The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1919-07-24
THE SOCIETY OF
THE PUC PUGGIES.

hnOW, written III the SplrlI OF lne ola
travellers, is Betram's account of his
tour in the Floridas. 1t is book OF
high merit every way" In his Coler-
idge undoubtedly refers not to the
works of John Betram, but to the
Travels of William Betsam.
William Betsam was born in King
sessing, Pa, in 1889. He grew up with
the garden, often accompanied his
father on extensive tours, Travelled
himself, and published his travels
through North and South Carolina,
Georgia and Florida. He travelled in
the country of the Cherokees, the
Creek Confederacy, and the country
of the Choctaws. He lived in Phlla-
delphia, was never married, was al
student of science, and kept the gar
den until the day of his death IN
1923. Failing health necessitated his
declination of professorshlp IN the
University of Pennsylvania, which was
offered him in 1882. His manuscript
work on the Indians was published by
the American chronological Society in
1853. The Seminoles gave TO Mr.. Ber-
tram the name "Puc-Puggy," which !
means flower hunter"
Should we not have Society OF
Puc-Puggy" ("flower hunters")? p
While the pathway of our pilgrimage
on earth is lined with many thorns,
the flowers are more numerous. |
What we need is the flower-hunting
instinct-the disposition to look for
the pleasant things of life rather than
the unpleasant. Some one asked the
old question: rs life worth living?"
and received the answer, That de-
pends upon the liver?" Men are still
asking the question: rs the world
growing better?" The answer to that
question depends largely upon the
viewpoint from which we look and
the character of the one making the
Investigation.
This world is not so bad world
AS some would like to make it. f,
But whether good or whether bad
Depends on how you take it,
There are many things that affect
our vision of the world. There is ne
cessarily the element of personal !
character the affinity of evil, and the :
result of associations. Then there isl
the sensationalismo of evil. Evil !
spreads with tremendous rapidity. :
The evil shocks us; the good does
not. The newspapers generally give
us the worst side of life. A bank |
cashier runs away with the money of
the institution, and the flaming head |
lines and column write-up tell the !
world the startling news; but we
never see word of the thousands of
bank cashiers who are carefully and
safely handling the money of the |
great banks with which they are con-
nected. Some poor fellows wife for
gets her marriage VOW and becomes |
untrue, and the entire country is ag-
itated over the sensation presented on
the front page; but never word of
the thousands and thousands of faith |
full wives who are making life worth |
living for the men to whom they have
pledged fidelity. A preacher falls, and
the whole world reads with wild-eyed
excitement the tragedy of fallen
prophet; but little do we see of the
thousands of consecrated ministers of
Jesus Christ who lives are a perpe-
tual benediction to the race.
How glad we should be that we
are living now! This is the best age
the world has ever seen. How differ
emily men look upon the value of a |
human life! Socrates sneered at the
grief of a mother who was weeping
over the death of a child. Plato urg-
ed that every city select some distant
hilltop and construct a pen where
weak and unhealthy children might
be exposed until death and urged
that physicians should not prescribe
for the incurably sick. Aristotle ad-
vocated the passage of laws making
1t compulsory for parents to drown
unhealthy children. Contrast with
these the many institutions all over
the land for the care of the orphan
and the needy. Our land is dotted
with hospitals and asylums and homes
for the destitute.
Some Of us were beginning to think
that the world was materialistic and
miserly; but the generous response TO
the appeals for Y. NJ. G. A work, the
Red Cross, the suffering in all lands
and under all circumstances has for
ced a rehabilitation of our opinions.
The time was when men were burned
at the stake for reading the Bible.
How strange this seems now!
A disabled vessel had drifted into
the mouth of the great Amazon River
without knowing it. Seeing another
vessel in the distance, the captain
signaled to the passing vessel; Bring
us water. We are dying of thirst"
Quickly the answer was flashed back
Let down your buckets. There is
plenty of fresh water all around you"
In this world, briny with the tears
of sorrow, there are various places
where we may let down our buckets
for fresh water. In that Sermon on
the Mount, the Magma Charta of
Christian civilization, the Great
Teacher warned against fault-find-
ing. In DR.. James Moffat' "a New
Translation of the New Testament
the passage is rendered as follows:
why do you note the splinter in your
brothers eye and fail to see the plank
in your own eye? Ho wcan you say to
your brother, Let ME take out the