The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1888-03-01
Fence Rail Philosophy.

| was reading a story the other day
that first amused me and then set me
to thinking. 1t was about an En-
glish boy who was an enormous eater
"a veritable glutton. 1t was gravely |
asserted that no living person had ev-
er seen his appetite entirely satisfied.
Some strong statement regarding his
v0racity led to doubts and naturally to
a wager. The wager was that this
boy could at one sitting eat An entire
calf. When the nature of the bet
was made known to the boy he very
cordially consented to undertake the
work assigned, and expressed full con-
fidence in his ability to get away with
such trife as ''only one calf"
The day arrived on which the wag-
er was to be decided, and the boy,
having been kept out of reach OF food
for six hours, was in prime condition
for his task. In order to make his
meal as tempting as possible, the calf
was cut up and the meat made into
four lage pies, cooked with the great
est skill that culinary art could furn-
ish. quite nice enough to tempt the
weakest appetite to over-indulgence.
The first pie was set before the boy,
who went at it with will and soon
had the pan empty. The second was
produced and as quickly vanished be-
fore the onslaught of his terrific gas
tronomic powers. The third one was
placed before him, and he attacked it
as greedily as he had the first, and it
soon went the way of its predecessors.
But when the forth pie was placed be-
! fore him it was noticed that the lad
looked little uneasy. He first looked
wistfully at the pie, and then what
seemed to be an expression Of uncer-
tainty-a kind of 'misgiving passed
over his features. The betters on this
his prowess looked concerned, and the
other side winked and smiled It was
only for moment, however Look
ing up to his auditors he remarked:
I'm not complainin about yer
pois; I likes 'em ameazin', but ISM
it about tonne | was commencin' on
thet ther calf?"
Now, after l had got through
laughing at this little absurdity, it
struck me that under the crust of
those veal pies there was moral hid
den.
Il great many Of us have just as
hard tasks set before US as this raven
Gus lad had to perform; but, alasl the
same pains are not always taken to
make the work as palatable. Still,
have seen cases quite parallel with
this calf story. I have seen an hon
est, hard working man assume bur-
den that seemed to be entirely beyond
his strength to carry. Disinterested
persons and some interested ones free
ly predicted that the outcome could be
1
nothing else but failure.
But this man had at home wife
who was splendid cook. She could
take task and cook it with the gen.
tie fire of love, season it with patience,
self-denial, cheerfulness and sunshine,
and serve it up SO invitingly that the
task was converted into pleasure, and
ended before it was realized that it
was really begun. And SO this man,
with his noble wife to help him in his
work-not by doing it, but oy making
it easy for him to do-won the VIC
tory, and the world said he was quite
a deserving man, after all p
What pity that all work cannot
be prepared for US in such way that
the drudgery in it will be so skilfully
hidden that before we realize that we
have commenced we shall find to our
surprise, like the voracious boy, that
we have already got away with 'thet
ther calf. Western PIowman.