River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1879-11-13
The flowers willing in the mead,
The grass is getting crisp,
And through the trees at eventlde
the tender breeZeS lisp:
While on the stop at haf-past 10
George Henry fondly whisp-
Els sweet things 10 Geraldine.
What we Would DO,

The prodigies of good we should ac-
comDlisn under certain circumstances
are something marvellous. Ii we pos
sessed the money of this one, the leisure
of another, the strength and talent OF
a third, the firm health of our neighbor,
the education of our first cousin, the
experience of this friend, or the happy
temperament of that, mankind would
be largely benefited by our example,
we fondly believe. We build castles
with materials belonging to others,
which would be a perpetual rebuke il
they could only descry the towers there
of against their mental horizon. 1t is
kind of amelioration OF orr own in
felicities and imbecilities to perceive
how little the superior conditions OF our
fellows have availed them. We are not
glad that they have wrapped their tai
ent in a napkin, instead of putting 1t
out at interest; but we fancy it excuses
our own shortcomings in a degree. If
they failed, with such odds in their
favor, what could be expected of us,
already over-weighted for the contest by
poverty, by intirmity, or by want of
proper training? If we were as rich,
for instance, as our great uncle Cr@sus,
how differently we should. employ our
surplus mcconnell We should send anony
nous bank bills to genteel and INDECENT
families we wot of; we should increase
the welfare of certain good clergymen
sab rosa; we should replenish the coal
bins of washer-women: we should order
no end of water-color drawings from the
Dung women who are trying to keep
their heads above water; we
should even do violence to our own
esthetic taste, and purchase some of
the crude works of artists not born TO
fame; we should plan pleasant surpris-
es for the poor shop girls and teachers;
we should pay seamstresses a little
more than they demand, and we should
remember the birthdays of our poor
relations.
The value of our gifts should be great
in proportion to the slender means of
the recipient. We should not only
educate certain youths who show signs
of talent, but lend helping hand to
those Who gave no sign, as being in the
greater need of development, 1t may
be. We should, moreover, have no
picked-up dinners nor wear patched
garments while the naked and hungry
are always with us. What Languages
we should master, what sciences we
should make our own. if we possessed
the leisure of certain acQualntancesl
Does any flower blossom whose times
and seasons we should not know? or
any bird fly whose habits and notes
we should not recognize? What &C
quaintance we might cultivate with the
literature of the wide world. and what
time might we not lend TO the teach
ings of others But the chief danger
in thus considering the mote in our
neighbours eye lies in fact that we are
apt to become so epgrossed In the anal
ysis as to ignore the resp. .sibilities of
our own position, and leave room for
others, even less favored of fortune
than ourselves, to find similar causes of
dissatisfaction in our use of our own
advantage.