The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-09-04
uANosOMTIy AND OTHERWISE.

HANDSOMELY AND OIHERWIsE.
Nature has, undoubtedly, made strange
fellows in her time. At least she has had
hand in making them. There are small
people. for example; and how did they
come so? Were they small put UP, or,
like scrub oaks and dwarf pears, did they
get into rocky places or small pots, and
have no chance to be nourished and 10
expand themselves? However it be,
there they are. and they get TO be known
as narrow. thin and exceedingly little
bit. Presently their sympatbies get to be
ike the roots Of the scrub oak or dwarf
pears, withered, dried up, hard and life
less, all twisted and wrapped up to-
gether, so that there is no untangling or
ur doing them. They are shut up to them
selves, hide-bound and apparently hope
less. Reduced to this condition of being
dried up and of unexpansiveness. their
whole being is dwarfed and belttled.
They don't believe in the outside world;
they arc agnostics as to everything be-
yond themselves. They sec men and
things only in their own light, and in
their most restricted and confined aspect
peep at chem; they measure them with
the smallest weights and measures. esti-
mate them by the commonest standards,
and the delight Of their lives is TO find
what is poorer, meaner, smaller than
their own selves and their possessions.
In many things these unlucky souls show
the decrepitude Of old age, being them
selves shrunk and withered. They are
afraid of that which IS high and the
grasshCpper is burden to them. Ex-
cellence and merit anywhere make them
uncomfortable, aud life and brightness,
even the chirp Of grasshopper, is bur
den. The cricket is unwelcome at their
hreside. The emblem Of life to this MAJ
heureux is very small and withered
potato (good for the rheumatism, and a
small ball of Irvine tightly wound up,
strangely telling of his closeness.
Neither these emblems nor their owner
can ever be softened, rejuvenated or I'M
wound. If he prospers he fulGls the sad
prophecy.
Darker and darker the further I 60
Baser and baser the richer l grow.
He was put up on small scale. Cheap
was his first principle, and cheapness
makes his life. Cheapness builds his
houses, regulates his fare and his home,
clothes him, characterizes his walk and
conversation, makes his servants hate
him, and the butchers and hucksters mark
and despise him and keep their worst
things for him. and cheat him if they can.
The merit of his palace, his few pictures
and his furniture, is not their excellence,
but how much he saved in get
ting them. How be fooled the
carpenter or got more than his mon
ey's worth He knows his friends look at
him like a ripe pod, and only wait for
him TO break up and scatter his riches.
He gives the Almighty his smallest I'M
current coins, and calculates to he saved
by the skin of his teeth. He is by ma
ture appointed his own tormentor, the
bereayer of his own soul. And the only
handsome thing that ever befalls him is
a fine monument that tells of virtues that
had no place in his wretched soul
But nature has hOnored herself by a
product quite the reverse of all this
There are souls that are born great, 10
whom the earth and air and heavens are
nursery They are made after the image
of God. Their emblem is the Tree planted
by the waters side that sendeth out his
roots by the river, his height great, his
fruit much. They know of life only as
il is, and they see it CLEAN In the eyes and
hearts of good people, not in the glare of
worldliness. They live and move and
have their being in generosity and mag
nanimity. They count nothing as good
for their own personal qualification. but
measure everything, even their own in
conveniences and tolls and sorrows and
priyations as gently shared by those
they love, and lightly to be born, for the
the hope Of general good. Their souls
glow with JOY in the happiness of those
around them. The 'shekel of the sanet-
uary' is their standard of value. The
virtue of the poor widow is their quality
of excellence. Justice, mercy, liberty and
whoieheartehness are the principles of
Shdx LIE EAr great souls move In