The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-07-03
Bill Arp's Philosophy.

ging away every day for a living don't
have much time to read and reflect and
ruminate. 1t don't matter whether he
is a merchant or mechanic or farmer
or professional man, if he works hard
all day he wants to rest at night.
Money promotes domestic tranquility
and that is the biggest and best thing
that know of But money ought to
be hard to get, so that its real value
may be probationary has to be
earned to be priced. If it is inherited
or drawn in a lottery or won at games
of chance or found in the road or
obtained by lucky speculation in stocks
or bonds or cotton futures, il goes at q
discount. 1t is undervalued and don't
stick to man long. A fortune gained
in year rarely sticks to anybody.
Luck is right good thing when it fol-
lows along with labor and honesty,
but luck by itself is a deceiver. Trust
to luck" is the devils maxim. l knew
a hard working man who was Sc
anxious to get ahead that he stinted
his family and invested part of his
earnings in the Louisiana Lottery for
five years and never drew but ten
dollars. He told me he had lost five
hundred dollars that way, and every time
he saw the list published of the lucky
numbers and read about the lucky men
who drew the prizes, it fired him up
and he tried it again. Sometimes |
wish Uncle Jubal and General Beaure-
gard would tote fair and publish list
of them fellowsl who didn't draw any
thing. But L reckon that would be so
long and occupy SO many columns in
the newspapers they couldn't afford it.
1t is just human [ know to want more
money than we have got, especially if
We are hard run and living on a strain
| want more myself, and if | was to
find q hundred dollars in the road
couldn't help hoping that the owner
would never miss it, and never call for
it just like boy who finds pocket
knife and feels like it is his, but that
sort Of money as not as solid and salts
factory as money we work for / knetv
an old preacher who had ten dollars
and his son had ten dollars and the
young man went down to Atlanta and
took all the money to buy some things,
and he came across wheel of fortune
ans saw fellow win ten dollars lust
as easy. and so he was persuaded to
try his luck, and sure enough he won
tsH dollars, and it hope him up might
ity and heRried it again ana won some
more, andlle kept on until ne had won
fifty dollars and become a fool, for
right then his luck changed and he lost
It all andtIis ten dollars and his dRddy's
ten besides. and had to borrow q dol
lar and Il half to get home 0n, and
liked to have persisted to death IN the
bargain. Well. he belonged 10 the
church and they had him Gp ana tried
him, anE he made a clean breast and
told how he was overtakeR uninterrupted
and how he went on and on until he
had mSde fifty dollars clean. ''And
right there" said the old MN, sis
whar Johns sin begun f he lad
stopped right there it would have been
all right, but, like a fool, he went on
and or to destruction. Well, John
wasn't such a sinner after all for he
wanted the money to buy something to
please the old folks. But money don t
come shat easy very often. know a
man who has been kept on 4 strain for
five wears working out of his losses on
cotton futures. Sometimes fGck runs
along with man for ten years and
more, and that makes him vain and he
thinks his judgment is infallible, and
suddenly he cOllapSeS, like Seney and
Enc and Keene. No money is safe ,ex-
cepJEhat made by honest men-
The rewards of labor are mighty good
nh / in Il
lookrnver my farm and see the wheat
andythe. oats all in a strut and waving
20 beautiful in the breeze, and | feel
proud and serene, for | sowed that
wheat myself and helped to prepare the
land, and it is my wheat and nav oats
and come honestly, and WASH made out
of somebody else, and it does me good
to cut ;afew choice heads and bunch 'em
and take 'em to town and show the
folks what / can do. 1t beats money
made by luck all to pieces, and so does
walking in my garden and digging the
potatoes / planted and working them
over so nice and bringing them in the
house 10 shOw'tO my wife and hear her
say, -they are very fine" She never
SAYS mueh on that line, she don t,but a
little goes "a great ways with me. She
never INDUCES in rapture. she never
uses adjeetives to any excess, such as
lovely, exquisite, splendid and the like.
but / know what she thinks about any
thing just as well rs if she did I'm
going TO get her mess of raspberrieS
to-day, the first OF the season, and
I'll surprise her with 'em at dinner
time. She likes that. Women like these
little thoughtful attentions. They are
like oil on the -aXletree, and makes the
machinery run smooth. But then there
ought to be little money to mix up with
such things, Money is good domestic
lubricator itself. A man feels more like
a gentleman with some change in his
pocket, and he ought to ALWAYS have a
dollar or so just to feel of 1t stiffens
him up and keeps him from feeling like
n vagabond. And a woman wants some,
too, when a peddler comes along with
tin ware or wagon load of jugs or the
GypSies come along with lace or the
book agent comes along with pictures,
ard besides it is such dignifieG COM
fort 10 have little hid away Cor the
children when they are Just obliged to
have something 10 wear aud don't want
TO ak papa for the money, for he is so
HARD run and talks 50 poor all the time.
Tli's is the kind cfmoney that goes for
alb it's worth. Money, that comes hard,
money that is earned Even womsn
does not prize money when she has
bodies C. itand has every w&ntsupplied
Folks mast be cramped to be happy. I
They must have something to stimulate 4
hem. Something to provoke economy |
md industry, and I'm thankful we've |
always had these stimulants in nv |
Constitution.
Il l. 1nrnrrosea To enact q lnu .,-o |