The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-10-24
kicking against Pricks.
[Bits of TAX for Young Folks.l

.Ine WOflQ Is lull OF InlnSS tudg phiOA' AH0AS
are nettles and burdocks and thistles and rose
bushes and raspberry bushes and blackberry
vines, which every child knows by sight. Then
in the south and out in the far west where l
live, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, there
are in addition to all these more than dozen
different kinds of cactus which prick more
than anything else in theworld, and there is
plant called Yucca, which has long leaves al
most as narrow as a grass blade, pointed at the
end and as stiff as a knife. Sometimes this is
called Spanish bayonet, because its leaves are
sharp as the point OF bayonet. They could
run a long way into the flesh If they were used
as weapons. presume there are great many
more things that prick that L never heard Of.
Probably no country is without them; 1 am
sure we have enough of them in America.
How carefully we move about where such
things are growingl How closely we look where
we stepl Everybody knows nettles and will not
go near a nettle-bed if he can help it, In pick
ing raspberries and blaekberries how sharply
we look out not TO get scratched by the thorns;
how often we see beautiful purple thistles and
say to ourselves. "Oh, dearl if thistles hadn't
such sharp thorns on them, would pick one."
| AQu dS lUI EOocc, ~ u1o PAoooA INV BASfS-h
about them, "No rose without a thorn" mean
ing that hardly anybody ever picked a rose in
his life without pricking his fingers The only
way to handle any of these things safely IS to
wear very thick gloves, or else TO take pair
of scissors and cut off all the thorns before you
touch the stems. This is great deal OF trou-
BILE, but not so much trouble as to have to pick
thorns out of our flesh and to bear the pain OF
their pricking. Some thorns are poisonous and
the pain lasts long time. l knew lady in
Colorado who carelessly stepped on prickly
pear plant,-that is a kind of cactus; it has
flat, round leaves about as large as the palm OF
your hand, and shaped something like mitten
with the thumb left off. These leaves are a
quarter Of an inch thick and are covered all
over with little pricking points as fine as the
finest needles; these points are called spines;
they are SO fine you scarcely see one alone by
itself, and it is almost impossible to get one
| ont of your flesh if it once has sunk in. This
| lady stepped on some Of these leaves, and the
| SHINES ran through her boot and stocking and
went SO far into her foot she could not pul
them out Her foot swelled and her whole leg
swelled; for two weeks she had to sit with her
leg resting on a chair, and suffered great pain
all that time Don't you believe she was care
full always after that when she walked on the
pIains where the cactus grew? And now what
do YOU suppose is the reason | am saying all
these things about different sorts OF plants
which prick? l'n tell you, this IS little ser
mon, and all this first part about the plants
that prick is the text to it.
Now comes the sermon itself, and you see II
it doesn't stick to its text" better than some
| aermons do
There are hundreds of things in life that
are Just like these thorny leaves and stems that
| prick Every day we come across them or they
| come across us, Some of them are like the net
| Ties and burdocks, Just mere torments, to get
away from if we can. Ugly-tempered people
| and stupid, tiresome people are like nettlesi
how they DO sting us and make us SMART ana
| the stupid, tiresome people are ike Ouruoeksi
how they do stick to us when we want to shake
| them off But most of the things in life which
prick us are like the roses and the rasp0erries
| and the blackDerries good things Whlcn we
| want, beautiful things which we like TO see,
| and wholesome things which 1t is best Tor US 10
| have; but they all have thorns, and II we dom
| take care Of them the right way, we shall sure
| lyEget pricked. l will mention one oil the
things mean, and you wilt think oil dozens
/ yourself.
SIeen is one. Once asked little girl what
| she disiked most of all things in this world,
| and she answered me without stopping to think
| minute:
aBed-timel bed-times the thing I hate
| worstl Bedtime is the meanest thing IN all
| the world!
| / didn't wonder much, for remember very
we'll how 1 used to hate to go to bed when was
| a child. But if i had only known then as L
| know now that every hour spent sleep was
| helping to make me strong, nealthy woman,
| and giving my body chance to grow 70 lts
| full size l wouldn't have hated It so. NO, IN
| deed I would have gone to bed early OF my
| own accord, without anybody having to coax
| or to drive me. l should have known that the
| more hours spent sleeping when was q little
| girl the better time / should have when grew
| up.
But little children cannot possibly under
| stand this. They cannot believe it when their
| fathers and mothers tell them. So they have
| to be made to 60 to bed early, no matter now
| much they dislike it. Almost every day see
| some child being dragged off to bed, by nurse
| or a mother; and when hear it crying and
| screaming and holding lback, say: ION you
| foolish child, you are kicking against the
! Yourself as well as everybody else"
Now, wish every boy and girl that reads
| this would Just try for one week, going to ped
| when the regular time comes. without making
| any fass about it. Take bedtime Just as you
1 take the dinner-time, or the tea-tlme or some
thing that is fixed and settled, and that IS the
| end Of it. Why, at the end OF the week you
4 won't think much about it; when seven O'CLOCK
or eight o'clock klcomesor whatever your ped-time
is Eyou will gosas matter OF course, ana you II
see how much happier you'll be. You Will
| save ever SO many pricks by it. And it would
| be lust so with all the things which chlldren
| have to do which they don't like to do, ana all
the things which they want to do and can't an
such things are things with prlcks. you
fret and cry, and tease, that is kicking agalnst
the pricks, and you get dreadfully hurt' Ii
you say to yourself resolutely
sWell, it can't be helped, I've got TO 90 IT,
and ri make the best of it," that is taking
hold of the thorns the right way and saves ali
There IS one more thing to be said about
| this kicking against the pricks III always
leaves shocking marks on peoples faces
You can imagine how boys clothes would
look if he had been in bed OF nettles allu
| brambles, and had Just plunged right through
| kicking the thorny stems on every side. why
| he would look like a beggarl His CLONES
would hang in rags and tatters; great pieces
would have been torn out and left behind
| Now our faces are clothes OF our soulsi and
the strange thing that the SOULS clothes always
show what shape the souls have. The body
| clothing is quite different. You can have
| clothes made for the body that will quite con-
ceal its shape; it may deformed and ugly 60
look at, and yet good clothes rigntly sus Pc es ~
with the face, which is the outside garment OF
the soul. 80,
If you kick against tho pricks of life, every
kick leaves its marks on your face, and II you
| keep on kicking, InaJ ID IL yOu NOOP, ". s
and whining and teasing and making i1ss
about things that can't be helped, by and By
your face will be all full of ugly lines ano
marks which are just like the rags and tattert
which would come on your clothes II you
plunged through bramble bush every day.
And you mend the clothes, but you can
possibly mend face. The scowls, ana the
frowns, and the discontented looks all gro"
deeper and deeper the older We grow soule- %
times we see old men and women whose faces
are so full of such marks that we are almost
afraid to speak to them, =,
womanl" we say.
they were children to kick against pricks ant
have never left off.
And this is the end of the little sermon abou
pricks.
Did it not stick to its text?
Irish Agriculture.
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