The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-11-03
The Law of Give and Take.

thing for nothing, is the great truth
upon which the universe hinges, and
has hinged ever since the morning stars
sang together in grand concourse, prais-
ing God who had made them. He gave
them being; they gave Him hEaise.
And for the man who does not acKnowl-
edge this law it would be better if he
had never been born.
The rain falls upon the earth and it
bursts into LEAKAGE. The sun shines
upon and it laughs back at him in all
the beauty of a million flowers. The
mountains tower up toward the blue
sky, and the sky bends down to meet
them. The shore slopes to the water,
and the water presses up to the shore.
The moon and stars look upon the sea,
and it flashes back their radiance.
Everywhere it is the old story of steel
and flint. Throughout all nature there
is this lesson so plainly written that he
who runs may read-may read as he
runs, without ever stopping to spell out
the words, or to puzzle over their mean
ing-sOmething for something.
The exceptions to the general rule
render the rule itself still more striking.
In all the world of nature there is moth
ing so worthless as the parasite-noth-
ing so forlorn as the blasted tree. The
first feeds on the life of its supporter, it's
benefactor, its friend; takes all, and
gives back nothing. By common con-
sent it has been TSade Synonymous with
the meanest specimens of living beings
that have human existence.
What worse name can you call a man
after you have called him a parasite p
since that very state of being breeds
upon occasion in him all the other
vices. And then, the blasted tree-it is
the type of human being unresponsive
to all influences for good. He might
better be dead; for upon him do all the
kindly agencies of mercy exhaust them
selves in vain.
He stands as the blighted tree stands.
On it the rain falls and the sun shines;
it gives back nothing; it is good for
nothing but to fall and rot and become
as leaf-mould, an enricher of the soil.
In this, its last state, it is better than
when it stood upright, but useless.
| The carcass of an idle, selfish preyer
upon the substance of others can fill no
! better part if he remain Obstinately shut
up in himself The sooner he falls and
rOts and his place knows him no more,
the better for the world. He will then
at least be the equivalent of the dead
| tree in usefulness-he will help to en-
rich the soil 1t is better that such
should not cumber the ground. Let
others who are amenable to the great
natural law of give and take step into
their places.
! The lack of an instructive appreciation
of this law causes many failures in life.
There are people stupid enough to start
out with the idea of getting all they can
out of others and of giving nothing in
return. Theirs is the sharpness of the
! half-fOol. Cent-percent. rules in the
business world; courtesy for courtesy in
the fashionable world; favor for favor
with politicians; love for love in the
kingdom of the heart. Everywhere, as
in the world of nature, it is give and
take-something for something. Even
in the relative positions of benefactOr
and benefited, within reasonable limits
the pleasures of giving and receiving
are reciprocal, and pay each for the
other.
But it becomes at last wearisome to dc
for person who is always asking to be
done for and who never does anything in
return; is hardly thankful indeed, but
takes your best efforts as a matter o
course almost. The chief delight O
.
involuntary. But chronic mendicancy
of any sort weighs on the elasticity o.
this spring. The chief charm of a sup.
plicant is gratitude; shOrn of that, he j;
but brazen beggar at best. Perhaps
the most lOathsOme, but at the same
time the most expressive synonym fol
this parasitic tendency, is the Horse
leech's daughter, with her cry of "Give
give"'
We all recognize instinctively the bit
ter discOuragement that comes from
shoWering gifts upon a barren, unre
spOnsive soil-that is to say, upon |
selfish, grasping person.
, No matter how cleverly sharp such al
one may be, the world finds him out il
the end and leaves him to himself-get
tired of putting its hands in its pocket
for one who never puts his near his own
II excepting to deposit something thereil
and button them safely up immediatel.
afterward, to remain so till he has some
thing else to put into themi
} The best business men always recOg
: niZe fully the maxim of something TO
something. So do all great Statesmen
and society leaders--in fact, all success
: full people do. 1t is at the basis of thei
: success and popularity; for if one hav
all the other good qualities and be ut
: terly selfish, he will never really an
truly succeed. His contemporaries fin
= him out in the end, and send him dow
2 to posterity with his character pinne
= to his back.
So, if you have a tendency to b
: greedy, to get your cake as aims, rathe
than as the rightful return for the lega
tender of labor of some sort that sha
benefit the world, and want to go into
corner and eat it all by yourself, try
E get the better of that inclination.
will help you to do so to study for lii
, tie while the movements of the wheel
e within the wheels of the machinery {
! daily life; to note how one thing depend
upon another; how no man, who is
whole man, really lives to himself; ho'
5 life is not game of grab, but of. givin
S and taking; and bury your shallow phi
losophy of selfishness away forever, S
deep that you will forget that it wa
ever yOurs.-PhrenologicdL Journal.