The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-06-08

found America, got money enough to
pay up all your back rent and go into
garden truck, and now you let right go.
hunk Of land to the westward let him
go ahead" -
That's the way Columbus fggered.
my son, and the result was that he
didn't bust. On the contrary, he lived
TO a good old age. had brands Of cigars
and condensed milk named after him,
and when he died every farmers wag-
Oh for ten miles around wanted q
place in the funeral procession.
Bring the case down to our George
Washington. Lord. but how things did
happen to Us him to swell up.
From the time he GU down that cherry
tree bis course was onward and up
ward. DrOuChts nor foods nor cy-
clones could stop him. He went scoot-
Ing right to the top of the tree, and
hen he got there he held on with
tooth and toe nail and couldn't be shak-
en- down. He kept swelling and swell
ing as commander in chief of the ar
my, and then he put in eight years
more as president, They wanted him
for a third term, and most any man
living would have taken it, but what
did the Father OF His Country do? He
goes out behind the cider mill one day
and sits down for a talk with himself
and says:
Say, George, you are the biggest
oak in the woods. You are the only
pebble on the beach. YOU are the fat
test blackberry on the bush. You are
at the top of the tip toppers. Now.
then, look out. A bladder can hold
only just so much wind. You have got
to stop right where you are or bust"
That's the giSt of what he said. NV
son, and what was the result? He
goes in and sits down to the kitchen
table and writes out his little document
declining a third nomination and say
ing that he could hereafter be found at
Mount Vernon, {. S. A, by any one
wanting potatoes, onions and cabbages
fresh grown and at reasonable prices.
and he stuck to his word. He didn't
bust. He retired with a cart load of
hOnors, and no American is ever going
to forget that his last name is spelled
with a capital w.
I'm telling you. sonny, that if you
get ahead as you should you are going
to swell up. You are going to think you
are the smartest, cutest thing on earth.
Even if a corporation pays s. apiece
for votes to send you to the legisla-
ture you are going to think that it was
all on account of your smartness an0
popularity, and you will pity the de
feated candidate for a fool. Fellers
Will come to you with their hats III
their hands. Fellers will come and pat
You On the back. Fellers will whisper
IL your ears that this old earth didn't
amount to shucks until you were born.
You'll swell and swell, and some day
you'll reach the pint where you'll have
to intuition the top button to get an
easy breath. That's the turning pint.
Go out and commune with yourself.
10 a little Kicking and cussing. Look
at things sqJare in the face and make
VI your mind that it's either stop or
bust.
I've got the shingIc all Whitfield up,
my son, n I'm going to pocket my
jackknife and go down to Snyder's
grocery. Thirty years ago, when / was
constable Of this town. I had a mort
gage on the widow Simpsons house
and lot and had a hundred dollars in
the bank. and l was on the swell. l
walked in there Il day feeling that I
was lit" and | tried to bluff a tin
peddler. That was my day for bust
ing, bat l wouldn't heed the signs. I
bet him 800 and lost, and since that
time I've been as humble as a goose at
the bottom of a rain barrel. Come
along with me and see. They look up
on me- as a busted a and if 1 tell
'em that jim Goodhue's boss has a
ease Of the bolts they'll look down on
me in pity and wonder why l hain't
been sent to the idiot asylum.
VI. QUAD.