Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1909-01-30

YOU LS llOL IGSpOIlSlQl6 lOT Int ram DC-
ing wet or the winter being cold.
Our very first business of life is to
find out enough ABOUT the laws Of Ma
ture to be aole to dodge those which
are loaded for bear" Our next bus
mess is to learn how the others roll,
SO that We can get into the rut be-
hind them and. perhaps, hook our lit
tie apple-carts on to the procession,
and thus be dragged along. But we've
got to follow, not lead; we've got to
go the way the big wheels are rolling
at a safe distance behind them. If
we get in front we're smashed fiat; if
we try to 90 it alone, all by ourselves,
we're mighty soon in the ditch with
felloes broken and axles bent into
hairpins. The men and women who
live happiest-please observe that I'm
talking only about physical conditions
are those who are quickest to learn
the laws they exist under, most do
cile in Obeying them, most reasonable
in recognition of their own limi tatiols
and most humble in the presence of
Natures curiously impersonal inhexi-
bility.
In other words, the only sensible
rule of living, as applied to the re-
alton we hold towards the material
universe, is the trite old one: take
things as they come and make the
Jest of them Which does not mean
It all that you're to lie under an apple
tree when IL AdApens 10 be a little hot
md let the potato bugs eat up your
,rop. You know the law which gov
rms the relations of potato bugs and
Jaris green. And if you don't use that
knowledge. practically, neither Nature
lor her potato bugs can justly be
blamed If you go without potatoes
ext winter. But it's worse than ba-
Wish to be constantly whining about
atural conditions which we can't
lelp.
know-probably you all know-too
many people, both men and women,
who are forever sore from their own
1iscontent with the world. Nothing is
lust right; the winter is too cold and
he summer is too hot: if il rains
they're unhappy. and if the sun shines
the glare hurts their eyes; if the air
is still they complain of stagnation.
and If the wind blows they get mad
at its buffetings; when the moon
hines they can't sleep because it's
so light, and when the night is black
rs tar, they're afraid of the dark; one
day they can't walk or drive because
it's so dusty, and the next is Just as
bad because it's so muddy. They are
100 lazy or too incapable to find out
the plainest of the laws under which
we all live, and so violate them a doz-
en- TIM a day. Then they SWIVEL be-
cause the punishment hurts. They are
the sort who (fguratively speaking)
sit down on a hot stove and "stay sot"
all the while Squalling vociferously
because it burns. and demanding rlv-
ers of sympathy from the bystanders
but never attempting to lift them
selves off to a cooler place. They ap-
pear to think that it is somebody's
fault that they haven't been kept
wrapped in cottonwood from birth
and waited through life ION downy
beds of ease" They're too full of their
own troubles to discover that their lot
is just the common one and that
they're no worse off than others ex-
cept as they may have made them
selves worse off. They never get any
where on this earth. 1t seems impos-
sible that they'll ever get to heaven,
for in heaven we shall all be salts
fed" and it Is doubtful if any place
could be made which would satisfy
them. Certainly they'll have to have
a special one created to order.
The probabilities are that it is the
very roughnesses of life which rasp
people into shape. A smooth strip of
steel wouldn't saw much wood; it's
the asperities of the toothed edge that
do the work The boy who doesn't
have to fight his way. more or less,
usually turns out miiksOp The men
and women who spend their time and
thought seeking ease and comfort for
themselves and avoiding all that is
hard and disagreeable Invariably de-
generate into geatinous ineptitude,
and their descendants-if any are so
as to be born Of them-into
chronic invalidism and paresis.
No, we don't many Of us like the
cold and snow and slop and slum of
winter Nor do many Of us like
hard work. or calloused hands, or
thunder storms, or mosquitoes. or
earthquakes. or quack grass or rattle
snakes or tight boots. But thew all
here and, probably, if we knew as
much as some think they do we should
their value in the great |
scheme Of things. It may be that the |
very meeting. facing and either con-
luering or bearing the hard things Of
life is the training which is necessary |
10 perfect a better manhood and wo- |
manhood. THE FARMER.