The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1888-12-06
What ElUnderers We Are!
TSunday School Times. I

would rather be charged with a crime
! than blunderer. Yet, as a matter of
fact, we are blunderers, each and all Of
us, in every line Of speech and action
and in all our intercourse with our
fellows; and the difference between the
best of US and the worst of US, in this
matter, is a difference of degree and not
of kind. The blunders ofsome of Us are
more marked and more untimely than
the blunders ofthe others Of US; and
this it is that causes such ones to be
stigmatized as blunderers, while the
others escape that specific characteriza-
ton.
The hlunder is ''to founder about, !"
'tto err, to bear ones self as though
blinded or dazed, through seeing for the
moment two or more different things
blended and confused. Who of US can
say that his mental sight is always
clear; that his mind is never blinded or
dazed; that to him there is never
confused blending of things that ought
to be looked at by him, as distinct and
separate? TO blunder is to be at fault;
it is to say or to do an unwise thing; it
is to fall short of, or to 60 beyond, the
right and graceful limit of speech or OF
action in the premises. Who of US can
say that be is always free from such
mistakes as this? Not to blunder is to
be without error, and to conform always
and in all things to the perfect standard
of absolute right; it is to be always up
to>and never beyond, e4ine of high
est wisdom in whatever is to be said or
done. Would any one of US think of
making such a claim as this for him
self?
Our comic papers are constantly
illustrating things which would better
have been left .unsaid;" yet these illus
trations give but a faint idea of the
number and the magnitude of such
blunders in the ordinary intercourse Of
life. How often it is that two friends,
after an incidental meeting in the street
or after pleasant evening together,
recall remark or silence on the one
side or the other which is obviously
| capable Of such a misconception as
would wretchedly misrepresent the
spirit and feelings of the one of whom
it is remembered, and they are distur-
bed in mind accordingly! Just in pro-
portion to ones sensitive desire to~be
considerate of the others welfare and
tastcs., IS his liability to recall his own
blunLering failure~at such time, and
to be gHeved by it when he sees it as
it might have seemed to the other. In
fact, with those who are most tenderly
regardful Of the feelings and interests
of others, the regrets over remembered
blunders after every meeting viii those
whose good opinion they valued high
est, are likely to be more prominent in
their minds than is any sense of salts
faction with their successful endeavors
to be at their best, and to express the
confidence and regard for their COM
panions which controls them. Nor is it
always an undue sensitiveness on their
part that causes them this discomfort
of mind; for they have blundered in
their words and ways, and in many
case they have given discomfort by
their blUnderings. It is, indeed, more
frequently by blunderings than by in
territorial unkindnesses or Sights that
ordinary friends are the means of pain
or of doubtto one another.
Who of us ever looked back upon an
evening social gathering where be was
either guest or host, without recalling
regretfully one and another instance of
his blundering of what he said or did,
or in what he failed to say or do, in his
| intercourse with those whom he was
particularly desirous ofpleasing, or be-
fore whom he especially wished to ap-
pear to advantage? Who of us-ever
recalled the manner in which he ex-
pressed his gratitude for service rem
dered him, or favor shown him. or a
courtesy extended to him, without re-
membering that at the best he blum
dered where blunder seemed as mex
cusable as it seemed untimely? Who
OF us ever attempted to say word of
graceful compliment, or of tender con-
siderateness, or of heartfelt sympathy,
| to one whose position or character COM
manded exceptional respect, without
seeming to have blundered at the very
point where he was most anxious not
to blunder? Who of us, in fact, can
recall any feature of his social exploits
that is at all comparable with his blum
derings?
Not only in the field of social inter-
course between friends, but in the
walk of practical business life, in the
more serious occupations of the profess
sional leader, and in the realms Of di-
plomacy and government, the best of
! men arg frequently blundering and he
who looks back upon his couIse in life
in any one of these spheres with any
degree of fair discrimination, is led to
| wonder that he could so often. have
blundered so wretchedly, and that his
blunders have not been his ruin. The
keenest business man sees in almost
every transaction of his life that he
might have done better at one point or
another, and that, if others had seen
his blunuers as he now sees them, he
would have suffered for them more
sorely than be has. And every once in
while business man who has had