Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-06-18

Keep on shining with encouragement ana
Christian hopel
Some of you are evening stars and you
are cheering the last days of old people,
and though a cloud sometimes comes over
you through the querulousness or unrea-
sonableness of your old father and mother
it is only for a moment, and the star soon
comes out clear again and is seen from all
the balconies of the neighborhood. The old
Eople will forgive your occasional short
SOmings, for they themselves several times
lost their patience when you were young
and slapped you when you did not deserve
it. Hail, evening starl Hang on the dark.
| ening sky your diamond coronet
wormwood.
But are any of you the star Wormwood'
Do you scold and growl from the thrones
| paternal or maternalH Are your children
everlastingly pecked att Are you always
crying "Hushr' to the merry voices and
swift feet, and their laughter, which occa-
sionally trickles through at wrong times
and is suppressed by them until they can
| hold it no longer, and all the barriers
burst into unlimited guffaw and cachinna-
ton, as in high weather the water has
trickled through slight opening in the
milldam, but afterward makes wider and
wider breach until it carries all before it
with irresistible freshetS Do not be too
much offended at the noise your children
now make. 1t will be still enough when
one of them is dead Then you would give
| your right hand to hear one shout from
their silent voices or one step from the
still foot. You will not any of you have to
wait very long before your house Is stiller
than you want it. Alas, that there are so
many homes not known to the Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Children,
where children are put on the limits, and
whacked and cuffed and ear pulled and
senselessly called to order and answered
sharp and suppressed, until it Is won
der that under such processes they do not
all turn out Modocs and Mana Sahibsl
What is your influence upon the neigh
borhood, the town or the city Of your resi-
dencep will suppose that you are star
of wit. What kind of rays do you shoot
forthP Do you use that splendid faculty to
irradiate the world or to rankle it3 bless
all the apostolic college of humorists. The
man that makes me laugh Is my benefac-
tor. do not thank anybody to make me
cry. can do that without any assistance
We all cry enough and have enough to cry
about. God bless all skillful punsters all
reparteeists, all propounders Of ingenious
conundrums, all those who mirthfully sur
prise us with unusual juxtaposition OF
words. Thomas Hood and Charles Lamb
and Sydney Smith had divine mission,
and so have their successors in these times.
They stir into the acid beverage Of life the
saccharine. They make the cup of earthly
existence, which is sometimes stale, effer-
vesce and bubble They placate animosi-
ties. They foster longevity. They slay fol-
lies and absurdities which all the sermons
Of all the pulpits cannot reach.
They have for example Elijah, who
made fun of the Baalites when they called
down fire and it did not come, suggesting
that their heather god had gone hunting,
or was off on journey, or was asleep, and
nothing but vociferation could wake him,
saying: "Cry aloud for he is god. Either
he is talking or pursuing, or peradventure
he sleepeth and must be awaked." They
have an example in Christ, who with
healthful sarcasm showed up the lying,
hypocritical Pharisees by suggesting that
such perfect people like themselves needed
no improvements, saying "The whole
need not physician, but they that are
sick.''
But what use are you making Of your
wit2 Is it besmirched with profanity and
uncleanness9 Do you employ it in amuse-
ment at physical defects for which the vic
Tins are not responsible? Are your powers
of mimicry used to put religion in con-
Tempt Is it bunch of nettlesome In
vective9 Is 1t o bolt Of unjust scornp Is ii
, fun at others misfortune Is it glee at
their disappointment and defeatS Is 1t
bitterness put drop by drop into q cup? Is
it like the squeezing Of Artemisia alb
sinthium into a draft already distaste-
fully pungent2 Then you are the star
, Wor1nwood. Yours Is the fun of rattle
snake trying how well it can sting. 1t Is
the fun of a hawk trying how quickly ii
can strike out the eye of dove.
Worldly Prosperity.
, But I will change this and suppose you
are star of worldly prosperity. Then you
have large opportunity. You can encour.
, age that artist by buying his picture. You
, can improve the fields, the stables, the
highway, by introducing higher style OF
, fowl and horse and COW and sheep. You
can bless the world with pomological
achievement in the orchards You can ad.
vance arboriculture and arrest this death
You can put piece Of sculpture into the
niche Of that public academy. You can en-.
dow college. You can stocking ,0OC
bare feet from the winter frost. You can
J build a church. You can put missionary
! Of Christ on that foreign shore. You can
help ransom world A rich man with
, his heart right-can you tell me how much
good a James Lenox or George Peabody
or Peter Cooper or William E. Dodge
, did while living or is doing now that he
Is dead There Is not a city, town or neigh
borhood that has not glorious specimens
of consecrated wealth.
But suppose you grind the face Of the
poor. Suppose when mans wages are
| due you make him wait for them because
J he cannot help himself. Suppose that, be.
cause his family Is sick and he has had ex-
, tra expenses, he should politely ask you to
, raise his wages for this year, and you
; roughly tell him II he wants q better place
to go and get It, Suppose by your manner
you act as though he were nothing and
| you We're everything. Suppose you are self
ish and overbearing and arrogant Your
; first name ought to be Attila and your
last name Attila, because you are the star
Wormwood, and you have imbittered one
third If not three thirds Of the waters that
roll past your employees and operatives
and dependents and associates, and the
long line of carriages which the undertaken
orders for your funeral, in order to make
the occasion respectable, will be filed with
twice as many dry, fearless eyes as there
are persons occupying them.
] There Is an erroneous idea abroad that
! that there are only few geniuses. There
are millions Of them. That is, men and
women who have especial adaptation and
quickness for some one thing. 1t may be
great, 1t may be small. The circle may be
like the circumference Of the earth or no
larger than thimble- There are thou
sands of geniuses, and In some one thing
you are q star. What kind Of q star are