West Virginia freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1881-1886, 1883-01-10
A Letter

From the Rev. Paul Pepper, Pastor, to
Mrs. Hilarity Hollenback, House
keeper.
l received a letter from you that
was never answered. Pm not GO
ing to hunt it up to read it again,
but will proceed to answer it at
random.
| remember that the matter of
neatness, cleanliness, spruce-up-
ness, &c, was up for consideration,
and l remember that you held up
DR.. Somebody and DIR. Somebody
else as examples: and l remember
thinking, that if you had seen DR..
Somebody as have seen him, come
into the class room with his head
looking like brush-heap in a
brier-patch and his boots blacked
with mortar, or at least somewhat
suggestive of such a state of things,
you would have gone on to Phila-
delphia and gotten DR.. Somebody
else for your model. But then its
all right, and / caught the idea.
/ remember also that illustra-
ton about Bun" and the chestnut
burr. thought you were just a
little unfortunate there also. Now
Bun" has been supplied ab,n
dainty with that rare commodity
known as common-sense; and he
knows that very often the burr
with the toughest exterior contains
the biggest and best chestnuts, and
he never was known to give up the
good chestnuts inside because of
the pricking of the burr. So | got
a little honey out of the carcass of
that illustration. However, you
can't blame anybody for preferring
a burr without stickers.
| have come to the conclusion
that the matter of neatness and
cleanliness depends more on habit
than anything else. If man
wants his boots to look neat and
black, he mustn't depend on rub
bling them up whenever they get
soiled, but he must get IN the hab-
it of rubbing them up once or twice
day, whether they seem to need
it or not, and of backing them in
a certain way. If he wants to keep
his person clean, he must get in
the habit of bathing regularly. If
he wants to keep his clothing clean
he must be in the habit of chang
ing as often as is necessary for the
purpose. If you wait for garment
to get soiled to a certain degree be-
fore you change it, it will be soiled
beyond that degree before you no
tice it.
Now, the question is, How clean
must a body keep? or how often
must he change? Some people
would regard one as almost filthy
if he did not make a complete
change every day,
Ought one to black his boots
more than once a day, when he
doesn't get in the mud? How
much time ought he to spend be-
fore the looking glass? These are
important questions in "toilet-
ology," and | am not a little inter
ested in them. | am sure | can
get into the habit of doing in this
respect just whatever | am convin-
ced my usefulness and happiness
demand. But if my own rough ex-
terror and awkward manners were
all that stood in my way, | would
by no means feel discouraged as to
my future prospects. | have an
abiding consciousness ofinferiority,
if I may so describe it, which
stands nightly in my way and OF
which it seems impossible for me
to divest myself. [ find myself
constantly regarding professional
men and business men of culture
as my superiors, and consequently
avoid intruding myself upon their
notice. I have little to do with
them, because Of feeling that my
attention would not contribute to
their pleasure or profit. | don't
have half the influence as a pastor
that I would if l could only get rid
of this timidity, or whatever it is.
[ wish I had the grace to think of
myself soberly without thinking of
myself more highly than 1 ought.