Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1892-12-15

wearier woTnan's voice.
"Oh-eyerything," replied the girl
with tinkling little laugh, and as if
the phrase tickled her fancy she repeat
ed it still more blithely. eyes, NUNS
the word. That's the best rule Of life
know of.
There's another that they use a good
deal in the mining districts, said aman's
voice, with little laugh, "and that's
Pay up or shut up Don't you think
that's better advice, Miss LottyfT
Il don't Just see what it means re-
piled Lofty coquettishly.
"Why, if one fellow has done another
fellow an ugly tur1-say got his money
at cards-and the first man thinks he
didn't play on the square,
"Oh, dear, don't know anything
about such dreadful people" interposed
Lofty, and the older woman added,
''And hope you don't either, William. :"
''Course / don't. mother, and Of course
you don't, returned William, with
icfioked laugh struggling under his voice,
"only I've heard it, You see, and it seems
to me better rule to work by than just
to keep mum, no matter what anybody
does TO you.
.But you didn't finish explaining what
it means" interposed Lofty. Suppose
one of these horrid men cheats another
horrid man at cards, for Isuppose that's
what you mean?'
"That's about the size Of it, Miss
Lofty, replied William cheerily. "Well,
then, you see the fellow that comes TO
grief feels mad and wants to pay up.
"Why, he's got to pay up If he's lost
the money. hasn't he:"
"Oh, well. it doesn' t mean that kind of
paying up. II the other fellow carried
couple Of aces up his sleeve, why ven
want to pay him up for cheating, don't
your"
Want to be revenged on himGr
Well, If you put it that way. Any
how, if he's plucky fellow he'll 70 for
him-fists or six shooter or bowie. some
how OF other aud pay him up for being
such a sneak, don't you seey But if hs
isn't plucky, ana feels as IL the other
one had got heavier fists, or a quicker
aim. or a handler knife, he sort Of crawls
away and goes around scolding and
snarling and blowing
William, what sort of associates have
you been among IN the westf' put in the
mother in a tone Of dismay. utLotty,
with her little, tinkling laugh, suggested:
80, then. the other man tells him if
he hasn't the courage to pay up his
grudge he had better shut up and not
talk about it. Is that ity'
Yes, Miss Lofty; that's just it, and l
think its pretty good advice, isn't it? If
somebody's done you mean turn. why,
pay hirn up for it. And if you can't pay
it up, why, shut up till You can, but
don't take it out in swearing"
The ears stopped, and when they went
on thevcices hal ceased. Evidently my
friends had got of, and never had seen
them but the net result Of the little
overheard discussion crystallized in my
mind into the question;
Is it better to pay up or shut up, or Is
"Mums the word" the better rule Of
life-better than either to pay up or
shut up?
All Of Us, especially women, have
plenty to complain Of as we 90 through
the world. Ishmael's children, whose
HANGS We're against every man and
every mans hands against them, are
never hard to find; indeed it sometimes
seems as if, more or less disguised, they
pervaded society in all its grades and
all its relations and We're impossible to
avoid, even though the exterior seems
to promise better things.
Sometimes indeed womans foes
are those Of her own household, and be-
hind the closed doors Of what to the
world seems a happy home system
Of persecution or Of struggle il. carried
on which nobody suspects, unless in
deed the victim, finding it impossible to
shut up any longer, desperately re-
solves to ''pay mp by exposing her ty-
rant to the vengeance Of the public
Do you doubt the existence of these
silent sufferers?
IL SO you are not one of those persons
endowed, to their own misfortune. with
what is known as sympathetic nature
persons to whom everybody tells their
story almost ut sight, often ending it
with some such remark as this:
II don't know why have told you all
this. have never spoken Of it outside
OF my own home to living creature
But there is something about you that
seems to open my heart and assure me
that | may place confidence both i'll your
sympathy and your discretion
of course one can hut assuic these
poor wounded ones Of both the sympathy
and the discretion, aud finish by admin
istering such advice or comfort As sug-
gests itself, though often with dreary
sense that neither the enc nor the other
will do any real good
Still the telling Of the story does seem
to do good 70 such persons. and often
enough they finish the interview by
avowing that they feel happier than
they have for weeks or years or ages,
as they may phrase it, for one result Of
intense worry is. as / have frequently
noticed, to give the object vi ID the sense
of having suffered for length Of time
beyond the power Of computation. The
phrase, "an eternity IL woe, i by no
means y mere poctical trope, but q very
real experience, as ! fear too many Of
you who rcad these lines know from =
bitter experience, while. on the other
hand. the hours or days Of real happi-
ness dotted along through q life seem
se bYipf and SO far away when once they
are passed that we almost doubt II we
ever actually experienced them, OK If in-
deed they were no more than one ot
those morning dreams apparently coy
ering hours, but which waking reason
tells ID only filed the half minutes be-
tween the servants first and second
knock npon the bedroom door
Again, the poets have, as indeed they
generally do, seized upon the true in
wardness Of the situation when they
speak Of a dream Of delight, q vision
Of ioy.' Just think Of iti An eternity