Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1909-04-17
THE MAN WHO TALKS


Depend upon it, the best antiseptic
for decay is an active interest in hui
man affairs. Those live longest who
live most" This counsels US not to
get narrow or to court leisure, but TO
use our minds for the good of others
| to be more conscious of otherss needs
than of our own desires or shortcom-
| ings. Mind works most for us when
| least conscious of our trials or our
afnictions-when operative for the ad-
| vaneement of the community in which
we live. or the race which we repre-
sent Narrowing down is weakness
broadening out is strength. 1t is up
to us to do and TO keep doing. This
is what forms the tide of life and gives
it a powerful flow. To do otherwise is
to stagnate and go to pieces.
If had the credentials should join
| the Society of the Descendants OF the
| Founders of Norwich, for they en-
| blazoned the name of Norwich upon
| this beautiful site 250 years ago and
| placed Norwich on the map and their
| descendants have made 1t more and
| more celebrated for two and half
| centuries. The moon that has looked
down upon these hills more years than
| the pyramids of Egypt represent may
! smile at our glorying over so short
| space of time, and well it may, for
these hills were green and wooded and
these rivers shimmering in the sun far
back of the time when the Star of
Bethlehem appeared to the shepherds
who were watching their fiocl5s on the
plains of Chaldea. We have made but
g little notch on the yardstick of time
yet that is greatly to the credit of the
founders of "the Rose Of New Eng
land"
The world is full of proverbs and
they just represent in a way the COM
pre- ssed experiences of the human race
| The collected proverbs might well be
called the flowers of human expert
ence. But do you know that Sancho
Panza, the quaint squire of Cervantes.
made more proverbs than Solomon, and
they were made to stay and to be
quoted and to be of use according to
their merit or their truth All nations
have their proverbs and centuries be-
fore 1t was written that zone swallow
does not make a summer" the West
Africans had learned that 'one tree
does not make forest" Our collected
proverbs represent the wisdom of all
nations learned through the expert
ences of untold ages.
"Ever had the nnovinu picture fever.
old MANI" asked one friend of another
thet-I don't pay dimes to see pictures
Of human misery!" "How's that?"
said the inquirer THE last time I
went" said he, Il saw the mlsfortunes
of a poor family-a depletion of pow
erty, sickness and death such as no
healthy mind could imagine or no hu-
man heart tolerate-there wasn't a
bright spot in ito me now it is
CHASTITY dream. I saw enough misery
and suffered enough distress in those
few moments to last me a lifetime.
Since that night moving pictures have
not appealed to me-" He is not alone.
Murder, robbery arson, Kidnapping and
drunkenness are poor entertainment
for anyone.
The fad in flowers this year will run
to the old-fashioned good keepers and
the marigolds our mothers used to
grow, those great lemon-yellow and
oldgold Africans are going to be the
table ornaments because of their fine
keeping qualities. Then the National
Council of Horticulture Is recommend
ing to amateurs the cultivation Of
(Torentia fourniori found in any of
the catalogues the wishbone flower a
dainty white and blue annual which
grows readily in any sunny spot.
Those who like to keep in step with
fashion in border flowers, those who
will not forget this bush of flame
which CLEANS from July until frost.
A borrowing neighbor is not SO COM
mon, but she ought not to be, -pe-
5cially the daily, persistent borrower
who oftener forgets to return things
than to make restitution. This is not
exactly theft, but it comes so close to
Il that people imposed upon do not
hesitate to call it that; but 1t Is a
mighty demeaning and provoking hab-
it, Sometimes it is the outgroWth of
sheer thoughtlessness. I once heard
of a case that was completely cured
in one lesson. and it was one Of the
cases where little things were never
returned. The lender called on the
borrower and got something and right
after dinner returned it with many
thanks and assurances that she was
so sorry to have troubled her, and that
borrower went out of the business be-.
cause she was made conscious of the
fact that she was daily annoyance
without any manners to speak Of.
We all talk too much. That is what
the parrot said after being denuded
of its plumage. and that is what we all
have to acknowledge just as soon as
we have been careless of speech and
reaped the consequences. Those who
ike TO know Things cultivate 1nQulSl-
tive habits and they find out things by
asking questions, which, by the way,
discreet person usually answers
evasively. but other persons answer
frequently to their sorrow. Talk makes
more trouble than anything else on
earth, and cheap, inconsequential talk
at that. There is no one who can keep
a secret like yourself; and remember
"a secret is like an umbrella, once out
Of your hand it belongs to t'other fell
Ter" Most of the affairs Of life be-
long to us and there is no reason why
we should give anyone mortgage up
on them.
Revenge is sweet" is one of the ly-
ing old proverbs which would never
have been kept alive until this time
had men been wise. Revenge isn't
even satisfactory. I'll tell you a trolley
car case where a regular patron on ar
early morning train who had it in for
the conductor gave him a $40 bill for a
nickel fare. The conductor stuffed the
bill in his pocket and having only $500
about his clothes, and knowing his pas
senger was going to the terminus, kept
right about his business. The passen-
ger got angry and sassy and worked
himself into a furore. When the end
Of the line was reached the conductor
politely informed him that if he would
follow him to the office he would get
the 1885 that belonged to him. Old
SpUtterer went right along and it