The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1904-06-30
OBSERVATIONS
BY S. D..

In the office of the British Foreign
Bible Society in London are shown two
Bibles, illustrating the perfection of
ancient and modern book making.
The one is manuscript copy on vel
lum in ten large folio volumes, each
chapter being beautifully and profuse-
ly illuminated; the other is a printed
copy, book one inch square, one-half
an inch thick, and enclosed in case
made of walnut she'll
job left us sage counsel when he
said, speak to the earth and it shall
teach thee;" but we, through the blind
ness of our own vain wisdom, ignore
his advice, and still go on sowing
pumpkin seeds and expecting melons,.
scattering thistle seed and looking for
harvest of grapes, or hoping that at
the worst the soil will be SO barren as
to fail to produce crop, forgetting
weeds. Then when we wake from our
dreams and see nothing but weeds,
with herculean energy we commence
to hoe them up-but before we can
sow a different crop, the night has
come and we must return home.
In his speech on the French Revolu--
ton, Burke said, "The age of chivalry
is past" 1t seems, too, that the age of
letter writing has passed, that the god
dess who presided over that art has
taken afrOnt at the telephone and tele
graph, and has flown to some other
planet. have just been reading Mrs.
Bancroft's letters to her relatives,
written while she was in London at.
the time her husband was American
minister there. They are i like a.
draught of century-old tokay. How
graphically does she portray the socie--
ty Of those times. favoring us with the
merry quips and jests of the dinner
table, acting as clcerone to us in the
historical homes and palaces of Eng
land, introducing us to the celebrities,
writing easily and naturally without;
an ounce of buckram or padding In
fact, she makes the past present, bring
ing from their resting places great
men and women of generation that
has departed. Such letters are more
profitable than the average history.
Many of the old Tudor houses in,
England have carved either over the
Saxon proverb In the old house
where l was born, on the oak beam
forming the mantelpiece in the kitchen
is carved: "Thole ye next thing" which
being paraphrased in modern English
is, "Just do the mex. job, and don't
look too far ahead" Excellent advice.
that. 1t is worth putting in practice.
Many of US are leading lives of unneces-
sary anxiety and care. Many seem to
like "to sup sorrow with spoon" as if
its flavor were delicious. Many of us
meet our troubles half way, and so
turn our mole hills to mountains. It's
better to "thole ye next thing" One
step at time is enough.
Some in here who look for release
within the next few months, are posi-
bly, justified in entertaining some anxi-
} ETY. as to their future. But still the
] proverb holds good, even for them.
, They must await the "next thing" be-
, fore they can "thole" it, Don't let the
future discourage you nor the past
dishearten you. They are nothing
Today is the only reality.
President Harper, of the University
of Chicago, says that good, dull stu
dents who will work are preferable to-
unusually bright Students; the latter
being often inclined to laziness, know
ing that they can quickly accomplish
their task. This is no new discovery.
Over and over again has it been DEM
onstrated that the fitful, squirting
method of talented men has been their
undOing. Their careers, instead of
mediocre, would have been eminently
great if they had plodded and perse-
vered. Coleridge's biographers one and
all lament his dreamy, irresolute man.
ner; Gladstone deplored the lack, in his
early years, of persistent study. DR..
Harper's words are an encouragement
!, to those who, tho they may be but dull