Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-06-30
Precautions.

A1CChuUxVuSo
foresight is better than hindsieht,"
but yet the majority of persons view
their affairs by the latter, and they suf-
fer many vain regrets. How many
when suffering disaster from a want of
foresight have for their comfort only
that well-worn and unwise adage, sitis
no use crying over spilled milk" That
is where such persons make a grievous
mistake. Experience ought to teach
us. 1t does teach us, if we will only
learn it's lessons. And so we 90 on
through our lives, losing opportunities,
suffering damage, if not disaster, re.
p%eatedly, simply because we will not
use our foresight and take precautions.
The farmer has great need of precau-
ton. No one more than he has need
for this, because no one is more subject
to accidents and sudden contingencies.
which, when they come upon him una
ware, usually involve serious damage
and losses. Men differ widely in this
respect. Some go about with their eyes
open continually, and others only open
them when they against some OBJ
stacle which hurts them, and then they
see how a very little precaution might
have enabled them to avoid the injury.
Accidents are all preventible, notwith-
standing the adage that they will hap
pen under the best management.
Management is merely a system of
precautions against accidents, and it is
good or bad as the system is complete
and effective or incomplete and defect
i've. A belief in luck is the worst of all
heresies. Men make their own luck;
that is, they take risks willfully, trust
ing to the chance of escape, and when
they do not escape they blame, their
luck. Farmers and other cultivators of
the soil have to contend with many
things which they can not control, as
the weather, the attacks of insects, ETC.,
but if they can not control these they can
generally avert i'll consequences. In
some insurance policies it is, common
to write that the company do not hold
themselves responsible for ga act of
Cod" meaning that if lightning strikes
a house and it is burned, or any other
natural catastrophe happens to cause a
loss of property, they are MOTTO be held
liable. But it is wholly wrong to so
distinguish ever a flash of lightning,
because ever this terrible and resistless
agent can be controlled by such simple
means as o lightning-rod, if it is prop
erly provided, and the electricity goes
harmlessly to the ground without dam
age or injury.
But it is in the smaller affairs of life
that n sees more particularly the
necessity O precautions. A farmer be-
gins his day about sunrise, and until
sunset he may be suffering annoyances
and losses of the most vexatious kind
simply because he gives no thought to
the future, or if he does he neglects to
provide against accidents, and takes the
risks. And so as about daylight he Wis
its his chicken coopsh finds the setting
hen left carelessly on a self-made nest
in the yard, torn and killed by some
wild animal, and her eggs cold and
spoiled. "Oh, it's only a hen," he may
say as he kicks the poor bird aside and
passes on, but it may be three dollars
out of his pocket. Then he goes tc
the barn and finds his horse loose, not
having been tied, and the mate badly
kicked and injured and laid up from
work for a week or two, and the loose
horse lying groaning beside the open.
meal-chest to which he found the way
through a door carelessly left
open. Then the farmer begins to
blame his bad luck, which hap
pens just at his busiest time too, and
which is 'sjust his luck" Of course
he never blames his own neglect
and carelessness in not safely securing
his horses when he put them in the
stalls, which is the right and proper
time; nor his thoughtlessness in leaving
the connecting door open, when he
should have shut it as soon as
he had passed through, and made an in
variable practice Of doing this, as well
as of closing and securing the feed-box.
Then our unfortunate friend or neigh
Dor may go to the COW stable and find
something Of the same kind there hap
pened, or into the field and find damage
done there by bars left down OIL gates
left open and stray cattle, just as care
lessly let loose by a neighbor, in his
corn or wheat.
But one can not think of the too
pumerous-to-mention cases which are
happening continually; of the vast
losses by reason of work not done for
want of seed, or Of tools, or of repairs
needed at a particular time, and these
not being at hand the work goes over,
is badly or unseasonably done, or not
done at all; or perhaps some serious &C
cident may happen which will destroy
the peace of mind and leave sorrow in
the heart and painful memories for lite.
II. Stewart. IN N. Y. Times.