The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-07-12
SUCCESS AND FAILURE.

Everybody wants to be happy, and
everybody has an innate right to hap
piness. But if census was taken of
all the happy people and of all the un-
happy ones the latter probably would
foot UP the larger number. 1t is so
common that it seems as though it
was ordered for every one to carry a
weight of woe; it may be of his own
or it may be of others; for every one
who departs from paths that lead to
peace brings down sorrow and care
for somebody else to stagger under.
1t is mostly relatives who have to
boost up the "ne'er-do-well. " Fam
lily love, or more frequently family
pride, induces them to bear grievances
that they would not from those out
side the family. In consequence,
"poor relations" has come to be by
word and term of reproach which
would not be, only the poverty and
distress and inability to provide for
themselves are oftener than otherwise
of their own planning.
In this month of cheer, when the
skies are blue, the air full of frag-
rance, when flowers bloom, birds
sing, bees hum, and brooks habb1e,
why should man carry sad face when
all the rest of creation is smiling?
All nature is springing into activity
and usefulness along with its fresh
ness and beauty. Is there no lesson
here for us?
The happiest lives are the busiest
ones. Everybody will tell how rapid
ly time flies when there is a great
deal to be done and only given time
in which to do it. It brings out all
the mettle in a man or woman when
necessity requires them to invent
some shorter way to accomplish a
piece of work than they have been
accustomed to requiring; and when
they have found that short way will
never abandon it. That is their way ;
they discovered it, and it will be great
pleasure to accomplish more than
their neighbors. They have found
plan to make their heads stand for
both heels and hands, and they Sue
ceed and gather in shekels while
others fail who neglect to bring their
brains to business.
Many farmers do their work in the
hardest way and put labor in useless
places. They drive too much on the
roads, go often with trifing loads to
market. Many make themselves poor
going to market expenses and wear
and tear on teams are just as great for
$5 load as for a $50 load. The
thoughtful farmer will see to it that
he goes no oftener than he can go
we'll loaded. There is demand in the
city for everything the farmer can
produce, and that farmer is a SUCCESS
full and happy man who can SO man
age as to always have something to
sell. Are taxes to be paid, note in
bank coming due, fertilizers to be
bought, a bonnet for the baby, or
dress for its mother needed, he is
thrifty farmer who has the where
withal to meet these demands.
Many a farmer hangs a milestone
about his neck in the form of a life
insurance policy. Can't buy a good
frock for his wife now because he is
saving up to dress her fine after he is
dead. He wants well-dressed, nice
looking widow-it doesn't matter so
much about the wife, how she looks.
If he would pay 500 or so each year
on the mortgage, instead of giving it
to the life insurance company, he
would soon be out of debt; could
dress the family as he went along,
and will the farm to his wife-a most
honorable way for a man to provide
for future contingencies.
More thought, more wisdom, is
what men need. They spend money
in drinking and treating, in smoking
and chewing tobacco, in playing cards,
eating big suppers, and in many ways
rob themselves and families of neces-
sites. Such men are failures as farm
ers and failures everywhere. The
successful man is not necessarily the
richest man. He must have money
to buy what comfort demands, to be
sure, but he must also he a clean,
honest man, that future generations
will be glad to own as an ancestor.
No other kind can be called success.
The busy life of farmers-for the
farm, be it said to its credit, furnishes
employment for all the family as we'll
as the head of the house-is one of
the happiest conditions of family life.
An eminent writer says that "for
freedom, comfort, health and godly
content there is no calling can equal
that of the farmer. He gets more
out of his life in true happiness than
any other workman" And he proves
the assertion by historical facts. The
great men of America have been
country-bred. Country life makes
bone and sinew and lays in youth the
substructure of physical strength,
which sustains the student, the mer-
chant, the lawyer or the mechanic
through the wasting years of his city
toll.