The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-06-21
GRIN AND BEAR II.
Bob Burdette Gives Some of His Good
Advice to a Young Man.

My son, your brow is clOuded; some
thing has happened that didn't and
doesn't agree with you. Were you
neglected in the Invitations Didn't
you get on any of the committeesp
Were you overlooked in the conven-
ton? Hasn't the secretary written
you personal letter asking your ad-
vice upon the campaign? Have you
been coldly passed over for men of less
ability? Do you feel that an inte~tion-
al slight has been put upon you?. Can
you see clearly that every thing is
going wrong because you have not
been consulted? Have you been di.
rectly snubbed by inferior peoplep
thought as much. At your time OF
life such things are very liable to oc-
cur. They used to happen with me now
and then. You will grow wiser as you
grow older, unless you take the other
chute; then you will grow more fool
ish, and there is only one cure for an
old fool, my boy-that is, death. Or
binary death won't cure him. either.
Though thou shouldest bray him in a
mortar among wheat with a pestle.
vet will not his foolishness depart
from him" See how awfully dead he
has to be killed! Smashing him onlv
makes him worse.
But now, if any or all of these Sights
have been put upon you, listen to me,
my tender Telemachus. Don't show
your sores Oh. don't show your sores.
They are not pleasant things to look
at, nobody wants to see them and they
will heal much more rapidly and nat
urally and BEAUTIFULLY, if you don
expose them. Keep them covered.
Don't show them to any body but your
surgeon, and don't show them to him
unless you have to. And, don't look
at them yourself Leave them alone
under the healing plasters of time and
the cool congresses of forgetfulness,
and you'll be surprised some day when
you do happen to think of them, to
find that they have healed by the first
intention without a scar. Don't tell
people when you are hurt; don't tell
every body how keenly you feel
a slight when, perhaps, there
was no slight intended. Don't
get yourself snubbed by people
who never see you, and who
don't know you and never think
of you. And if you really are hit,
and hit hard, it beliltles your manhood
and it drives away human sympathy
when you lift up your voice and howl
on the streets. Keep quiet about it.
Don't whine; don't yell. One day, at
the investment of Vicksburg-it was
on the memorable 22d of May-duripg
a lull in the desultory skirmishing
that preceded the assault, while / was
lying close to the surface of the great
round globe which we inhabit, and
wishing | could get a little closer to it,
we heard tremendous bowling and
shrieking, and down the dusty road
from the front came blue acketed
skirmisher on the trot, holding one
hand up in the other, and the hand he
was holding up had no thumb on it.
1t hurt like the mischief. have NO
doubt, but 1t was only thumb after ALL
and how the fellow was bowling about
it. He was a brave man or he wouldn't
have been where he could have lost
that thumb. But you would think it was
the only thumb in the whole United
States army and that no one else on
the skirmish line had been hit that
morning. So the soldiers saw only
the funny side of the picture, and a
perfect chorus of howls, in vOciferous
imitation of the mans own walls,
went shrieking up from the sarcastic
line of the men who we waiting
their turn to face death. In a minute
another soldier came walking back
from the skirmish line. He was walk.
ing slowly and steadily, never moan
fell from his compressed lips, though
they were whittier than his bronzed
face, and he held his hand against his
breast. The silence of the death
chamber fell upon the line in an in.
slant. as the figure of the soldier
moved along the road with the air OF
a conqueror. Half dozen men sprang
to his side. Tenderly they laid him
down in the shadow of a great oak;
his lips parted to speak a mes
sage to some one a thousand miles
away, and the line was short one man
for the coming assault. He died of his
hurt; but he died like a king. Oh,
my boy! don't yell the lungs out OF
you over a mashed thumb, when only
three files down the lines a soldier sa-
lutes his captain before he faces about
to go to the rear with a death bullet in
his breast. You can't help getting
hurt There isn't safe place in the
whole line. There are cruel people in
the world who love to wound US; there
are thoughtless, needless people who
don't think; there are people who don't
care, and there are thick-skinned peO-
pie, who are not easily hurt them
selves. and they think mankind is, a
thick-hided race; in fact, the air is
full of darts and arrows and singing
bullets all the time, and it's danger
Gus to be safe anywhere. But when
you do get hit-as hit you certainly
will be-don't "holler" any louder
than you have to. Grin and bear it,
the best you may. There are some
peope so badly hurt they must moan;
do you forget your own hurt in look
ing after them. -Burdette, in Brooklyn
Eagle.
ty pans with pastry, and drop in a
mivf,,ro IF tho xuhifoo oe tbroo orUo