38 
RANDOM THOUGHTS 
BY D. F. LAMSON. 
No. XLI. 
Cowper once longed for ‘““a lodge in 
some vast wilderness, some boundless 
contiguity of shade,’’ and those who can 
hie them away to the woods or the shore 
for alittle time, long enough to get life’s 
fever out of heart and brain, and then 
return with new zest to the busy career, 
are among the enviable ones of earth. 
Those who cannot do this must—well, 
they must do the best they can; and 
those who have home comforts do not 
always gain much by going where they 
must be without them. 
vow ww 
It has been asked, and with a good 
deal of reason, why a man who has 
found his vocation should not find his 
enjoyment mainly in his work. Why 
should many need to spend so, much on 
mere amusement? Ought not one’s 
work be to him a daily satisfaction that 
shall require only the recreation that is 
needed for rest and change? To know 
that we are in our place, and doing our 
work in the world, and doing it~ well, 
however lowly and homely it may be— 
this is the reward of a contented mind; 
and it is a happiness beside which that of 
the mere idler and pleasure seeker is a 
bauble. 
Ww Ww Ww w 
A Boston paper of nearly a century 
ago, announcing the death of an aged 
clergyman in a small farming community 
not twenty miles from the city, men- 
tioned hirn as minister of “‘the respect- 
able town of W.—’’ One cannot but 
think that now-adays it would be no 
small thing to speak of a lamlet of a few 
hundred inhabitants in this fashion; 
there are wealthy towns, and hustling 
towns, and ambitious towns, and de- 
cadent towns, but one has an admiration 
for that ‘respectable town’’ among the 
hills, of the long ago; the town has had 
an influx of city residents of late, and city 
and country do not always mix. 
WwW W Ww W 
Shutting one’s eyes or ears to the truth 
does not disprove it, this is mere ostrich 
wisdom; facts are facts, whether we be- 
lieve them or not; real things are royal 
things, whether we admit their claim to 
honor or ignore it. 
W Ww W Ww 
To hear some one giving utterance to 
the veriest commonplaces as if they were 
the weightiest of truths, for which the 
world has long been waiting, is enough 
to excite one’s risibilities sometimes. 
And yet, even college presidents have 
been known to speak some most obvious 
truism as gravely as if they were an- 
nouncing the law of gravitation or the 
discovery of a new world. 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE. 
Many seem to think that we shall 
sometime get rid of sickness altogether. 
Perhaps so; we shall see. But it would 
seem that there is no way of getting rid 
of death but by dying; at least there is 
but one way and that is so transcendent 
to their habits of thinking that it is not 
believed in by many. ; 
Ww Ww Ww W 
There are critics and critics, and there 
are Critics of critics, and all critics are 
very apt to think themselves right though 
they may all differ perchance from each 
other; as Pope has it, 
***Tis with our judgments as our watches, none 
Go justalike, yet each believes his own;”* 
which makes us suspect sometimes that 
allare wrong. But criticism is a noble 
art, if it be rightly used; often has 
** Criticism the muse’s handmaid proved, 
‘To dress her charms and make her more be- 
loved.’’ 
It is when criticism descends to mere 
captious fault-finding, as in Jeffrey’s 
famous “‘This will never do,’’ when it 
is blinded by prejudice, when it fails ‘‘ to 
show a friend his faults and praise merits 
of a foe,’’ that it is unworthy of its name. 
Criticism should be just and kindly, faith- 
ful and generous; it should delight more 
to praise than blame; it should seek al- 
ways to be constructive, and not be like 
the barbarians of the Middle ages icon- 
oclastic merely; it should be, not a lev- 
BIXBY’S 
eller and destroyer, but a builder; it 
should aim to show a more excellent 
way. 
Get Together 
and stand together is the key- 
note of Forrest Crissey’s 
second article on the farmer 
in his fight against dishonest . 
commission merchants. Don’t 
miss it. 
Then read “ Happiness ”— 
one of the prettiest boy and 
girl stories ever published. 
All in the 
SEPTEMBER EVERYBODY'S 
For Sale By 
L, W. FLOYD, 
F. W. VARNEY, 
Manchester 
Beverly Farms 
GREEN GABLES 
(Formerly known asthe Oakes Cottage) 
Tea Room and Gift Shop 
Attractive Rooms to Rent 
Under the Management of the Women’s Educational and In 
dustrial Union. 
MAGNOLIA, MASS. 
The Better Bed Hammocks 
Are not cut in price nor will they be. 
We have all 
New England beaten to a standstill at the prices for 
which we sell them and there’s no let up in the de- 
mand. Why should there be? 
They will earn their 
price before cold weather comes, and then be of use 
for all the many pzople who are learning to enjoy open 
air sleeping. Complete with Wind Shield and choice of 
i 3 styles mattresses, ( soft both sides ) 
HE 
$10.00 
The wind shield may be unlaced and 
tucked under mattress 
THE H. M. 
BIXBY CO. 
242 ESSEX STREET, SALEM 
