The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 9, 1905, Page 10

THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. t? The fact is that the old man sign stuck up, ‘Keep off this place!”” IMUEL, said rizintine, in it at do you began to fail about the time he for- “Well, it would make the sizn about the most ne got his noliteness. Think I've got you stronger to say, 'Please keep off.’ It quality in man? there, B If T haven't, I'm willing would appeal more to a feller. A The two old moen were to change the subject.” thousand men may be influenced by the May side of “I don't know that you have. Any- politeness where one is scared. 1 knew ing that ever pres- how, I'd like to ask you this: What's a man that spent half his life tryin’ to 4. the use of a man tryin' to be polite if scare folks. He wanted to be known as a bad man. Got started wrong wnen he was a boy—read ‘Up the Gulch' stuff. 1 saw him not long ago and 1 asked him if he had scared any- it? Why should he act don’t fe wpereri “Shouldr “there and run banks lied are th; hype: t. The act a e creek at it fact that if a n begins early to Y to determine which, practice politenes it will after a body yet. He sorter hemmed and B he o + occurs to m» at this while come natural to him. There hawecd and wanted to talk about some- ® ¢ has been preached ain't nothin’ that tastes much worse agair one that mothers at first than a chaw of tobacco does, r ¢ on the minds of their but after a while it's sweeter and ns. It is J more to be desired than It be- User said comes second nature and second na- B and ture is twin brother with first nature funerals busi- and is sometimes stronger than the == a fl born. Let a man make polite- must b is mess, by which I m rcted tkindne £l just as much of a ond nature us- said j§ he makes tobacco. He can do it =3 There never was a man that couldn't find some wayv to change his nature nind finess is. and may be One of been ho have sto fail in later ¥ have forgotten of the earlier once forgotten, It ought is young in or- The fact is, it there’s nothin’ awkward than a r life tryin’ for the ite. If a young fel- out in business would n minutes ind o the study polite- any set form, ns, he would time he tor of 1o} remembered vhen a fellow o seem natur ntal. Por 2 day a bool refle ment of s the ntended to pictu intended mind. visible t in mo- speakin’ t, and if I see e very often hear its make the ss he has kept com- s. He believes that he the uselessness of po- with the young chap it experi- spoke “but it finds (hat politeness is a up, nave to it mm, hit as hard as possible, for in a fight hard hittin’ is a polite- ness—unto yourself.” There is a differ- <nce, Briz, between the polite man and the fawner. One is a man and the other has missed it. His intention is too plain. He shows that he wants to do you. He stoops in his humbleness in order to get an under hold. No. sir, politeness is not humbleness. It is dignity made pleasant. It is a counten- thing else, but I pinned him down. Then he told me that he thought he had one man scared about three vears before, and had just begun to believe that his work for all that long half a lifetime was about to be rewarded by a terrified countenance. But suddenly % g the feller whipped out a knife and)r'S absence the mother goes there. came at him. Afterward he discov~)The fdea is that the tcuch of the pa- ered that what he took to be fright on{rent’s love and interest upon the child the feller's face was a scar left by a (88 it comes back to conwlqusness after scald. Now if he had spent all that(Sleep is far better than that of a hired time in practicin’ politeness it might servant and is likely to prove of great have netted him something. 1t jand permanent worth_ in the child’s de- wouldn’t have humiliated him. Very {velopment. * few men have ever been humbled by( Back of this instance of fatherly practiein’ politexfess. You've heard-the (forethought is the fundamental prin- old story of a great man ridin’ along )ciple that it is important for any one to the road. They tell it on Washington )start the day in the right mood.‘ ‘Who and ;Jackson and Clay, but the moral50f us older people does not feel the is the same no matter who it was. He{need of some ‘such sweetening and was a-ridin’® along and met, an old ne- (steadying influence at the outset of gro. The negro took off his hat. Then {each new day? Teo often the cares of the great man took off his hat. Some/yester@ay come trooping back as we one spoke to him about it. ‘Why. said )slowly wmerge from dreamland and if he, ‘I can't afford to let a negro be)some vexing problem must be dealt more of a gentleman than I am.{with during the next 24 hours how There’'s a lot.of good sense in that.{quickly that comes before us also. If And take it in the matter of a fizht. a(we could only secure, before the plurge moral or a physical fight. At the very )into the whirlpcol of activity, just.a. beginnin’ the polite man generally has )few minutes. of happy, inspiring the other feller more than half whiv-{thoughts, what a difterence it would ped. If I were givin’ advice to a voung- (make-in the entire day! ster goin’ away from home to seek his( Our parents cannot long secure this FATHER ¢’ my acquaintance makes it a point to be at the bedside of his little lliree-ye‘n;- old boy as soon_as he wakes A every morning and in the fath- trom bad to better. He can be sur- geon to his own deformities. The greatest man of all said that there was nothin’ good nor bad but that thinkin’ made it so.” “Was he a preacher?” inquired. “Yes, preached inspiration at first hand. He wrote ‘Hamlet’ Did you ever read it?” “Don’'t remember, but I've read ‘Tempest and Sunshine.’ My daugh- ter brought it from school with her, where she was a-teachin’, and I got hold of it. I didn’t know but it was somethin’ about the crops and I set down, I did, ard began to read It. And I don’'t know yet what it was about. Seemed that folks in love was a havin’ trouble. Caught myself Brizintine failure, why tell the young reller to ctice it?” ¢ well put, old man. Now let EARLY TO PRACTCE ITWIiLL AFTER AWHILE NATUR AL TO MYy 7 A e A e e ¥ me see if 'l have to shift my ground. Let me look about and see if you've got me cornered. You see, I never know whether a thing is true or not until 1 have to defend it. Yhat is the use of a young feller bein’ polite if he sees that an old man has failed a-wipin’ of my eyés. Didn't want my daughter to see me in that weak fix, so I goes out and called up the hogs and fed 'em, Feedin’ of the hogs is an offset to all appearances, you know. But speakin’ about politeness, how can a farmer be polite with his SN AN S level, I'd@ say somethin’ like this: £ le mood for us, but our own i = uch long as you are polite you have full )Wills, if resolute enough, can do m control of your temper, and master of your temper, you are master of the If it becomes necessary to cuss a man, do it in situation. to induce it. ‘Determine first of all that 'your waking thoughts shall not relate" to yesterday's troubles and failures but to ‘to-day’s opportunities. The former besthave passed into history. They were the very terms at your.command. And if you)hard enough to tear at the moment. A ) SZ0) ECNEAC ' A M AN ance with a lamp behind it. Do you think there would be so many divorces if men ahd women practiced the po- liteness tjfey did before they were mar- ried? Pdliteness sometimes carries the torch for love.” “There is a good deal of truth in all that you have said,” remarked Brizin- tine, “but I can’'t help rememberin’ that you wan't very polite to that fel- ler Atcherson, over the creek. several years ago.” Why should we let them continue to dog us? Susan Coolidge has written nothing sweeter than' the poem com- menecing Every day is a new beginning. Every morn is the world made new. Send the thoughts forward then to all the chances of happiness and growth which the new day is sure to bring. O glorious new day, fresh from its Maker's hand, al golden with possibili- ties, as yet unscarred by our short- - The First Thought . on Waking. - By ‘The" Parson. comings! O glorious new day, we hail thee and rejoice that we are permitted to make our record cleaner and fairer. Let us think, too, of the goodness and not of the meannesses of our fel- Jowmen. If we have rubbed up against cranky individuals, if our lot is to be cast with those- who thwart and fret. us, let us put over inst’ such human annoyances those and nable lives with which we also may come in con- tact from day tc day. Be thankful “Oh, Bill Atcherson,” Jucklin, replied. “I think I was. He called me a liar and I didn’t dispute his word.”™ “No, but you knocked him down.”™ “Yes, but knocked him over toward a place where the ground was the softest. I did the best I couid for him under the circumstances. I could have zone further—could have called him a liar and knocked him down in addition. But I didn’t. 1 was polite.” (Copyrighted, 1905, by Opie Read.) on waking that this old world still holds so many persons of this type. ‘We may not this day touch many o1 them, but just to know that they are somewhere in the world radiating con- stantly truth and virtue ought to in- spirit us as we rub our eyes, struggle into our clothes and face again the old routine. And our waking thoughts ought surely to include some recognition of the divine protection and guidance that constantly surround our lives. Phillips Brooks once voiced his won- der as to how men could come back from unconsciousness to the world of action without sending their thoughts upward to the source of all life and blessing. Some . families still maintain the beautiful custom either at break- fast table or elsewhere of joining in some simple aet of worship. In view of all the risks and expaosures to which every one is subject evety day of his life and in view-of the limitations-of one’s strength and wisdom | it ‘seems only natural .and right to ~laim the care and leadership of a power .un- seen but real, that holds all humanity in-its grasp. There is a little prayer of "Robert Louis Stevenson's which suits itself to the break of day, and which, if said honestly by any one, is sure to make the waking moments peaceful and happy: “The day returns and brings us the petty round of irritating concerns and duties. - Help us to play the man. Help us to perform them with laughter and kind faces. Let _cheerfulness abound with industry. Give us to go ‘blithely on our business all this day. Bring us to. our resting beds weary and content and undishonored. And grant us in the end the gift of sleep.”|