Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1898-09-22


we always supposed to be good. take
out your lead pencil and say, "Let me
see! Before I accept that baleful story
against that mans character I will
take of from it twenty-five per cent for
the habit Of exaggeration which be-
longs to the man who first told the
story; then I will take off twenty-five
per cent for the additions which the
spirit Of gossip in every community has
put upon the original story; then will
take off twenty-five per cent from the
fact that the man may have been put
into circumstances of overpowering
temptation. So l have taken off sew
enty-five per cent. But l have not
heard his side of the story at all, and
for that reason / take off the remain
ing twenty-five per cent Excuse me,
sir. 1 don't believe a word of it.
Now, supposing that you have, by a
Divine regeneration, got right toward
God and humanity, and you start out
to practice my text. "a man that hath
friends must show himself friendly"
Fulfil this by all forms of appropriate
salutation. Have you noticed that the
head is so poised that the easiest thing
on earth is to give nod of recognl-
ton? To swing the head from side
to side, as when it is wagged in de-
rision, is unnatural and unpleasant;
to throw it back, invites vertigo; but
to drop the chin in greeting is accom-
panied with SO little exertion that all
day long, and every day, you might
practice it without the least semblance
OF fatigue. So, also, the structure of
the hand indicates hand-shaking; the
knuckles not made so that the fingers
can turn out, but so made that the
fingers can turn in, as in clasping
hands, and the thumb divided from and
set aloof from the fingers, so that while
the fingers take your neighbours hand
on one side, the thumb takes it on the
other and, pressed together, all the
faculties of the hand give emphasis to
the salutation. Five sermons in every
healthy hand urge us to Misunderstanding.
Besides this, every day when you
start out, load yourself up with kind
thoughts. kind words, kind expressions
and kind greetings. When a man or
woman does we'll, tell him SO, tell her
SO. If you meet some one who is i'm
proved in health, and it is demon
strated in girth and color, say: Glow
we'll you look!" But if, on the other
hand, under the wear and tear of life
he appears pale and exhausted, do not
Introduce sanitary subjects, or say any
thing at all about physical condition.
In the case of improved health, you
have by Your words given another i'm
pulse towards the robust and the
jocund. while in the case Of the failing
health you have arrested the decline by
your silence, by which he concludes:
IF 1 were really so badly Of: he would
have said something about it," We are
all, especially those of a nervous tenn
permanent, susceptible to kind words
and discouraging words. Form con-
spiracy against us, and let ten men
meet us at certain points on our way
over to business, and let each one say,
How sick you look" though we
should start out we'll, after meeting the
first and hearing his depressing salute,
we would begin to examine our symp-
TOMS After meeting the second
gloomy accosting, we would conclude
we did not feel quite as we'll as usual.
Af::ar meeting the third our sensations
w,ujd be dreadful, and after meeting
the fourth, unless we suspected a con-
spracy, we would go home and go to
bed, and the other six pessimists would
be useless surplus of encouragement.
We want something like that spirit
of sacrifice for others which was seen
in the English channel, where in the
storm boat containing three men was
upset and all three were in the water
struggling for their lives A boat came
to their relief and rope was thrown
to one OF them and he refused to take
it, saying: First fling it to Tom; he
is just ready to go down. l can last
some time longer A man like that,
be he sailor or landsman, be he in up
per ranks of society or lower ranks,
will always have plenty of friends.
What is true MAYNARD is true God
ward. We must be the friends of God
if we want him to be our friend. We
cannot treat Christ badly all our lives
and expect him to treat us lovingly
I was reading of sea fight in which
Lord Nelson captured a French officer,
and when the French officer offered
Lord Nelson his hand, Nelson replied,
First give me your sword and then
give me your hand" Surrender Of
our resistance to God MIST precede
Gods proffer of pardon to as. Repent
ance before forgiveness. You must
give up your rebellious sword before
you can get a grasp of the divine hand.
Oh, what a glorious state of things
to have the friendship of God! Why.
we could afford to have all the world
against us and all other worlds against
us if we had God for us. He could in
a minute blot out this universe, and
in another minute make a better uni
verse. l have no idea that God tried