Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1883-07-19

OWNING THE EARTH.-How often
We hear men say Il am glad Of il, =
when speaking Of some man who has
been at the top Of the heap political-
y, socially or financially. and has sud-
denly dropped. Once in q great while
. man says II am sorry, but that i
when the nan who has fallen was the
same kind of fellow when he was on
top that he was before he got there.
The trouble is that too many men,
who go to the front, get the idea that
they own the earth, and their old
friends get down on them, and they
do not make new ones to take the
place Of the old ones. A ward poll
tician who bscomessa congressman,
can make no greater mistake than 70
get too big for his boots when he Is
elected, and forget his friends. and
put On airs. The b6ys mIao hnpa
made him what be is, talk with each
other about him, and laugh at his
greatness, and never tell him what
they think, but some day when he
comes up again they slaughter him,
and he drops on the political side
walk and never knows what hurt him,
but he knows that he is hurt. Then
he tries to smile at his old friends. and
slap them on the shoulders. and ex-
plain himself, but it is everlastingly
too late. What they wanted was to
have him remain just the same when
he was on top. A man may 90 along,
poor, and be respected and have thou
sands of friends. and he may sudden
ly have fortune left him. The first
time he puts on a silk undershirt he
changes towards his friends and seems
to own the earth. He. goes around a
block to avoid meeting some friend Of
the old days, and he looks over them
when he meets them. They watch
for him to drop, and when he does 90
through his money, and gets down to
earth again, and finds that the other
fellows own some of it, he meets an
old friend that he has not noticed for
years, and says Hello, Bill but Bill
does not hello. Bill has wanted to
hello for some time, but he didn't re-
ceive any encouragement. and now his
appetite for 'hellowing' has left him.
If he wants to hello, Bill he goes off
and does it with somebody whose head
has not got too big for his hat, and the
man who has been temporarily at the
top of the heap sees that he has made
Beaver Dam fool of himself. When
man has been climbing a hill all his
life, and has slipped back so much
that it has made his head swim, but
finally, by sticking his toe nails in,
gets to the top, he has a right to feel
glad, but he wants to be contented
where he is, and not try to fly high.
When he gets to the top of the hill
he is in more dangerous place than
he was while he was climbing, be-
cause from where he stands IL is dosOn
hill IN every direction. Did you ever
think Of that, boys? Every way you
look, when you get up there, it is
down hill, and you have got to brace
yourself, and not lose your head, or
the first thing you know your foot
will slip, and you will 60 down head
over appetite. If you have kept your
head and your friends, while you were
at the top, and those whoa are still climb
ing see that you are letting your foot
slip, they will try to brace you, and
keep you up, but if you have made an
ass ofyourself, and thought because you
had got there. that you owned the hill,
and have thrown obstacles in the way
of other climbers, and you start to go
down, as Josh Billings has said, "All
creation seems creased for the occas-
ion, and when you get to going no.
body will reach out TO save you. IL
is a good lesson for boys as well as
men to learn, that the top of the hill
is the most dangerous place, and when
they get there they will be the same
careful, sensible persons that they
were when they were sticking their
toe nails in and putting. The coun-
try is full of late politicians who
would give all they have got, and
mortgage all they expect 10 have, if
they had not lost their heads when
they got to the top Of the hill.-PecEs
Sun.