The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1858-09-04

We may always learn if We listen or
look. Richard Let-it-go WAS cradling
oats as We galioped up to the fence, across
which the writer shook hands with him
after years absence. The customary
greetings over, conversation turned upon
crops and the hard times, prospects and
retrospccts.
"I VOW" said Richard, "I am glad
to see these spectators used up. The
whole country has been speculating and
speculated upon, until we are nearly
ruined. We have had snug times for
money here, I can tell you, last year aud
this. Why, sir, I could not sell bushel
of carrots for money if was to die, and
had to eat them or feed them to my
stock"
"Is pays to feed them," wo sugges-
ted.
"Yes, but it is against nature for a
man to get along without money these
days, | tell you, and its pretty hard times
when bushel Of long yellow carrots won't
bring a York shilling"
"Woll, Uncle Richard, We have had a
good many prosperous years. We have
been able to sell all we could raise from
our fifty acre farms st good paying pri-
ceS. We have been grateful without
doubt, but has our gratitude been pro
portionate to the blessings rcceivedy-
We are quick to murmur if blessings are
withheld, but we arc hardly as spprecia-
tive as we should be If crops are bounti-
full. We are rather apt to boast Of the
"strcngth Of our land" ':the fertility of
the soil" of our "improved modes of
cultivation" We do sometimes say
that ''the season has been favorable" but
seldom do we go beyond that, and say,
God has been good and merciful, and his
providence beyond and above all our des-
erts 1t does not make us humble; it be-
gets pride. Reverses do not humili-
tate us as they should they irritate. /"
81 vow, that's a fact; now, | think of
it, we might learn something Of nature
if we have a mind to. | pull down a
spiders web to-day and tomorrow | find
it woven anew. | pull an ant heap to
pieces, and the little fellows build it up
again with the little particles of sand
l destroy birds nest, aud the mother
and her mate rebuild it At once. They
may murmur, but we have no evidence
of it. You may call that foolish re-
mark--that birds, ants or spiders may
murmur--but | cannot help it. | be-
ieve nature does teach us, or, rather,
God teaches US through nature. It is a
fact, we do not see the bounties we have
when we ought to, but grnmbling at
what we have not, as If our rights were
withheld from us"
"That's it, Uncle Richard; if we were
to employ our time as the philosopher
did, aud a. the christian farmer ought to
do, in being grateful for what we have,
in calculating how much we have we do
not want, and how the surplus may be
used to promote the happiness Of our fel.
lows, we should be happier and better
men. Instead Of hearing our fellows
say, how the grasshoppers are eating up
my grain. VIC should hear them exclaim
at the goodness Of the Creator in allow
ing them to harvest SO much Of a crop
The meetings Of farmers would be con.
gratulatory. Now, j do not mean that
We should shut our eyes TO facts or evils,
and fold our hands listlessly, without in.
vestigating the cause or trying to remove
them, but l believe in the wisdom of the
Creator, aud that We have no right to
brood over and murmur Ut his withhold.
ing, but rejoice in the blessings we con.
stantly receive. More hope will begc,
more effort. More contentment will dis
cover to us new avenues for escape from
what We may deem approaching evils
There ars your oats there, not heavy
crop to be sure, but bright straw and
well filed with grain. It is an exception
for thousands Of acres Of oats are ruined
by the rust"
"That's so. l tell you it seems nigh
ty natural to murmur, but Nature doe.
not teach it.
1--WE may say here, that if Richart
Let-it-go had hobby, it was this---tha,
Nature is constantly teaching us, and ma
ny Of the analogies he was in the habit o
drawing, though homely, and often In
dicrous, usually we're spiced with grea
deal Of good practical sense. Emery
journal.
The Other Side.