The gold leaf., 1907-04-18
An Anegory.
By THE GOOSE.
Contributed.

was out OF order, good humoredly, abus-
ed 1t by saying that be could expect moth
ing better OF it, as it was from the wing
OF a goose; bird universally credited
with lack OF sense; equally at home in
air, on land or water; and to one element
constant never.
While my pen was not torn from the
wing OF goose, allegoric license permits
1t to be called quill, and will allow it
the same errant liberty. While this fig
urative disco urse is founded on fact, let
all remember, that the scene is laid on
the wide, wide priaries; location so very
indefinite that no community or individ-
ual in any special place can take credit
or um rage at anything said, should |
be SO fortunate as to elicit the one, or
incur the other. So let the goose swim.
ny, walk, cackle or hiss, she is acting
consistently, intending no offense
Once upon a time, there was a little
village. 1t did not nestle in nice of
the mountain, with a green valley in
front. through which flowed a clear
winding stram like silver thread. No.
no, it stood out boldly on a prominent
rise in the wide, wide prairies 1t was
pretty little village. and it's people
were peaceful, quiet and industrious, and
attended strictly to their own business
and never meddled with that of their
neighbors-which, by the way. is virtue
as commendable as rare They were at
least, negatively happy. The old people
had their talks and prayer meetings, the
young, their frolics. and all went to bed
with clear heads and light hearts. The
young people knew nothing of the out
side world, their parents having agreed
that 1T was better to keep them in ignor-
ance OF it aslong as possible, for fear that
they might be contaminated by it. Time
enoug b, they said, when they are old
enongh to resist temptation.
Now, | think they should have told
them what was going on outside, and
warned them against the evils that they
thought most likely to beset them. Vice
is monster OF such hideous m len that
to be hated, needs but to be seen, etc.
They should have, occasionally, cut some
capers themselves; the old men ought.
sometimes, to have played poker lost
the money they had to pay the grocer,
come home and raised a rough house
with ''mama,S used few cuss words
and had an occasional fist-fght on the
street. All just to show the boys how
hldeous was the mien OF vice. Some Of
the ladies, in the spirit of self-sacrifice
with the courage of their convictions,
should have done things, at that time
considered indecOrOus; but which have
since become the fashion-such as riding
bicycles and horses astride, wearing
either blOOmers or divided skirts, etc.
This would have been awful, and would
have given the women something about
| which to talk, caused the stay homes
to visit the chit-chats and generally en-
cOuraged sOciability. Above all, the
girls would have been benefited by see
ing how bad it was to do such things,
and by hearing the comments made On
| them.
Some folks dom t think like do about
| these things. By the way, it is a good
| thing everybody don't think alike. This
world would be a lonesome place, sparse
| ly inhabited. and complications would
arise from very unanimity of thoughts.
| Suppose my wife should have thought
| that was ''too mean to live" Where
| would | be now? Dead! Or, suppose |
| had thought that she was ''too good for
this wicked world" Where would she
| be now? The result of such a concur
renee OF thoughts would depend in pistol
parlence on which got the drop" This
would be subject worthy the pen of
Locke. IN, B. Copyright applied for.) l
bcllefe tAdt DoyS anu girls suOulu De
| told both the good and the bad, equally
| If we are to take the Bible fora guide we
| see that there were only primaitive COM
mandments given Adam; one permissive,
| the other prohibitive. just to think of
| it! Suppose there had been given to
| Adam and Eve as many laws, even, as
| one Legislature now enacts, at one ses-
sion. Satan would have been compelled
| to call on his full council, Moiock, Belial
| and all the Others, in order to prove to
| Eve that they were land
! the garden would have been so full of
snakes that she would have persuaded
Adam to start a mOOnshine distillery for
| antidOte. The Ten Commandments con-
tain ten "Thou shalt nots," while there
are five Thou shalts," which goes to
show the Importance oftelling especially
what should not be done.
We read OF two knights errant who
met at a signboard; one said it was
white, the other said it was black; they
| fought. Both were mortally wounded.
A traveller came along and when told
the cause of dispute, he said, you were
both fools, and were both right; the
trouble arose from the view point. One
side is white, the other is black. You
| should have looked on both sides Now,
| it their fathers had told these knights,
| when young, that there were two sides
to every signboard, they might have con-
tended, each for the superior charms of
his Dulcina- Del Toboso, instead of fight
ing over such frivolous matter.
Some people think wrong is right. 1t
is as one is raised. They are not tau ght
both sides
The Fiji islanders used to think it
right to eat every good (conditioned)
missionary who came along-thinking
perhaps, in their simplicity, that in swal-
lowing the man. they swallow WED his doc
trines along with him; thereby receiving
the FIJI benefit But this custom no more
prevails. The piety OF missionary is
only equalled by his self-sacrifice and
perseverance. One went, among the
cannibals, who wore a wig, glass eye
and artificial teeth When he was brought
before the chief, he took off his wig, too k
out his glass eye and false teeth. That
was too much for them. They did no,
eat him, and he taught them that it was
not right to eat missionaries; and many
a missionary has since been saved from
the pot, or as brand from the burning
1t seems strange that the heather should
be so easily diverted from cannibaIism, a
custom followed for centuries while the
power of & State and the Federal Gov
ernment ,ali and singular. cannot convert
one trust.
But digress. \ railroad was built, a
few miles from the aforementioned vii
lage. and a town laid off, which was
rapidly built up. Among the first settlers
was an ''Old Man and his family whose
attractions it was said. caused many
people to come daily to the new town
He was a very old man: no one seemed
to know how old. Certain it is that he
could trace his lineage as far back as the
time of Noah, some hundred or so years
after be left the ark. His earliest men
toned ancestor was an acquaintance o
Noah, but If he took that historic voyage
with Noah, there is no record of the fact
His ancestors and their sons and daugh
ters had been the familiar friends OF kings