Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-02-11
IN BRIEF.

IN BRIEF.
In the childhood of the race when men
trusted implicitly, a man of faith asked as a
divine favor only so much of earthly goods
as should make contentment easy. Another,
accounted the wisest of men, asked for
wisdom as heavens highest gift. and later
divine teacher taught the danger of
great riches and pronounced blessings
upon the poor in spirit and the meek,
neither of whom are usually of the rich in
worldly possessions. Three ordinary wit
nesses are sufficient to confirm t ruth and
the three cited are in no sense ordinary.
Hence it is a fair deduction, that it is true
a mans Gn the generic) riches do not
consist in the things that he possesses.
Where there is sufficient distance from alb
1ect want. where there is health, where
there are friends to be had for the giving
forth of friendliness, where there
are husbands and children, there ought to
be conten tment
One can put their h and before the eye and
say there is no sun, but the sun shines
on, and whenever the hand is taken away
its kindly beams are seen to be still gleam-
ing. Introspection and comparison, when
INDUCED for the purpose of seeing faults
and obViating them, is commendable, but
when these take the form of brooding and
contrasting, the exercise becomes vicious.
The mind, the heart that feeds
upon self, is self-destroying. u The race was
set in families, and ordered into communi-
ties for mutual benefit, and not one of the
natural forces act and react with more cer-
tainty than does the moral force of COM
radeship.
Habits of thought are as easily acquired
and as firmly rooted as are habits of action,
and each individual is morally responsible
for the ruts they make in heavens high
way. If dissatisfied longings, selfish de-
sire, envious sentiment predominant, these
soon assume entire mastery and life be-
comes a dreary waste If, on the
contrary, opposite feelings are nur-
tured and cherished, the heart blossoms
as garden, sunlight illumines the way and
new courage comes. The habit of dwelling
on ones mercies, of spying out the good in
others, Of maintaining strictest silence as to
the faults of friend or neighbor conduce to
happy living A good woman once found
occasion to praise the devil for his industry
and surely there is no fellow-creattre so ut
terly void of good that nothing but blame is
his portion. With health, modest compe-
tency, and those about one who can be
loved and will be if he ''shows
himself friendly" there is no just
ause for complaining. 1t is true
that life is largely what we
make it, and if We do not use disappoint-
ments and even misfortunes as emory
dust to polish and round our lives, we our
selves suffer the penalty and also help to
cloud the lives of oghers. Captivity Of body
in whatever shape never can bind free, |
loving spirit-it sings behind bars, whether |
gilded or of steel.
-
The study Of words is very interesting, |
and when properly pursued unfolds to the
student many hidden meanings that repay |
the delving. Not exactly in the line of le-
Ultimate investigation, but suggestive, is
the following: Every one is familiar
with the phrase ''wise saws" and the con-
centrated wisdom to be found in them. The
question arises, are these bits of philoso-
ply developed by persistent going to and
fro and by the contact of many sharp points
with tough subjects, and hence the name2
a Madonna has been found at the tubs and
there are Ciceros at the sawbuck, although
the elegance of the modern's diction may
not approach that of the author of DE
Senectute." Said darkey saving to MS
partner; Il don't Eeer so much bout his be-
ing old, but he knows too much; he allus is
a telIin' how We oughter saw wood and he
don't know nothin' bout it; faint SIGH
sin to be old if you 'aint too smart" The
kernel is wrapped in the latter clause
aside from the qualification of knowing
that it is not sin to grow old, for this is
natural and nature is said to be de-
praved there is taught that old folk
must not be ''too smart" The progress of
the world did not stop when the ''old folk
made their debut, and the young folk get
very tired Of hearing how things were done
''in my day. The old will have to re-
member, not what was the better as
it now seems 10 them, but the
feeling, the enthusiasm, the fresh
ness of young life and to therefore
bear with the ebullition of youth. Many of
the younger set feel what the wood-sawyer
expires sed in homely fashion, that their ell
ders have the fault of being 'too smart"
Older women and mothers ought to.Dear in
wind that once they were young, and enter
In companionable way into the pleasures,
hopes, ambitions and worries OF their young