Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1897-02-27
the MISSISSIPPI I SAY So.
BY J. F. HALEY
The Trundle. BED Brigade.


SHANE aud fortune from no condi
ton rise, The Suthor of this prcverl
was either = philosopher OF Q very oh
servant man, probably both. No ont
can tell wnst 4 boy or girl viii be in the
wears to come, There may be = tolera
/ bic certainty what one might he; ont the
mere possession II talent is 10 criterion,
The most Qiusble failures in life are
among the mos; talented. Whereas. OF
the other baud those seemingly possessed
Of little tslent. outruu by far in the race
Of life. Any studen. in college hiss am
pie opportunity to verify this in i short
while. Often have | seen it come 10
pass that two boys would enter school,
one from y home and a community
where many things combine toienlighten
and polish, the other from a community
where little else vas ever heard Of than
the routine Of a hackwocis farm boys
life. The one excites the admiration Of
teacher and class by his brilliant and
ready answers; the other brings = smile
to every face by the blunders he makes,
One sails in familiar waters, He has
been over all that before, 1t isn't nee
esssry for him to study, The other is
steering his bark over an untried sea,
He sounds its depth and avoids and reefs
and the shadows. When the wind
veers, ,he tacks his sails and sets his rud-
der, carefully calculating the resultant
of the two, that his boat may be kept
headed to port. While he laboriously
steers his course, observant Of little else,
his companion scuds here and there to
see the beauties Of every isle and inlet,
they pass, A school of flying fish is
enough to turn the sight seer from his
course. He boasts with nonchalance
that he would as lief be blown n way
as another, II the waves unhinge his
rudder, or the winds shred his sails, it
is all one to him. He takes no trouble
to reset the one or replace ithe other.
Time enough for such tribes as that
when he gets into port, The fact is, he
never attends to such jobs. His father
will have that attended to bya nan kept
for such mental work. BY and by the
open sea lies before. The one draws in
his sounding line, and gives all atten-
tion to sail and rudder. The storm
must be breasted. His boat, intact in
all its parts, rides in glee the waves and
dashes tina stray in many a trough, His
full blown sails fly like albatross wings
before the wind. His over confident,
sight.seeiug companion is now vainly
striving TO readjust his rudder and patch
his sails; but being ignorant Of his craft
and unused to work with his hands, -
he makes a sad botch; and is all the
while tossing to and fro, a sport of wind
and wave. No sooner does he clear the
shadows, where his pleasure trips have
been made, than the mighty current of
the deep bears him away with resistless
sweep. Perchance his boat drifts upon
some lone island where he is left to live
a Robinson Crusoe life, bereft of sym
patty, comfort and companionship.
Like many another he may founder on a
hidden shoal and 90 down 10 feed some
monster of the deep, The probability is
he will float in some ever milling mael.
strom, of some bleak, inhospitable
shore, there to drift, round and round,
while the pitiless storms of the toe near
approaching frigid zone beat with unre-
l~enting yigor on his devoted head. True,
this episode is a little off the march, but
my brigade move. to the tactics OF ale.
CORY, so | thought it admissible to have
a squadron at sea.
Parents, in which Of these boats is
ynur hoy nrenarinp IN nut tn seas