Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1888-03-11
OVER THE TEACUPS.
Comfort FOR Those Who Have Had Their
Good Things Sad by other Before They
Cot tho ChlnCe.

Comfort for Those HhO Have Had Their
Good Ihirgs SAID by Othcrs Before They
Got the Chtace.
o. ". HoIn.,n lEwfl Atlanta.
When il suddenly FISHES into the con-
s~ciOusness Of . writer who has been long
before the public, WHY, ] have said all
that once or Oftener in ms books or essays,
and here IT is again, the same old thought,
the same old image, the same old st0ryn'
Il irritatts him, sad IS likely to stir up the
monosyllGh!es Cf his uusaDcriiied vocahu-
larry. lie sees in imaginttion a thousand
readers, smiling or vawning as they sag 10
themselves, I'VE have had all that before, -
aud turn to another writer's Performance
for something not qnitesO stale ard super
luOus. This is what the writer says 10
himself about tn" reader:
The idiot! Does the simplelon really
think everybody has reGl all he has writ
ten? Does he really believe that every
body remembers all OF his, the writer's
words he may happen to have read2 At
II Of those famous dinners of the Phi
Ect0 Kappa Society, where no reporter
Was ever admitted. and from which
nothing ever leaks about what is said aud
done, Edward Everett, in his arter-iinner
speech, quoted these lines FROM tie
".E1eid,' giving a very liberal Eaglish
version Of them, which lie applied 30 the
grafton iuSt delivered by Mr. Emerson:
Tres imbsi, tGrti radios. tres uuhls aqu0sac
AdiIdcgpNi, g!llH trts iu'is, It aNts Aus,ri.
Ills nephew, the ingenious, inventive and
incxhaustible Or. Edward Everett Hale,
tells the story Of this quotation and the
various uscs Ia which it might be applied
in a!tcI-iinner speeches. How often he
veUiuUed IL repeat it a. thu Phi Beta Keep.
pa dinners | am not sure, but as he repro.
ducgd it with his lively embellishments
and fresh versions and ariful cirCum!ocu-
tons, not one person in ten remembered
that he had listened to those same words
10 those same accents only q twclvemOuth
ago. The poor deludcd creatures 10 take
it Tor granted that all the world remcm.
hers what they have said, and laugh 81
them when they say it over again, may
profit by this recollection. What ii
one does say the sane things, of course
in a little different form each time,
over and over. If he has anything
worth saying, that is last what he
ought "a DO. Whether he ought 20 az not,
it is very certain that this is what all who
write much OF speak much necessarily
must and will do. Think of the clergyman
who breaches 80 or 100 or more sermons
every year for 30 years. Think of the
stump speaker who shouts before 100 audi
euccs during the same political campaign
| always using the same Arguments, illus
t]rati0ns and CaichwOrisl Think OF tn,
editor, "a Carlyle has pictured him, thresh
ing the snW straw every morning, unit
We kG0~ what is coming when we see the
first line, as we DO when we read the large
capitals ut the head Of a thrilling story,
which ends in an advertisement OF an all,
cleansing soap or an aii-curing remedy,
The latch key which comes into the
Chambers Of my consciousness fits, aS
have aTliieient reason Ia believe, the phi
vltC apartments OF a good many other
peoples thoughts. The longer We
lie the more we find we are like other
persons. When / meet wi'hany facts in
my own mental experience, | feel almost
sure that ] shall lind them repeated ur an
ilillt'i' u AaN "iiNileN VI A"I NNaNN'NN
ton Of others. This feeling gives one 2
freedom in telling his own personal his.
tory he could not have cficyed wit!'rut il.
Ny story hclCugs 10 yea as mach az to
me. De &c fabu!a narratuc. Chang
the personal pranoun-that il I'll.
II gives many readers a singular
pleasure TO lind q writer telling them some.
thing they have long Known or felt, hut
which they have never before found any
one to put in words for them. An author
does not always know when he Is doing
the service Of the angel who stirred III,
waters Of the pool OF Bethesda Many j..
reader is delighted to fad that his solitary
thought has a companion, and ia grateful
To the hcnriactor who has strengthened
h.n. This is the advantage OF The hum,
he reader over the ambitions ana ~seli-wor
shipping writer. Il il not with him per-,
r0'd III, bat ho'j ,oHi M, lU pro aohis no,'r
darrut Blessed are those who have -ii,
our good thiDg- i5r Us.