Rensselaer Journal, Volume 12, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 September 1902 — Arrow Shots. [ARTICLE]

Arrow Shots.

I shot an arrow Into the air, It fell to the earth; I know not where. —Longfellow. We dislike a person who is too cheer* fhl just as much as one who is too grouchy. There is no use in being stingy and trying to keep it to yourself, for everybody finds it out. We wouldn’t like to be a doctor, because if a patient gets well folks say he would have got well anyway. All professions are overcrowded, but people think there is room at the top and that their children will be at the top. Preachers at a strange church al* ways give liberally when the contribution box is passed. That is to set a good example. We do not really care it folks do agree with us when there is nothing in it. No woman can cut the leaves of a magazine properly.

Every day we wonder If we have offended some one, and undoubtedly we have. Only a few people oan mow a lawn so It will look deoent. Lots of men like to brag that they know nothing except their own business, when the truth is they do not even know that yery well. Being “purse proud” is the worst disease we ever heard of. It is astonishing on what small provocation some people get the big head. Some people’s only recommendation is that they do as they agree to. But others haven’t even that. When girls get so thick that they dress alike we watch out for the fhr to begin to fly. Doing as he agrees to always brings a man a lot of oredlt. Honesty never gets out of repute. If a fight wins out, it is astonishing how many are willing to father it. An old man is fired up every time he hears a band, just like a war horse is at the sound of battle. You have no idea how many staid old men belonged to brass bands in their youthful days. How would you like to be a soloist in a good brass band?

Whatever you do, avoid going crazy on just one idea. We have never yet seen a great financier with his name parted in the middle. J. Pierpont Morgan may put this in his pipe and smoke it. No man ever starts in business with the good wishes of his rivals. You need not put on airs if you live in a country town, because everybody knows your income. We are told that if a man remaine all his life a common laborer it is because he was not good for anything else, but what would become of the country if everybody was too wise to work at common labor?