Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-12-10

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With 1t have to live in a fine house,
dress well and have my family dress
well When the year rolls around
have practically nothing. But in the
country, though / had only a small sal
airy, l also had very small expenses.
Besides. had my garden, my horse
and carriage, my COW and chickens.
had fun with them all, and at the end
OF the year I was able to save $500.
tell you. the country minister thinks
the city minister is rich, but the city
minister knows the country minister
is rich" The man in one sphere Of
life can rarely appreciate the financial
conditions of one in another sphere Of
life.
Study the Misunderstanding be-
tween the professional man and his sis
ter, who is living quiet domestic life.
| Such a lady says: "My brother never
answers my letters now as he used tc
do. He never shows me those little
courtesies Of love ! have right to OK
pect. The last time I wrote him he sent
me back very sharp reply" Yes, my
reason you are angry with your broth
er Is, you, rs n domestic woman. can
not understand the nervous exhaustion
under which your professional brother
Is struggling Perhaps the reason be
does not answer his sisters letters as
he used to do Is because he is n clergy.
man. lawyer or a newspaper man.
q ettc al .v;t
writes and writes The pen Is always
In his hand until the very sight OF ink
and paper has for him rcpulsion.
Perhaps tho reason the brother docs
not visit the sister is because he has
been unable to take n vacation for the
last ton years. Your difficulties With
your brother are chiefly, my sister, be-
cause You cannot put yourself in his
place.
Fancied Injustices.
Oh. that this coming Christmas we
would one and all try to focus our eyes
to our brothers spcctacles, Then a
great many Of the family troubles
would forever vanish from our dark.
ened horizon. The man who travels
spirit and goes from house to house
from the palace of the rich to the hovel
OF the poor, from the sumptuous pr-
vate office of the merchant prince to
the counters of the small salaried clerk
soon discovers that this world is not
altogether mean world, selfish
world. q heartless world but 1t Is
tipI. - III 4
misunderstood world. If every mem
Der Of n family who has bitter troubles
and trials could realize that his broth
erS and sisters along the great high
ways of life are struggling under bur
dcns quite as heavy as his own-al.
though their burdens may be made up
in different kinds of packs and have
silkcn cords around them instead of
hcmron rOpe-he would be more pa
tient in his criticism of others. as he
may hope that others will Judge him
more charitably. Most of the seeming
insults by relatives to relatives are en-
tirely unintpntional. AS every man
hopes for mercy and pardon in the day
of Judgment so there should be forgive
ness for one who offends another
through inadvertence and not through
intention. The fancied injustices be-
tween relatives exist for the most part
In the distorted maginations Of those
who have no right to indulge in IN
Christian and merciless judgments OF
relatives who really want to be friends
Christmas ReconciIiatfons.
Family dssensions should cease and
Immediately cease. Why? Because
Christmas opportunities of future fam
lily reconciliations may be very few.
They may never come again We are
Intensely shocked at the sudden depar-
lures Of our great men and women.
When Mrs. Emma Booth-Tucker Of the
Salvation Army was killed on Oct %
In railroad accident the news was
telegraphcd from the Atlantic 10 the
Pacific. We commented upon the beau
tiful coffin plate which we saw and
read thus: Born June g. 1850 Consul
Emma Booth-Tucker; Promoted TO Clio.
~ Oct. %, 1903" We were intensely
shocked when King Humbert was shot
and when President Carnot was assas-
sinated with knife thrust But why
should we be so shocked at the sudden
death Of this man or that, as with the
tremendous emigration OF vast host
each year from earth into the realm
beyond the grave? This Is not q platI-
tude, a purposeless saying. II is
statement which ought to be pregnant
with the most tre tndous import to us
all. Can any here be sure that before
another Christmas rolls around the
death angels wing will not have fiut-
tered over our beds?
Oh, my friends, II we are ever going
to have Christmas reconciliAtions we
had better have them now. Human
life at the longest is short When
children have grown and scattered how
soon they die A family may exist in
,act for ten, twenty, thirty years, but
after the death angel calls one child
ne Is very apt to come back soon for
another ana another until all are gone
When the family plot is once selected
and couple of graves dug therein the
hearse gets into the habit OF travelling
in the same direction and the black
horses to stopping at the same gate.
Then the sad truth is that when death
does come regrets may be piled in
flowers mountains high upon the
casket, brothers may weep over the
dead brother. the hands may be press
ed and the lips pressed and the fore
head stroked, but the dead will hear