The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1879-12-14
CHIT BY THE WAY.

Every WORD rteroo In this life IS echoed IN the
| life to come. In the resurrection shall meet
these echoes. nd they will decide fate forever.
Old Father .Aylor. of Boston. q strong and
far.seeng mar Standing on hilltop which over
looked the vilge he noticed six little wooden boxes
called meeting houses. and knowing that there
only many lnndred inhabitants the place said.
sententiously -"Ah. see you have had religious
war here
Don't play with the devil when you are young lest
you have to wok for him when you old
deathbed repentance is good thing q last re-
sort, but for solid comfort 1t is little uncertain.
He who uses religion q cloak for evil deeds is
like tho man WHO passes counterfeit money; he is
sure to be found out at last.
Somebody says quantity enough that distinction
and differences by means alike. "a little
distinction" mikes man very happy while ga little
difference" especially with ones wife, IL apt to
make things govery ,trariwise.
There is an old negro song that ought to be trans
lated into white mans poetry. 1t runs thus:-
Brother mote in g brothers eye.
An cant see de beam ms own;
You go home. sweep out your own door,
An leave yo' brudder alone.
There is q vast deal OF generosity which is Of the
kind illustrated in the following story. Indeed. it
seems to be . popularity OF human nature to be
very generous with other peoples property and very
niggardly with ones own. No one yet saw why
his next door neighbor couldn't just as
well as not give largely to certain chari-
ties. while very few why they should
themselves give anything. But to the story
A gentleman was driving q fine double team along
country road, when farmer. who was trudging on
toward home. hoping to get ''lift.' accosted him
with. "will you let ride with you to the
next town. sirf' All the world would have
seen that the request reasonable one and
xt.x
so the owner Of the prsncing horses STILL not to be
wholly accommodating he answered. "well, my
friend ahem! don't really sec how can do it, for
my horses pretty tired; but there's man CON-
ing up ON horseback. and haven't the slightest
doubt that he will let you get on behind him. Good
morning."
Children have more tact than they get credit for,
When her grandmother had told the six ear-old
long yarn about fabulous bear who used to 90
round the country eating all the children who dis
obeyed their parents the bright child into the
wrinkled face and said :-"Grandma were there any
bears Of that kind around when you grip" And
when the old lady assured her that bears of that kind
q recent invention. she simply replied, II
thought there couldn't have been any or shouldn't
have had any grandmother" On another occasion
Of equal Importance. when asked whether she be-
lieved what she told she nsively replied. "No,
think it is the biggest mistaken ever heard"
There is large amount OF true philosophy in the
reply of the who said that he had overcome
great many temptations by just keeping out of
their way. 1t is all very we'll to that you are
strong enough to resist anything and then put your
self in the way Of everything; but tho better plan
to pursue that of the hero who declared that he
saved himself from horrible death by ydrophobia
by climbing q tree whenever dog went by.
German children are mono the less bright than
those of other nationalites. Little Tritzchen, in
petuant mood. called his aged aunt an ''old fool"
The maternal relative ut once demonstrated not in
the mild fashion. however. which IL prevalent in
America. the paradise OF disobcdicnt children. On
tho contrary she illustrated the sinfulness of the
chid's course by u series Of wood cuts which made
him tingle for week. and then insisted that he
should beg his aunt's pardon. The child was equal
to the emergency. and. going down OH his knees to
his nunt. said with many sobs. "Aunty, L M awful
sorry that you IRE an old fool will you forgive me
A little while ago. when were In Baden, the
servant girl entered to put the to rights while
we busily engaged In reading about tho proba-
bilitics of war between Germany and Russia Sud
denly we gave terrific sneeze, perhaps caused by
the dust which the domestic raised. At any rate,
the reverberations of tho explosion had no sooner
died away than she crossed herself aud said in low
voice. "Gesundheitl" Two or three minutes after
from any desire port-in another nasal re-
port. and again we heard the mild voice say
"Gesundheiti' Then we laid our paper down and
recalled tho origin Of that curious and pleas
ant custom. II was some time in the four
teenth century. think. that the whole continent
of Europe was ravaged by the plague. Neither high
nor low were spared. but thousands in all classes
fell victims to the dreaded curse. In Pisa you will
to-day large numbers of persons. members OF a
religious order. whose faces almost entirely
covered with cloth mask. There are two little
holes for the eyes. but those are ALL IL IL o some
what picturesque but very uncomfortable head
dress. especially in warm weather. Well these masks
the relics of that plague. The people died such
numbers that they were forsaken oven by their
nearest relatives. 1t fatal for any one to take
the breath of the dying. So subtle and powerful
was tho disease that single inhalation inoculated
the blood and death to cnsue. 1t was i'm
portant. however. that the dying should confess and
receive absolution and vet 1t seemed too expensive
to spend the iifo Of q member of some holy order
every time man was stricken with the plague. In