Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1920-11-17

are swamped under the counsel of
those who never planted a seed or
wrestled with contractor, and do
not claim that they know anything
about either subject except that they
know more about it than you.
The perfect strangers whose SUBJ
lime egotism makes them feel that
they can run our affairs much better
than we can manage them ourselves,
and who do not hesitate to tell us
where we should get on and off, are
hard enough to endure, Heaven
knows, but the real pest of the world
is the family adviser.
In every household you will find
some man or woman who has elected
himself or herself, to the office of
adviser extraordinary, and who runs
everybody else crazy with never
ending flow of suggestion. The man
may be a good-for-nothing parasite
whose children have to support him,
but before they can make a single
move in any direction they have to
listen to his endless eff I were you
l would do this" or 81 strongly ad-
wise you against doing that" and if
anything ever goes wrong he is an
incarnate reproach with his "if you
had only taken my advice in the mat
ter"
Or perhaps the family adviser is
a woman, in which case the female
of the species is deadlier than the
male, because she is always on the
job. She knows better than the doctor
what you should take when you get
sick. She knows more than the law
yer, about how to settle an estate.
She can pick out the exact man and
woman for every girl and boy to
marry. She knows just what dress
maker you should patronize and what
you should wear, and how you should
furnish your house, and what you
should have to eat, and no matter
how hurried or worried or busy you
are, you have got to stop and combat
her endless advice.
It's the family adviser who wrecks
homes and makes the members fly
to the uttermost parts of the earth
to try to get away from one who
feels that he or. she has a right ito
run their lives for them and whose
feelings are hurt if his or her corn-
sci is, not taken.
1T is easy: to see why people dote
on. giving advice. 1t is because they
like to, exploit selves. It is the
:uitima expression Of selfscon onceit,
Whyypeople ask Twice lis at cSnpresa
~ I BILE as ths Ill e Of The laz53
slz aEass
advice IS worth ess. y,
I Nobody can tell anbt person
what to do, because no othert person
knows all the circumstance Of the
case. There are thousand little init
mate details of the problem tS..iat the
seeker after light never reveals to
anyone, and these are the crux of the
whole matter, so that even a Solomon
could not solve the riddle that is
propounded to him.
Also there is the human equation
that must be taken into considera-
ton, so that the advice that seems to
fit your case doesn't fit it at all when
you try it. 1t may look a perfect
thirty-eight in the advice shop, but
when you get it home you find that
something is wrong with your meas
urements and that it bags where it
shouldn't bag, and 1t is too tight
across the breast, and that it hikes
up in the front and tails down in
the back.
"Never go into the grocery busi-
ness" advises the man who has fall
ed in it, but you may have the very
qualities that he lacked that will en-
able you to make a fortune in it.
"You will starve if you try to make
a living writing" advises some poor,
uninspired hack, but you may have
the divine fire that will light your
way to lame mad fortune. Don't
marry so-and-so, you will never be
able to live with him, and you will be
poor to the end of your days" coun-
sells father, yet that man may be
his daughters soul mate, and the
very man who is destined to become
millionaire.
Of course, the redeeming feature
about giving advice is that few peo-
ple take it, and most people who ask
for advice merely desire to confirm
them in the course they have already
determined upon pursuing. They sim
ply want to be backed up. Also the
process of being advised helps them
to clarity their own ideas, and really
decide upon what they want to DO,
quite Independent of your opinions.
But all the same, the advising bus
mess wastes lot of time, and is
great bore. oorn