Norwich bulletin., 1911-05-13
FOLKS AS WE FIND THEM

dunn nonsense Or if that sweeping
verdict isn't absolutely demanded, will,
at least, find occasion to set forth
how much wiser it would have been if
he had only done something else in
some other way.
remember, quite a while ago, talk
ing about the borrowing neigh5or.
There's a mighty big difference in him,
anyway. | have one who is constant
" borrowing, and am -tickled to my
elbows every chance / have to lend
him He always returns more help
than he asks fora he is careful of the
things he borrOws and often brings
them back in better shape than he
takes them: ne returns what he bOE-
rows promptly and when he agrees to,
If he has to lug a harrow on his back
across new-plowed field in the rain
to keep his word. He knows where
he got the tool from and puts it back
in its place. whether | am around or
not have another neighbOr who once
borrowed a hand cart for use over
night. and who finally brought it back.
after, il had three times been sent for,
so dirty and wrenched and broken that
it took me two hours to get it into
disable shape. That same neighbor al
most constantly has a boy on the road
in one direction Or another to Dor
row. little flour, or a little lard or
little tea, or a little sugar, or a little
something else. They're always Just
out and going to the store after more
and they'll return it Tomorrow"
That tomorrow" never coomes
There are manifsstIy two Sorts of
Borrowers, but in all my worldly ex-
perience, / never found another Just
like the first neigfnbor I've referred to-
Whether he's q class all by himself or
whethar there are a few more of him
fa- ol n 7
profess to be sure. But a vast majority
fof the borrowers I've known are simply
borrowers by metonymy, and actually
Irbeggars in fact. They find it-<easiar
to sponge their needs from others than
to earn them or save the wherewithal
to own them It's mighty easy state
of mind. that, to get into, I'm sorry to
say Some years ago. all the people
In the Bagg neighborhood saved their
own sweet-corn seed. But Mrs. Bagg
had regular fad for tracing up and
saving great quantities of the ears, and
they used to hang in almost decorative
festoons from all the rafters and cross
ties of her great roomy woodshed.
Gradually the neighbors found that if
they forgot or neglected to save their
own, they could always borrow some
from her. 1t actually got so, before
ner death, that every neighbor within
"a mile used to trot regularly down to
her, every May, to get a little sweet
corn for seed. They grew 50 In the
habit OF it that they forgot how to
save their own When she died there
came nsar being sweet-corn famine
in that part of the town.
but it's when we come to pickinu
flaws in our neighbors that we reach
the summit of happiness. Anyway. it
Fwould seem 30, from the eagerness
and the almost universally with which
= U a r, 4 hat H. IL
The old Latin phrase: Nil nisi de
mortuis bonufn, speak nothing but
good of the dead always seemed to
me cart-before- the-horse proyerb.
When people are dead, speaking i'll of
them can't hurt them. But while
1neyre stiil alive speaking i'll can and
Goes hurt horribly /, It's a queer taste
which leads to searching people on
this side. anyway. With a world full
or arbutus and hepatica and dicentra
ana s7nSuinaria and bluets and yio-
lets. tnat man or woman would be con-
sidered abnormal who should go
through the woods looking for toad
stools and ill-smefIing fungi. But when
We get together on a scouting party
INTO the character of our neighbors it .
just their fungous faults which we
chase after and pick and hold up to
ers of trvthfulnsss and loyalty and
friendlfness and charity we ignore or
| pass by with a sort of sneer, as if we
could expose the rottenness of them.
TOO, II We cared to take the trouble
! don't know that this sort of thino
is bit more common in the country
Glan Ii is in the town. But it's more
noticeable. An automobile climbing a
noun tain cross-road where not one
passes per week is likely to attract
| ror1 attention than one in Broadway,
where they are as thick as f1eas on a
dog Out here where there is plenty of
| noon and no crowds. we can see our
lnelghbors and they can see US on all
\ sides.-can look each other all over
and all around. Which makes it more
| desirable that we should exercise the
| right spirit of selection in the things
we choose to see and report upon.
Suppose some newspaper should print
! verbatim report of all that was said
| or whispered at a Saturday night s
| gathering of the men in the back room
or the store? Or an equally full and
exact report of all that was said OF
| whispered at some gathering OF the
! women? Would 1t or would it not
make sensation in the community
| Would it or would it not tend to ce-
rnent the friendship between the neigh
/ bors?
THE FARMER.
|
A Fair Criticism.