St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-01-11
ARP ON KNOWLEDGE.
Saws We Learn Something Every
al
Day Of Our Lives.

Saws We Learn something SvSJ
Day Of Our Lives.
The Grave Does Not End TIN
Heaven He Believes There Will
he Instruction In the Won
ders of the Universe.
rCopyrighted, 1901, by the Atlanta Consu-
tuition, and Reprinted by Permass1on'J
Lady Montague said: "Ihere IS no
entertainment SO cheap as readlng'
and no pleasure SO lasting" The peru
sal of biography is a great con-
fort. wish that every family hao
Encyclopedia of Universal knowledge
something they could turn to TOE
reference or instruction or entertain
ment. Cyclopedias cost much money
but the amount spent in a year or TWO
for all sorts of modern literature
would pay for Appleton's OF some
other standard work. was rumln"'-
ing about this because my friend MUIR
phy told me that the woodcock did not
raise her young in a nest, but car
ried them about under her wings ana
fed them as she journeyed from place
to place. Murphy is considered au-
thority on hunting and fishing, but we
do not give full credit to fishermen,s
yarns, and so turned to the cyclo-
pedia and found it just. as he SAID.
The bird rarely has more than TWO
young ones, and carries them ABOUT
with her nestled under her wings. -Ihls
reminds me that old Tom Price, an
illiterate man of great observatlon'
said that the big owl laid but one
egg, and when it was Matched and the
young bird feathered, she laid an
other egg and made the young bra
cover it and hatch it, while she was
foraging around for food for both. OBJ
servation and experience are good
school teachers, and if q man has
good cyclopedia for reference, he can
get a pretty good education. And
there is the comfort of studying the
lives of great or notable men and wom-
en-. In idle moments it is recreation
| to open a volume at random and to
read these brief but lucid biographies
of Socrates, Plato, Gallileo, Seneca,
| Archimedes and other grand old men
| of the olden time, and of Mozart,
Handl, Raphael, Beethoven and the
great masters of art and music. The
other day CHANGED upon Ceramics
q Spaniard-the author of "Don Quix-
ote,' and it was a revelation. Ii ne
had been an Englishman he would have
| taken rank with Shakespeare and Mil
| ton and Pope. Indeed, most of the
English writer's borrowed from him,
for they could translate his bright
sayings and quote them in English
without fear of detection. "Don
Quixote" pronounced kee-ho-te) is
not his best work. but is the most en-
ioyable and it effectually paralyzed
the pompous chivalry and knight err
rantry of the time. The knights soon
became the butt of universal ridicule
and yet there is not a malicious or
malignant line in the book. One who
enjoys such sarcasm can read and
laugh until he has the side ache. Phil
ip III. saw student reading book
and convulsed with laughter. Hessaid:
"That young man is crazy or he il
reading Don Quixote.'," Cervantes
became a soldier in early life and
Joined the Christian army against the
Turks. He was desperately wounded
at the great battle of Lepanto and
; lost the use of his left arm for life.
But he soon Joined the army again
!. and was taken prisoner by the Moors
and kept in prison for five years. He
was ransomed, and then began his lit
; erary career. Dante and Tasso had
then begun to illuminate the literary
world and Shakespeare was close be-
hind, but Cervantes was II years older
than Shakespeare, and they died on
the same day in the same year. Fol-
maxims and epigrams Cervantes never
had an equal. They have become
I household words in all the world-we
find some of them in Shakespeare, but
they were borrowed from Cervantes
snake hay while the sun shines"
r bird in the hand is worth two in tn.
+ bush,'' murder will out" "Little sale
5 is soonest mended," "More knave thar
!, fool" "Faint heart ne'er won fail
e lady," "Look before you leap" eth
proof of the pudding is the eating o
] it, 'Never build castles in the air,
'sHonesty is the best policy" The pc
:, should not call the kettle black -
q peck of troubles" "Don't count you
I chickens before they are Matched,
e "Don't look for birds in last year.
nests" "Plain as the nose on man
face" 'eYou have got the wrong SO,
by the ear" and scores of others al
came from Ceramics. To cap the eli
max of his character, he was goo
man-good to his wife and childre
e and always cheerful and had no enc
o mics. Once he was put in prison TO
p little debt and wrote himself GU
e by selling sketches to the press. Pre-.
ident Gilman says that the young pei
t pie read too much and clog their mind
II with mass of trifles and trash, bu
o reading the biography of great thinl
ers, writer's, inventors and masters {
IS art and music is storing away usefl
r knowledge. The examples set by til
J. good helps to mold our own character
10 for, as Longfellow said:
t Lives Of great men all remind us,
10 We may make our lives sublime,
And departing leave behind US
Footprints on the sands of time"
What debt of gratitude we owe |
those who have gone before us. O
,e DR.. johnson said to Boswell:
n 1--WE can never pay it, sir-nota It'll
~ of it-but it is every mans duty to
a. something for posterity. He shou
Is write good book or invent some us
,e full thing or raise up son who will
a. q good citizen and fight the battles