The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1878-11-07
Keep Your Eyes Open.

HALF the people in the world 60
through life with their eyes shut. They
never see anything.
They travel all over creation, and
when they get back, ask them about
what they have seen, and they have not
seen it.
There is nothing for educating a
man like keeping the eyes open.
If you are young, and want to get
wisdom as you 90 along, form early
the habit of keeping your eyes open.
Let nothing escape you. Study men
and things. Observe what is going on
around you, and neglect no opportunity
of learning something new.
There is no person so ignorant but
that you could learn something from
him before unknown to you. There is
no animal of Gods creation so humble
but that he might teach you lesson, if
you were willing to receive it.
We see men on railway cars who
merely endure the journey, and know
nothing of what goes on around them.
They put their noses into u two-cent
daily, and read over the advertisements
to pass away the time, and nod over
the report of the last scandal in high
life, and crack peanuts, and throw
the shells on the floor to catch in the
.fringes of the ladies' dresses; and the
country through which they are pass
ing might be Eden or Sahara, for aught
they know to the contrary.
!. Such men, when they get home, will
have nothing to tell their wives of their
journey, except that it was so tire
some and dusty,' and the many little
incidents which an observing person is
cognizant of on journey, and the
many little anecdotes he picks up, are
lost to the poor stay-at-home who
wbuld be so ready to listen to anything
her husband had to tell of the world
frbm which she is, in a measure, shut
out.
True, to q man of business, the little
trivial incidents of hundred miles
journey may seem insignificant; but,
after all, life is made up Of little things,
and if we neglect them. where is our
life, and in what does it consist?
The person who does not keep his
eyes open had better not spend money
in travelling. 1t will be more protita-
BILE to him to hoard it up for his heirs
to quarrel about after his DEATH,
{ He might circumnavigate the globe,
and he would never see anything worth
speaking about. His memory of classic
localities would be entirely confined to
the details of the dinners he got there.
"A few years ago, at the Falls OF Nj
agara. q pompous English gentleman,
who, with his family, had done them
selves and the country the honor of
making the American tour, was gaz-
ing at this wonderful specimen of Ma
lures handiwork, and a friend said to
him:
], .It passes all my previous concep
tions Of what Niagara might be-"
,t"Oh, yes, to be sure" said our En-
glish friend; IS but don't you think so
much water tumbling about is tiresome?
And that beefsteak we had for break
fast was beastly horrid!'
+ The man who keeps his eyes open is
always an interesting companion. PeO-
pie like his society. He sees SO many
things which otherwise they would not
have observed. He has such n fund of
general information on almost every
subject. He knows just what every
body wants to know. You ask him
about anything. and he can tell you &C
curately, and you know. it. and pin your
faith to what he says. -.
He has kept his eyes open to some
purpose. He has not gone through the
world blindfolded. He has been alert
to observe, quick to draw conclusions,
ready to listen to. people older than
himself, and ever on the qNi sIUe to
extract information from any source
which offered. And when we meet
him, and see how well stored his mind
is with aaeefpl things which books and
colleges viii Asver teach US, we are
moro than aYey convinced that y pays
to keap yaaa eyes open. s-kals vNov1',
IN NJ r. Weektv, N''