St. Tammany farmer., 1899-04-15

"
day OF gospelization which will yet
flood all the mountains and valleys OF
our sin accursed earth. Hail. morn
ing star! Keep on shining with en-
couragement and Christian hope.
Some Of you are evening stars, and
you are cheering the last days OF old
people. and. though cloud sometimes
Genes over you through the querulous-
ness or unreasoHableness Of your aged
father and mother, it is only for mo
ment. and the star soon comes out
clear again and is seen from all the
balconies Ct the neighborhood. The
old people will forgive your occasional
shortcomings, for they themselves sew
e-al times lost their patience with you
when YOU were young, and perhaps
whipped you when you did not deserve
it. Hail, evening star: Hang on tie
Gardening sky your diamond coronet.'
But are any Of you the star Worm
wood: DO YOU scoid and srowl 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 TO The
laughter which occasionally trickies
through at wrong times and is sup
pressed BY them until they can hold i
no longer. and all the barriers burst
into unlimited guffaw and cachinna-
tion. as in this weather the water has
,rickled through Sigh. opening in
the mildam. but aftej5vard makes
wider and wider breach Mhtil il carries
all before il with irresistible freshet:
Do not be too much offtnded at the
noise YOUR children now make. 1t will
I be still enough when one OF them is
| dead. Then YOU would give your right
/ hand to hear one shout from the silent
! voice or one step from the still foot.
You will not any Of you have to wait
very long before your house IS stiller
| than YOU want it. Alas. that there
are so many homes not known 10 the
| Society for the Prevention OF Cruelty
toChildren. where children arc whacked
/ and cuffed ard ear pulled. and sense
lessly called 10 order. and answered
sharply. and suppressed. until it i
| wonder that under such processes they
| do not all turn out Mana Sahibs.
| What is your in5uence upon the
neighborhood, the town or the city Of
YOUR residence? I will suppose that
| YOU are q star Of wit. What kind OF
rays do YOU shoot forth? Do you use
| that splendid faculty to irradiate the
world or to ranklc it? l bless all the
apostolic college of humorists. The
man that makes me laugh is my bene-
factor. do not thank anybody to
make me cry. can do that without
assistance. We all cry enough and
have enough to cry about. God bless all
skillful punsters, all reparteeists. all
propounders Of ingenious conundrums,
all those who mirthfully surprise
MS with unusual juxtaposition OF
words. Thomas Hood and Charles
Dickens and Sydney Smith had a divine
mission, and so have their successors ~
these times. They stir into the acid
beverage of life the saccharine. They
make the cup of earthly existence
which is sometimes stale. efferyesce and
bubble. They placate animosities
They foster longevity. They slay fol
lies and absurait;es which all the ser.
mons OF all the pulpits cannot reach
But what use are you making Of your
Wit? Is it bcsmirched with profanity
and uncleanress? Do you employ it in
amusement at physical defects fol-
which the victims are not responsible
Are your powers of mimicry used Il
pu; religion in contempt? Isita buncf
Of nettlesome invective? Is it bolt o.
unjust scorn? Is it fun at others mis-
fortune? Is it glee Mt their disap
pointment and defeat? Is it bitterness.
put drop by drop into cup? Isit like
the squeezing of Artemisia absinthiuH
into a draft already distastefully pun
gent ? Then you are the star Worm
wood. Yours is he fun of rattlesnak,
trying how well it can sting. 1t is tn,
fun Of a hawk trying how quick it car
strike out the eye Of dove
But Twill change this and suppose yot
are star Of worldly prosperity. Thel
you have large opportunity. You cal
encourage that artist by buying his pic
ture. You can improve the fields III
stables, the highway, by INTRODUCING
higher style of fowl ard horse and coy
ard sheep. You can bless the worl,
with pomological achievement in th
orchard. You can advance arboricul
ture and arrest the Geathful destruc
ton of the American forests. You ca
put a piece of sculpture into the Mich
Of that public academy. you can endo,
a college. you can stocking 1000 bar
feet from the winter frost. you cal
build a church, you can put a mission
airy Of Christ on that foreign shore
you can help to ransom a world. .
: rich man with his heart right-can yo
tell me how much good a James Leno:
or a George Peabody or a Peter Coope
or a William F.. Dodge did while livin
or is doing now that he Is dead: Ther
is not city. town or neighbcrhood tina
has not glorious specimens of conse
Grated wealth.
But suppose you grind the face Of tn
poor. Suppose. when mans wages ar
due. you make him wait for them be
cause he cannot help himself. Suppos
! that. because his family is sick and h
has had extra expenses. he should pc
; litely ask you to raise his wages, an
: you roughly tell him il he wants
: better place to so and get it. Suppose
: by your manner. you act rs though h
were nothing and you were everything
Suppose you are selfish and overbenl
: ing and arrogant. Your first nam
: ought to be Attila and your last nam
-ittila, because you are the star Wor;-
: wood. and you have imbittered on
, third If not thrce-thirds Of the water
| that roll past your employees and Of
, cratives and dependents and associate!
. and the long line Of carriages which tn
: undertaken orders for your funeral. !
, | crder to make the occasion respectable
will be filed with twice as many dr..
fearless eyes as there are persons o.
cupying them. You will be in thi
| world but few minutes. As compare
with eternity, the stay of the longes
! life on earth is not more than q mir
ute. What are we doing with tha
| minute? Are we imbittering the dt
1 - fr, sv,t