The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1883-01-13
PrOfiting by Mistakes.

The most Succe SSful lecturer the world
has ever known was himself once a
drunkard and out of his own bitter ex-
perience drew material for the CONVEX
sion of thousands. Benjamin Franklin,
who could write so bravely upon the
ethics OF economy and bequeathed to
posterity so many frugal maxims, was
soundly berated by his mother-in-law
for his prodigal habits, and men who
lived convivially and had no respect for
any one, have written the most sanity
HYMNS ever voiced in public worship.
These men all pro ted by their mis-
takes. They gave to that work which
survived them their ideals and not them
selves, and the very fact that they
preached one thing and practiced an
other shows shat they were anxious to
do good by precept even ii they made q
lamentable failure in example. Who
could give the best description Of the
/ Christmas tree, with its glow NO lights
and glttering toys. the warm, happy
child Within receiving of its opulence,
or the shivering ragged one without,
watching it through the darkness of
night and poverty, who sees it through
the window as we look at some teauti-
full oh. ect through magniying glass?
To such an one it is veritable larry
land--a glowing picture thrown on the
walls of memory with calcium light
that fastens it there forever. 1t is the
good thing we have missed which we
remember with the most ardent long
| ing, and the virtues that have escaped
us are the highest to our moral vision.
| The people who embody in literature
the beautiful lives they have never
| lived. are worthy of emulation, since
! they have created q standard for others
to look up to. Our best cook books are
written By women who never cooked q
meal in their lives, but they are gifted
with mathematical precision and know
that certain proportions and ingredients
will produce certain results. A good
cook would be incapable of compiling o
recipe book that would be salts actory
to the public. The man who macada-
mizes a road could not write a para
! graph describing the process, but the
man who hardly knows the difference
between a brick-bat and a paving stone
will give scholarly description of the
work, every word of which will he cor
rect. Children learn through their
mistakes, and we are only children
! grown Gdll. GlVe your Twelve year
old girl sewing machine and a bolt of
cotton cloth she will get the one out of
| gear, and sacrifice good share of the
other before she learns to make gar
ment, but she will acquire one impor-
tant branch of woman's education.
And your boy will use up kit of tools
and spoil the wood shed floor and the
kitchen chairs before he demonstrates
to his and your satisfaction whether he
has mechanical genius or not Don't
chide him, unless you are certain that
You never in your whole life made a
mistake yourself. In
1t is a common thing to hear one
who is done with the world say: "If
could only live my life over again,
should never do thus and so. THAT
is, he would avoid certain mistakes he
knows of, but how n1anv new ones
would he accomplish When we have
tumbled into pit and crawled ou
aga it is very easy to say that we will
90 around it the next time. Mistakes
are almost as necessary to the full com
pletion of our lives here as successes
They are like the crosses which MARI
the fall of soldiers Paul had made
some serious mistakes before he wrote
to the Corinthians: "Wherefore Lei
him that thinIeth he standeth, take
heed lest he fall. "-DetroH Post arC
Tribune.