Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1865-01-03

| JHe hllh lOE lut Dukt OI MluulcheA anu DOuLu-
aark - and having thus delivered himself, he
ran away. 0, what sharp pair Of shears in
that moment pruned off certain shoots which
aad been growing IN that little peer nature ever
since the dawn Of Intelligence The awful yet
salutary truth was Impressed, by single lesson,
Chat there were places in this world where no
J5dy cared for tbs Duke Of Mlddo5x and
Southwark And perhaps that painful pruning
aus the beginning Of the discipline which made
hat duke, as long as he lived, the most unpro-
lending, admirable, aud truly noble Of men.
There are few people IN public lilo who in
this ago are not promptly pruned, where need
| iul, by ever ready shears. If the shoots OF
! 5umpuousuCss appear IN q chief justice, they
arc instantly cut short by tho tongue OF some
tesoIute barrsteE II a prime minister or even
a l0llcr pers0nage, oVlnces disposition to neg
! lee. bis or her duty, that disposition is speedily
pluagl by thc It1tS, speaking 10 the name Of
rhe general sense Of what Is it, And indeed
Che newspapers aud reviews are the universal
shears, II any outgrow,h Of folly, error, or
concslt appear in political man, or IN a writer
| OF ven moderate Standing some clever article
o1me- DOWN upon it, and shows it up If II cat-
no. snip It of. And If a wise man desires that
he may keep intellectually and oss.heticllly, in
becoming shape, no viii a!tentyely consider
whatever may be said or written about him by
people who dislike him For, as / general rule,
| people who don't Ike you come down sharply
! upou your ryal faults they tell you things
which i.is very Il. that you should know, and
which nobody Is likely 20 tell you but them. |
! have heard OF enc or wJ distinguished authors
who made it rule never to read anything that
w.s written about themselves. Probably they
erred in this they missed many hints for
which they might have been the better and
m4rner.sms and etcsntrcities developed into
rgid Doughs, which nigh, have been readily
removed as growing twigs.
A vain selfcontlsncs is very likely to grow
up in man who ls never subjected to the moral
pruning-bniie The greatest men lin tnslr own
| JuJgmen) that you have ever known have Prob.
ably been the maguates OF some little village,
| far from ncighb0s Probably the bully is
never developed more cG'usyey than in some
village dealer, who has accumulated a good deal
Of money, and who has got number Of the
surrounding cottages morigaged 10 him. Such
| is lh3 man who IS Hksly 10 insult the cJnserya-
tive caud date, when he comes te make speech
before an election. Such Is the mrn 10 lesd the
opposition to any good work proposed by the
parish clergyman. Such Is the man TO bsc9me
q ohurch-rAto martyr, or an especially offensive
manager Of SALEM chapel. Such is the kind Of
mlu who, It he has children growing up, will
refuse 10 let them express their opinion on any
subject, A Parcn! can fall into no greater mis-
take than 10 take the ground that he will never
argue with his children, nor hear what they may
! have to suggest ia opposition to any plan he
may have proposed. For children very speedily
eke the measure OF their parents and have
| perfectly clear lea how far their ability, judg-
meut, and education justify their assuming the
rank Of inialllble oracles. And it is infinitely
botter % let lad OF eighteen spesk out bis
mind, than to have him Ike boiler ready 10
burst with repTessed views and feelings and with
the bitter sense Of petty and contemplate
tyranny Something has already been said Of
women who acquire the chief power in their own
houses; whose husblnde are cowcd into ciphers,
and whose lni4.hblty Is ~ be- re .osnz.d
throughout the establishment, under PAIN Of
some iarucious explosion At last, some son
grows up, and ressts the established despo;ism
| Infalhbity and impeccAbli,y are conceded no
! longer And The thick branches, c0ns5Ii dated
| by many yeuIs growth, gre Topped off painfully,
which should have goae when they were slender
shoots. Rely upon It, the man Or woman who
refuses to b. pelcelbly and kindly pruned will
some day have to bear being rulsly Topped
| There is enc shoot which human nature keeps
putting forth again, however frequently it is
p;uued away. /. ls self c0ncc,. That would
grow into a terrible unweidy branch, il it were
not 50 often shred away by circumstances that
is, BY Gods providence, Everybody needs to bc
! frequently taken down which means, 10 have
his sel.-olncelt pruned away. And what every.
body needs, mes people gin this csse) get.
Aost people are very frequently taken down.
| mean, even modest and ssntible people
This wretchel liitle shoot keeps growing again,
however hard We Try to keep it dowa. There
IS o tendency In each OF US 70 be growing up
into higher opinion %! oureli and then, all
Of q sudden, that higher estimate is cut down
to the very earth. You are like a sheep sud.
denly shOrn a thick h-sc, Of seii.complc,ncy
had developed itself something comes and all
at once shcars It of, ani leaves you shiyeFlng IN
the frosty AIR, You arc Ike 4 lawn, where the
grasS had grown some inches ia length, TIL
some dewy morning It is mown Just as close as
may be. You had gradually and insensbly
come to think rather well Of yourself and your
doiogs. You had grown to think your position
in lie rather respectable or even eminent one,
and to fancy that those around estimated you
rather highly. Bat all Of a sudden, some slight,
some modification, so.lo disappointment comes
something is said or done that shows you how
far you have been deceiying yourself Some
considerable place in your profession becomes
yecant and nobody thinks OF namirg you for it.
You are 10 company with TWO or three men Sho
think themselves specially charged with finding
"a suitable person for the vacant oih,e, they
name score OF possible ptop,o tn ill 1t, but not
you. They n1Nct have thought Vr Jou.
possibly they refrain from naming you, With tho
design OF moruiyng you Aud 50 You are
pluuId close, For the moment, it is painful
You are ready to sink down, dlshesrtsued and
boatcD. You have no energy to do anything,
You sit down blankly by tie fire, and acknowl-
edge yourself failure IN liO. 1t is not so
much that you are beaten, as that YOU are set
IN lower place than You hoped. Yet it is all
good lUr us, d0uAt,fS. Few men can say they
are to humble with 1t all. And as even after
all our mowiuss, prunings, and sheatngs, we
are s0mytimes 70 o1nceted aud seltsausfed as
we Hre, what should we have been had those
things not bealen us The eli-locks Of wool
would have been feet in length. Tho grass
would have been Nix feet high, like that OF the
pralrles. And the shoot OF vanity would have
grown and consolidated into branch, that would
have given lopsided aspect to the whole tree.
Happily, there is no chance OF these things
occurring We seldom grow for more thsn
lew days, without being puned, mown, and
ohlrn aresb. And all this will continue 10 the
erd Is is not pleasant; but we need it oil.
AMI We arc all proliung by 1t. Possibly no ono
wII' read this page, who Goes not know that he
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