Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1899-11-21
THE UNIVERSAL PASSION.
Touch of Nature that Makes All the
World Akin.

World Akin.
If one was called ON to name the touch
of nature that makes the whole world
kin, one might we'll declare it to be the
desire to be remembered. From the high
ct to the lowest it is a universal passion
that none escape.
1t makes the monarch on his throne
rear triumphal arches, and cut the rec
ord Of the glOrieS Of his reign on 1mper-
ishable stone, and it is what prompts
misers to unloosen their purse-strlngs
and dover colleges and asylums that
shall bear their names down to poStefity.
Even the least of us feel that the
great tragedy of life is not so much
death itself, as the fact that when we
are gone the world will rush on as Of
old. another will fill our place, and III a
few short months, or years, at best we
shall be forgotten.
Of course, we all know that this senti-
ment is always with us-somewhere at
the back of our heads as Du Maurler
might say-but we hardly realize how
important a part it plays III our daily
lives.
Yet what is it that makes us go to this
shop instead of that? Isn't it because
Of some clerk who always calls us by
our name and remembers our particular
tastes?
Don't we affect the restaurant where
the waiter never forgets which IS our
favorite table, and how we like certain
dishes served?
Don't we invariab reserve our pat
ronage for the newsboy who remembers
that it is the Comet we buy instead of
the Sun?
Don't we even beam with qualification
at the porter on the sleeper who recog-
nizes us at sight, and says he is glad
we are coming that way again, and are
icrht 11.r1 Il i'll
last time?
Personally these people are less than
nothing to us, but so sweet it is to be re-
membered that the mere fact they have
not forgotten US is a kind of claim upon
us. says the New Orleans Picayune.
LII the social relations of life memory
plays Il most important role. Happy
those who never forget a face. They
count their friends by the legion.
Nothing else is more exquisite fattery
than to be remembered, and we all know
the glow of warmth with which we in
voluntarily salute the tactful person
who never forgetS, and who deftly re-
minds us of the good story we were tell
ing last year, when he saw us last, who
even remembers our Dragging about our
children and inquiries for that clever boy
of ours with a show of interest that leads
us to believe he has been bordering over
it ever since.
Sometimes this delightful faculty of
remembering finds its expression in the
sending of small gifts, and then, indeed
it is at its best. Few of us are sordid
enough TO care for a present for its in
trinsic worth. The only thing that
makes it dear to us is the thought that
prompted it, and so the little present that
comes unexpectedly is doubly welcome.
1t may be only a newspaper with a
marked article on some subject in which
we are interested. 1t may be only pho
tograph of a place we care for, or a
pressed flower from some historic spot
1t matters not. 1t says that we are re-
membered, and the little act takes on a
grace and graciousness that makes it
dear beyond all telling, and worth all the
perfunctory presents in the world
Happy those to whom nature has
given the delightful talent of remember
ing, and thrice happy those who are for
tunate enough to number them among
their friends.-Boston Herald.