The Washington herald., 1913-11-30
Fables of Everyday Life
The Man Who-Knew.It-AH

evening when II was not too warm to
cause him any discomfort The-Man-Who-
Knew-It-AlI went The gardener
beamed with delight as he pointed out
the wonderful color schemes which he
had worked out; the perfection of the
blossoms which he had achieved: the
profusion OF flowers which rewarded the
work of all the years since he first
builded the attractive home for his bride
and began in the first year Of their life-
Journey together to prepare the soil for
its floral background. since which time
he has spent many busy hours in both
the closing and opening seasons in per-
fecting the beauty OF his first Intention.
The n-who- -Knew-It-An admitted that
the results were pretty enough.
But then" he said, anybody can
grow flowers. II ons has the ground. II
is but necessary to sow the seed, and
there you arer
And the flower enthusiast, whom ht
had gone to see, gave him in reply only
an enigmaticaI smile
Man-who-Knew-It-An found a
rainy Sunday always more or less Of a
bore, so he dug around in his mind one
drizzly afternoon for something to do,
until he remembered a story in a cur
rent magazine which had created a deal
Of favorable comment Having the pc
riodical handy he settled himself cozily
for a perusaI of its pages.
why" said he, when he had finished
the story, there is nothing so remark
able about that. Anybody can write a
story. As for the plot-well, it's all
bally rot
The story in question was a real slice
from the heart of life; its central figure
a ne'er do well; a scoffer at Gods high
purpose in His creation OF man; a WEIGH
er, and an egoist While The -Man-Who-
Knew-It-An dismissed it as "bally rot, -
it clung, nevertheless, to his memory.
On a day the conceit of The Man-who-
Knew-It-All withered as the leaves on
a branch OF a dying tree. for God brought
him quite to the threshold of The Open
Door. and the doctors Eravely shook their
heads when they consulted concerning
ways and means known to their science
TO keep him from passing through.
Now the threshold of The Open Door
IS a wonderful place, for across it streams
the light of understanding. No man can
stand within IL and keep his eyes veiled.
So The-Man- Who -Knew-It-All fingered
there quite alone and when the scales
dropped from his eyes he saw himself as
he had stood scofing beside the beauti-
full pictures in his friends private art
gallery; saw himself belittling the accom-
plishment OF the famous actress who had
worked her way to fame; saw himself
telling his man Of the garden that a
few small seed and a plot of ground were
all that was needed to grow his wonder
full flowers, and watched himself in a
thousand other instances in which he had
stood aloof, criticising the accomplish
ment of a fellow-man, and as he looked
at himself more closely he recognized
the man of the story he had pronounced
"bally rot;" the man who had evaded
the work which God had intended as his
share. and ridiculed others who met life
and accomplished its purpose.
D rops of agony stood out on his brow,
and attending physicians told those who
watched beside his bed that his hour
was at hand, but II was not so, for even
as they spoke NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
turned his back on The Open Door and.
looking out upon the physical world with
which he had been familiar, he whispered:
81 thought knew it all but know
nothing, and what is worse 1 have done
nothing"
Admitting which he had already begun
to learn