Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-02-28
GAZETTE SHORT TALKS.

lopes. On the top of the mount the ap-
pearance is as if crowd of animals and
men had rushed together in fright. At
whatever period these footprints were
made, it must have been before the outer
surface of the rock had hardened The dis
tance from where the footprints begin to
where they eliminate on the mount is 200
yards -
The above paragraph is now going the
rounds of the press credited to the St
james Gazette. Was there ever stronger
argument in favor of teaching at least a
little natural science in our common
schools2 Here is learned missionary who
i, does not even know that granite is an ig-
neous rock, and that when soft enough for
footprints to be made in it, it was in a
molten state-as hot as melted iron. What
kind of footprints would animals be ex-
pected to leave in iron at the melting tenn
perature2 And, of course, all the editors
copying the paragraph are swallowing the
story just at it reads.
Politicians of a certain ilk are constantly
talking about an oppression of the poor at
the hands of the rich with the view of or
ganizing one class against the other for po-
litical effect. Now, have you ever thought
seriously about the mattere Is II not really
the poor depressing the poor after all, adj
hitting that there actually is the oppres-
sion so much talked of Let us see where
the whole thing started: The mother of the
elder Vanderbilt, who founded the great
Vanderbilt wealth, was poor washer
woman, and young Vanderbilt, her son,
earned his first pennies by ferrying people
across a river in a Skiff rOwed by his own
hands. Andrew Carnegie was a poor tel
egrapher, for long time unable to earn his
own board. William r. Grace, now worth
forty millions, was butchers boy. Philip
Armour was an errand boy in an iron
foundry. John D. Rockefeller, now worth
SIPS, 600, 900. was poor boy in blacksmith
shop John Mackay, of the Comstock lode,
and now one of the richest men in the
world, was poor stonemason working by
the day at low wages. Jay Gould was a
very common tanner by trade, working by
the month in an old-fashioned lanyard. Fol-
low up the whole list of ''bloated bondhold-
ers,' and you will find it panning out the
same way in almost every instance. Had
you ever thought of this2 The same oppor-
tunities that were open to these people are
still open to all Which is it, then-a fight
against capital or fight against brainsl
Most of the ''bloated bondholders" to
rise in the future are now among the poorer
classes, undoubtedly. You may pick many
of them out if you will study the boys. Sup
pose. for example, there are two boys Of
the same age, and who have been raised
and cared for in precisely the same way.
To place them on a footing entirely equal
we will suppose that they are twin brothers
in the same family. They are poor and
must work for living. Both are equally
willing to work. One of them gets job
and sticks to it for short time, when he
gets tired of the place and soon finds an ex-
cuse to change to some other place, while
the other boy sticks to his position with the
persistency of a bulldog and never quits it
of his own accord. One of these boys will
probably be ''bloated bondholder'' of the
future, but it will not be the one who is
constantly looking out for q more agreeable
position -
The same rule holds good in other po-
sitions of after life. You may form fair
idea OF what the man is to be by studying
the boy. We once knew a poor tinsmith
who had a small boy of very peculiar char
acteristics. If he went fishing with the
boys he always came back with the largest
string of fish. If he went skating he
skated away from all the other boys. If he
played marbles he pretty generally man
aged to keep the SGD" All his companions
had open to them every opportunity that he
had, yet from some cause or other he in
variably led. It appeared to be natural
with him. That poor tinsnith's boy is now
IN a life position as supreme court judge.
As has been truly said, 1.-THE boy is an in
dex to the man. enabling you to quite
correctly read his future if you will study
him Alright.