The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1896-06-24

ness or u0rS2SCnaOlSOcSS Oh YOUR OlC
father and mother it is only for mo
ment, and the star soon comes out
clear again and is seen from all the
balconies of the neighborhood. The
old people will forgive your occasional
shortcomings, for they themselves
several times lost their patience when
you were young and slapped you when
you did not deserve it. Hail, evening
star! Hang on the darkening sky your
diamond coronet.
But,are any OF you the star Worm
wood2 Do you scold and growl from
the thrones paternal Or maternal? Are
your children everlastingly pecked at:
Are you always crying "Hush! TO
the merry voices and swift feet, and
their laughter, which occasionally
trickles through at wrong times and Is
suppressed by them until they can
hold it no longer, and all the barriers
burst into unlimited gutfaw and
cachinnation, as in high weather the
water has trickled through slight
opening in the milldam, but after
ward makes wider and wider breach
until it carries all before it with ire
sistible freshet2 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 OF
one step from the still foot. You vii
not any OF you have to wait very long
before your house is stiller than yor
want it. Alas, that there are so many
homes not known to the Society fol
the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
where children are put on the limits
and whacke6 and cufed and eal
pulled and senselessl y called TO ordel
and answered sharp and suppressed
until it is wonder that under sucE
processes they do not all turn oul
Modocs and Mana Sahibs.
What is your influence upon The
neighborhood, the town or the city o.
your residence? | will suppose tina
YOU are star OF wit. What kind Of
rays do you shoot forth2 Do you usf
that splendid faculty to irradiate the
world or to rankle it? | bless al
the apostolic college of humorists
The man that makes me laugh is my
benefactor. l do not thank anybody
to make me cry. I can do that with
out any assistance. We all cry
enough and have enough to cry about
God bless all skillful punsters, all re
parteeists, all propounders of ingenl
Gus conundrums, allthose who mirth
fully surprise US with unusual juxta
ton of words. Thomas Hood ant
Charles Lamb and Sydney Smith hae
divine mission, and so have then
successors in these times. They stil
into the acid beverage of life the sac
chaciIc. They make the cup of earth
ly existence, which is sometimes stale
efervesce and bubble. They placatt
animosities. They foster longevity
They slay follies and absurdities which
all the sermons Of all the p1lpits can
not 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 a journey
or was asleep. and nothing but voci
fe-ation could wake him. saying
Cry aloud, for ne is a god. Either
he is talking or pursuing, or perad
venture he sleepeth and must be
awaked." They have an example in
Christ, who with healthful sarcasm
showed up the lying: hypocritica
Pharisees by suggesting that such per
feet people like themselves needed nc
Improvements, saying, ''The whole
need not physician, but they that
are sick.''
But what use are you making Of
Tour wit? Is it besmlrched with pro
family and uncleanness2 Do you EN-
ploy itin amusement at physical de-
fects for which the victims arenot re
sponsible2 Are your powers of mimi,
cry used to put religion in contempt
Is it bunch of nettlesome invectivei
Is it a bolt of unjust scorn9 Is it fun
at others misfortune? Is it glee al
their disappointment and defeat? Is
it bitterness put drop by drop-into a
cupa Is it like the squeezing Of Arte
misia absinthium into q draft already
distastefully pungent? Then you are
the star Wormwood. Yours is the
fun & a rattlesnake trying how well
it can sting. 1t is the fun of hawk
trying how quickly it can strike out
the eye Of a dove.
But I will change this and suppose
YOU are a star of worldly prosperity
Then you have large opportunity.
You can encourage that artist by buy
ing 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 chronological
achievements in the orchards. You
can advance arboriculture and arrest
this deathful iconoclasm OF the Amer.
lean forests. You can put a piece OF
sculpture into the niche Of that public
academy. You can endow college.
You can stocking LOCO bare feet from
the winter frost. You can build a
church. You can put a missionary OF
Christ on that foreign shore. You
can help ransom a world. A rich
man with his heart right-can you tell
me how much good a James Lenox OR
a George Peabody or Peter Cooper or
a William E. Dodge did while living
or is doing now that he is dead9 There
is not a city, town or neighborhood
that hes not glorious specimens of con-
secrated wealth.
But suppose you grind the face of
the poor Suppose when a mans
wages are G;@e you make him wait for
them because he cannot help himself.
Suppose that, because his family is
sick and he has had extra expenses, he
should politely ask you to raise his
wages for this year, and you roughly
tell him if he wants a better place to
60 and get it. Suppose by your
manner you act as though he were
nothing and you were everything.
Suppose YOU are selfish and overbear-