The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-02-26
A WELL-WISHER.

l was walking along one of the
main streets of indianapolis. Sud
denly a cherry "Hello - rang out
upon the air, and an old gray horse
was refined up by the curbstone. 4
cheerful face peered out of the bug
gy, a few kind words were spoke2
and we parted.
I had not taken a dozen steps
when I heard a loud 'FSay!"
Upon turning round, I saw that
the horse was again at a standstiTl,
and the genial face Of the "Hoosier"
was peering out from under the
back curtain of the buggy.
"What is it?" says I.
81 wish you we'll |" says he.
had met this gentlemen for the
first time on the previous day. He
was not under the slightest obliga-
ton to me, and there was not tho
least prospect of our ever meeting
again but he stopped his old gray
horse IN a cold day in winter to ten
me that my destiny was d matter Of
personal interest to him
81 wish you we'll" says he
Long after he had dropped the cur
tain and vanished from my view l
stood looking after him.
Only a moment before I had been
pressed down by an unusual burden,
for I was passing through one of
those dark spots which we all find
upon the Journey of life.
But somehow, after the kind old
Hoosier had spoken those words, the
burden rolled from my shoulders,
"He wished me WE'LL" kept say
ing to myself.
I had just been muttering over to
myself all the hard things that had
ever been said about the selfShness
Of mankind! One Of those internal
diSticheS which stick to the memory
like hurrs and poison the heart like
arsenic, had been ringing through
my head as mOnOtOnOuSly as an old
COW-beI:
GAS I was walking by myself, myself
said unto me,
Beware Of thyself, take care of thy
self; for nobody cares for
thee"
Suddenly, like the song Of the first
robin in spring, I heard the sweet
refrain 81 wish you we'll, I wish YOU
we'll - and this from the lips of q
stranger.
1 am not ashamed to tell you that
tears of gratitude filed my ewes and
that I cannot recall the words up
here in my coy study without q
warm feeling around my heart.
He gave me no money, he did not
offer me any substantial assistance
in my pressing emergency, but he
''wiShed me we'll! !"
l do not know what mysterious
power was in that wish, but IL
seemed to carry me over a rough
spot. 1t was just at that time that
the tide turned in my life.
Perhaps it is literally true, what
Elizabeth Barrett Browning said,
that ''every wish is Il prayer-with
God" At any rate, my experience
gave gave the lie to that sheer OF
the Roman poet Plautus: "'He
wishes WE'LL, is a worthless word
unless a deed go with it,"
What an atmosphere to fly in are
wishes! How easily the tired wings
r sustained by them! How cheer
lily the sailor boy puts out to sea when
his sweetheart stands on the wharf
to ''wish him well"i How bravely
the regiment goes into the fight
when mothers and sisters and wives
stand on the brow of the hill and
"wish it weIl"!
Life is a hard struggle for most Of
us, and the least we can do is to
"wish each other we'll" Whoever
you are, down there in the arena,
covered with dust and half dead with
the struggle, 81 wish you we'll"
Perhaps I shall never have a chance
to serve yon, but 81 wish you we'll"
C F. Gross, in Sunday School