Norwich bulletin., 1909-11-27
THE MAN WHO TALKS

Some people really think that long face is a mark of piety-that levity is | the trademark of Satan. It is an idea l which originated with ignorance-the children of light know better. There is no reason why right living should be made gloomy. That which makes the heart glad cannot make the face long. | There is no law against the sober 1 minded mans wearing a smile and a bright necktie or fiashy breastpin. i The straight laced piety of half cen tury ago made Sunday nightmare to the children; and that is the reason it was never perpetuated. The children l have not fallen from grace, but they do not think hideous conditions worth preserving for Sunday uses. The larger freedom has not made worse citizens. The man who is conscious that he is a son of God need not grovel in the dirt, but should hold up his head and act like the son of a | king.
 l 1 like the system of naming children which keeps to the front the maternal family name and makes genealogical | research so much easier; and do not object to the self-assertiveness of Ma ria Jane Baskam Childs, or blame her because she will not bury herself in 1 the domestic affairs of her husband. ! When Mrs. Bluegore looks over her progeny and James Bluegore Highblood and Betty Bluegore Highblood and Ev- erett Bluegore Highblood and Sis Blue | gore Highblood and Nina Bluegore Highblood she recognizes her B's and everyone else notices that juvenility in her family centers upon a B. It doesn't matter whether the maternal family name is Bluegore or Watts, it shows purpose and the purpose is honorable ito memorialize mother in the names of her children.
 | We talk about unnatural seasons and unreasonable weather, but since they are the product of natural law it might not be so easy to establish our prem l ises. Pope's whatever is is right" fits nature much better than it does the conduct or achievements of men. This Indian summer of 1909 which excites both wonder and comment is only a repetition of other Indian summers, just as is the January thaw which has l produced shirtsleeve weather for New Years day. The open-window Thanks giving, the green Christmas and the shirtsleeve New Years are offset by the Fourth of July when 1t showed. These conditions seem to appear at irregular intervals, but the probability
 
 | think-Just as in alternating periods of five years we have either three wet to two dry years, or three dry to two wet years. We do not make the notes Of time and climatic conditions to gem erally know these things.
 One of the abIest writers it was ever my lot to know said to me in my boy hood: Be on the lookout for ideas in this world, for every idea is worth a dollar; and you are as likely to find them among workaday people as among the learned" I had up to that time never thought of ideas as treas ures or that there was money in them. took the cue and have since learned that there is more than dollars in ideas, for there is mastery and achievement. Some men who have ideas do not know their worth, and they drop them as they would any old worthless scraps; and other men just drop them into memory and treasure them and use them for the good of others as well as for the good of themselves. Be on the lookout for ideas-every idea is worth a dol lar!" Do not forget it and you will have treasures later on which dollars cannot buy.
 The unreasonableness of some men in their anticipations is past fathom- ing. Not few have really expected St. Peter to pass them through the pearly gates because they once paid 10 cents for a 15 cent supper at a church social. This is as pious as they ever become, and they think there is merit in it-aye, they count it as saving grace. This is because men have the DO yer to put their own es- timate upon their doings and to hal II fa fhor,~ ca.lrrr |, %,-sn ceits. There are people who would not care to feast in Paradise if they were not to have napkins and finger bowls; and others say they have no use for heaven if old Jed Prouty is going there. We're queer folks, and it is not surprising that only the Lord can fathom our folly for it is too deep for the human intellect to sound.
 No doubt many children have this year pulled the turkeys wishbone for luck. From the uses made of this arched bone of fowl it came to be known first as the pulling bone, and later as the merry thought" There has been a great deal of fun gotten out of it. Here. at the north, the one who holds the longest piece will have his or her wish; but in the south it is pulled to settle which of the
 
 married-the girl holding the shortest piece places it over a door and the first marriageable man who passes beneath it is to be the future husband of the owner. There was never a tur- key who would admit that such a use of the bone was a merry thought; but many a party of young girls have ever since the early pioneer days had merry times over the divinations of this pulling-bone which as an omen of good luck has been gilded and at- tached to Christmas presents.
 There was a time when most every one wore a plug hat, and no one knew it's height. It was an everyday hat then, and a fine suit of broadcloth was not considered necessary to go with it. The silk hat was the thing, and it was often the only source of amusement. A silk hat was a popular election bet; and when a lot of young men got to- gether they had lots of fun betting on the height of the hat and no one ever did chalk it exactly. Thousands of dimes have passed in this little diver sion of marking the height of a silk hat, and while they were thought to be from a foot to a foot and a quarter high, the standard height was just eight inches. But real silk hat could not look less than a foot high. anyway, and the boys had lots of fun betting they could mark the exact height on the wall
 The boy who was born on Easy street is not to be envied for he is not the boy who oftenest becomes a man among men. One of the things not worth inheriting is ease. A silver spoon and artificial trainiue is a Door rrena-