Wisdom in a Brickyard.

Otago Witness, Issue 2842, 2 September 1908, Page 86

Wisdom in a Brickyard.

A very sensible bit of advice expressed in homely language was given by a. num. not long ago to an excitable and quarrelsome friend. It was in a brickyard, and two of tbe workmen, had engaged in an angry dispute, wnidh. culminated in a. fierce <mcounter. Jtn the skirmish one of the combatants was nastily hurt on the .head, and the employer, who happened to come on the scene, . of action when tne fight was finishing, and was, a man of more temper than discretion, advised the injjxred one to get a warrant for the other's arrest. While the matter was being discussed by a number -of workmen who had g»fcnereo round, f, big, burly fellow, who <nad heard everything and seen the v whole affair made tie way to the man with the damaged! cranium^ and said : / "You don't want to get no warrant, Bill. You just go to the chemist's shop and get yeTselt two pieces <)f -planter — good big ones — and put one piece on yer head an' the other on yer mouth, an' youHi be ail right 1" JSasy Bravery. "Oh, Reginald!" said ihe sweet girl to her lover, "tinat Jiorjid man on the other side of the street has been following us about for the aast half hour, and, oh ! he Keeps on staring so boldly at me!" Like a warrior thirsting for blood, Reginald Bmyth-J ones, -without a word, orocaad tlie road and confronted the stalker. "Lock here, Robinson," he said, "I'm sorry 1 haven't jrot the money to pay you, but it's really too bad to follow me afcouD when I'm doing my best to land tnat younj^ heiress across the road. Wait a bit longer,, man, and you'll get your money and an order tor the finest wedding euifa you, can turn out." Kobinson departed knowingly, and Smyth-Jones rejoined his adored ode. •'I'm very glad you called my attention to the scoundrel," he remarked, as his admiring companion linked her arm in his. "I spoke to him pretty sternly, 1 san tell you, and I don't think she'll stare at you again in a hurry, if he hadn't gone off I should have toxashed him." "How brave you are!" she murmured. And Cupid wept. He Didn't Worry. — Hezekiaih's Hopefulness. — His name was*" Hezekiah Doolittle, and he was blessed with a sanguine temperament. When he proposed to Annie Warner ©he inquired what means he had with which to support a wife. ".None whatever," said the cheerful Hezekiah, "but povetfy is no disgrace, and sortie day I expect to 6trike it rich." They were married, and went to live with Annie's parents "until something turned up." HezekiaJi passed by small jobs, looking for eomettiiiig big-, but && ™c alway. on hand for meals. Annie fretted oecause' they -ware a burden on her parents, and cJiided' him for his inaction. "Don't worry," said he. "It will spoil your beauty." .Hezekiah lived up to lus own creed, and refused to worry, no matter how great the provocation. Even "when Annie's parents turned them out he was perfectly cam*. "The Lord will provide!" he exclaimed placidly. But his wife wasted no time in talk. Bhe rented a small cottage, bought some furniture on credit, and took in, washing. "Tne debt on the furniture will soon Too due," she reminded him one day. "Never trouble trouble until trouble troubles you," quoted Hezekiah. So his wife did plain sewing at night to increase their scanty income. Then a baby was born, and Annie was unable to work.' "Wthat shall we do?" she cried. "Dont worry. It will injure your health," soothed Hezekiah. "I am stilt expecting something to .turn up." Annie's folks heLped them for a -year, and then she rented a larger house and took in boarders. "The rent "will soon be doe," she toki her husband, as «be glanced anxiously at the calendar. "Take no thought for the morrow," reproved Hezekiah. "The marrow will take thought foT the things of itself." Annie worked 1 harder. Her cares increased as the family increased, and shm

lost her beauty, her health, and her temper. "You worry too much," remonstrated her husband. "Why don't you take a hopeful view of life, as I do?" Human endurance has its limits, and the end came at last. Annie died of over.work, her parents took the children, and the hopeful Hezekiah was left to shift for himself. "The world 1 owes me a living," said he, bo he took to the -asead. As he tramped! out of -the village, past the little country cemetery, his eye sought out the unsodded grave of hie wife, and be signed. %«"T.be ways ot Providence are InserutaTste^iJjg murmured resignedly. "She was a good wife, hut abe would worry." — . Youth's Companion.