Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1910-03-05

(Trztten Specially for The Bulletin.
We all agree that it's d dirty her
that fouls her own nest How abou
the man who IS always fouling the
reputation Of his own neighborhooG OF
town or village or city or state by
sneering at il when in the presence o.
outsiders What sort Of a bird is he
1t is a custom in certain semi
civilized countries for people purposelS
to depreciate the quality of everything
belonging To them But this is because
OF the widely prevalent belief among
ignorant and superstitous people in
the s-evii eye The idea seems to be
that one with this sort of optic might
blast all their most precious belong
inEs with some sort of unpredictable
blight. Il he should happen to take a
Fancy TO them So the mother as
deSormed enormity her best beloved
baby. and the father admits the guest
10 his house only after describing IT
as an III worthy hovel; and all hands
agree in affecting to consider their
clothes as rags and their food as mud
and their Jewels as paste. lest some
stray evil eye" should eovet them and
therefore curse them in some occult
way Even japanese etiquette requires
Thez the host shall humbly beg his
honorable guests pardon for asking
him 70 c0ndescend to enter his wretch
al cabin and partake of the in-coolzed
though the cabin may be a royalty
furnished palace, and the dinner u
dream Of oriental extravaganza.
But We are not supposed to be bound
by Japanese etiquette, nor are we
afraid OF any evil eye" Nor are
mothers IN America apt to depreciate
the charms of their 1irst-born. nor
fathers 10 hide in silence their adTnira-
fion for the youngest boys smart
ness" Our own personal achievements
we are not apt to under-rate by any
sham attitude of depreciation. Instead
We are a mighty sight more likely to
brag about EN- Instead of placating
people by a pretended diSparagenlent
CT our individual hxins, We are more
apt 70 disgust them by a bunptious
Boosting about our belongings.
Yet, when we come TO our neishbor-
hood or town. We take on a different
tone have lived, for longer or short
er periods. in five different towns and
ctSsS- The inhabitants of each of the
Eva in turn. have been open in their
declaration that politics, for example,
vas rortsner in that particular town
than In any other in the state. Yet,
an q matter Of fact il was Just about
nip and tuck" between the five. The
longer I lived in any one, the more
rortsnness I heard about: also the
more people I found who were not rot
ten in politics AS my memory serves
each OF the i've towns an element
which was not merely rotten but
Yutrescent, politically: a body OF male
btrSeds. wrongly called men. who ought
never 10 have been given the suffrage
and who ought to be deprived of it. for
cz1TSss tomorrow morning. don't think
these Sodden Ibels on mankind were
anywhere near the majority in any
town ever knew about, but they often
held '-the balance of power" and the
legs numerous but even more depraved
snd deteStable panders who bought
them very often were able to carry
elections by their aid. I've never dis
covered much difference between one
town and another in this respect.
Likewise wherever Eve lived, I've
heard the same complaint about the
cid -togyis hress' of folks. Here in the
country this IS especially noticeable.
tell We. the farmers of this town are
the dumbest set y'eyer see That's
what we hear too often One is set
down as behind the times because he
does this. and another as a frothy
crank because he does that: one is too
stupid to know which side his bread is
buttsred- and another is too feather
headed to know whether there's any
butter on il, at all: this one IS running
bis farm because he subsoils, and an
other Isn't getting half the crops he
ouEhter because he won't pillow but
four and a half inches deep; the town
as 4 whole is running down. fields are
petering out, Yields are decreasing. the
place is sdead'-and so on and so on.
I'd Oct pint OF peanuts against a
doushnut that you've all heard this
sort OF talk. that YOU can all hear it in
your ovn neighborhood, any day.
But there are places where they talk
dlnerently. Did you ever meet a real
californian On one of his trips cas-?
II SO. did you ever hear any disparage-
lnent OF California from. his iips2
Dion you soon discover that it wasn't
safe for you TO tell of Uncle Josiah's
wonderful hundred pound squash, be-
cause any aliusion to 1t would prompt
u recall to the Ca1ifornian's memory
the TWO hundred and ninety FOUNDER |
ne took - the Los Angeles fair-and |
couidnt get entered. it was so small. |
Didn't you quickly learn that it |
wouldn't do to refer to the beauty of a |
New England June day, because it |
brought out the fart that every dav in
Bluelands. Call was just like that the |
year round-'+only brighter and with
q fresher breeze?- Didn't you have to |
sh1zr Up about your big yield of pota- !
toes rom the south siCie-hiT lot be-
cause the Callfornian's next door
neighbors both raised twice as many