The Delta independent., 1908-01-31
Get ogether
ak it Over
(By Hugh O'Neill.)
(By Hugh O'Neill.)

There's a man who comes into this
Office sometimes and throws the "bull
con" into us with the brazen effront
cry of steam calliope. He is stuffed
from the toes to the chin with the
moral platitudes of "bunco philcso-
ply" He can blow off more cubic
feet of hot air to the minute than
any barker west of Coney Island.
There is a girth to him that beats
his chest measurement by inches; his
shoulders swagger with Drawn; his
face is as fiorid as a sunrise; he has
the voice of a bronze bell, and the
health of an OK; and yet, upon our
soul, we love him. He ramps into
the peaceful quiet of our. conte.n
plations and lifts the ceiling with a
riot of words; yet when he goes and
calm succeeds the storm, if we are
glad that he called.
Because, all about him there
hangs the dominant spirit of fine
health, high hopefulness and rare
cheerfulness. If his conceit of him
self is supreme, his belief in Man is
answering. To search the funda-
mental facts, of course, it must be
admitted that the cause of it all is
not primarily due to him. He has
picturesque capacity for digesting
anything. His liver churns out the
most beautiful golden bile imagin-
able. He has bank account that
merits envy, and the world has gone
very well with him, indeed. But he
is a cheerful monster and he radiates
optimism as a spring morning spark
les with sunshine.
And his philosophy is a 4clarion
call to all the weary-hearted. and
the poor, and the distressed, and the
disgruntled, to take it smiling, and
try again. Don't Crouch, he bawls
at us sometimes; don't get out your
things are not coming your way.
Gfin at adversely, smile at what
looks like defeat, put your shoulder
to the wheel, and give another push,
and, by the eternal! you'll see the
sunrise from the top of the hill one
of these days. / believe in the fun
damental good of man, and / know
that If we, who have our petty quar-
rels and our big disputes, would only
meet in confidence, half the distract
ing things that embitter life would
disappear. Get together and talk it
over, he roared at us one day; get to-
gether and talk it over, and see II
there isn't damned sight more good
in both of you than either of you
thought.
This old world has been spinning
for nigh five thousand years now,
and it has flung off, after all, not a
little of the original dross of hu-
| manity. What's left is more good
than bad. If I want to get some
thing out of man, for my sake, or
your sake. or his sake, don't swag-
| ger up to him first and stick my Jaw
out and call him a son of gun No
sir. / hand him the soft answer; ]
work my blamed smile overtime. And
he comes through in the end. So
you cheer up-and the desk tottered
| under his thump-and tell the peo-
pie to get together and talk 1t over.
He sprang up magnificently-he
wears vests like horse blankets-and
GRATED at us like at a public meet
ing, proclaiming his gospel Of get
ting together and talking 1t over in
all the troubles of life. Then he
swept from the room, splendid en-
blem of faith in himself and the
other fellow, and we paused ex-
hausted, to reflect.
There is nothing new in 1t all, of
course: but then there is nothing
very new in anything. Epictetus
taught Christian Science-but he
didn't call it that-thousands of
years before Mrs. Eddy was born in
this vale of tears. The Epicureans
dallied with the Gospel of Cheer
fulness in an age when a man would
| have been inundated for wearing