The Neshoba Democrat., 1910-05-12
Not Afraid Of
Good Fortune

.EuA, prevalent To-Day, which is
Ma " supposed to show the atti-
M tude that people ought to
take toward the mention
of good fortune. II must tan ON
wood, says some one who has Just
stated that he has been specially ex-
empt from bad luck or illness. The
phrase is quite harmless, and this is
not for the purpose of undertaking a
crusade against it. Only there are
people who could not make them.
selves use the phrase because it In.
wolves state of mind which thev
never 1or moment agree with. Good
fortune does not seem to them to have
anything spooky or uncanny about it
while this phrase implies that when
anything good has happened to us
1t is by sort of freak of nature which
may cease to work in our behalf at
any moment If we show that we like
1t, we may frighten it Off 1t is prob.
ably by some oversight that this piece
of welfare fell into our possession. and
the true owner of it might want il
back at any moment if he knew how
much value we attach to it. The idea
seems to be that the more we like
thing, the more certain it is to be
short-lived and precarious, or that If
we express ourselves as greatly
pleased our pleasure is quite certain
to come to an end. We may be as
bold as we like in proclaiming our
misfortunes and no danger of their
going; but if we let on about our ioys
we had better do 1t under our breath.
HaIf-Heathen Conceptions.
This is not to say for moment that
these who iocosely use the phrase re-
ferred to go through any such process
of analysis about it as this, or that in
many cases they really mean this. 1t
is only that lurking behind the phrase
there are at work lot of half-heathen
conceptions about the nature of good.
There is a subtle suggestion of some.
thing which clouds and poisons the
soul when it gets possession of us, and
that is the belief that we are welcome
to our troubles, but that our good
things are ,begrudged us, and are Of
uncertain tenure. Let that thought
color our mind, and we have the most
exact opposite Of the truth that we
can possibly get hold Of That is the
heathen's outlook. and it makes the
misery of his life. His gods are
treacherous and arbitrary, he can
never know just what they Will
do, and they are capable of any
thing. But the Christian knows,
if he knows anything, that God loves
his children, and that it is far more
likely that good will continue than
that evil will. 1t may be very slight
thing one way or the other, this laugh
ing phrase, but there is many man
who could not use it without putting
on something that he does not feel
just because It would belle all his
deepest convictions about life and
God.
Make Public Your Happiness.
Such as these feel that if some great
happiness has come to them, that of
all things is the thing to let people
know about. A little shy and embar-
rassed they might be about publishing
some ill-turn they had had they
would feel, perhaps, that they had
exaggerated the importance of it, and
would keep still in the belief that
probably it would turn out to be some
thing not worth mentioning. But to
have had year of uninterrupted
health or to have or to have gone six
years without sick day,--this would
be something about which they could
not honestly keep silence. For the al
tentative of tapping wood Is thanking
God. The bad days are almost GER
tain to pass off; but in the happy ones
they feel that they have now gotten
of life When things have gone well
with them, they do not feel that the
best thing to do is to get ready for
them to go wrong. They are not sus-
picious of their happiness. and they
like to tell about It, If now and again
they seem a bit boastful, why, so did
the Psalmists when ever so little
rift pierced their clouds! They may
brag just little bit but it will be
about the better side of life, and they
will not reserve their eloquence for
life's worst passages. And when God
has given them something to enjoy
freely, like children they suppose that
their father has been very glad to do
it, and they do not eye it at if it were
a prelude to something quite the oppo-
site.
The one who is prepared for more
good and more grace is far more like
ly not to meet with disappointment
than the one who is always expecting
reverses and trouble. His blessings
he takes as things God loves to give,
his chastenings as things God has to
give. If God has shown him some
thing that Just fills his heart and does
him good, he thinks 1t is more than
likely that the Heavenly Father is suf-
So;oo+I,, 1iLo m earthly father To do