The Portland daily press., 1882-01-13
THE GOOD SAMARITAN.

only occupy nfty-four pages; Duu tnough inc
volume is thin the fun is not SO by any means.
We open the book at the first page and read
the following:
THE GOOD SAMARITAN.
certain man went from Jerusalem to Jericho
and fell among thieves. who beat him and stripped
him, and left him for dead. A Good Samaritan see
ing this clapped spurs to his and galloped away
les. he should be sent to the House of Detention as
O witness while the robbers were released on bail.
Hordt-The Perceiver is worse than the Thief.
1t would have been impossible for any Lon
doner to have written more appropriate fable
than this even if he had been reporter at the
Clerkenwell Police Court, in the constant hs b.
1t of listening 10 the pearls of ministerial wis
dom that fall from the lips of Mr.. Barstow Mr..
Bret Harte, indeed, seems to have either tive
gift OF prescience or OF ubiquity. When we
read the following fable we can almost suppose
that he had been accustomed to sit at the table
of the London School Board, and listen TO the
debates on the conduct of the managers of the
St. Pauls Industrial School.
THE KIND-HEARTED sHE-ELEPHANT.
kipd-hearted she-elephant, while walking
through the jungle where the spicy breezes blow
soft DER Ceylon's lsle bee llessly S foot upon
partridge which she c ushed { death within few
inches of the nest containing its callow brood.
.Poor little lhingsl, said the generous mammoth
shall atone for he fatal consequences of my neg
lect." so saying. she sat down upon the orphaned
birds.
Moral-The above teaches us what home is with
out mother; ALSO that it liz not every person who
should be entrusted with the care OF an orphan asy
lum.
Swindling advertisements, especially those of
that heartless class of swindlers who prey upon
simple people who have little money and no
employment, appear to be as common in Amer
lea as in England. Those whose necessities
make them over-confdent would do well to
read the following:
THE PHILOSOPHER AND THE snIPLEToN.
A simpleton, having had occasion to seat himself,
sat down pin whereon he made cutlery unto
Jupiter. philosopher, who happened to be hold
saying: 81 tell you how to avoid hurting your
se by sitting down on pins, and wi !, if you will set
e eagerly af agsIa If the t Of
rum which peTisheth. and replied, "Never sit
down." He subsequently acquired vast fortune
by advertising for agents. to whom he guaranteed
IS week for light and easy employment at their
homes.
Moral The wise mar saith: "There is no Niger
In the fence, but the fool sendeth on 20 cents for
sample, and IS taken in.
Tits often possible to convey great moral
lesson in such way that truth embodied in a
tale NAV enter in at lowly DOORS" even where
truth In closest words may fail" Many years
ago Arthur Hugh Clough wrote:
"The wise man waits; it is the foolish haste
And, while the scenes in the slides, would play
And, while the instruments tuning, dance.'
How much more effectively is the lesson con-
veyed in Bret Harte's fable of "The Prudent
Tiger
IdE IlfDDENT TIdf1h =
prudent tiger having observed procession
bearing the remains of sainted Brahmln to the
tomb, communicated the int ligence to his wife,
and though the deceased from the austeries Of lis
pous life, was in poor condition. make no doubt
that among his surviving friends we may encounter
claimed her lord "cannot you see that if We permit
the deceased to be.canonzed pilgrimages will be in
or vii be brought together In accordance with the
true principles of political economy? Rather let us
then offer chrome for each new pilgrim This
prudent advice being followed, the tiger enjoyed
free break fast table to the end OF his days.
Moral Beware OF breaking the egg that matches
The golden goose.
Some Of the fables in the book seem almost
to have been written with an eye to passing
events. Take, for instance, the following, and
read it in connection with the extraordinary
incidents of the trial of Guiteau: $50
THE WOLF AND THE LAMB.
A wolf one day, drinking FRI running stream
observed lamb also drinking from the same
stream at rome distance from him.
"I have yet to learn,'' said the wolf, addressing
the lamb with dignifed severity, what right you
have to muddy the stream from which am drink
my !you ,.;sas ara ,rcorrect /. ren,,ed the ,amb
with bland politeness, flor if you viii axe the
trouble to examine the current critically you will
observe that it flows from you to me, and that any
disturbance of sediment here would be- SO far you
are concerned, entirely local."
ssPossbly you are right returned the wolf; shut
IL 1 am not mistaken you are the person who, two
years ago, used some influence against me at the
University"
impossible, replied the lamb; "two years ago
was not born"
s.Ah WE'LL" added the wolf composedly 81 am
wrong again. but it must convince every intelligent
person who has listened to this conversation that
am altogether insane, and consequently not respon-
sible for my actions"
With this remark he at once despatched the lamb,
and was tTiumphsntly acquitted
A0r0t.-This fible teaches us how erroneous may
be the popular impression Ia regard to the dstrbu
ton Of alluvium, and the formation of River Del
t&e.
One of the chief defects of American humor
Ia that it is SO frequently leavened with
strong dash of profanity. From this fault Mr..
Bret Harte is comparatively free, and even a
rigid Scotch Presbyterian could hardly grudge
laugh over the following:
THE SHARK AND THE PATRIARCH.
During the Deluge, as shark was conducting
Thanksgiving service for an abundant harvest, a
prudent Patriarch looked out and addressed him
thus: "My friend, j am much struck with your
open countenancf; Tray come into the Ark and
make one OF The probabilities are falling ba-
rometer and he Wy rains throughout the region of
the lower universe during the next forty days."
THAT is just he sort of har-pin am replied the
shark, who had cut several rows of wisdom eeth;
fetch pour deluges." About six weeks subse-
qusntly the Patriarch encountered him on the sum-
nit Of Mount Ararat in very Strengthened circum
sta ces
Morul.-You can't pretty much most always tell
hsw things are going to turn out sometimes.
Mr.. Bret Harte who has found congenial
illustrator in Mr.. T. s. Church, must be con-
graduated on bis new book; but, considering
how great Is the dearth of honest, hearty fun,
he ought not to supply the cravings of the pub
lie in such homeopathical doses.