The Savannah morning news., 1901-08-25
.OMAN'S
WORLD.

Inc one thlng upon Wnlcn ali pt
teal philosophers. from Poor Richard
down to Mr.. Dooley, have been insist
ent, is the necessity of laying up some
thing for a rainy day. The wisdom
of such advice is so apparent it would
seem that it must appeal TO the way
faring man and woman, though they
were stone blind and fools. One OF
the tragedies of life is the spectacle
of people who live a gay butterfly e1-
istence, who feast, and dance, and
make merry while the sun of their
prosperity shines, without taking
thought for the morrow, and who sud
denly find themselves. through some
turn of the wheel of fortune, or when
old age overtakes them, penniless, de-
pendent and forlorn.
II would greatly offend such people,
says Dorothy Dix in the New Orleans
Picayune, if we should tell them that
they have been guilty of criminal care
lessness, yet it is true nevertheless, and
the pity of the thing is that so few
seem to be warned by their example.
We see about US men on salaries. who
know that a change of firm, a falling
of in trade, any one of thousand
contingencies, may throw them out Of
work, but who are so self-indulgent
they do not lay by a dollar to tide
them over the rainy day that is sure
TO come to them. We see people, who,
to crafty a silly desire to go into
fashionable society that they cannot
afford, spend every cent of their In
come, and who, when the breadwin-
ner dies, are thrown helpless upon the
world; we see women left compe-
tence that should have kept them COM
Portable, recklessly encroaching upon
their capital, until they are left beg.
CARED when they are old.
If only the poor butterfly suffered as
a result of his folly it would be bad
enough, but we might comfort our
selves with the thought that he got
no more than he deserved, but in the
end it is always the grubs of life that
have to settle the butterhS's score.
Somebody has to carry the clerk who
didn't lay up anything, over hts rainy
day; the penniless family is dumped on
the charity of the community, and
some hard-working relative must fur
s..sh the bread and butter for the inn
Irovident woman who spent her for
tune on cakes and ale. In all the
heartrending cases of restitution that
appeal to us there is not one in Il hun
dred that could not have been prevent
ed by the use of common foresight, and
prudence, and self-denial.
There is absolutely no excuse for not
looking forward to the rainy day that
is sure to come in every life, and max
ing some sort of provision for it, and
the person who, in prosperity and
health. does not insure against being
a burden on his friends when he is sick
or old is a dishonest sponge. He is de-
liberately eating his cake and depend
ing on also devouring part of some
body else's.
But much as money Island comfort
and peace of mind come pretty nearly
being expressed by the dollar mark
it is not the only thing. Not the only
rainy days in life are those when bus
mess fails, or we are too old to work
any more and compete in the strug-
gle for gain. There are the dark days
stand grief-smitten, sad, and alone,
and it is just as much the part of pru
dence to lay up something for these
times of mental and spiritual disaster
as it is for the dark days of poverty.
1t is true that there is no bank in
which we can deposit happiness sub
ject to our check; no bonds of joy on
firing and living, no trust company
that will guarantee to keep safe for us
our youth, and health, and love, but
none the less we may surely lay up a
fund of comfort upon which we may
call without fail in the hour of need.
To all OF us there must come a time
when we stand above the cofflned form
of our best beloved, and the whole ho-
rizon of earth Is bounded by a narrow
va fo w n
laid up a fund of sympathy that we
can check upon. We want pity to lay
it's healing hands upon our hearts, we
want tenderness to bind up our
wounds, and love TO breathe hope once
more into our souls. The grief that
can weep itself out upon another's
breast is already half consoled. The
sorrow that has none to turn to in the
whole wide world, that knows that It
gricves alone, has gained an added
sting.
Be sure there is no accident in this.
II we have been left desolate in our
sorrow it is because we have lived a
selfish life. We have said that other
peoples SORROWS and griefs and disap-
that we had nothing to do with their
joys. The world is but mirror that
gives us back our own reflection. If
we want love and sympathy, we must
show it to others, and the man and
woman who have fulfilled the divine
injunction to weep with those who
weep and rejoice with those who re-
joice have laid UP that comfort for
their rainy day of sorrow that will not
fail them in then need.
Then, there is love and friendship.
To me there is nothing so pathetic as
the sight of a lonely old age. Last
winter / was much with an old woman
who had come to the last stage of the
journey of life. She was very rich and
dwelt in a splendid house, and had all
the perfunctory attendance that paid
help gives, but there was no tender
hand to smooth her pillow, no loving
lips to press a kiss upon her brow.
She had quarreied with her own fam
lily years before; she had been AFRO
CANT, selfish, ill-tempered, and when
she could no longer entertain and
amuse her empty society acquaintance
they went their way and forgot her.
In all her lift she had laid UP no
friendship for her rainy day of old
age and sickness; she had bound no
heart to her by tenderness or loving
deeds, and in the end she reaped as
she had sown.
A CREED.