Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-03-25
TIE MORAL OF A PAIR OF STOCK


The following letter was written by
distinguished literary lady to a learned
Judge on the eve of his marriage:
DEAR COUSIN: Herewith you will
receive present of a pair of stockings
knit by my own hands; and be assured,
dear coz, that my friendship for you is
as warm as the material, active as the
finger work, and generous as the dona-
ton.
But consider the present as pecul-
iarly appropriate ION the occasion of
your marriage.
You will remark, in the first place,
that there are two individuals united in
one pair, who are to. walk side by side,
guarding against GOODNESS, and giving
comfort as long as they last. The thread
of their texture is mixed and So alas,
is the thread of life.
In these, however, the white is made
to predominant, expressing my desire
and confidence that thus it will be with
the color of your existence. No black
is used, for | believe you will be wholly
free from the black passions of wrath
and jealousy. The darkest color here is
blue, which is excellent when we do not
make it too blue.
Other appropriate thoughts rise in my
mind regarding these stockings. The
most Indifferent subjects, when viewed
by the mind In q suitable frame, may
furnish instructive influence, as saith
the poet:
The iron dogs, the fuel and tongs,
The bellows that have leathern lungs,
The frewood, ashes and smoke,
Do all to righteousness provoke.
But to the subject. You will perceive
that the top of these things (by which I
suppose corrtship to be represented) are
scanned, and by no means of scanning
are drawn into q snarl, but after comes a
time when the whole is made plain, and
continues so till the final toeiag off. By
this wish to take occasion to congratu-
late you, that you are now through with
seeming and have come to plain reality.
Again, as the whole of these comely
stockings was not made at once, but
by the addition of one little stitch after
another, put in with skill and discretion,
until the whole presents the fair and
equal piece of work which you see, so
life does not consist of one great action,
bnt millions of little ones combined !;
and SO it may be with our hves-no
stitch dropped when duties are to be
performed, no widening made when bad
principles are to be removed or economy
is to be preserved, neither scanning nor
narrowing where truth and generosity
are in question.
Thus every stitch Of life made right
and set in the right place-none either
too large or too small, too light or too
loose may you keep on your smooth
and even course, making existence one
fair and consistent piece, until together
having passed the heel you may come
to the very toe of life, and here in the
final narrowing off and dropping off the
coil OF this en- blmeatic pair of companions
and comforting associates, nothing ap-
pears but white, the token of innocence
and peace, of purity and light. May
you, like these stockings-the final stitch
being dropped, and the work completed
go together from the place where you
were formed to a happier state of exis-
tence, present from earth. to heaven.
Hoping that these stockings and ad-
manitions may meet civil reception, I
remain in the true blue friendship, SEEM
ingly without scanning, yours from top
to toe.