The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1909-11-11
The Righteousness Of "Petering"
When Once One Has Begun to Do
Things.


the conviction that we, as Ameri-
cans, "have strong tendency to pc
ter. In fact" he says, Peter ought
to have been the especial apostle to
the Americans, for l am sure he
would have understood us. He pro-
claimed his courage and enthusiasm
with the intrepidity of a Napoleon
and, in a day or two he was chased
from the field by servant girl. He
petered so everlastingly that that
particular kind of performance has
come to be known by his name wher-
ever it occurs. And it is of quite
frequent occurrence"
wonder if you and do not come
under this same heading, whether we
do not let our ambition fly away with
our common sense, our theories take
wing with our probabilities, whether
we do not hitch our wagons to star
so infinitely and impossibly high
above us in the armament that our
wagon slants on a perpendicular
when we draw toward our goal, and
we fall earthward with bruised
body and crushed head.
We begin to peter as children
when we tell mother what we will do
for her when we're men and women.
AS school girls we keep up the pref
ty farce of forgetting to help to do
the dishes and help with the cooking
on Saturdays and insisting upon i'm
pressing poor tired Mother with the
fact that when we grow up and have
plenty of money, we don't intend TO
let her work any more. When we be-
come adults, we start out to cut a
wide swath in the harvest fields, for
getting our childish promises to
Mother who works harder than ever
ironing our shirtwaists and pressing
our collars. We talk big and we do
little We say great deal that has
the glimmer of pure gold in its
promises but which is as elusive to
practical application as the gold of
the sunbeam which slauts gracefully
over the breakfast table in Septem-
Der.
And we boys are just as bad. We
have great hopes for our manhood
Inspired by Mothers pride in us and
her high ambitions, we aim for great
things, but because we dislike to
t1,o OBJ 1xy rNln
ment of the ladder of ambition
against the horizon which shuts us
in temporarily, we drift, and Mother
is disappointed and, sooner or later,
we lose all those pretty decisions
which came up with us along side
of our boyhood and are quite glad to
be made somebody's third assistant
hired man at wage of eight dollars
week. Dr. Denison would say we
were like the plum pudding, flannel
underclothes species "of things which
began big and grew smaller instead
of beginning small and growing like
kittens, babies, sins, and potatoes"
We sit down to the task in hand
and say we'll do twenty like it before
the sun sets and when the last ray
slides beneath glowing western ho
rizon, there are but few of us who
can point to the first task well done
We want to set fire to the world ant
| forget, meanwhile to light the kitchen
fire in order that Mary can ge
breakfast without so much output O
n her physical strength We want tt
keep the whole world in shoe leather
through our boundless philanthropy!
and we let daughter Jane and sol
John go about town barefoot or "
shabby stockings and questionable
shoes. We peter, every mother.
son and fathers daughter of us. W.
peter, most woeful so woefully, per
haps, that he who promised much
faith and betrayed his master thrice
in few short hours, almost before
those glowing expressions of faitf
could grow cold on his lips, nigh
not recognize us who follow in his
footsteps in this one particular"
l like this idea set forth By DR.
Denison. The more | think of it, tn
more sure l am that most of Us "pe
ter" fearfully, not once, nor twice
day, but many times. Our promises
and our friendships, our obligations
and avowed duties peter out upon us
or we upon them, before the half i
accomplished. Suppose we aim low
er until we can say of one thin
which we had undertaken to Sc
through, 81 undertook to do such
\ thing and did as l promised" 1'hel
I'VE can aim trile higher, and We
bic higher than that, without so mucl
risk of petering as shamefully ant
as thoroughly as we did the last time
Let's stick like death until we We car
ried thing through providing the
thing is to work good and not harm
Let's forget Tow shameful an humil
isl on it is to have said Of one. III
promised much, but he petorc1 oat."
How to Sleep Like a Child.
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