.
butis not particularly easy forclimboutthe working class especiallyhehandicappedthe possessionidealsoanchcalifornia, and was hard putfind the ladder wherebnquired the rateinterestinvested money, and worriedchild’s brain intounderstandingthe virtues and excellencesthat remarkable inventionman, poun, i ascertained the current rateswages for workersall ages, and the cosll this datoncluded thati began immediately and worked and saved untias fifty yearsage, i could then stop working and enter into participationa fair portionthe delights and goodnesses that would thenopenme higheri course, i resolutely determined notmarry, whiluite fotconsiderall that great rockdisasterthe working class world sickness.
but the life that wasme demanded more thaeagre existencescraping an,ten yearsage, i becamewsboythe streetsa city, and found myself withange aboutwere still the same sordidness and wretchedness, andabovewas still the same paradise waitingbe gained; but the ladder wherebyclimb waifferen was now the laddeaveearnings and investgovernment bonds, when,buying two newspapers for five cents, witurnthe wrisould sell them for ten cents and doublecapital?the business ladder was the ladder for me, anaisionmyself beinald headed and successful merchant prince.
alas for visions!wheas sixteead already earned the title“prince.”but this title was givenbangcut throats and thieves,whoas called “the princethe oyster pirates.”andthat timad climbed the first rungthe businesboat anomplete oyster piratin begunexploitfellrewon captain and owneook two thirdsthe spoils, and gave the crew ohird, though the crew worked justhardi did and risked justmuch his life and liberty.
this one rung was the heighlimbedthe busines nighenta raid amongst the chines and s were worth dollarswas robbery, i grant, butwas precisely the spiriapitalist takes away the possessionshis fellow creaturesmeansa rebate,oetrayaltrust,by the purchasesenators and supreme cour merel was the onun.
butcrew that night was onethose inefficients against whom the capitalistwontfulminate, because, forsooth, such inefficients increase expenses and reduc crewof his carelessnessset firethe big mainsail and totally destroyed it.there weren’t any dividends that night, and the chinese fishermen were richerthe s and ropesdidbankrupt, unable just thenpay sixty five dollars for amy boatanchor and went offa bay pirate boata raidthe sacrament awaythis trip, another gangbay pirates raidetole everything, even the anchors; and later on, wheecovered the drifting hulk, i soldfor twent slipped back the one runad climbed, and never again dittempt the business ladder.
from theni was mercilessly exploitedothe the muscle, and they made money outit whilade buery indifferent living waailor before the mast, a longshoreman, a roustabout; i workedcanneries, and factories, and laundries; i mowed lawns, and cleaned carpets, and washever got the full productmthe daughterthe cannery owner,her carriage, and knew thatwasmuscle,part, that helped drag along that carriageits rubbethe sonthe factory owner, goingcollege, and knew thatwasmuscle that helped,part,pay for the wine and good fellowshipenjoyed.
buid not resen was allth werewell, icarvewaya place amongst them and make money outthe musclesothe not afraiar pitchand work harder than ever and eventually beillarsociety.
and just then,luck would have it, i foundemployer that wasthe sam willingwork, andwas more than willing thahouas learning reality, i had displacedhe was makingelectrician outme;a matterfact,was making fifty dollars per month two mead displaced had received forty dollars each per month; i was doing the workboth for thirty dollars per month.
this employer workednearlay love oysters, but too many oysters will disincline him toward that particulawith me.too much work sickened me.i did not wish eversee wor frramp, beggingway from doordoor, wandering over the united states and sweating bloody sweatsslums and prisons.
i had been bornthe working class, anas now,the ageeighteen, beneath the pointwhich idownthe cellarsociety, downthe subterranean depthsmisery about whichis neither nice nor proper tthe pit, the abyss, the human cesspool, the shambles and the charnel houseouthe partthe edificesociety that society chooses tspace pelshereignore it, anhall say only that the thinghere saw gavea terrible scare.
i was scared int the naked simplicitiesthe plicated civilizationwhich waatterfoodorderget food and shelter men sol merchant sold shoes, the politician sold his manhood, and the representativethe people, with exceptions,course, sold his trust; while nearly all sold thei, too, whetherthe streetin the holy bondwedlock, were proo sell thei things were modities, all people boughtone modity that labour hadsellhonourlabour hadpriceth had muscle, and muscle alone,sell.
but there waifference, a vita and trust and honour haayrenewin were imperishabl,the other hand, didthe shoe merchant sold shoes,continuedreplenishthere waswayreplenishing the labourer’s stocoresoldhis muscle, the lessit remaineas his one modity, and each day his stocki the end,he did not die before,sold out and puthi wauscle bankrupt, and nothing remainedhim butgo down into the cellarsociety and perish miserably.
i learned, further, that brain was likewise , too, was different fro seller was onlyhis prime whenwas fiftysixty years old, and his wares were fetching higher prices thabourer was worked outbroken downforty fiveenthe cellarsociety, anid not like the place pipes and drains were unsanitary, and the air wascould not livethe parlour floorsociety, i could,any rate, havryth was true, the diet there was slim, but the airleasti resolvedsellmore muscle, andbeendorbrains.
then begarantic pursuit ocalifornia and openedthus equipping myselfberain merchant,was inevitable thahould delve inound,a certain classbooks, scientifically formulated, the simple sociological conceptad already worked outand greater minds, beforas born, had worked out all thaad thought anast dea thaaocialist.
the socialists were revolutionists, inasmuchthey struggledoverthrow the societythe present, and outthe materialbuild the societyth, too, waocialist and the groupsworking class and intellectual revolutionists, and for the first time came into intellectuound keen flashing intellects and brilliant wits; for heret strong and alert brained, withal horny handed, membersthe working class; unfrocked preachers too widetheir christianity for any congregationmammon worshippers; professors brokenthe wheeluniversity subserviencethe ruling class and flung out because they were quick with knowledge which they stroveapplythe affairsmankind.
heround, also, warm faiththe human, glowing idealism, sweetnessesunselfishness, renunciation, and martyrdom all the splendid, stinging thingsth life was clean, noble,life rehabilitated itself, became wonderful and glorious; anas gladbtouch with great souls who exalted flesh and spirit over dollars and cents, andwhom the thin wailthe starved slum child meant more than all the pomp and circumstancemercial expansion and worl aboutwere noblenesspurpose and heroismeffort, anddays and nights were sunshine and starshine, all fire and dew, with beforeeyes, ever burning and blazing, the holy grail, christ’s own grail, the warm human, long suffering and maltreated, butbe rescued and savedthe last.
and i, poor foolish i, deemed all thisbere foretastethe delightslivinhould find higher abovei lost many illusions since the daead “seaside library” novelsthe californi destinedlose manythe illusiontill retained.
arain merchanas opened its entered righton the parlour floor, anddisillusionment proceede downdinner with the masterssociety, and with the wives and daughtersthe masteromen were gowned beautifully, i admit; butmy naive surprisiscovered that they werethe same clayall the restthe womead known down belowthe cellar.“the colonel’s lady and judy o’grady were sisters under their skins” and gowns.
it was not this, however,muchtheir materialism, that shocked me.ittrue, these beautifully gowned, beautiful women prattled sweet little ideals and dear little moralities; butspitetheir prattle the dominant keythe life they livedthey weresentimentally selfish!they assistedall kindssweet little charities, and informed onethe fact, while all the time the food they ate and the beautiful clothes they wore were bought outdividends stained with the bloodchild labour, and sweated labour, andprostitution itself.
wheentioned such facts, expectingmy innocence that these sistersjudy o’grady wouldonce strip off their blood dyed silks and jewels, they became excited and angry, and readpreachments about the lackthrift, the drink, and the innate depravity that caused all the miserysociety’ i mentioned thaouldn’t quite see thatwas the lackthrift, the intemperance, and the depravitya half starved childsix that madework twelve hours every nighta southern cotton mill, these sistersjudy o’grady attackedprivate life and calledan “agitator”though that, forsooth, settled the argument.
nor diare better with the master expectedfind men who were clean, noble, and alive, whose ideals were clean, noble,about amongst the men who satthe high places the preachers, the politicians, the business men, the professors, andmeat with them, drank wine with them, automobiled with them, and studietrue, i found many that were clean and noble; but with rare exceptions, they wereverily believould count the exceptionsthe fingersmythey were not alive with rottenness, quick with unclean life, there were merely the unburied dead clean and noble, like well preserved mummies, butthis connectioay especially mention the professoret, the men who liveto that decadent university ideal, “the passionless pursuitpassionless intelligence.”
i met men who invoked the namethe princepeacetheir diatribes against war, and who put riflesthe handspinkertons with whichshoot down strikerstheirmen incoherent with indignationthe brutalityprize fighting, and who,the same time, were partiesthe adulterationfood that killed each year more babies than even red handed herod had killed.
i talkedhotels and clubs and homes and pullmans, and steamer chairs with captainsindustry, and marvelledhow little travelled they werethe realhe other hand, i discovered that their intellect,the business sense, was abnormall, i discovered that their morality, where business was concerned, was nil.
this delicate, aristocratic featured gentleman, waummy director anoolcorporations that secretly robbed widowsgentleman, who collected fine editions and wasespecial patronliterature, paid blackmaila heavy jowled, black browed bossa municipa editor, who published patent medicine advertisements and did not dare print the truthhis paper about said patent medicines for fearlosing the advertising, calleda scoundrelly demagogue becausold him that his political economy was antiquated and that his biology was contemporaneous with pliny.
this senator was the tool and the slave, the little puppeta gross, uneducated machine boss;was this governor and this supreme court judge; and all three roderailroa man, talking soberly and earnestly about the beautiesidealism and the goodnessgod, had just betrayed his radesa busines man, a pillarthe church and heavy contributorforeign missions, worked his shop girls ten houraya starvation wage and thereby directly encourage man, who endowed chairsuniversities, perjured himselfcourtslaw oveatterdollarsthis railroad magnate broke his worda gentleman anhristian whengranteecret rebateonetwo captainsindustry locked togethera strugglethe death.
it was the same everywhere, crime and betrayal, betrayal and crime men who were alive, but who were neither clean nor noble, men who were clean and noble, but who werethere wareat, hopeless mass, neither noble nor alive, but merel did not sin positively nor deliberately; butdid sin passively and ignorantlyacquiescingthe current immorality and noble and alivewould not have been ignorant, andwould have refusedsharethe profitsbetrayal and crime.
i discovered thaid not likelivethe parlour floo wand spiritually imy intellectuals and idealists,unfrocked preachers, broken professors, and clean minded, class conscious workindays and nightssunshine and starshine, where life was alild sweet wonder, a spiritual paradiseunselfish adventure and ethicaw before me, ever blazing and burning, the holy grail.
sent backthe working class,whicad been born and where longemposing edificesociety abovehead holdsdelights for me.itthe foundationthe edifice that interests me.there icontentlabour, crowbarhand, shouldershoulder with intellectuals, idealists, and class conscious working men, gettinolid pry now and again and setting the whole edific day, whengeew more hands and crowbarswork, we’ll toppleover, along with all its rotten life and unburied dead, its monstrous selfishness and sodde we’ll cleanse the cellar and builew habitation for mankind,which there willno parlour floor,which all the rooms willbright and airy, and where the air thatbreathed willclean, noble, and alive.
suchm forwarda time when man shall progress upon something worthier and higher than his stomach, when there willa finer incentiveimpel menaction than the incentivetoday, whichthe incentivethbeliefthe nobility and excellenceth that spiritual sweetness and unselfishness will conquer the gross gluttonastall,faithin the workin some frenchman has said, “the stairwaytimeever echoing with the wooden shoe going up, the polished boot descending.”
newton, iowa.
november 1905.
m.pi.co
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