The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1880-03-18

dllu answer a. leGUtl aCCOll DdllN lily a.
manuscript. At Haworth it was not
easy to understand the ways of Corn
hill or Paternoster Row. We can
fancy the grim smile on the face of
the publisher, overwhelmed in all like
lihood with letters, manuscripts,
proofs, books, bills, and business of
every sort, at the gentle impotence of
the lady Most publishers and editors
too have doubtless had rather amusing
experiences of the innocent impatience
of correspondents Letters to the ed
itor often run as if the poor man had
nothing whatever to do from morn to
dewy eve but attend to their papers.
He may be struggling, like dray
horse in an overloaded wagon, to over
take the piles of grabbed handwriting
in prose and verse that burden his
table, ranging from essays in Chinese
m taphysics to lines on snowdrop,
and possibly, in regard to a given pa
per, thinking of inserting it in the
course Of the season, when down
comes a laundering epistle demanding
why it did not appear in the last num-
ber. Well, the impatience Of cores
pondents is not always innocent.
Some have spiteful pleasure in
stinging the editor for rejecting"
what the unhappy man never asked.
If he had only time, he might explain
things, and perhaps pacify them; but
perhaps not. Editors, we suppose,
must submit to be counted tyrants,
and probably fools to boot, by a large
proportion of the ill-fated volunteers
to whose surprising merits they are so
often inveterately blind.
More amusing are the strange fam
cies that some persons have as to what
overworked men may be asked to do
for them. In the very thick Of the
American war, there came to Pfesi-
dent Lincoln an Illinois farmer, in a
great state Of excitement about pair
of horses that one Of Lincoln's gen.
erals had requisitioned for the war
The owner was of course entitled
to compensation, but somehow it had
not come. Going to the president, he
told him his story, and was rather
chagrined to be told that it did not lie
with him to pay the money. Then,
says the farmer, will you undertake to
write to the general, and see that the
matter is settled properly? Poor
Lincoln, who never wanted story to
help him i'll an emergency, was ready
for his visitor. "When [ was rail-
splitter he said, "there lived near US
a smart young fellow, the captain of
a Mississippi boat, who could steer a
vessel over the rapids with wonderful
skill, as hardly any one else could.
One day, when he was grasping the
wheel with his utmost strength, at
the most critical point of the rapids, a
little boy came running up to him in
great excitement and said, 'Cap'n, stop
your ship, my apple has fallen over
boardr" In the ''Life of Sir James
Simpson" there are some curious no
tices Of the extraordinary things that
patients in the country would some
times ask him to do. Once a gentle
man wrote to him asking him to send
him a copy of the prescription which
he had given him some years before
when the doctor could hardly recall
the man, much less the prescription
Others would ask him to goto Duncan
and Flockhart's and get them some
particular medicine. A very busy
clergyman Of our acquaintance
when over head and ears with
many things, once got letter from &
stranger in the United States, explain.
ing that more than a century age
some one Of the name of G owned
property near Edinburgh which was
believed to have been destined by will
in particular way, so that the rela-
tives in America thought they haG
some claim to it. He was requested
to inquire into the matter, find out
about the will, communicate with the
present owners Of the property, anG
put everything in train for a Just set.
tlement of the claim. It would have
been reasonable for the writer to in.
close a bill for five hundred dollars
but that, unfortunately, he omitted
to do.
Unreasonable though it be to plague
overworked men in this way, it il
very interesting to find such men vol
unteering, in the midst Of a hundred
other things, to do some useful service
to the friendless or the poor. Moth.
ing could have been kinder, for exam.
pie, than the act Of Sir Walter Scott
writing out sermons for young as.
pirant to the Scottish ministry, whose
state of nerves made him unable tc
grapple with the task, and satisfy hi
presbytery Similar, though in {
quite different sphere, was the kind
ness shown by Vinet, at Lausanne, tt
a peasant woman who invaded his sol
itude one Sunday morning. Over
come by toll and illness, Vinet haG
been obliged to forbid the visits o.
strangers, and his family were guard
ing him with all possible care. Tht
woman was an intelligent, God-fearine
peasant, who had never succeeded il
getting rest for her spirit; but, hav
ing fallen in with one of Vinets
books, she was persuaded that if sht
could only see him, he would be able
to give her the needed guidance
With much more difficulty, she go
admission to his room. We can fancy
the anxious relatives enjoining her tC
.detain him as short time as possible
But Vinet, when he heard her story
was profoundly interested. and spent
the whole day with her, up to the
hour of the last stage-coach. The
account which the woman gave to hel
own pastor, on returning home, wa:
interesting WELL" said the pastor
''have you been able to see him p
Yes she replied, ''and at last I have
found one who has humbled me. >
"Humbled you! M. Vinet is not the
man to humble any one" Yes
humbled me, and humbled me pro-
foundly. In contact with his humility