The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-06-01
''TOo Many Irons in the fire,

@tOft sftC SHtGNAEt4AA NONALNtcICtuLs
In the two centuries that have elapsed
since Sir Thomas Browne published his
"Pseudodoxia Epidemica," or Vulgar
Errors, some hundreds Of poplar AK
IONS and proverbs have come into
vogue, many OF which are as baseless
as those against which the philosopher
of Norwich took up the pen. His slearn-
ed lucubrations were directed against
such gross material delusions as the
following: "That the chameleon lives
only upon atr;'' ''that moles are blind"
that man hath one rib less than a
woman" "that the ostrich digesteth
iron;n "that whelps are blind nine
days." "that the army of Xerxes drank
whole rivers dry;" "that the salaman-
der lives in the fires" and other like
physical absurdities which the vulgar
have believed in all ages. fsfs-fl. q. f,'f,s |
But there is class of axioms perpet-
ually quoted, which have a specions
look OF soundness about them, and
which, having been handed down from
father to son, Tor from grandmother to
the Junior generations, lhAYs come to be
accepted as genuine. Let us look at u
specimen or two out of these popular
proverbs. itSever have too many irons
in the fire." This morsel of metaphor
ical wisdom must have grown out of the
blaCksmith's g trade. Another version of
1t reads. "He that hath too many irons
in the fire, some OF them will burn" or
course 1t was intended as a warming
against taking too much, and, at first
sight, sounds like prudential maxim,
we'll adapted to secure efficiency and
singlenesS CT aim on the part Of all
workers. But more closely considered,
the precept, shows itself for what 1t
really Is, piece of fnarrow-minded, pet
ty prudence, adapted only for the gui-
dance of incApables and fools. The
fact is, nobody who is good for any
thing needs any such cowardly caution
about having "too many irons In The
fire" Your active, efficient characters,
they who do the largest share of work
in the world, are the men who want
and will have great many ''irons in
the fire." Shovel, poker, ,tongs and all,
these mastery wOrkmen keep them
always hot, and always busy. Their
pidity Oftheir daily accomplishment is
only equaled by its variety. Both
their combinations and their execution
are such as perplex and startle little
minds, and lead them TO repeat in full
chatter such petty maxims as the one
owunder consideration! .Itis by such
men thathuman progress is advanced,
inventions and discoveries get made,
fortunes are won, and all valuable inn
provements and reform are achieved.
On the other hand, your slow, timid
"puttertng" characters, who are Justly
afraid of having "too many irons in
the fire." because Incompetent to han
die a single hot one, are perpetually
waiting on providence, or orgrumbling at
fortune. We see the difference in men
quite as much by the proverbs they are
habitually quoting, as lin the practical
conduct of the affairs Of life. land we
each of US have found in our own ex-
perience, the frequent advantage of
Ehavipg more than zone iron in the
fire." he that has little to do, does lit
tie. Did you never quit for a season an
/ engrossing and active occupation,
whose variety and constancy OF labor
kept all your facilities on the stretch,
and turn in for stspell of recreation" !"
promising yourself that you would do
up some long-deferred reading, or cor
trespondence, or investigation, when
you were taking vacation, and had
"nothing else to dor" And did you
ever do it2 We trOw not; The labor
that is postponed to more convenient
season is, nine times out of ten, post
poned indefinitely. The busiest man
we ever saw, a perfect miracle of, ac-
complishment SO far as solid, heavy
work went, was also the most omniver-
1
! genial and approachable of men. He
seemed to find time for every thing.
Ordinary men are always grumbling
because time Is so sh Jrt. Was It ever
any lOnger2 tTime2n said the Indian
| Chief Red Jacket, to man who COM
planned that he had no time for any
thing, "time2 I suppose yOlG hare all
there isF" And it would be wiser to
employ the time wasted in lamentine
the want Of it, about some useful pur-
pose, before laying at the door of ma
ture or Providence the blame of our
own shortcomings.
It is an fndubitable fact that the
pressure of much labor Is n wholesome
and necessary stimulus to man. What
/ would the world be good for II It were
all finished of, and human creatures
had nothing in the world to do but TO
l gad about and amnA6 themselves?
! What WEAKNESS should we not be to
ourselves-what bores to one another
We all seek to "make our fortunes"
and be able to "retire from business,
bnt experience amply proves that the
| happIest men are those who have not
made their fortunes. And every man
who has ever labored much, and who
has ever thought at all, knows that his
j best hours have commonly been his
i busiest ones. The more man has TO
do, the more he gets done, and the laws
Of the world are so ordained that the
more work there is done the greater is
the sum of human benefit both indi-
yiduRI and social. zss5 itS't7
III o. E--%SS------
Lord Granville, Chancellor of the
University of London, remarked on
recent public occasion that he had been
charged by a bishop in the. House of
Lords with Incompetence to discuss the
subject Of education, on the ground
thai he had no children. ga recent cir
cumstance,i - she grRRely added. ''has
put me In better position bat I can
nos say that it has changed a single
view 1 ever held on the subject of edu-t
cation.n - -