The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1890-08-07

of these people of whom you had been pa
raded as the intimate friend and social
sponsor. And so the small crOOkedness of
your friend in all probability caught the
victim for whom his net was spread.
No one is safe with person of this kind.
Quarrels. Misrepresentation. ignOble little
intrigues. all come on your head like hail
stones after little experience of friendship
with man or woman given to crooked and
underhanded ways; and it takes time and
cleverness to find out how it has all arisen.
You are conscious of your own integrity of
purpose. and innocence of design. but you
find yourself in fog where nothing has it's
right appearance, and where you are pun
ished for sins you did not commit. Your
crooked friend may not have intended to do
you harm-it was only his own nature TAX
ing the way most cOngenal to it. But
person who has this form of crOokedness is
fatal to any society in which he finds a foot
ing. He may be the best hearted fellow in
the world. but his propensity for intrigue
comes to the same thing as malice. and
until he is known and therefore discredited,
he does as much harm as the malicious
busybOdy could do.
who cannot hold their own, who have no
clear convictions no real self respect-whO
from policy or for popularity or some per-
sOnal or selfish gain, are ready to agree with
anybody or assent to anything. Such man
goes through the world an incarnate yes"
He is all things to all men. No affection.
no sense of honor can bind such an inter-
vertebrate to steadfastneSs in friendship. or
uprightneSs in the advocacy of any cause.
He would sacrifice his nearest and dearest
rather than defend them against Injustice
or the tongue of SANDER in manly fashion.
One can forgive cOarSeness. open enmity,
even violence, easier than this sickly agree
ment with all corners. this dslOyal forget
fulness of absent claims. this weak inability
to withstand the present pressure. But
how to put backbone into mOllusk? How
to make the crooked, tOadying, servile,
Ives" into the straight and resolate NO"
Often this man is traitor to his best atfec-
tons and his closest ties. not from vice but
from weakness. not from evil but from
foolish liking to comply with his present
company. He would assent to the ISLANDERS
of his own mother, the detraction of his
own wife. the villficatiOn of his best friend
rather than stand up in a fair fight for
them; and in less extreme cases is no more
to be trusted for a foothold than quagmire
is no more firmly held than an eel.
There are great many other forms of
crOOkedness in people. The editor who
writes and prints what he knows to be false
or exaggerated, and SmOtherS his cOnvic-
tiOns in order to train with his party, and
Endorses the candidacy of men he knows to
be corrupt for lack of courage to resist the
dictum of his party leaders, is crooked.
The preacher who plays fast and loose with
his convictions, and breaches one thing by
his position and another thing by his voice.
and smOtherS the best part of his faith for
the sake of prestige or pay, is crooked.
Such men have ''liverS white as milk"
There is nothing real in them save this one
Interchangeable quality of crookedness. Shift
ing with every wind that blows. rejecting
every opinion that is presented to them,
they are puzzle and peril to those who
know them best.
this type-if he has FRIEND for how can
jelly be gripped or wax held by hooks of
steel?-never really knows what he thinks,
what he believes or where he stands. He
is no more solid than a soap bubble which a
breath makes and a breath destroys; and
he who pins his faith to this crooked incar-
nation of acQuiescence had better ask of the
wind to be fixed and the water to be stable
that he may travel by the one and make the
other his highway. Minneapolis Times.
Have you seen the Saltwater cOnvict's sofa
cushion? 1t is gorgeous affair. But if you
want to be really touched. read the address
the poor fellows drew up to accompany it.
The Bishop has received many tributes of
atfectionate esteem (not gifts), since Chau-
tauqua was built, but I'll warrant there is