The Osceola times., 1883-04-07
Owning the Earth.
From Peck's Sun:

giau Oh II, wnen speaking of some
man who has been at the top Of the
heap politically, socially or financial
ly, and has suddenly dropped. Once
in . great while a man says I" l am
sorry" but that is when the man
who has fallen was the same kind of
a 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 politician who be-
comes q congressman, can make no
greater mistake than to get too big
for his boots when he is elected, and
forget his friends and put on airs.
The boys who have made him what
he 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 sidewalk and never knows
what hit him, but he knows that he
is hurt. Then he tries to smile at
his old friends, and slaps them on
the shoulder, and explains 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 go along, poor, and be
respected and have thousands Of
friends, and he may suddenly have
q fortune left him. The first time he
puts on q silk undershirt he changes
toward his friends and seems to own
the earth. He goes around 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 go
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 say "Hello,
Bill" but Bill does not "hello." Bill
has wanted to hello for some time,
but he didn't receive any encourage
ment, and now his appetite for he'll
loing has left him. If he wants to
4" "Hello Bill he goes off and does il
with somebody whose head has not
got too big for his hat, and the man
who was temporarily at the top of
the heap sees that he has made a
beaver dam fool of himself. When
q man has been climbing q hill all
his life, and 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 con-
tented 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, because from where he
stands it is down hill in every direc-
ton. Did you ever think Of that,
boys! Everyway you look, when
you get there, it is down hill, and
you have got to brace yourself, and
not loose your head, or the first
thing you know your foot will slip, |
and you will go down head over ap-
petite. If you have kept your head
and your friends while you were at
the top, and those who are still
climbing see that you are letting
your foot slip, they will try to brace
you, and keep yo" up, but if you
have made an ass of yourself, and
thought because you had got there
that you owned the hill, and have
thrown obstacles in the way of the
other climbers, and you start to go |
down, as Josh Billings has said, "All
creation seems CREASED for the occa.
sion," and when you get to going
will reach out to save you.
II is . good lesson for boys as well
- 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 stick.
ing their toe nails in and putting.
The country is full Of late politicians
Who would give all they have got,
md mortgage al they expect to
have, II they had not lost their heads
when thew Uot In the ton of the hill.