The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-03-24

CaaI II u snort blouse. * very
tight a1o0t his waist his legs encas-
ed IN Wellington boots. on one Of
which was o spur. His horse was
Ettchee nearby, equipped with moders.
sadie and other accoutremenss.
Up and down the sadder the angels
were having q good time. arrayed in
the lang. flowing. fashionable posonaIse
and wearing broad picture hats It Was
fine.
in the article from London TTd-gits
u also this paragraph. Defoe made
some amusing slips III his immortal
Robinson Crusoe.' On one occasion,
1t VIII be recalled. after making his
hero strip in order to swim with
greater comfort, he pictures him a.
p~rovidently filing his pockets with
biscuits, n he represents the Span
Fridays father. sublimely regardless
! OF the fact that both ink and paper
were non-existent-"
This brings TO my mind a story Told
q good many years ago by q good old
farmer OF Cumberland county, whom I
viii call Mr.. Blank for several a
sons, one OF which Is that he has a biz
son alive and kicking, and I am afraid
to call him anything else. Along with
many excellent qualities. Mr.. Blank
had n fau1t-he was fond OF shoot
ing the long bow a venial fau.S.
though, for he never told III malicious
lie, or one to hurt 4 neighbor. But he
was a veritable Baron M~unchansen.''
in recouting his achievements in forest
and field; for, like Nimrod. he was "a
mighty hunter before the Lord
| One day he was telling a group o.
a-cquaintances about 4 big zussle he
a had with a deer-a noble buck OF
the first head" as it would nave been
called by Baron Bradwardine, of Tuliv
Veolan, in SCOTS .Fwaverly"-wh.ch
he had wounded and brought to bay In
a mill pond. We'll, gentlemen" said
Mr. Blank, there was the deer in the
middle of the pond and there was /
out on the land. l saw hat there was
nothing to do but go In after him, and,
although it was a cold day, I stripped
| stark naked, and in I went. The dee
I, stood as still as a statue as I vent on,
| only shaking his head now and then.
n almost before I knew it I vas in
the biggest tussle of my life. tina.
seemed like 1t lasted a week. though
L reckon it wasn't more han fifteen
minutes. l had a good grip ON his
horns, and he was trying to get his
forelegs UP, to gouge me with his sharp
hoofs. At last I gave him a sudden
twist. threw him On his side, II ran
my hand in my pocket. to get out MY
knife and cut his throat why, Mr..
NNf oAAF " AAAS A&SNIk-
ers, Il thought you said You had strip
ped stark naked II am not a talk
ing to YOU" said the old hunter, in a
long drawl, as he looked his interlocu-
tor from head to foot in supreme dis
dain, and turned away.
Charles Leonard Moore, writing III i
recent issue of the Chicago Dial, de-
plores the fact that this country is
completely ~preoccupied in m
and industry" and hat commercial
ism is ingratned in Americans, blooi
Of our blood and bone of u bona.
He thus continues: Il have cast about
for a formula which would exress the
honest ambition Of the average Amer
can, and the other day I found it in
h first line Of an advertise
ment which met my eye. 1t ran thus:
To live better and save more is the
big idea which goes to bed with us
ALL Obviously this sage of the shop
does not mean by his live better ,the
same thing that Marius Aurallus
meant when he said:.Even in a palace
life may be lived we'll No! He means
by it to have more food and better
clothes. and a bigger house and greater
social Importance. There is no harm.
indeed there is good, in these things;
out to make them the big idea which
goes to bed with us alr-why the Hot
tentots ave a higher hope. No real
religion, or art,o literature, mo science
save that which ministers to ma
terial wants., can flourish in a commu- |
nifty obsessed by such an ambition"
This chrage. it is to be feared, can |
not be successfully disputed. The am
ibitions of the great a of the Ameri-
a people are gross n material;
more than that, they extend a wor- ,
sh~ip-reluctant and extorted, perhaps. |
but none b less genuine-to those
shining examples among their compa-
triots who have achieved a conspicu-
Gus measure of success IN the explot.a-
ton Of their material ambition. To
them, a captain of industry is high |
er upon the ladder than the most Illus |
trious of moral heroes; and h grca.-
est savant, the greatest poet, or the
greatest painter Of the age would pass
unnoticed, If John d. Rockefeller turn |
I'D the corner. The reason is obvious.
knowledge is not portable property
II use the expression OF WemmicK, |
in Dickens Great Expectations"
thing tangible; but wisdom none can
borrow, none al lend" |
However American may hope to give |
a better account of themselves in the /
future, though it may b a distant fu- |
ture. Unless I greatly mistake. We |
ave had exemplars and predecessors
IN = STORY; unless I have read to little
purpose commerclalism has been the
Characteristic of young, aggressive, |
growing and expanding countries-and, /
with only ons hundred and sixteen
years Of naticnoi life behind us, we
are only in our swaddling clothes.
compared with England, France. Spain
and italy. The young man, just across
the threshold o. his grown up life, en-
crossed in its cares, and hopes, and
ambitions and strenuous effort, has no
time to study: he IL too busy "doirg
th.rgs"-and Ii must be remembered
that Americans have just attained
their majority. The builder completes
his house from foundation to tur-et.
from front entrance TO kitchen steps. |
before he adorns and beauties the il-
terror, and fills Il with the trophies &
genius and the treasures OF art-and
Americans have not near finished