The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1882-11-25
Advice to q Young Man.


Don't be mean, my boy; don't do
mean things and say mean things.
Cultivate feeling of kindness, q spirit
of charity broad and pure for men and
things. Believe the best of everybody,
have faith in humanity, and as you
think better Of other people, you win be
better yourself. You can, with some
accuracy, measure mans character by
the esteem in which he holds other men.
When | hear man repeatedly declar-
ing that all other men are knaves, /
want strong endorsement on that
mans paper before I'll lend him mon
ey. When a man assures me that all
the Temperance men in the town take
their drinks on the sly, ! wouldn't
leave that man and my private demi-
john--if had one together in a room
five minutes. When a man tells me that
he doesn't know one preacher who
isn't hypocrite, l have all the evil
dence | want that that man is liar.
Nine times in ten, and frequently often
err, you will find that men endeavor to
distigure all other men with their own
weaknesses, failings and vices. So do
you. my boy, think we'll and charitably
of people, for the world is full of good
people.
And if you are mean, you cannot con-
ceal it. People will know it. Our I'M
fortunate, human fondness for gossip
always puts us in possession of all the
worser qualities of each other. Don't
you and your intimate friends. my boy,
discuss the weak and evil points in your
neighbors' charactersP OF course you
do; and when you are the absent one,
be assured, Telemachus, that your
friends are in like manner dissecting
you. Indeed, they are. They know
all about you, and that which you
would have least known, they know the
best
And, at any rate, my son, you know
it, and that is enough. Sometimes
wonder what a mean man thinks about
when he goes to bed. When he turns
out the light and lies down When the
darkness closes in about him and he is
alone and compelled to be honest with
himself. And not bright thought.
not generous impulse, not manly
act not word of blessing, not CRATE
full look, comes to bless him again.
Not a penny dropped into the out
stretched palm OF poverty, nor the
balm of loving word dropped into an
aching heart; no sunbeam of encour-
agement cast upon struggling life;
no strong right hand of Fellowship
reached out to help some fallen man to
his feet-when none of these things
come to him as the "God bless you7'
of the departed day, how he must hate
himself. How he must try to roll away
from himself and sleep on the other
side of the bed. When the only victory
he can think of is some mean victory,
in which he has wronged neighbor,
no wonder he always sneers when he
tries to smile. How pure and fair and
good all the rest of the world must
look TO him, and how cherries and
dusty and dreary must his own path APP
pear. Why even one lone, isolated act
of meanness is enough TO scatter
cracker crumbs in the bed of the aver
age, ordinary man, and what must be
the feelings of man whose whole life
is given up to mean actsp When there
is so much suffering and heartache and
misery in the world, anyhow. why
should you add one pound of wicked
ness or sadness to the general burden.
Don't be mean, my boy. Suffer in
justice thousand times, rather than
commit it once.-Burlington Hawkeye.