Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1891-09-25

southern part of Wisconsin they had hail
| Storm and orr business is as dull as it ever
| was" You will find the same difference IN
| Judgment of character. A man Of good
| reputation is assailed and charged with some
| evil deed. At the first story the pessimist
| and that's enough. Down with him"
The optimist will say: II don't believe
| word of it. | don't think man that has
| been as useful and seemingly honest for
twenty years could have got off the track
like that. There are two sides to this story,
and will wait to hear the other side before
l condemn him" Ny hsarer, il you are by
nature pessimist. make special effort by
the grace of God TO extirpate the dolorous
and the hypercritical from your disposition.
Believe nothing against anybody until the
wrong is established by at least two wit
nesses of integrity AMI if guilt be proved,
find out the extenuating circumstances II
there any.
And then commit to memory so that you
can quote for yourself and quote for others
that exquisite thirteenth chapter Of First
Corinthians aboHt charity that suffers
long and is kind, and hopeth all things and
endureth all things. By pen, by voice, In
public and in private, says all the good about
people you can think OF, and II there be
nothing good, then tighten the chain OF
muscle on the back end Of your tongue. and
keep the ivory bars OF teeth on the lower jaw
and the ivory bars of teeth on the upper jaw
locked and the gate of your lips tightly
closed and your tongue shut up.
What place Brooklyn would be to live in,
and all the other cities ana neignborhoods to
live in. if charity dominated! What if all
the young and old gossip ers were dead! The
Lord hasten their funerals! What if title
tattle and whispering were out OF fashion!
What if in cipering out the value OF other
peoples character, in our moral arithmetic,
we stuck to addition instead Of satisfaction!
Kindness! Let morning, noon and night
pray for it until we get 1t. When you can
speak good word for some one speak it. Ii
you can conscientiously give letter OF COM
mendation, give it. Watch for opportun1-
ties for doing good fifty years after you are
dead.
All my life has been affected by the letter
of introduction that the Rev DIR. Van Vran-
ken, of New Brunswick Theological Semi
nary, wrote for me, a boy under him, when
[ was seeking a settlement In which to
preach the Gospel. The letter gave me my
first pulpit. DR.. Van Vranken has been
dead more than thirty years, yet L feel the
touch of that magnificent old professor.
Strange sensation as it when L re-
ceived kind message from Rev. Thomas
Guard, of Baltimore, the great Methodist
orator. six weeks after his death. By way
O. the eternal world? Oh, no, by way Of
this world. I did not meet the friend to
whom he gave the message until nearly two
months after Thomas Guard had assembled.
So you can start word about some one that
will be on its travels and vigorous long after
the funeral psalm has been sung at your
obsequies. Kindness! Why, il fifty men
all aglow with it should walk through the
lost world, methinks they would almost
abolish perdition.
Furthermore there is kindness of action.
That is what Joseph showed to his out
raseous brothers. That is what David
showed to Mephibosheth for his father
Jonathans sake. That is what Onesiphorus
shovel to Paul in the Roman penitentiary.
That is what William Cowper recognized
when he said he would not trust a man who
would with his foot needlessly crush a worm.
dent Lincoln demonstrated when his
private secretary found him in the
Capitol grounds trying to get a
bird back to the nest from which it had
fallen, and which quality the illustrious man
exhibited years before when having with
some lawyers in the carriage on the way to
court passed on the road swine fast in the
mire, after awhile cried to his horses, Hop
and said 70 the gentlemen, Il must go back
and help that hog out OF the mire." AMI he
did go back and put on solid ground that
most uninteresting quatruped.
That was the spirit that was manifested
by my departed friend, Honorable Alexan-
der h. Stephens of Georgia land lovelier
man never exchanged earth for heaven),
when at Washington. A senator's wife who
told my wife of the circumstances, said to
him, 'Mr. Stephen come and see my dead
canary bird" And he answered, 'No,
could not look at the poor thing without
crying" That is the spirit that Grant
showed when at the surrender at Apo
mottox he said to General Lee, las
many Of your soldiers are farmers and will
need the horses and mules to raise the crops
to keep their families from suffering next
winter, let each Confederate who can claim
horse or mule take it along with him"
That is the spirit which, last night, ten thou
sand mothers showed to their sick children
coming 20 give the drink at the twentieth
call as cheerfuily and as tenderly as at the
first call
Suppose all this assemblage, all to whom
these words shall come by printers type
should resolve to make kindness an over.
arching, undergirding and all parvading
principle of their life, and then carry out the
resolution-wby, in six months the whole
earth would feel it. People would say:
what is the matter? It seems to me that
the world is getting to be a better place
to live in. Why, life after all is WORT liv-
ing. Why, there is Shylock, nv neigh5or.
against that man, and because he has had
SO much sickness in his family he is go
ing to have the house for one year
rent free There is an old lawyer in that
young lawyers Office, and do you know what
he has gone in there for? Why, he is help
ing fix up case which is too big for the
young man to handle and the white haired
attorney is hunting up previous decisions
and making out brief for the boy. Down
at the bank [ heard yesterday a note was
due, and the young merch ant could
not meet it, and the old merchant
went in and got for him three months ex-
tension, which for the young merchant is
the difference between bankruptcy aud
success in business. And in our street is
artist who had a fine picture OF the
Rapids Of Niagara and he could not sell it,
and his family were suffering, and they