The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1888-03-15

~ 50 lIOh pllOc NOiuHy VI
him, and one of general application, for
there are many men who find it very difficult
to get living on their own resources, to
whom it would be comparatively easy to be
a very fair sort of governor Everybody
who has no official position or routine duty
on a salary knows that the most trying mo-
ment in the twenty-four hours is that in which
he energies from the oblivion of sleep and
faces life. Everything perplexing tumbles
in upon him, all the possible vexations of the
day rise up before him, and he is little less
than hero if he gets up cheerful.
1t is not to be wondered at that people
crave Office, some salaried position, in order
to escape the anXieties, the personal response
blities, of a single handed struggle with the
world. 1t must be much easier to govern an
island than to carry on almosta any retail bust
ness. When the governor wakes in the morn
ing he thinks first of his salary; he has not
tho least anxiety about his daily bread or the
support of his family His business is all
laid out for him; he has not to create it.
Business comes to him. he does not have to
drum for it, His day is agreeably even if
sympaGhetiCally, occupied with the troubles
OF other people, and nothing is so easy to bear
as the troubles of other people. After he has
had his breakfast, and read over the "Con-
stitution," he has nothing to do but to
govern for few hours, that is, to decide
about things on general principles, and with
little personal application, and perhaps about
large concerns which nobody knows anything
about, and which are much easier to dispose
of than the perplexng details of private life.
He has to vote several times day. for giving
decision is really casting vote; but that
is much easier than to scratch around in all
the anXieties of retail business Many men
who would make very respectable presi-
dents of the United States could not sue
cessfully run retail grocery store. The
anxieties of the grocery would wear them
out. For consider the varied ability that the
grocery requires-the foresight about the
markets, to take advantage of an eighth per
cent. off or on here and there: the vigilance
required to keep "full line" and not over
stock, to dispose of goods before they spoil
or the popular taste changes; the suavity
and integrity and duplicity and fairness and a
adaptability needed to get customers and
keep them; the power to bear the daily and
hourly worry; the courage to face the ever
present specter Of "failure," which is said to
come upon ninety merchants in hundred;
the tact needed to meet the whims and the
complaints of paJrons, and the difficulty of
getting the patrons who grumble most TO
pay in order to satisfy the creditors. When
the retail grocer wakens in the morning he
feels that his business is not going to como to
him spontaneously; he thinks of his rivals,
Of his perilous stock, Of his debts and delhi
quent customers. He has no CONSTITUTION"
to go by, nothing but his wits and energy TO
set against the world that day, and every
day the struggle and the anxiety are the
same. What number of details he has to
carry in his head CONSIDER for instance,
how many different kinds Of cheese there
are, and how different people hate and lcge
the same kind, and how keen must
be his appreciation Of the popular
taste! The complexities and annoy
ances Of his business are excessive a1d
lie cannot afford to make many mistakes;
II he does, he will lose his business, and when
man fails in business honestly, he lojes
his nerve, and his career is ended. II is
simply amazing, when you consider it, The
amount of talent shown in what are called
the ordinary businesses o. life.
1t has often been remarked with how little
wisdom the world is governed That is the
reason it is SO easy to govern. Uneasy lies
the head that wears crown" does not refer
to the discomfort of wearing it, but to the
danger of losing it, and of being nut llacb