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THE COURIER
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113
A THOUGHT OR TWO.
EMILY OUIWITS
For The Courier.
One cold afternoon last winter a farm
er drove into town with a load of wood
and tied his horses just across from our
off.ee window. He covered one horse
with a blanket, while the other re
mained uncovered. Both horses stood
quietly for a few minutes, but soon the
one exposed to the cold began to fidget
and twist, while the one that was cov
ered stood perfectly still, from time to
to time fixing a mildly inquiring look
on his lees fortunate neighbor.
How like ib this, we thought, to hu
man life. One person is left without
protection in the world, while his neigh
bor, for so apparent reason, is provided
with everything necessary to his com
fort and welfare. The possessor of these
temporal blessings looks with the Bame
wonder and sometimes with pity on his
fellow-being who is wriggling and
twisting under bis less favorable cir
cumstances, thoroughly uncomfortable,
yet seemingly unable to better his con
dition. As we sat in our cozy office with the
Are burning cheerily in the grate, we
were filled with a feeling of compassion
for the mass of poor, struggling humani
ty to whom the aforesaid office would
appear a sort of earthly paradise, and
whose ideas of grate fires are gained
chiefly from glimpses of them through
their employers' windowB.
Our fire's merry crackling ceased; it
settled down to a steady, deliberate
burning, and again we drew conclusions,
and many were the world-pictures
which arose from the bed of glowing
coals.
In the enthusiasm pt youth, humani
ty is like the dancing flame. It rushes
wildly from one thing to another, and
much valuable time is wasted, some
times in the pursuit of the bubbles of
fame or of pleasure, and sometimes in
an honest endeavor to find or to make
an appropriate place in the great mov
ing world.
By the time this place is decided up
on and we are ready to settle down to
earnest, moderate living, the fire is half
burned out; for a few years we may con
tinue this state of existence, but the
end is inevitable, and soon a few ashes
will be all that remains to tell of our
existence, with the exception, perhaps,
of some lonely traveler who has been
warmed and cheered by our blaze.
This being the case, what is the ad
vantage of this confused, tumultuous
living? Why spend our days in frantic
striving after fame and wealth and
power, since these must be laid aside bo
soon and all will be equal in the grave?
Why not live moderately, rationally,
one day at a time, attending to the du
ties of each hour and gathering such of
its pleasures as we may, with lees of
"care and concern for the future?
The fire burned low and red; a coal
fell down through the grate with a
clinking sound, and we were reminded
of the verses entitled "Uncounted Bless
ings," written, we think, by Eben E.
Rexford:
I sometimes tire of making vain endeavor
For things I never win. tho sought so Ion?:
And wonder if my pains must fail forever 1
And minor chords creep into life's low mg
Until my heart is heavy with its sorrow,
As things beyond me, always far away.
Keep beckoning on, and whispering
tomorrow ,"
But sever hold the music of today.
The thing just out of reach seems always
fairer
Than anytniag today can have or hold ;
Tomorrow's sunshine will be brighter,
rarer,
And so we miss the present hour's gold .
Today is ket in dreaming of tomorrow.
And when tomorrow comes, the heart will
lay
Plans for the future, thinking o'er in sorrow
The squandered blessings of the yesterday .
We lose the little joys of life forever
In thinking of the far-off unattained :
And by and by, when fainting hope siys
"Never,"
For what we've missed life's long regret is
gained.
If we could take life's blessings as we fnd
them,
Making the most of bright or cloudy days ,
Departing, they would leave content behind
them,
And vague unrest be banished from our
ways.
"I like whiskey' said Leon Cham
pney, of Pecos City, Texas, with a
frankness that made Wesley Austin,
chairman of the Brown hotel clerical
board, blush to the very roots of his
wavy auburn hair, "and I drink a good
deal of it and have a good time, and
don't care who knows it."
The extent to which Mr. Champney
didn't care who knew it was amply
shown in the way he Bwaggered back in
the big chair he occupied, tilted his
wide hat sidewise on his round head
and smiled up out of the midst of his
big red face.
"But I'll tell you one thing," be went
on. "I'm stuck on one man in Denver.
He's as white a feller as ever I met, and
I met him under peculiar circumBtan
cee, too. Ab I said I like whiskey, and
I generally have some of it along with
me. I had some along last night when
I went out, all by myself, to see the
town. I had hoisted in four or five
highballs, because I didn't know a soul
in the town, and I went wandering
around and around, up and down and
first thing you know my cigar went out.
I was up on Sherman avenue I saw a
sign and it was twelve o'clock at night
and I didn't know a soul in town.
"Well, Bir, do you know what I done?
I just went in at the first cate I came
across and went up on the porch of a
big, fine house and rang the bell.
"I waited a short spell and an up
Btairs window went up and a man said:
"Well, what is it?'
'"Nobody but me, I answered.
" 'And what's the trouble?'
'"Oh, nothing,' said I; at least not
much. My cigar has gone out and I
don't know a soul in town. Have you
got such a thing as a match about you?'
"He didn't say a word, be he disap
peared. In a minute he was back, and
what do you think he done? He throw
ed a whole box of matches out to me
and said, 'There you are,' and shut
down the window without giving me a
chance to say as much as 'Thank you.'
"But I did thank him in my heart,"
concluded Mr. Champney, "and when I
get back to the hotel here, which I did
after about eighteen miles of walking
around two blocks, 1 said to myself just
before dropping asleep: 'Say, he's
thor-bred, huh?'
"And I answered myseir, 'Shore
thing'." Detroit Free Press.
There are many occasions when a
judge is obliged to render decisions in
cases which are unique aud unprece
dented. Grave issues sometimes hinge
upon technicalities, on interpretations
which must be made on the spur of the
moment, without recourse to the pon
derous volumes which embody decisions
made previously in similar cases. Once
upon a time a case waB brought before
a learned judge, says the Boston Tran
script, in which the question at issue
was whether a button was made for a
buttonhole or a buttonhole for a button.
Counsel for the button held that it was
so plain as to. render argument super
fluous that the buttonhole was made
for the use and behoof of the button;
still, for form's sake, he would give' a
few reasons why his contention was the
correct one. It was apparent, he said,
that without the buttonhole the button
would be unable to perform its function,
and hence it was plain that the button
preceded the buttonhole, and that the
latter was invented in order that the
buttonhole might be of service to man
kind. It should be clear to everybody
that had it not been for the button the
buttonhole never would have been
thought of. Its existence necessarily
presupposed the existence of the button.
The lawyer for the other side was
equally positive in the stand he had
been employed to take. He averred that
the buttonhole preceded the button:
that, in fact, the button was merely an
afterthought. He said that, as every
one knew, the buttonhole can be em
ployed without the button, as witness
Farmer Jones, who invariably uses a
nail or sliver of wood instead of the con
ventional button, whereas it was impos
sible to make an effective use of the but
ton without the aid and assistance of
the buttonhole. Hence it was shown
beyond perad venture that the button
hole was of greater importance than the
button, and it was natural to infer that
the buttonhole was firBt invented and
that the button came later simply as an
ornament, or, at best, as an improve
ment upon the nail, sliver or other in
strumentality wherewith the buttonhole
was made to perform its duty. To show
the relative value of the buttonhole and
the button, he saidt take this simple ex
ample. When the button comes off the
buttonhole can still be made service
able, but if the buttonhole is elit open
the button is of no use whatever. With
this the learned counsel rested hie case,
although he claimed he had not ex
hausted the subject. When the court
came in after recess the learned judge
promptly decided the case in favor of
the buttonhole clearly a ju3t decision
although it was whispered about the
court house that the decision might
have been different but for the fact that
while changing his linen between ad
journment and reassembling of the
court his honor had dropped his collar
button and hunted for it without success
for half an hour, and perhaps might
never have found it had he not stepped
upon it. But of course this suggestion
came from the partisans of the button
'and may fairly be imputed to their dis
appointment and chagrin.
human activity. They are univerral
and particular; general and specific;
worthy acd unworthy; divine and Sa
tanic. So masterfully does an idea
sometimes take hold of a personality
that it becomes the fixed, controlling
purpose of life, overtopping and over
shadowing everything else. Nations,
like individuals, are possessed by ruling
ideas. Rome was ruled by the idea of
empire; Sparta by that of physical man
hood; Athens by the expression of top
beautiful; France by that of glory; Eng
land by that of commerce; our own land
by that of liberty. The value of a man
SB a member of human society depends
very largely upon the sort of idea thai
gets hold of him. Hence, before we
allow ourselves to become the exponents
of an idea, we should be very certain
that it is worthy of us. And the more
noble and unselfish the prevailing idea,
the more nearly does it approach to im
mortality. Poetry never encountered
a more resonant chord than when it
responded to "Rock of Ages." Music
never encountered a thought that im
poverished its power of expression until
it undertook to render "The Messiah."
Architecture never felt the moving of a
spirit that demanded more of cunning
and skill than the hand could find
until it undertook to embody the idea
of the cross in marble pile. Patriotism
never encountered a successful rival for
the control of human hearts until it
met Him who rendered unto Caesar tho
things that belonged to Caesar only,
and unto God the things that are God's.
Human clinging to life never was shak
en in its firm grasp upon desire until
this great thought came flaming from
the cross, "to die is gain."
This is an age of athletics. In en,
leges and high schools the gymnasium
classes grow noticeably larger from year
to year. Basket ball, tennis, bicycle
riding and golf supplement the regular
class work for girls, while with the men
base ball and foot ball retain their old
time popularity. Yet there never was a
time when the newspapers were so full
of patent medicine advertisements as
at the present day. Flaunting head
lines announcing some marvelous con
coction stare at us from every page.
The medical colleges, too, are turning
out the usual number of licensed prac
ticionere each year, and seldom is a case
recorded of a physician's starving to
death or turning to another occupation.
Possibly in this ae in other lines the law
of compensation is operating. The bal
ancing of oppoeites is everywhere ap
parent in nature. Light finds its count
erpart in darkness, heat in cold, hap
piness in misery and weakness in
strength. More than ever before this is
an age of intensity of devotion to ideals
and ideas. Ideas dominate eras, ages,
countries, nations and individuals. The
world is seething with ideas; they are
here in all shapes, colors, sizes and
grades; they are the penetrative and
controlling power in all departments of
"I want a positive answer, Miss Jones.
Will you marry me?"
"No."
"That's hardly fair. I aeked for a
positive answer and you have given mo
a negative." Philadelphia Times.
UTAH
AN IDEAL CLIMATE
The first white man to set foot on
Utah soil, Father Silvestre Volez de Es
calante, who reached the GRB A.1
tSAX,X IAKE"; on the 23rd
day of September, 1776, wrote in his
diary: ''Here the climate is so delic
ious, the air so balmy, that it is a pleas
ure to breathe by day and by night."
The climate of Utah is one of the rich
est endowments of nature. On the
shores of the Great Salt Lake especially
and for fifty miles therefrom in every
direction the climate of climates is
found. To enable peiBoos to participate
in these Bcenic and climatic attractions
and to reach the famous Healtb,
B-attutxag- and Pleas.
"ta-r Resorts of Utah, the
UNION PACIFIC has made a rate
to OQDEJ1V and SALT
LAKE; CITY of one fare for
the round trip, plus 82.00. from Mis
souri River, to be in effect June ISth to
30th inclusive, July 10th to August 31st
inclusive. Return limit October 31, and
830.00 for the round trip on July 1 to 1)
inclusive, September 1 to 10 inclusive.
Proportionately low RateB from inter
mediate points.
Full information cheerfully furnished
upon application.
E. B. SLOSSON, Agent.
Members Chicago Board of Trade.
Private Wires.
FLOYD J. CAMPBELL CO.
Telephone 80S.
QJW SJ0GKS, PROVISIONS
Correspondent: AVeare Commlbsiou Co.
1029 N St Lincoln, Nebr.
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