Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 September 1881 — Moral Musings. [ARTICLE]

Moral Musings.

Ifc'is easier to tie a knot in a cord of wood than to do an evid deed and get rid of the consequences. Don’t be in too great a hurry to succeed. Work hard to deserve success, and fortune is sure not to forget you. A little sin may ruin your whole life, as a rat may gnaw a hole through a dike and let the river flood the State. When in the excess of your affection you tell your wife that she is an angel is it true that you wish she were one? It by no means follow* 3 that a man has true religion in his heart because he looks as solemn as a walking West Indian epidemic. If your li r e is worth anything people will flntbit out sooner of later. Ripe fruit will fall to the ground without shaking the tree. Many a man’s idea of matrimony may be described bv saying that the courts a house on Fifth" avenue, with a woman’s name in the title deed. No man can go into bad company without suffering for IL The homely old proverb has it very tersely: ‘‘A man can’t bite the bottom out of a frying pan without smutting his nose.” Learn to be brief. Long visits, long stories, long exhortations, and long prayers seldom profit those who have to do with them. Life is short. Time is short. Moments are.precious. Learn to condense, abridge and intensify. A coffin is a somewhat grave subject on which to exercise one’s wit, but the following verses will do us no harm; There was a man bespoke a thing. Which, when the owuer homo did brine. He tnat made it did refuse it, And he that bought it would not use it. And he that had it did not know Whether he had it, yea or no. A definition is something about which a man ought to be very careful. Still, in a definition a man may not only make a grievous blunder, but at the same time make a very startling statement of. truth. A very precise and respectable lexicographer, when asked for an exact definition of the word “parasol,” replied slowly, “Parasol? It is a protection against the sun used by ladies made of cotton and whalebone.” Aloudshouter was asked why he spoke so loud when he prayed, and replied : “Why do I holler? Because I have Scripture authority for it, and I goes by Scripture entirely.” On being questioned as to the exact passage which enjoined- such a peculiar exhibition he answered promptly: “Weil, it in the Lord’s Prayer, and if you read that right you will see that the shouteis have the Word on their side. It says: 'Our Father which art in heaven hollered be thy name.’ Now, are you convinced?”