The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1919-08-14
A FINE SERMON
Wait Mason Would Rather Be A
Doorkeeper In Emporia than Dwell
In The Tents of Gotham

] 1sA& sars three assorted boots
absss my standing in New York or
Bsssun," says Walt Mason, probably
ths nost-widely read newspaper poet
md pAik sopher in America Il q m.
en- - conduct himself that The Load
ING oitizens Of his tUvn win slap
M - o. taak. push his hat down
svsr biz ears, and call him BY his
frat Iams, II consoles him, Waits
ind, IN Shs disappointment n LIE,
and - nay feel that he ID not .
soDp2sas failure. "Ths folk at home
know q man from his rubber heels 10
his side-whiskers," be sasures us N
The American Magazine, and If he
gets in wrong with them, the stuff's
of. There's no happiness for him
elsewhere. The one thing needful to
become popular, according to Mr..
Mason, is to have consideration TOR
the other fellow. The first impulse
with most of us, he asserts, are purely
selfish. This trait we inherited from
our forefathers, who lived in trees
and caves. In the course Of tens OF
thousands Of years mankind has de-
veloped the ability to entertain se-
condary impulse, however, which in
volve consideration for others. He
illustrates:
When I want q eAiekaa dinner, my
first impulse Is to 60 osa after dark
and steal a Ae1: my second impulse
is to 90 to tass meat-market and buy
one. have found that my hrst inn
pulses peariy always are selfish and
wrong, and follow the second ones.
The people who follow their self
ish impulses are thoughtless Of the
feelings of others, and hence become
unpopular maintain Mason. This
thoughtlessness manifests itself in a
variety of ways, and he furnishes an
example:
Some weeks ago we were Short |
handed at our home. The butler had
sprained an ankle while carrying |
the winters ashes out of the base
ment, and the hired girl was at an
emergency hospital trying to take
fall out of the influenza. The missis
was doing the cooking and dish
washing, and ! was carrying coal
and splitting kindling, and using Ian
guage of various kinds.
1t was at this juncture that Cousin
Benjamin came down from Iowa to
pay US surprise visit. He came n
his auto, with his wife and several
bushels of children, and they all
thought they were doing something
amusing, and took it for granted
that we'd be overjoyed to see them.
We greeted them as cordially as we
could, and wore such smiles as peo-
pie wears at coroner's inquests, but
our hearts were full of bitterness.
Had Cousin Benjamin notified us he
was coming we could have wired
him that the house was quarantined,
or. taken other defensive measures.
But that isn't Cousin Benjamin's
way.
There never was man With bet
ter intentions. He is generous and
kind, and wants to be everybo iy's
friend, and there is no meanness IN
him. But he has a diagonal sense OF
humor, and when some amusing
scheme occurs to him he goes ahead
to work it out, without sitting down
for half an hour to figure how it's
going to affect the other fellow. AS
a consequence, he is lonesome man.
People appreciate his sterling quail
ties. and have a long-distance affec-
ton for him; but they hide under
tn, ba,n when they SEE tim coming.
Of ether things that make people
gai l., W, ong, he mentions tie reluct-
az, of some to pay their bills. He
sass they can't settle up "with.r;
gr.:;.s their teatn ami l"".';" like
King Charles on the way to the
block" A specimen of this kind is
put on exhibition:
Some years ago / was editor and
proprietor of weekly paper which
was forever teetering along the edge
of bankruptcy. There was a small
job-office in the bacikroom, and two
or three discouraged pri- ers who
were always down by a foreboding
that the ghost wouldn't walk on pay
day. never could understand how
kept that concern going as long as
did, for The sheriff was never more
than a few rods behind, and the
superintendent cf the county poor
r. -,e aI-.~, roxoin6in1 ma that |