The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1935-01-11
Uncommon
Sense y John e,.a.
o, Bell syndicate.--wNU Service.

Help All brought TO our at
You Can tention.
Whenever people
clearly see and understand the trou-
bles of their fellow creatures, they
rarely fail to help them.
was in San Francisco within week
of the great fire that drove thousands
Of people from comfortable homes to
seek shelter in tents beyond the fire
zone
Working on a newspaper / had an
ample opportunity to see how help
was coming in from all sides, and to
observe how the rich forgot their pride
and, taking off their coats, labored
twelve hours a day till all that had
been driven from their houses were
supplied with shelter and food.
This is one of the fine traits in hui
man nature. 1t takes cover during the
average run of events, but it comes out
when there is call for aid.
In Carl Sandburg's fine biography of
Lincoln he tells how in his early life
one of the greatest Of men and of Pres
idents could never endure to see a
hog in distress
The hogs would go down to the creek
to drink and become mired in the thick
mud, which, had they not been helped,
would soon have drawn them down to
their deaths.
Then the tall lanky prairie youth,
driving past and observing them, would
pull off his coat and sometimes the
remainder of his attire, and by exerting
his tremendous strength, pull the
squealing porkers out on high land.
He smiled happily while they waddled
away to safer footing.
| Little in that time did Lincoln, or
anyone else, dream that before SO many
years he would be rescuing great ma
ton from destruction.
Today there are many reasons for
mutual helpfulness in the world.
1t is time to scrap selfishness and
self-seeking, and do all that can be
done to keep going the movement
which is to bring the world back to
its feet.
The vast majority of the people in
America understand this.
The concerted efforts that are being
made to restore better conditions Is
the proof.
There will be sacrifices and hard
ships.
But ,Chere is the man in this tUide
country Uho, tohile struggling himself
will not reach out hand totUard a neigh
Dor ,Oho is in toorse position than he?
Millions are starting slowly back up
the hill. And I believe as they toll
upward they will find their neighbors
reaching out to help them, and finding
in the practice of sympathy satisfac-
ton which will more than repay them
for all that they have done or are
doing.
In the days of my youth there were
men who could not afford laundry bills
and who wore what were known as
"dickeys.'
Dickeys were shield shaped devices
Of linen or cotton which could be used
to cover up the tri-
False angular space which
Fronts begins where the
vest leaves off.
But they were not very satisfactory.
They had tendency TO pull out at the
corners, permitting the public to view
contemptuously the soiled white or
whitish shirt underneath.
They saved laundry bills for while
to be sure-though in most cases it was
the toll of the poor wives or mothers
at home that they saved, but they were
known throughout the town to be poor
pretenses at responsibility.
And as soon as mans financial con-
dition improved little he abandoned
them and went back on the old hard
boiled standard.
But the "dickeys" supplied a lesson
to some Of the people in my old town
which more than atoned for the embar-
rassment that they sometimes cost.
Their wearers discovered that sham
was no good, that they might better
have donned the old red flannel shirts
which were worn by the railroad boys
and truck drivers than to attempt to
be something that they were not.
This is not an argument in defense
of the "snappy dresser" or of the boy
who keeps his mother at the dashboard
so she can save money to buy her off
spring the evening suit he says he must
own in order to keep up with the pa
rade.
1t is merely an effort to impress on
my readers that, while rags may not
be "royal raiment when worn for vir-
tues sake" it is better to stand for
what you are instead Of what you
would like to be, or what, heaven will
ing-you mean to be when you get your
chance.
Be what you are, and don't be
ashamed of it.
Better it if you can, and as rapidly