The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-07-08
Getting the Best Out OF It.


Out of what? Out of any thing; out
OF your life, out of your circumstances,
OUT or what you have, out of what you
are In yourself Few people are content
eu 10 be what they are, or, rather, to be in
the place IN which they are. They always
want to be some one else, or to be in the
place OF some one else; for, if the ques-
tloh Is brought home TO us closely, we
are none OF US willing to exchange identi-
y with any other individual: we only
want what seems to us good that they
nave gof, forgetting or ignoring the fact
Ghat they have grown into their lives as
we nave grown into ours, and that, to
CERTAIN extent, each one is fitted to his own
lie much better, at any rate, than he
could be to that of any one else.
It Is like wishing for some other per-
sons clothes. If we had them for the
wishing we should find we could make no
use of them.
Young girls are especially apt to wish
they could change their circumstances or
their surroundings. They wish they lived
IN the city instead of the country, or the
country instead of the city, or that they
had timer house, or that they could 90 to
boarding-school, or that they could afford
to dress like some girls they know, or that
they were allowed to dress in elegant
grewn-up style, or that they could 90 to
the seaside or wateriHg-place or the the
alter or the opera, or be allowed to sit up
reading novels and lie in bed late in the
morning, or a thousand other things that
seem to them desirable. The most of
these things they only want because they
have read about them, or heard them de-
scribed in very glowing terms. They
have no idea what they really are, or how
much or how little satisfaction is to be OBJ
tanned from them.
A season at a water-place seems to
some vivid young imaginations the reali-
cation of a dream of Paradise; and be-
cause they cannot compass it they nope
and fret and give way to a spirit which
makes life wretched for themselves and
every one about them They do not
know, and cannot imagine, that half the
people at watering-places are more lonely
and more unhappy than thsy are-that
more than half the show and gayety and
glitter exists simply in the imaginations
OF the people who write about them, and
that it Is burden more than happiness
to those who experience them.
Not, of course, but that enjoyment may
be extracted even out of awatering-place
but it is usually by those who would be
happy anywhere else-who carry happi-
ness with them.
For unless you are acquainted with and
moving in the same circle as the people
who go there you are practically as much
alone as if you We're living in the wilds of
anew country. You go in and out, you
pay hign for your board and lodging, but
speak TO no one. You feel like pariah,
and would be glad to escape from it any
where that would give you companion
ship.
That we make our own lives has be-
come truism and commonplace, but it
is none the less true for that. Let us make
them good for ourselves and good for
others. Let us try TO repay the Obliga-
ton that we are under to those who have
made and are making life endurable to us,
by doing something which shall make
lie sweet TO them. Oh, how good kind
ness is, how good cheertulness is, how
good sweetness and purity and cleanli-
ness are! How good it is TO have beau
tiful thought, true thought, a noble
thought introduced into hard, dull life !
How good II is 10 see "a thing dane ia the
best way, if it is only washing dishes or
peelng potatoes! How thoroughly it
ennObles the work and the worker.
If you live in the country be happy.
You have the free air blowing in upon
you from all sides. You can look out of
the windows, and note the progress of the
flowers, the up-springing grass, the creep
ing vines, and see the first bursting of the
buds upon tree and shrubs. You can
have hanging baskets in every door and
recess, for you can take them out of doors
for water, and run no risk of spelling the
carpets or blOckading the water-pipes, and
you can plant herbs, and lay off patches
of ground for your favOrite plants and
garden.seeds. Your kitchen is clean, and
even if not your own you can do what you
please in it; its closets smell of thyme and
sage and fragrant caraways instead of gen.
erations of mice and reaches, and you
have woodbine trailing up against the
windows, instead of an irOn-grating and
the contents of the ash-barrel. No Won
der the warm, light biscuit or the good
brown bread tastes so sweet coming from
the bright stove-oven; no wonder the
chicken-potpie melts in your mouth, and
the potatoes lie like pile of snow upon
the dish. What opportunities for house
keeping are here! The place suggests
generous kitchen aprons, covering the
neatest and incest of print dresses, and a
larder always ready for company.
Perhaps you despise these humble Op-
portunities; but they are not to be des-
pissed. If you cannot write story, live
one, and if it is not gay and brilliant one
let it be practical and domestic one. Find
out what possibilities are in you for an ex-
quisite cleanliness, for kindly care-taking,
for bountiful providing, for cultivation
of the beautiful, and develop them. Doing
it for yourself you will do it for your
home, and thus render ita source of COM
fort and happiness to your own family,