The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1874-04-16
John PlOughman's Talk About Faults.
n G. II. SPCRGEON.

lie who boasts of being perfect Is
perfect in folly. ! have been q good
deal up and down in the world, and
never did see either q perfect horse or
n perfect man, and / never shall till
two Sundays come together. You
cannot get white flour out of coal
sack, nor perfection out of human
nature; he who looks for 1t had better
looks for sugar i'm the sea. The old
saying is, "Lifeless, faulltess Of
dead men we should say nothing but
good, but as for the living, they are
all tarred more or less with the black
brush, and half an eye can see it.
Every head has soft place in it, and
every heart has its black drop. Every
rose has its prickles, and every day
its night. Even the sun shows spots,
and the skies are darkened with
clouds. Nobody is so wise but he has
folly enough to stock stall ut Vanity
Fair. Where | could not SEQ the
fOol's-cap, / have nevertheless heard
the bells jingle. AS there is no sun
shine without some shadows, so is all
human good mixed up with more or
less evil; even pOOr-law guardians
have their little failings, and parish
beadles are not wholly of o heavenly
nature. The best wines has its lees.
All mems faults are not written on
their foreheads, and it's quite as well
they are not, or hats would need very
wide brims; yet as sure as eggs are
eggs, faults of some sort reStle in
every mans bosom. There's no tell
ing when a mans sins may show
themselves, for harcs pop out of the
ditch just when you are not looking
for them. a horse that is weak in
the legs may not stumble for n mile
or two, but it is in him, and the rider
had better hold him up well. The
tabby cat is not tapping milk just
now, but leave the ,lairy door open,
and we will see it she is not rs bad u
thief as the kitten. There's fire in
flint, cool as it looks wait till the
steel gets knock at it, and You will
see. Everybody can read that riddle,
but it Is not everybody that will re-
member to keep his gunpOwder out
of the way of the candle.
If we would always recOllect that
we live among men who are imper-
feet, we should not be in such fever
when we find out cur friends fail
ings; what's rotten will rend, and
cracked pots will leak. Blessed is he
who expect nothing OF poor flesh and
blood, for he shall he disappointed.
The best of men are men at the best,
and the best wax will melt.
u Is good horse that never stumblcs,
And agood wife that never grumbles
But surely such horses and wives are
only found i'm the FOOLS paradise,
where dumplings grow on trees. In
this wicked world the straightest
timber has knots in it and the
cleanest field of wheat has its share of
weeds. The most careful driver one
day upsets the cart, the cleverest cook
spills 4 little broth, and, as i know to
my sorrow, a very decent ploughman
will now and then break the plough,
and often make crooked furrow. 1t |
Is foolish to turn off tried friend be- |
cause Of failing or two, for you may |
get rid of q One-eyed nag and buy a |
blind one. Being all Of US full of |
faults, we ought to keep two bears,
and learn to bear and f0rbear with one |
another. Since we all live in glass
houses, we should none OF us throw
stones. Everybody laughs when the
saucepan says to the Kettle, "How
black YOU are!" Other mems imper-
Tections show us our imperfectiOns,
or one sheep is much like another;
and II there's an apple in my neigh
BORIS eye, there is no doubt one in
nine. We ought to use our neigh
BORIS as looking-glasses to see our own
aults in, and mend in ourselves what
We see in them.
/ have no patience with those who
)Oke their noses into every mans
houses to smell out his faults, and put
m maenifying glasses to discover
heir neighbors flaws; such folks had
,etter look at home, they might see
he devil where they little expected.
What we wish to see we shall see or
hink we sec. Faults are always
hick where love is thin. A white
ow Is all black IL you eyes chooses to
make it so. If we sniff enough mt rose [
water, we shall find out that 1t has a
adj smell. 1t would be far more
leasant business, at least for other y
eople, If fault-hunters would turn Ic
heir dogs to hunt out the good points III
4 other folks; the game would pay
etter, and nobody would stand with IN
pitchfork to keep the huntsman off D
Is farm. As for our fault It would /
Ike large slate to hold the account
them, but, thank God, we know |.
here TO take them, and how to get B
le better OF them. With all our J