Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 May 1877 — Billingisms. [ARTICLE]

Billingisms.

It is easy enough to play the monkey, but to play it well, iB the most difficult of all professions. When a fellow feels an inward itching to write something for the newspapers, aDd cannnot think of any good subject to write on, he has mistaken the cause of his. itching—sawing wood is what his itch meant. It is truly wonderful how much more a man’s opinion is worth in market, after he has seven or eight thousand dollars at interest, than what it was when he was at work at nine*dollars a week. Love and beauty are two hard things to define. The more work that anyone has to do the better pleased he seems to be with the job. There are but few men who know the full extent of their power, because there are but few who ever exert it. The fools are always, telling us moj-e than they know, the wise are always knowing more than they are willing to tell as. The man who can slip down on the ice, where the water is about an inch and a half deep, and enjoy the joke equal to the bystanders, is either a fool or a philoso. pher, 1 do not care which. There is no misfortune that happens to man that grieves his spirit like ridicule; and ridicule is a great deal harder to forget or forgive than the kick of a mule. The man who can swap horses and tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, has got safely over one of the worst spots on the road between here and the Kingdom of Heaven. Men who know they are right are seldom obstinate; they can afford to let the other fellow buck against their stone wall until he gets tired. True bravery is alwavs amiable and easy. The most terribfy brave men I have ever met would yield _ nine ( points gracefully, but lay down their lives on the tenth one. The only way to oonquer bad luck is in a stand-up fight. Bad luck never listens to the cry of “ quarter,” but pelts its victims all the harder when they are down. — * Jo»h Billing*, in N. Y. Weekly.