Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1904-07-06
4 {" Acres OF Ulam0 0Has,' :

Col. j. L. Orr delivered an address
at the closing of the school at Pied.
mont last weeS. His theme was the
importance OF education, and he
urged the parents of the mill village
TO strain every point and to make
every sacrifice il Necessary in order
TO give their children an educations
He spoke in part as follows:
One Of the most interesting lee.
lures i ever heard was "Acres OF Dia
monds," by Mr.. Cromwell. Th,
story runs thus:
On the shore of the river Indus,
in Persia, there lived a fa,mer named
AL Hated, who owned large orchards
and green fields and gardens and
was wealthy and contepted man,
with beautiful wife and lovely
children. A Buddhist priest visited
him, and during their conversation
around the tireside told him of the
wonderful value of diamonds; that
one as large as your thumb would
purchase dozen farms like his; a
handful of diamonds would buy q
whole county and q mine of dia-
monks would secure Kingdoms. AL
Hated thought of this all night, and
could not sleep; next morning going
to the priest he asked him where the
diamonds might be found. He re-
piled, eff you find river that runs
over white sand, between high noun
tains you will always find diamonds
in the stream" He sold his farm,
collected all his money and left his
family in search of diamonds. When
he had searched through all the
mountains in that country, and in
Palestine and in Europe, his last
cent was gone, and in rags and pow
erty and wretchedness he stood at
the shore of Barcelona, in Spain,
poor and starving and afflicted, with
out having accomplished his object
in life, he threw himself in the in
coming tide and was drowned. The
man who bought the farm, in water
ing his stock one day in the shallow
water, noticed a curious flash of light
in the white sands of the stream, and,
securing it, found beautiful, bright
pebble, that reflected the rays of The
light, and gave off every color of the
rainbow, but having never seen a
diamond he did not realize it's value,
80 put it away on the mantel, simply
as a curiosity. Not long after the
same old priest visited the farm and
the moment he opened the door,
noticed the reflected light, and rush
ing to the mantel, declared, "This is
diamond; has AL Hated returned P"
"No," replied the farmer, Gal Hated
has never returned, and his family
know not what has become of him.
This is not diamond, but stone
we found out in the brook" "But,"
said the priest, 81 know diamond
when | see it, and l tell you this is
genuine" Together they rushed
out to the stream, stirred up the
white sand with their fingers, and
there secured many beautiful and
valuable gems. In that way the
famous diamond mines of Golconda,
the most valuable on earth, were dis,
covered. This has a moral, as all
Arabian tales. Had AL Hated re.
mained at home and searched as dill
gently for diamonds in his own
streams and fields he would have at
tanned great riches instead of wretch
edness, starvation, poverty and
death. Taking this story as an illus
tration of the great mistake 80 many
people make in supposing that moth
ing good or great can be found in
their midst, but must be sought for
in some other section, he shows that
every man of ordinary character, in
telligence and energy can accomplish
wonders by taking advantage of cir
cumstances in his own life and sur
roundings, that greatness really con-
sists not in holding political Office or
prominent positions, but doing great
deeds with small means, in bene-
tillng ones own neighborhood, in
helping ones own community, in
reaching down to those below and
lifting them up, that economy and
thrift are the keys to success, and
that inherited riches are more fire.
quently handicap than an advant-
age to the young man in starting
life's battle. GA rolling stone not
only gathers no MOSS" but gets many
hard bump in it's bounding course.
There are no people on earth that
have greater opportunities than we
Of upper South Carolina, with its
schools and churches open to all no
locality that have ever seen in this
country or Europe has a finer or
more salubrious climate no soil re-
wards more abundantly or with
greater variety the labor of the
farmer; no section of the world has
increased more rapidly, industrially,
than this during the last twenty years,
and where there is such demand for
capable, experienced and trustworthy
manufacturers as to-day exists in
our midst shall we fit ourselves for
these great opportunities and seize
them as they appear, or shall we sell
out our belongings, disregard our
advantages, shut our eyes to our sur
roundings, and seek strange lands
and other fields of enterprise
Metaphorically speaking, we have
"acres of diamonds" on our own
farms, which we are free to dig for
ourselves, and enrich our minds and
bodies, hearts and souls, by improv-
ing our opportunities, or shall we
walk blind(y over them every day
and finally sell out, move off in search
OF Imaginary advantages, and when
Old and worn with wanderings and
toll realize too late that we have
recklessly thrown away a golden
harvest?
For of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these, it might have
BEEN"