Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1901-07-27
Ill.
OF TWO FRIENDS OF MY YOUTH.

III.
OF TWO FRIENDS OF MY YOUTH.
| fear, my children, that you will
think that the prologue is over long for
the play; bat the foundations must be
laid before the building is erected. and 4
statement Of this sort is sorry and
barren thing, unless you have a knowl-
edge Of the folk concerned. Be patient.
then, while | speak to you of the old
tmendS of my youth, some of whom YOU
may hear more OF hereafter, while others
remained behind in the country hamlet.
and yet left traces Of our early inter
course upon my character which might
still be diScerned there.
Foremost for good among all whom |
knew was Zachary Palmer, the village
carpenter. 4 man whose aged and labor
warped body contained the simplest and
pureSt of spirits. Yet his simplicity was
by no means the result of ignorance, for,
from the teachings of Plato to those OF
Hobbies, there were few systems ever
thought out by man which he had not
studied and weighed Books We're far
dearer in my hoyhOod than they are now.
and carpenters were less well paid, but
old Palmer had neither wife nor child.
and spent little ON food or raiment. Thus
it came about that, on the shelf over his
bed. he had q more choice collection of
books-few as they We're in number
than the squire or the parson, and these
books he had read until he. not only UNI
derstood them himself, but could lmpart
them to others.
This white bearded and venerable vii
lage philosopher would sit by his cabin
door upon a summer evening, and was
never so pleased as when some of the
young fellows would slip away from their
bowls and their quoit-playlng, IN order TO
lie in the grass at his feet and ask him
Questions about the great men of old.
their words and their deeds. But of all
the youths l and Reuben Lockarby. the
innkeeper's son, were his two faVorltes,
for we would come the earliest and stop
the latest to hear the old man talk. No
father could have loved his children bet
ter than he did us. and he would spare
no pains to get at our cailow thoughts
and to throw light upon whatever per-
picked or troubled us. Like all growing
things we had run our heads against the
problem of tn universe. We had peeped
and pried. with our bOyish eyes, INTO
those profounl uepths in which the Keen
est-sighted of the human race had seen
no bottom. Yet when we looked around
us in our own village world, and saw the
bitterness and rancor which pervaded eV-
cry sect, we could not hut think that
tree which bore such fruit must have
something amiSs with it. This was one
of the thoughts, unSpOken to our parents,
which we carried to good old Zachary,
and on which he had much to say which
cheered and comforted us.
These janglings and wranglings,' said
he, ARE but on the surface, and spring
from the infinite variety of the human
mind. which will ever adapt a creed TO
suit its own turn of thought. 1t is the
solid core that underlies every Christian
creed which is of Importance. Could you
hut live among the Romans or the
Greeks, in the days before this new doc
trine was preached, you would then know
the change that it has wrought in the
world. How this or that text should be
construed is a matter of no moment, how
ever warm men may get over it. What
is of the very greatest moment is that
every man should have good and solid
reason for living a simple, clearly life.
This the Christian creed has given us
Il would not have you be virtuOuS out
of fear" he said upon another occasion.
The experience of a long life has taught
me, however. that sin is always punished
in this world, whatever may come in the
next. There is always some penalty in
health. in comfort, or in peace of mind
to be paid for every wrong. 1t is with
nations as it is with individuals. a book
Of history is a book of sermons. See how
the luxurious Babylonians were destroyed
by the frugal Persians. and how these
same persians. when they learned the
vices of prosperity, were put TO the sword
by the Greeks. Read on, and mark how
the sensual Greeks were trodden down
by the more robust and harder Romans,
and finally how the Romans, having lost
their manly virtues, We're subdued by
the nations of the North. Vice and de-
struction came ever hand in hand. Thus
did Providence use each in turn as a
scourge wherewith TO chastise the folles
of the other. These things do not come
by chance. They are part Of a great
system which is at work in your own
lives. The longer you live the more you
will see that sin and sadness are never
far apart. and that no true prosperity
can exist away from virtue"
A very different teacher was the sea
dog solomon Sprent. who lived in the
second last cottage on the left-hand side
of the main street Of the village. He
was one of the old tarpaulin breed, who
had fought under the red-crOss ensign
against Frenchman, Don. Dutchman. and
Moor. until round shot carried off his
foot and put an end to his battles for
ever In person he was thin and hard
and brown. as 1.-THE and active as cat,
with a short body and very long arms,
each ending in a great hand. which was
ever half-closed. as though shutting upon
a rope. From head to foot he was COW
cred with the most marvellous JatJoolDSS,
done in blue, red and green beginning
with the Creation upon his neck, and
winding up with the Ascension upon his
left ankle. Never had | seen such 4
walking work Of art. He was wont to
say that had he been drowned. and his
body cast upon some savage land. the
natives might have learned the whole Of
the blessed gospel from contemplation
of his carcass. Yet with sorrow | must
say that the seaman's religion appeared
to have all worked into his skin, 80 that
very little was left for inner use. 1t had
broken out upon the surface. like the
spotted fever, but his system was clear
Of it elsewhere. He could swear In
eleven languages and three-and-twenty
dialects. nor did he ever let his great
powers rust for want Of practice. lie
would swear when he was happy or when
he was sad. when he was angry or when !
he was loving. but this swearing was 50
mere trick of speech, without malice or
bitterness, that even my father could
hardly deal harshly with the sinner. As
time passed, however. the old man grew
more sober and more thoughtful, until |
in his latter days, he went back to the