The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1901-09-27

looking for ?' and they answer: Where
is that fower?" So if one has in his
soul this infinite sweetness of DISPOSE
ton its perfume will whelm every
thing.
But are you waiting and hoping for
some one to be bankrupted or exposed
or discounted or in some way over
thrown, then kindness has not taken
possession of your nature. You are
wrecked on Malta where there are no
oranges. You are entertaining guest
so unlike kindness that kindness will
not come and dwell under the same
roof. The most eXhausting and I'M
healthy and ruinous spirit on earth is
a revengeful spirit or retaliating spir-
it, as / know by experience, for l have
tried it for five or ten minutes at a
time. When some mean thing has
been done me or said about me, / have
felt: 81 will pay him in his own coin.
1 will show him up. The migrate! The
traitor! The liarI The villain!" But
five or ten minutes of the feeling has
been so unnerving and exhausting /
have abandoned it, and 1 cannot I'M
derstand how people can go about tor
turing themselves five or ten or TWEEN
ty years, trying to get even with
somebody. The only way you will
ever triumph over your enemies is by
forgiving them and wishing them all
good and no evil. AS malevolence is
the most uneasy and proftless and
dangerous feeling, kindness is the
most healthful and delightful. And
this is not an abstraction. AS I have
tried little of the retaliatory feel
ing, so 1 have tried little of the for
giving. / do not want to leave this
world until 1 have taken vengeance
upon every man that ever did me a
wrong by doing him a kindness. In
most of such cases L have already sue
ceeded, but there are few malignants
whom 1 am yet pursuing, and 1 shall
not be content until / have in some
wise helped them or benefited them or
blessed them.
Let us air pray for the spirit of kind
ness. 1t will settle a thousand ques-
tions. 1t will change the phase of ev-
erything. It will mellow through and
through our entire nature. 1t will
transform lifetime. 1t is not a feel
ing got up for occasions, but perennial.
That is the reason 1 like petunias bet
ter than morning glories. They look
very much alike, and if should put in
your hand a petunia and a morning
glory you could hardly tell which is
the petunia and which the morning
glory. But the morning glory blooms
only few hours and then shuts up
for the day, while the petunia is in as
Il rr1O - II
noon and six o'clock in the evening as
at sunrise. And this grace of kind
ness is not spasmodic, it is not inter
mittent, is not for a little while, but
it irradiates the whole nature all
through and clear on till the sunset
of our earthly existence.
Kindnessi [ am resolved to get it.
Are you resolved to get it? 1t does not
come by haphazard, but through Gull
ture under the divine help. Thistles
grow without culture. Rocky noun
tain sage grass grows without culture.
Mullen stalks grow without culture.
But that great red rose in the con-
servatory, its leaves packed on leaves,
deep dyed as though it had been
obliged to fight for it's beauty and it
the battle, that rose needed to be Gull
tured, and through long years it's
floral ancestors were cultured. OGod,
implant kindness in all our souls and
then give US grace to watch it, to en-
rich it. to develop it!
Still further, I must speak of kind
ness of word. When you meet any,
one, do you say a pleasant thing or
an unpleasant? Do you tell him of
an agreeable thing you have heard
about him or the disagreed BILE? When
he leaves you does he feel better or
does he feel worse? Oh, the power
of the tongue for the production of
happiness or misery! One would think
from the way the tongue is Gagged in
we might take the hint that it has
a dangerous power. First it is
chained to the back part of the
mouth by strong muscles. Then it is
surrounded by the teeth of the lower
jaw, so many ivory bars, and then
by the teeth of the upper jaw, more
ivory bars. Then, outside of all, are
the two lips, with the power of COM
preston and arrest. And yet, not
withstanding these four imprison-
ments or limitations, how many take
no hint in regard to the dangerous
power of the tongue, and the results
are lacera ton, scarifca ton and
Oh, say the cordial thingi Say the
useful thing. Say the hospita BILE
thing. Say the helpful thing. Say
the Christlike thing. Say the kind
thing. l admit that it is easier for
some temperaments than for others.
Some are born pessimists, and some
are born optimists, and that demon
strates itself all through everything.
1t is cloudy morning. You meet a
pessimist, and you say: "What wealth
er to-day?" He answers: Its go
ing to Storm" and umbrella under
arm and waterproof coat show that
he is honest in that utterance. On
the same block, a minute after, you
meet an optimist, and you say: what
do you think of the commercial pros
pects?" and he says: GLORIOUS.
Crops not so good as usual, but for
eign demand will make big prices
We are going to have such an autumn
and winter of prosperity as we have
never seem" On your way back to
your store you meet a pessimist mer-
chant: What do you think of the
commercial prospects?" you ask, and
he answers: "Wcn, I don't know.
Wheat and corn crop blasted in Kan
sas and Missouri, and the grain
gamblers will get their fist in, and
the nay crop is short in some places,
and in the southern part of Wiscon-