Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1876-08-31
IncOnsfstencies,

ter untruth of the SUMS statements.
Inconsistencies
When l was boy it was my for
tune to breathe, for a long time,
what some writer's call the "bracing
air of poverty" My mother-light
lie the turf upon the gentle form
which once enclosed her strong and
gentle spirit was what is commonly
called an ambitious woman; for that
quality which overturns thrones and
supplants dynasties finds legiti-
mate sphere in the humblest abode
that the shadow of poverty ever
darkened. The struggle between
the wish to keep up appearances,
and the pinching grippe of necessity,
produced endless shifts and contri-
vances, at which, were they told,
some would smile, and some, to
whom they would recall their own
experiences, would sigh. But let
mo not desturb that veil Of Oblivion
which shrouds from profane eyes
the hollow mysteries Of proverty.
On one occasion II was necessary
to send me upon an errand to a
neighbor In better circumstances
than ourselves, and to whom it was
necessary that l should be presented
in tie best possible aspect. Great
pains were accordingly taken to give
smart appearance to my patched
and dilapidated wardrobe, and TO
conceal the rents and chasms which
the enyious tooth of time had made
in them, and by way of throwing
over my equipment certain SAVIOUR
and sprinkling ofgentility, my red
and toil-hardened hands were on
closed in the unfamiliar casing Of a
pair of gloves, (which had belonged
to mother in days when her years
were fewer and her heart lighter.
y. sailed forth on my errand, and
on my way encountered much
older and bigger boy, who evidently
belonged to a family which had all
their own dragging poverty, and
none of our uprising wealth of spirit.
His rags fairly iluttored In the breeze;
his hat was constructed on the most
approved principle Of ventilation,
and his shoes, from their venerable
antiquity, might have been deemed
pair of fossil shoes-the very ones
in which Shem shuffled into the
ark. He was an impudent varlet,
with daredevil swagger In his gait,
an "I'm as good as you" leer In his
eye-the very whelp to throw stone
at well-dressed horseman because
he was we'll dressed; to tear boys
rufiles because he was clean. AS
soon as he saw me, his eyes detected
the practical Inconsistencies which
characterized my costume, and Ia
king me by tho shoulders, turned me
around with no gentle hand and
surveying me from head to foot, he
exclaimed with scornful laugh Of
dorision, "a patch on both knees
and gloves onl'
still recall this sting Of wounded
feeling which shot through me at
these words. To parody a celebra-
ted line Of the immortal Tuscan
THAT day wore my gloves no more
But the lesson thus rudely enforced,
sank deep into my mind, and, in
after life, ! have had frequent occa-
sion to make practical application
OF tho words of my ragged friend,
when have observed the practical
which so often mark
the conduct of mankind.
When for instance, i see parents
providing for the ornamen-
tai education of their children, fur
them with teachers In mu-
sic, dancing, and drawing, but CIV
ing no thought to that moral and
religious training from which the
true dignity and permanent happi-
ness of life alone can come, never |
them habits of selfsacrifice,
and self-discipline, and control, but |
rather by example instructing them
i, a.,ii .spaekfnU In r.ncho a 10 hlo,,1ou