Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1885-07-10


minute at the tail of valuable dogs, and
at the midnight hour l have bounced lnto
the MIDST of cat caucuses with greaI
sport. I have been the friend OF Man,
Sir. but what has Man done tor me he
has left me here 10 this miserable BACK
yard company of barrel-hoops and bIlck-
bats and bottles. He has"
But here the next door neighbours SER
want threw bucket of slop-water on my
friend and cut off his complaint. His red
vest pealed down little further, his
cooked hat depressed further over his race,
and a potato skin stopped his mouth.
How true it is that no person can be IN
such disreputable circumstances that ne
has not the remembrance of better days 10
sooth him, and like the Tomato Can,
ever find true comfort IN the top-shelf On
which he long ago may have roasted.
But as a new friend, the Street must
always take the first place with sick man.
How now everything in the street DE-
comes to the man who views 1T from
sick bed You would think he had never
seen it before. Nor has he. No man IN
health lies and sees the street wake up 10
the morning. Nor does the man in health
walking about the street, sees how prettlly
it goes to sleep. The lengthening shadows
make it drowsy for little while, but as
evenir comes it makes great stir. Ii
sends hundreds OF busting people along
it's walks hurryipg home. 1t lights up
hundreds Of windows and shop fronts and
looks as mach as to say, 81 think LII!
make night of it. I've sent all the chill
dren to bed and now I'll have a time OF
it, But the steady old street Oh which
which | live, gives up its disspated
idea early, turns off light after light, and
soon tho lonely sidewalks are without
passenger. The Street does one thing for
the sick man you wouldn't expect; it
arouses q spirit of rebellion that is asto-
nishing. Resignation is beautiful VIZ
/ tue, but it chiefly exists CD side streets
and cut of town. The man who is SICK on
a main street and processes to be resigned
is hypocrite. My friend, the Street,
=, presents to me Thompson. What Go say?
"Ah, Thompson take the blessing OF
sick man ?" Not bit of it. l say, what
right has Thompson to be walking about
, attending to business and possibly taking
9 surreptitious cooling drinks, while l am
q doomed to staring out of the window and
: drinking beef tea But Thompson don't
drink? Oh, we'll, what do l care If he
, don't I threw that in about drinks to
| l. If
, make good point on a man just to sug-
gest it. There; there goes Robinson going
: to church with a new suit on, and wife
hanging on his arm What's be done to
deserve that sort of luck Why, isn't he
, up here fat Of has back-and there they
all 60. Resigned? All no; the sick are
f not resigned. 1t is only the Dead who
are resigned.
A perfectly new friend is the Sky.
: How often does one in health look at the
s sky save to see about the weather ? But
t once a year. But in sickness it is an ever
/ present friend. You watch for day breaks
e in it, and for the fading stars, and find
0 an exciting interest in which of two stars
L will 60 out first, something like you were
= betting on race. And then tie figures
in the blue field all day long; for it is not
at evening and night alone that they
: appear. What have I not seen march
d across my window in the procession-a
: castle, fan, a swan, a kerosene can, The
# king of spades, cream jug, troops OF
l. angels. in short anything that an idle
e imagination wants to conjure up. And
. when 1t dresses for the evening. IN what
glorious costumes does it appear. But al
/. that is earish compared with the sky
t upon which the night has settled down
r That is the sort of sky to bring calmness
" and content. The quiet lighting up Of
e the stars, with no step ladders and M
G hurried match scratching of the police
|, the ease with which the moon climbs VI
t her route, no putting. no machinery clank
l. ing; the deepening Of the blue to better
s show the celestial sparks that glow on
It it-and the knowledge that all this will
d 90 on without failure and without you
Ii having to turn over in bed to work SOM
e lever to help it move, makes the coming
O. Of night a comfort to the sick. Wh'
e thinks of the stars in health No one
e " think of supper. Of the theatre, of thu
It band concert, of the church, of the lecture
e hut who thinks Of the stars they ar
g, walking under 1t is given to the sick t
le remember them, and in return they re
r. member the sick. Whoever else fails vi
ID the stars are there. Steady, faithful, un
8, changing, always waiting. Shall [ re
% member them after this ? All, 1 can
1t tell am like the rest and will soon fol
Of get them in the busy street. But to-nigh
8. while all ls>still, look with reverence an
curiosity on our future ii5.ss60@1aes, my neweF
friends, the Stars.
Another new friend is the News
Gatherer. give you my word that one sick
man gets more news-pclitical. gossip,
scandal, than any twenty well ones.-
You see he is always there and easy to
find. Human nature can't keep news
long and it always hunts up the man that
is easy to find and unloads on him. There
is d sense of security in talking to man
flat of his back-he can't get out to repeat
it. Many things combine to make the
News Gatherer the sick mans friend.
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