The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1889-04-11

mere petHaction who has attained unto
state wherein he is unassailable by the
;blunders to which other men succumb,
We do not need such people any more
than a full mooned August night needs
signal lights. Better fall down once in
awhile than get to be SO ossifed you can't
bend out Of the perpendicular. Per-
fection Is all right in butter and eggs,
but man, to be 8 good comrade, wants
enough of the imperfeotion Of human
nature left In him to render him capable
of an, occasional hlunder. would rather
live with the statue Of Liberty on Bed
loes Island than attempt to dwell with.a
aperson who has outlived the possibility
Of ever being s'taken In" OF has SCARED
above the weakness Of once in awhile
taking a leap without knowing exactly
where he is going to land.
Why, bless your heart, my dear, the
man who always looks before ne jumps
misses q fine tumble In the clover! Chill.
dram play ying together in the haymow
would miss the best elixir Of their sport
II they measured every distance and
computed the SAFETY Of every risk. And
life, q good part Of it, anyway, is nothing
more than the venture Of children romp-
Ing in the dark. A preternaturally wise
child and a sharp man make poor COM
rades in either play or work. What
gives to childhood its first and greatest
charInf What more than its freshness
and Its capacity to enjoy delusion?
When the child outgrows its belief In
Santa Claus and fairies it ceases to have
the nature Of child, and the wiser it
gets and the further from the humbug-.
geries Of youth the more OF that first
divine freshness end innocence 1t loses,
until it becomes, like too many Of us
older ones, q withered stalk, with neither
dew nor blossom left upon it.
KEEP Us FROM TOO MUCH coNcEIT.
When we pray for pure hearts let us
add to our petition that, in the grind
and turmoil Of sordid living, we may
preserve little Of the 'sgreenness" Of
LIES springtime in our nature. Keep
Us, good Lord, from too much conceit in
our own cunning. Help us now and
then to take the attitude Of little chill
dren who have something to learn.
Make singing birds Of us rather than sly
old foxes; shrubs Of living verdure rather
than dusty specimens mucilaged inside
Of herbarium. Half the people one
meets are only specimens. They are
types, samples In stock, anything but
individuals They have been brought up
to be conformists, and they are perfectly
content with their labelling in the COM
pany Of the Great Alike. Usage plucks
them early, as a botanist picks rose to
classify it rather than to enjoy its beauty,
and conformity is the musty old herb
ariu1n wherein they are pasted and let
tered for all time. Give mo the weed
blowing in the meadow, wet by showers
and shaken by storms, trodden under
foot by happy children and browsed by
,contented herds, rather than the finest
specimen of flora that any scientist has
in his withered and dried collection. A
green leaf with sap in it is better for re-
freshment than forest Of dead cedars.
Bless God, then, all you who retain
enough May time in your hearts to keep
you green late into the season. Blessed
be tho young man or maiden, the elder
ly man or matron who, in this age of
lprecocity and progress, policy and nerve,
retains enough Of the primal innocence
tolblush and be a5ashed on suitable oc-
casion, and are not so wise in their own
conceit but what they may sometimes
get the worst Of q bargain. The presence
Of such o person in this shrewd and prao-
tical old world is as welcome as the
sight Of a buttercup in the alkai desert.
April is never behind with her willows
and catkins, May never forgets her con-
tract with the apple orchards, and June
is never late with. her roses. Tho robin
always arrives promptly, although he
comes in q snow storm, and the bluebird
tarries not in uncertainty, but flashes
his azure wing on time along the misty
hedgerows. If human friends were half
as constant to the tryst of love as birds
and blossoms are to their season this
world would never need be exchanged
for heaven.-Amber in Chicago Tribune.