San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-03-28


Ginning about what they can accom-
plish before it is done. Jim COrbett
could take lessons of the tortoise and
make money by it. 1t saves lot
! when you do get left, if you make no
boasts about what you are going to
accomplish beforehand. This is an
other evidence of the old fashioned
| notions of the tortoise, he never brags.
Just think for a moment what this
one virtue means in this world. What
a curiosity the man is who never
boasts. There is more virtue in this
SlOw-paced mOdesty than there is in
Il 2:10 gait in n three-year-old. There
is such a sense of silent reserve pow
er in the man who quietly lets the
Dragging 30 on all around without
comment, that it attracts attention.
Perhaps this one reason why the old
fashioned hero of this subject does so,
hut if it is he never give himself away.
His features are as unreadable as
those of the SphynX.
Mrs. Tortoise is to the full as plain
and old fashioned as her husband.
She never was president of SOrOsis, or
the manager of a girls football club,
or secretary of New WOman'S as
ISOLATION, and would have died with
modification had she been caught
alive with DR.. Mary Walkers toys
on. But she knows all the secrets of
the kitchen, can discount profession
al nurse at the bedside of the sick, can
soothe the broken heart of child or
cuddle a sick kitten, tell the girls all
about her cOurtship and make all the
loveable children hug her in way
that Mrs. Lease would give her best
lecture to understand. She amt par
ticularly fast, Nam tortoise aint, but
she gets there with both feet every
time there is anything worth getting
for. She is a real help-meet for her
old man and they both know it.
The children take after their parents
and are real chips of the old block.
They naturally take to old fashioned
ways and old fashioned ideas and old
fashioned thoughts and virtues, as ma
turally as kitten to her tail or ball
If yarn in the knitting basket. They
depend on work more than on tricki-
ness for success in life, and at the
same time get in their best ticks with
their brains. Just like the old fellow
in the fable, who grabbed the tail of
the hare as he rose from his form and
rode to the end of the race at the ex-
pense of his rival, the tortoise boys
and girls get there by head wOrk,an
they do not sweat out any more rat
in doing it than the law allows. They
are always sleek, in good condition,
have sound shells and are not easily
run off the track by their rivals.
One thing is worthy Of notice, and it
is worth a whole lot of talk, the tor
tOise boys and girls get there. The
BOYS succeed in business, marry the
best girls, get the latest offices, are
never burdened with debt, keep out
of Jail always have little money on
hand for a good investment and turn
up trumps in every game of life they
play. The girls are not much count
rs summer girls, are blind to a street
car or corridor Irritation. do not lead
the fashions, or 90 in for the latest
fads. but they hold their own all the
same. They marry a little late in life,
but they get the best articles in town,
their homes are the most Substan-
tial. their surroundings are the most
hOmplike. as the years grow they
grow more stylish and become the
fashion and that without any apparent
desire or effort on their part.
They are old fashioned to the end
Of the chapter, but they are kind,
cheerful, helpful, solid, self respecting,
n little reserved, do not take readily to
strange faces or customs, but they
are full of the milk of human kindness
and their lives are dead success. 1t
is the fashion to slight them on early
acquaintance and court them on closer
knowledge of their virtues, They are
n little particular about their init
mates. as you will find if you press
too closely for intrOductiOnS, but If
you are the right sort and will wait,
you will find them charming on close
acquaintance and their friendship
something that is we'll worth cultiva
ting The wealth of worth is in them,
and under that shell are all the mod
ern virtues The tortoise family are
short on show, but they are long on
| brains and comfort.
This discourse is not uttered for the
| benefit of the family. They are not
/ in need of it, but for the instruction
| Of those who incline to give them the
| cold shoulder not knowing the real in
jury they may do themselves. The
world needs the tortoise people more
than the tortoisepeOple need the world
| 1t will be wisdom my hearerS,tO cult
vate the acquaintance of the family
and if you succeed in being taken il
as a family friend you are made fol
life. if you have the real stuff in you
This is written for you fast young
sters, lest in wheeling past some mem
Der of this slow but worthy famil!
you throw dust in their faces anC
make an enemy of one who may b.
more real benefit to you in the afte
fight of life than all the companion
which wheel by with you as you lOOl
back on the slow coaches of the fam
lily.
: SOMETHING TO KNOW.
1t NAV be worth something to know