Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-01-22
There may have

worst side That defaulter at the bank
who loaned money he ought not to
have loaned did it for the advantage
of another, not for his own. That
young man who purloined from his
employer did SO because his mother
was dying for the lack of medicine.
That young woman who went wrong
did not get enough wages to keep her
from starving to death. Most people
who make moral shipWreck would do
right in some eXigency, but they have
not the courage to say No
Furthermore, we make ourselves a
disgusting spectacle when we become
busybodies. What q diabOlical enter
prise those undertake who are ever
looking for the moral lapse or down
fall of others! AS the human race is
q most imperfect race, all such hunters
find plenty Of game. There have been
sewing societies in churches Which
tore to pieces more regulations than
they made garments for the poor. With
their sarcasms and sly hints and de-
probation of motives they punctured
more good names than they had nee
dies With their scissors they cut
evil report they got hold Of Meetings
of boards of directors have sometimes
ruined good business men by insinua-
tons against them. The bad work
may not have been done SO much by
words, for they would be libelous, but
by q twinkle of the eye or shrug OF
the shoulder or sarcastic accentua-
ton of a word. Eyes, he is all right
when he is sober" "Have you inquir-
ed into that mans history" do you
know what business he was in before
he entered this?' 81 move that the
application be laid on the table until
some investigations now going on are
consummated." It is easy enough to
start a suspicion that will never down,
but what a despicable man is the one
who started it!
Slain by Interrogation Points.
There is not an honest man in Wash
ington or New York or any other city
who cannot be damaged by such in
fernalism. In a village where l once
lived steamboat every day came to
the wharf. An enemy Of the steam
boat company asked one day, II won
der if that steamboat is safe" The
man who heard the question soon said
to his neighbor, ''There is some sus-
picion about the safety of that steam
boat" And the next one who got hold
of it said There is an impression
abroad that there will soon be an acct
dent on that steamer" Soon all that
community began to say, ''That steam
er is very unsafe And as a conse-
oil bo cta rot
than risk our lives on the river. The
steamer was entirely sound and safe,
but one Interrogation in regard to her
started a suspicion that went on until
the steamboat company was ruined.
Precisely so noble regulations ana
good enterprises and useful styles Of
business are slain by Interrogation
points. Can you imagine any creature
so loathSome as the one who feels
himself or herself called to question
all integrity. all ability, all honesty, all
character? Buzzards looking for car
riOn.
While l believe enough in human
depravity to be orthodox, 1 tell you
that the most of people whom 1 know
are doing the best they can. Faults?
y
have faults. But they are sorry about
it, repentant on account Of it and are
trying to do better. About all the mar
ried people l know of are married to
the one person best suited. Nearly all
the parents with whom l am acquaint-
ed are doing the best they can for their
children. All the clerks in stores, so
far as know. are honest, and all per-
sons in official position, city, state or
nation, are fulfilling their mission as
we'll as they can. The most of those
who have failed in business, so far as
1 know. have failed honestly. The
singers are singing their best songs,
the sculptors chiselng their best stat
ues. the painters penciling their best
pictures, the ministers preaching their
best sermons. Take any audience that
assemblies in any church, and if there
are 500 people assembled 1 think at
least $50 are doing the best they can,
and if there be 5000 assembled at least
4.5OO are doing the best they can.
Hunting For vuItures.
ALI people make mistakes - say
things that afterward they are sorry
for and miss opportunity of uttering
the right word and doing the right
thing. But when they say their pray
ers at night these defects are sure to
be mentioned somewhere between the
name Of the Lord. for whose mercy they
plead. and the amen that closes the
supplication. THAT has not been my
observation" says some one. Well. I
am sorry for you. my brother. my Sis
ter. What an awful crowd you must
have got into! Or, as is more proba-
BILE. you are one Of the characters that
my text sketches. You have not been
hunting for cartridges and quail, but