The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-09-30

when he said he would not trust man who
would with his foot nee 1lessly crush worm.
That is what our assassinated Presi-
dent Lincoln demonstrated wlen 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 nan
exhibited years before, when having with
some lawyers in the carriage on the way to
court passed on the road a swine fast in the
mire, after awhile cried to his horses, 'Hop
and said to the gentlemen, II must go back
and help that hog out OF the mire." And he
did go back and put on solid ground that
most uninteresting quadruped.
That was tho spirit that was manifested
by my departed frieu1, Honorable Alexan-
der n. Stephens, of Georgia (and lovelier
man never exchanged earth for heaven),
when at Washington. Asenators wife who
told my wife of the circumstances said to
him, 'Mr. Stephen, come and sea my dead
canary bird" And he answered, "No, l
could not look at the poor thing without
crying" That is the spirit that Grant
showed when at the surrender at Apo
mattoI he said to General Lee, "As
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
a horse or mule take 1t along with him."
That is the spirit which, last night, ten thou
sand mothers showed to their sick children
coming to give the drink at the twentieth
cali as cheerfully and as tenderly as at ths
first call.
Suppose all this asssmblage all to whom
these words shall come by. printers type,
should resolve to make kindness an over
arching, undergirding and all pervading
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? 1t seems to me that
the world is getting to be a better place
to live in. Why, life after all is worth lv-
ing. Why, there is Shylocx, my neighhor,
has withdrawn his lawsuit of foreclosure
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
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 I heard yesterday note was
due, and the young merchant could
not meet it, and Che old merchant
went in and got for him three months e1-
tension which for the young merchant is
the difference between bankruptcy and
success In business. And in our street Is
an artist who had a fine picture OF the
Rapids Of Niagara and he could not sell it,
aud his family were suffering, and they
themselves were in the rapids; and lady
heard Of it and said, I do not need the
picture, but for tn. encouragement of art
and helping you out Of your distress I will
take it. and on the drawing room wall are
the Rapids of Niagara
"Do you know that strange thing has
taken place in the pulpit and all the old
ministers are helping the young ministers,
and all the old doctors are helping the
young doctors, and the farmers are assisting
each other in gathering the harvest, and for
that farmer who Is SICK the neighbors have
made bee as they call it. and they have
all turaed in to help him get his crops
into the garner. And they tell me
that the older and more skillful reporters
who have permanent positions on papers are
helping the young fellows who are just be-
Climbing to try and don't know exactly how
to do it. An after few erasures and inter-
polations on the reporters pad they say:
Now here is a readable account of that
tragedy; hand it in and I am sure the man.
aging editor will take it.
And heard this morning of a poor old
man whose thres children were in hot debate
a, to who should take care Of him in his de-
clining days. The oldest son declared it was
his right because he was the Oldest, and the
youngest son said it was his rlgat because hG
was the youngest, and Mary said it was her
right because she better understood fathers
vertigo and rheumatism and poor spells and
knew better how to nurse him, and the only
way the difficulty could be settled was by the
old mans promise that he would divide the
year into three parts. ana spend third OF
his time with each one of them.
"And neighboring stores in the same line
of goods on the same block are acting kindly
to each other, and when one is little short
of certain kind Of goods his neighbor says,
Il will help you until you can -epienish your
Shelves It seems to me that those words OF
Isaiah are being fulfilled when he says,
The carpenter encouraged the goldsmith,
and he that smooths with the hammer, him
that smote the anvil, saying it is ready for
the soldering What is the matter? 1t
seems to ma our old world is picking up.
Why, the millennium must be coming in.
Kindness has gotten the victory"
My hearers, you know and | know we are
Far from that state Of things. But why not
1naugurate new dispensation Of geniality.
II we cannot yet have millennium on a
large scale, let US have it on a small scale.
and under our own investments. Kindness!
If this world is ever brought to God that is
the thing that will DO it. You cannot fret
world down. You cannot scold it into e1-
cellence or reformation or godliness.
The east wind and the west wind were
one day talking with each other, and the
east wind said to the west wind: Don't you
wish you had my power? Why, when l
start they hail me by storm signals all along
the coast. I can twist OFF ships mast as
easily as a cows hoof cracks an alder.
With one sweep of my wing have strewn
the coast from Newfoundland to Key
West with parted ship timber. l can
lift and have lifted the Atlantic Ocean. !
am the terror Of all invalidism, and to fight
me back forests must be cut down for fires,
and the mines Of continents are called on to
feed the furnaces. Under my breath the
nations crouch into sepulchres. Don't you
wish you had my power" said the eas5
wind.
The west wind made no answer, but
started on its mission, coming someWhere
out Of the rosy bowers Of the sky, and all
the rivers and lakes and seas smiled at its
coming. The gardens hloomed, and the
orchards ripened, and the wheat fields
turned their silver into gold. and health
clapped It's hands, and joy shouted from
the hill tops, and tho nations lifted their
foreheads into the light, and the earth had a
doxology for the sky. and the sky an an
them Sor the earth, and the warmth and the
sparkle and the gladness and the foliage,
and the flowers and the fruits, and the
beauty, and the life, were the only answer
tie west wind made to the insolence of tEe
east winds interrogation.
Kindness to all! Surely it ought not to
be difficult grace to culture when we see
towering above the centuries such au ex,
ample that one glimpse ought to melt and
transform all nations kininess brought