Smyrna times., 1873-10-01
A Friend With a Single Fault.

A friend with single fault Have you
never formed one of little company all en-
gagged In talking about ust that one little fault
OF friend? To the rest of US it is so apparent.
1t 1t were not for the solitary flaw we say, the
dear boy, the dear girl, would be perfect.
Sometimes it is frettulness sometimes con-
cet; sometimes a morbid sclfabasemcnt
sometimes touch Of SelfishnesS disposition
to dwell upon the failings of others IA faculty
Tor Interference lack of attention to per
sOnal appearance; prOcrastnation-lr dear
kOws what. Now is it not very much like
Eightmare-the way we live in the same house
with these people, year in and year out, and
see the petty fault growing bigger and bigger,
and can raise no voice against it-can do moth
ing but say " IT, If, f." alas and alas ~
80 but we do speak -
Yes, sometimes we do; and sometimes the
warning voice is enough But the tragedy ap-
pears in those cases where either the warning
cannot be given, or where it is unheeded A
family might be described as succession Of
cOnventicles, composed always of the same
members, save that at each session u different
member is absent, and is by the others appre-
henGed and discussed in way in which he can
neither apprehend nor discuss himself.
1t has come to be considered point of hu-
mor-tO be played upon as may happen-that
we can see other peoples faults so much het-
ter than our own. Now while this is very
true, 1t Is also very true that we do generally
know our own faults, have had at least side
glimpseS of them, and that they grow upOn
US because we dread to apply the knife be
cause, to be honest, We are every one Of US
shlrks, more or less.
In these slight etchings of character you
know do not care to seize upon those patent
vices-Or (let me call them) tollies-and vir
h1nl, Al, i
which every one is familiar enough but rather
to look up from my desk a: the ordinary man
or woman who goes past the window on the
lawn, or comes in to dust the room, or spend
an evening with me,-wth his or her ordinary
tallngs and attanments In other words my
gentle reader, nothing would please me more
than to give you the sensation of coming un-
expectedy upon mirror | should like you
to be startled at seeing your own face look up
at you from the page.
So my friend Philip hardly answers my pur-
pose as an eXample-he who began by being
very fine ia his moral purposes, and very clean
| in his person. who gradually neglected his ap
pearance till he became more than untidy, and
| ended in complete personal decentralization and
| moral dirt. | saw how it all began he shirked
his duty with regard to soap aud water. He
knew he shirke his duty knowing it, he did
not cease to do so,-and ungOdliness followed
uncleanlineSs in natural sequence
| One of the signs of advancing age is our ac-
ceptance Of certain foibles, Of which our friend,
have told US, and which up to this year of
grace we had been in the habit of looking
upon as mere accidental and transient pecu-
| iarlties. 1t is sad day for us when we make
that acceptance. There is some hope for us
when the joke about our prospect of being fiji:
teen minutes late at the door of Heaven has a
certain sharp freshness; but when we settle
down into the conviction that we are likely tC
be lives behindhand all our-wel, perhaps the
first gray hair has not been discovered, perhaps
the grasshopper is not yet burden, but We
are "ageing."
The older and wiser | grow the more am
impressed with the idea of every mans per
sonal responsibility. Make what allowance
you will for taint in the blood, sordid circum
stance, and all that, believe more and more
that every soul has a chance. | doubt if there
is any well deep and dark and smoothed- walleC
enough to keep poor devil down if he is de
termined to get to the top of it. lie will viii
out if he wants to hard enough. 1t is wonder
ful how good-luck follows the hospitable minC
1and honest endeavOr.
| wish my friend the parson would hurry VI
that essay of his on How not to 20 Mad ~
ScriJner'S for October.