Norwich bulletin., 1911-01-07
THE MAN WHO TALKS

l De an early bird, be as tough a worm | as you can," was a jokesmith, and | then some. He saw that where every- | thing praiseworthy was going to the early bird 1t was possible to make l him work. and perhaps to make him l trouble by just putting little energy | into life Under all circumstances the counter is a good thing-it is like 1 solitaire, for it prompts us to test our | own ability and to become just lit 1 tie cognizant of our growing skill. | This fellow recognizes the downside the side of despair--as a side with ! possibilities worth exploiting. In this | tokelet he impfants the seed of hope | in new soil, for there was no hope for 1 the worm in that old maxim, the early bird catches the worn.'' This also foreshadows the ability of the early bird to catch something more | twentieth century maxim is-energy creates chance when and where there doesn't seem to be any.
 There are many simple ways to help our brethren and none are too poor to do their part The right word spoken at the right time is more effective than a S20-gold certificate laid down to meet a pressing necessi- ty; and it often excites a gratitude that never dies. While goodness is generally supposed to excite grati- tude, real goodness does not rely up- on gratitude for indictment. The beauty of goodness is like the radiance of the sun-it gleams for the just and the unjust--it blesses without cray ing reward. Goodness is not con- sc1ous of it's own quality. It finds no pride in power. It is like a pleasing fragrance which steals upon us and OCT us with such gentieness that we recognize its soothing effects and know we have been blessed py it, al- fhOnph VI nj fO hphOld or to trace, or to define it. The good word at the right moment impresses itself with gentleness and yet it takes firm hold, and gives new color and new value to a whole life.
 John Bunyan was a man of clear vision. SC ii is not strange that he remarked: Religion is the best arnnor in the world. but the worst cloak" :" As an ar1nor it becomes a man, but as a cloak it does not conceal him well. If this was better understood fewer people would indulge in mas querading with piety. White gauge cannot be worn over black without disclosing the denser color beneath it. To be keen rogue must under ors; and the hypocrite who does not can never play well his part. In knowledge there is power" but in piety there should be no guile, for
 
 religion is a saving grace instead of a saving service have never heard the call alright. Those who have ears to hear and eyes to see miss the still small voice and the bow of promise.
 ! have often thought how it would work to tax people according to their assumption of importance. Under such rule some mighty poor folks would be in danger of being entered for a very large tax. It would not be a good way to equalize the tax; and this reminds me that a true way to equalize taxes has never yet been dis covered. Men who appear to make an honest trial of applying just taxes to estates make an awful mess of it. Every tax list I have been privileged to look through with contra sting in- joke than justice; and there is plenty of precedent for it--it is not the mold of this generation, but the example of generations which run so far back in the murly past that we lose their identity beyond the horizon of time as we know it. I can remember a time when if a drum major had been taxed in accordance with his style he would have spent the rest of his days in jail as a delinquent. There always seemed to me to be something dan gerous in style
 This is not so bad a warning; Learn to be a good loser. but have your name in your hat!' Such a pre- caution as this may help a rogue to be honest, for marked goods never look as tempting to a thief as goods that have no mark upon them. It is precaution, too, which is highly creditable to the owner of the hat, for the name shows that he is conscious of the possibility of loss, and recog- niZaC fha 11fn af oiiNI. tablish the identity of his hat among ten thousand and this marks him as q man of some sagacity. It is a fact. too, that no man ever yet senjoyed wearing a hat with another mans name in it unless it was the name of the maker placed there as a guaranty of quality. Sn we endorse the senti- ment: Be a good loser but have your name in your hat!"
 read the other day that the leaves of a tree are incidental to the fruit; and then I began to wonder if a hive of bees are incidental to the honey, or vice versa. Without any bees there would be no honey-with- out any leaves there would be no fruit. It is common to talk of fruit and flower as the crowning endeavor of plant life, but it isn't The making of seed is the supreme purpose of plant life and it would be truer per haps to say that the fruit is incidental to the seed than that the leaves are incidental to the fruit. But it doesn't look to me as if there was anything incidental about a plant created for single purpose, any more than there is to a machine made to take in wire and toss out nails. The envelope of all fruit contains the best sustenance for the rfourishment of the seeds it con tains. It was not made for man. es- pecially, although man upon it thrives and by it profits.
 We are receiving once more kind words from old friends-appreciati sentiments from those who enjoy this column. A column of paragraphs everybody doesn't enjoy it. You may have noticed the best advice is often est taken in the worst spirit :Morali- ty, you know, is not pleasing to devil, or immortality inviting to saint. What we have made ourselves regulates what we are receptive to- Our antagonisms are discords to our of life, and roil us when they would not disturb another Most disturbing clements are disturbine elements because we have made them so. Harmony makes friends; and more harmony than discord has been the fruit of this work. Old friends may be best: but new friends will soon seem like the old. for age can add little of worth to true friendship We wish all our friends A Happy New Y ear, and hope every day of 1911 may be a day with a new lesson and a new joy.