Norwich bulletin., 1921-06-17
Written Specially For The Bulletin.

Written Specially For The BuTetin) There Is a lion in the way"
 Yessir yesm. Nobody will dispute you. There probably is
 There always has been.
 There always will be.
 There was when Solomon's sluggard hrst uttered the remark and rolled over for another morning nap.
 There is today when you know you ought to go out and cultivate those po- latoes and would, if the sun wasn't so blazing, blistering, broiling hot.
 There will be tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, 10 the last syllable of re- corded time when the last man crouches on the last small oasis of the dying world and hesitates to launch his ra- aium-drven arship on it's way to an other planet lest, forsooth, he may bump .nto some straw comet.
 "A lion in the way?' That's drawing t mild-less than even one-half of one per cent of the actual truth that is. There are lions and lions and then more lions They are not only in the street but on the sidewalks and round he corners and lurking in dark door Fays They are in country roads and anes and fields, and in country kitch- sns and parlors. too. They are pretty nearly everywhere certa inly in every direction towards which duty pushes and rom which inclination recoils.
 They are not always terrible Taw- lAys of Tinbuctoo," but always fright 'ul enouch-to ttose who want to be frightened by them. No record exists pf anyone ever having been actually de- Vourcd by them. but, if approached with proper timidity and readiness to be scared to death, they look carnivorous enough to eat a m; ;ssionary, hat and boots and hymn-boolI, too.
 Right there is the curious thing about them Their frightfulness depends al- most wholly on the other fellows ca pacity for being frightened. and his will ingness thereto. If. when you meet one your hair stands on end. it's eyes will begin to glare. If your knees quake its tail will begin to thrash If your teeth chatter its fangs will clash. If you turn and start to run. Wow! but what roar of triumph will crack your re. treating ears!
 If. however. you walk unconcern edly u1 10 it, it will usually begin to back away as you approach then 1t will turr tail on you and break into a trot; by tht lime you get where it had been its shad ow will he sooot:ng over a distant hil ard it will he meow-ing piteously fo,
 
 Into.
 There's wide difference between June bug and a hum-1ug; between hear and a bug-bear; between real lior and dream lion.
 And that last is exactly what most 0 the lions people complain of really are dream lions. imaginary beasts. figment of the fancy. phantoms of a sluggisI brain. They are actually about as sub stantial as the nondescrint monsters 0 nightmare Ordinarily they ar wheIned in the fears of their inventor and kenneled in their laziness.
 They are the stock beasts in the slug rard's menagerie; the watch-dogs aroun tlc lazy mans s!estas; the allies of tn l-are-
 Very few people call them lions. Som men speak of them as rheumatism ap Scme women as nerves. They have a r,2ny names as shiftlnssness has caDac i'v and energy enough to invent fo them
 No matter by what titles they ar c+aed or under what aspect they apnea1 they arc always in the way. prevent n nco7le from doing their work or trei dut~.
 Is there . mean and pcrnioketv jo waiting to be done over at the back pas Hro? One day it's too hot: another da JtS too cold: one day it's too windy; ar other day it's too rainy One day you'v rot the back-ache; anotehr day you'v got the bally-ache another day vou'y got the "dont-want-tos" and got 'er '7d. But whatever it's real character always a lion In your eyes, standin -rowln ng at those back pasture bar @'anding there till at last the cows brea over the unrenaired fence and the be: 2ne Gorges herself on your neighbor' rouns corn and dies of a collie. Where non you spend dolorous hours bewai .Ts vour bad luGl" to all who will ste a listen.
 oaee upon time an old farmer sai 70 small boy: You'll never get tba pad down that hill with them steers"
 l can try said the small boy. An, -en minutes later, he turned his load ir Q tho farm-lane at the foot of the Ion, FNe0. stony and crooked hill safe an sound
 When he was an old, gray-heade teteran, I've heard him tell that stor and chuckle over the outcome He 4 ways had fairness enough to admit ths [ was "ticklsh job" and that r wasn't sure he could do 1t till after vas done, But the old man alwa,