Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-03-22

Simon s mousse, crying OuI-
Don't feel dull, never do
This was a pretty piecsof business, and
Censorious Simon now had to put in bits
of brown paper and all that, to keep the
wind out.
If often happens in life that things come
to a pitch, as people say, quite suddenly.
A storm gathers quietly, and, when no.
body is expecting such thing, you find a
burst-up and an overthrow. All but very
oonceited persons bear this in mind, and,
as sailors say, look out for squalls. But
Censorious Simon, as we have heard, was
reru conceited indeed. One day he found
that a board, like cobbler's board, had
been put up on his house in the night, and
the inscription upon the board ran thus
= Censorious Simon Other People s
Business Minded for them Fault found
on the Shortest Notice.
When he found out this board, and saw
some folks in the distance laughing at him
as he read the words, it happened to him.
as it sometimes happens to you and me
he had a sudden thought, coming up from
he knew not where, that he was not quite
as wise and quite. as good as he had hith-
erto supposed himself to be. In fact, a
very ugly word got into his head, and he
heard a mysterious voice inside, which kept
on saying to him, you are humbug;
and when he was on the point of saying to
the voice, No, am great moralist,
the voice put him down like winking, by
saying, You dare not deny it
Now the boys and girls who knew Cen
serious Simon had long had suspicion in
their minds that he was that ugly lOord,-
what the voice inside said. you know-and
they had, of course, sense enough to see
that a person who was that ugly IoOrd had
no right to lecture other people; so all
the boys and girls Of the nation as you
may say, suddenly gathered in a body,
and, surrounding Censorious Simon's glass
house, pelted it with stones till there was
not sound pane Of glass left in it ! And
this was the origin of the saying which
we have all heard, Those who live in
glass houses should not throw stones.
We are none of US so conceited as Cen
serious Simon-at least hope not-and
we none of US live in glass hOuses-at least
! hope not. Besides, L hope that we none
of US throw stones, because | knew of a
case in which little boy got one of his
eyes knocked out by stone thrown in
play in the streets and of another, in
which baby-girl was put in danger of
her life by pebble which struck her on
her forehead when she was in the nurse S
arms Of course it was not aimed at her,
but there Is always danger in throwing
stones except in some entirel Y open place.
and at a mark which all have agreed upon.
That reminds me of something which hap
pened to me the other day, and which
bears upon the subject in a way which you
shall soon see. Being hit in the leg, though
not hurt by stone flung in the street by
one of lot Of boys just out of school,
turned and beckoned to the boy who had
thrown the stone intending to speak mild
~ to him, and tell him of the danger there
was in throwing stones in the street But
all my reckoning and calling and laugh.
ing could not make him come He said
Do you see anything green, master ?
and ran away. The fact Is, that he could
not conceive that | should want him for
any purpose but to box his ears He sup
posed that everybody's thoughts and feel.
ings must be in all things Just like what
NC udu ulLuSc4l, VI NuaA ne WIS USGu u
among his own friends and relatives.
But these things are not SO, and there is
nothing which it is of more consequence
to bear in mind when we find fault with
other people, in words or only in oul
thoughts. You, for instance, cannot see
into all my motives and feelings when l dc
4 thing, and l cannot see into yours. Nay
the cleverest person living cannot tell an,
other person all his 0lCH motives and feel
ings, let him try as hard as he can. Thi.
alone should make us very careful in find
ing fault with each other. In fact, We
should seldom, if ever, find fault without
leaving what | may call a corner az ON
minds for better thoughts of the person
found fault with. Above all, we should
remember not only that we have every one
of US some faults, but that we have Otter
in another shape the very fault we blame
another person for. Obstinacy for exam
pie, will work so differently in a clever
man and in an ordinary man, that you
may often find the clever man condemn
ing the ordinary man for the very
fault that he himself is guilty of in tht
same or a worse degree. A dull mani
obstinacy will simply show itself in hi
saying, SHALL or shan't," and hi
persisting in what he is doing; and it is I
very easy thing to see his obstinacy, anC
give it the right name. But the clever
man will of course not be satisfied with
saying, l SHALL or shan't i; his mine
will 20 to work and find reasons for per
sisting and be will very likely not know
himself that he is obstinate
In a most beautiful poem by MIR. Ten
nyson, called, The Grandmother Apollo
gy,' there is one of the best instances il
all the world of person blaming a faul
and doing it at the same moment. The
old lady, who ought long ago to have for
given the Jenny she speaks of, calls her
base little liar and so on and then say
to her grand daughter. But, my dear, the
tongue, you know, is fire. She sees tina
this applied to Jenny, but she does not SEE
that it applied to herself and in all tn,
old lady says about Jenny, and the par
sons sermon, she makes the same mistake
so that you cannot help smiling at her
So it is in ten thousand times ten thousand
cases. We have all some faults; some
times we have the very fault we blame IL
another and even the best men and wo
men have, at least, defects or short-com
ings; that is to say there are things which
they cannot and never could do, and We
which the world, including themselves, can
not get on without; and those things hav,
to be done by others.
There is one thing more. 1t may b.
most truly said that we all share in eact
others faults. When we look at a grea
man like Shakespeare, we do not always
remember that his parents were ordinary
people, aud that there is no knowing il
what quarter the greatest men and womer
may be born, we all share in their great
! ness 1t Is the same with repard 10 tn,