Norwich bulletin., 1910-09-17
Cur Rights OF Less Importance Than Our Duies

restrictions which they may make
They hedge themselves and their be-
longings about with prickly barriers tt
keep others at a proper distance
they themselves being sole judges OF
what is proper" They are apt tt
nave such very peculiar notions Of
what are their rights that even life
long neighbOrs never learn all the in
tfiCacies and sinuosities which mus
be followed in approaching them. They
are about as desirable companions as
so many sore headed bears.
Worst of all, these very critters who
will spend their last cents and work
their fingers to the bone in defense OF
what they consider their rights are apt
to be shamefully careless OF the rights
of others The man who Will spit sui
phur and vitriol for week II your
rooster gets into his garden and eats
a green tomato, WILL very likely. turn
his COW out to pasture by the roadside
and think it so much clear gain II she
gets into your cabbage patch and eats
a few dozen heads. If you don't MAIN
tain q legal fence" between your pas
ture and his meadow, he calls out the
fence-viewers; but he relies on a cou-
pie Of loose wires and a bit of brush,
here and there, to keep his sheep on his
own acres If by any chance your
children or your stock annoy him, he
regards it as a deliberate outrage; if
his do damage to you he styles it an
accident and expects you to ignore it
or laugh it off He exacts from you
the last letter of the law; he expects
you, on the other hand, to treat him
with the kindest consideration.
The world is full of this sort Of men
and women. We can't strangle EN-;
we can't Danish 'em to desert islands:
do Sc h CT fa a no
preach and try to educate. There is
need in the nation, in every state, in
all the little communities that make
up the whole. of constant reiteration
of the trite truth that no mans rights
are so important as his duties. OF
course, we must defend our rights
when they are wrongfully attacked, or
can long endure which lacks the Virile
energy to win and retain it's real and
important rights. But with every
right thus won goes a duty and a re-
spOnsibilitv. and these duties, these
responsibilities, bulk larger and loom
more impOsingly on the horizon of
every true mans outlook than the
mere defense of his own rights. The
many are always more important than
the few. Number One is not the larg
est in the world-in any sphere outside
the pigpen. The center of the uni
verse isn't under my hatbrim. There
are a good many hats covering a good
many heads, and. as my one is to their
many. such is the ratio of importance
of my individual rights to my duties.
It is my right to see that Neighbor
Hoskins' fence is not built over the
true line on my Iand it is my duty to
see that I don't build my part of it
over the line on his land. If there is
any reasonable room for doubt, / would
-ather give the benefit of it to him
han get into a quarrel with him. /
Tould rather build my fence a foot in
iide the line on my own land than
IN inch over the line on his land. He
eels exactly the same way about it,
Ind SO we never have had and proba-
by never shall have any trouble about
,ur division fence. When two neigh
Jors live their lives out without even
yetting into a row over the Zine
ence," it may be assumed as reason
ibly certain that they have both been
more interested i'm doing their duty
han in squabbling for their rights.
THE FARMER.