The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1907-04-24
FORGET IT. +"
Life Too Short to Harbor III Feel
ings Against
Those Who May Do You Wrong, You
Will Feel Better for Having Done

So.
The men who are making the best
success in life today are the men who
are keeping their "forgeteries' in
good running order.
Disagreeable things remembered
clog the machinery Of life and pre-
vent progress.
Men who remember indignities
and insults invariably become brood
ers over their wrongs. Their minds
are hatcheries of discomfort and pee
vishness, with which none can hope
to rise to great heights.
Balloonists tell US that the higher
they rise above the earth the strong
er the optic nerve seems to become,
and they are better able to discover
the proper relationships of things
below. The higher a man rises in his
ability to forget disagreeable things
the more clearly will he see that life
has more sweets than bitter Wrapt
up within it.
The ability to forget is no less
great than the ability to remember.
Doubtless it is true that none forget
forever and for aye but it Ger
tainly is true that the remembrance
of the bitter is softened and sweet
ened by heroic souls who are deter
mined to live in today and tomorrow
rather than in the past. If men can
train their memories so that noble
verse or splendid music is perpetual
ly in their minds outside the hours
Of their business, it is also true that
they send to the limbo of the unre-
garded the disagreeahle experiences
that they are apt to pluck with the
choice fruit from the tree of life.
Sterling witnesses to the truth
that men can forget their grievances
are the books that have been written
in jails by noble martyrs for what
they believed to be the truth.
Forgetting how the Atheniaus had
mistreated him, Socrates in the dlngy
dungeon of Athens, perfects his
time-defraying Doctrine of lmmor-
tality.
Resolving not to brood over them
justice with which he has been treat
ed, Calico, in prison confined, makes
his prison cell a schoolroom m, an as
tronomer's chart room, and sends
forth his theories that stand the
test Of the longest and latest re-
search Of modern astronomy.
Forgetting the indignities he had
received at the hands of the English
Crown, Bunyan gives to the world
his immortal allegory, which has been
translated into all known tongues
and dialects, and has circulation
second only to the English Bible.
Forgetting his blindness and his
poverty, Milton gives US Paradise
Lost. "
Determined that his life Shall not
be embittered by harsh treatment
received at the hands Of his enemies,
Cervantes gives play to his delicate
wit and shafts Of humor. and roams
with Don Quxote and Sancho Panzo
the world around.
Epictetus, as a slave boy, was
manned for life by the cruelty of the
master to whom he had been sold.
Asked if he could be happy with a
lame leg, he replied: "Do you think
that because my soul happens to have
one lame leg that I am to find fault
with Gods universe?" Is it any won
der, with a spirit like that, he should
rise above sordid, morbid, memories
and come to be one of the world S
Grert Hearts? In summing up the
story of that noble life, Browning,
the poet says: .'This is his epitaph:
Epictetus, a slave manned in his body,
beggar through poverty and dear
to the immortals.
Suppose some one has slandered
you, forget it. You are too big a
soul to feed your though on rehash-
ed SANDER.
Suppose you have been treated
with injustice by niggardly men, who
are unable to see great vlstas IN life,
forget it. Mans inhumanity to man
is proverbial. The years will reveal
the true character of your work.
Suppose scheming politicians have
succeeded for the time in undermin-
ing your work, forget it. Il you
have built on foundations of truth,
and honestly performed your work,
it will stand eternal.
All, friends! Life is too short to
cherish the mean things. Too short
to brood over unkind words. Too
big with opportunity for splendid
achievements to grieve over the
wrongs and injustices which seem to
be your portion.
In the garden of your life plant
rosemary trees, whose perfume and
flower will sweeten not alone your
own remembrances, but be sent forth
by the winds Of truth to brighten
and beautify other lives.
Two more safe crackers have been
convicted and sent to the pcniten-
tiary for ten years each. These con
victions were at Spartanburg. This
makes about a dozen or mere pick
pockets and safe crackers that are
Serving time in the South Carolina
pon;+on+;orv This Kind of treatment