The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-08-13
NOT POLITICS, BUT A HOMILY
YOU SHOULD READ.

YOU will agree with it. Recall to mind
your sensations when you have heard OF
some act Of devotion being well repaid,
some great favor or even current courte'
sizes being well rcquitcd and think if you
have not been surprised at it. Does not
this negatively prove the proposition, to
which can be added countless illustra-
lions of fragrant forgctfulncss of obliga-
lions conferred, which you can see
around you every day! The trouble
about it all is, however, that these things
have become 50 much Il matter OF course
that they do not arouse the Indignation
they should. Not only so, but they hap
the light of general observation that they
are not remarked as they should he Tor
universal scorn. Yet sometimes it hap
pens that half contingent knows OF
such IL lapse in common dcccncy, and
| then condemnation follows, showing
pointedy that though many Of MS may
be sinners in the same line. yet we real
| " have the grace when some one clSc's
OK is gored to put up an honest protest.
| Such Il protest is evidence of the fact
that the human heart still retains many
of the first principles Of nature, one of
the best of which is thankfulncss for
favOrs conferred. Even IL dog will lick
rather than bite the hand that feeds him.
Newspapers are not only wide obscrv-
crs of political trend, business and gem
cral financial events, but also Of
mon and things in general Those
who run newspapers, i'll the course
of business, have perhaps bet
ter opportunity of studying human
nature than is offered in any other field
of duty. In their close touch with the
world they meet many of the ups ana
downs Of life they see many of the
lights and shades that go to make up the
inner and hidden events, joys and miser-
les, and they, worst of all, possibly, have
countless opportunities to have their
ideas and hopes of true and good living
disillusonizcd. You may have noticed
that live timber floats along down the
stream without connection and leaving
no trace to tell the story of its passage;
it is the dead timber that sinks, but as it
settles to its long rest pieces of the dead
wood slough off and leave their foul
trace on the surface of the water. SO
it is with joys, they float along and are
forgotten in looking out for joys that
are to come after them: but not so with
gricfs; these leave behind them rancor,
dstrust and too often the driftwood
of all uncharitablcness And what grief
is kccncr than that of being disappoint-
ed in Il friend? The dead leave behind
them Il regret that mcllows with age, but
grief over betrayed friendship is intcnsi
fled and cmbittcred by the presence of
the living embodiment of the betrayal.
The heart fullest of distrust was once
the heart most ready TO contde and be-
lievc. The heart quickest petrfied with
disgust over the shams of the world was
the heart that felt kccncst the first shock
of disappointment over dislOyal friend.
These rules hold absolutely as between
men and men. A newspaper in its CO.
operative or corporate capacity meets all
these natural though seeming anomalies
of condition and character. Its con-
science and heart are supposed to be
anonymous quantities. and while the pa
per thinks yet they can not feel. so it
carries the smile of cynicism into the
world to catch that worlds yagaries on
shield that can not be penetrated. But
down in the depth of fact it turns to the
world the most sensitive of Photographic
plates. 1t feels impressions quickest of
all human agencies. Its true friends it
would grapple to it with hooks of STEEL
its false friends it would worse than
cruelty on cross of gold. But in its
years of study and manly fight with. and
for the world there is one phase of hui
man nature it has met with more than
toned to the thing it abhors, that is in
gratitude. And possibly it is for this
reason: What II paper does is known of
all men. When it lifts friend to a
pinnacle it is because it believes he hon
cstly deserves that distinction. SO the
paper stands as sort of sponsor for its
friend. Afterwards, when that quon-
dam friend is found maligning the paper
that made him, not only is the world JUS
titled in scorning the friend, but it be-
gins to impcach the foresight and pru-
dencc of the paper that took him up in
its power and made him. Thus the pa
per is twice assaled, by its regret and
disappointment over the thing it created
and by the public for its uniustified
work. And the trouble is that the man
for whom II newspaper has done the
most is as Il rule the most blatant enemy
of the paper, utterly forgetting to see
that he is thus thrice condcmnng him
self. So we see ingratitude following
mankind down every avenue of life. 1t
is Shiny thing that crceps where char
acter will not go. 1t is the serpent in
this century Garden of Eden that con-
tinues to tempt and destroy wherever its
foul breath can reach.
Texas sends sincereSt condolences TO
her sister states of the east and north
as they swelter in the terrible heat they