Friends and Neighbors

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• Publié par: phowyir
• Publié le: 01 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 118
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Friends and Neighbors, by Anonymous This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Friends and Neighbors or Two Ways of Living in the World Author: Anonymous Editor: T. S. Arthur Release Date: December 13, 2009 [EBook #4593] Language: English Character set encoding: ASCII *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS *** Produced by Charles Aldarondo, and David Widger FRIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS; or, Two Ways of Living in the World. Edited by By T. S. Arthur PHILADELPHIA: 1856 PREFACE. WE were about preparing a few words of introduction to this volume, the materials for which have been culled from the highways and byways of literature, where our eyes fell upon these fitting sentiments, the authorship of which we are unable to give. They express clearly and beautifully what was in our own mind:— "If we would only bring ourselves to look at the subjects that surround as in their true flight, we should see beauty where now appears deformity, and listen to harmony where we hear nothing but discord. To be sure there is a great deal of vexation and anxiety in the world; we cannot sail upon a summer sea for ever; yet if we preserve a calm eye and a steady hand, we can so trim our sails and manage our helm, as to avoid the quicksands, and weather the storms that threaten shipwreck. We are members of one great family; we are travelling the same road, and shall arrive at the same goal. We breathe the same air, are subject to the same bounty, and we shall, each lie down upon the bosom of our common mother. It is not becoming, then, that brother should hate brother; it is not proper that friend should deceive friend; it is not right that neighbour should deceive neighbour. We pity that man who can harbour enmity against his fellow; he loses half the enjoyment of life; he embitters his own existence. Let us tear from our eyes the coloured medium that invests every object with the green hue of jealousy and suspicion; turn, a deal ear to scandal; breathe the spirit of charity from our hearts; let the rich gushings of human kindness swell up as a fountain, so that the golden age will become no fiction and islands of the blessed bloom in more than Hyperian beauty." It is thus that friends and neighbours should live. This is the right way. To aid in the creation of such true harmony among men, has the book now in your hand, reader, been compiled. May the truths that glisten on its pages be clearly reflected in your mind; and the errors it points out be shunned as the foes of yourself and humanity. Contents PREFACE. FRIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS. GOOD IN ALL. HUMAN PROGRESS. MY WASHERWOMAN. FORGIVE AND FORGET. OWE NO MAN ANYTHING. RETURNING GOOD FOR EVIL. PUTTING YOUR HAND IN YOUR NEIGHBOUR'S POCKET. KIND WORDS. NEIGHBOURS' QUARRELS. GOOD WE MIGHT DO. THE TOWN LOT. THE SUNBEAM AND THE RAINDROP. A PLEA FOR SOFT WORDS. MR. QUERY'S INVESTIGATION. ROOM IN THE WORLD. WORDS. THE THANKLESS OFFICE. LOVE. "EVERY LITTLE HELPS." LITTLE THINGS. CARELESS WORDS. HOW TO BE HAPPY. CHARITY.—ITS OBJECTS. THE VISION OF BOATS. REGULATION OF THE TEMPER. MANLY GENTLENESS. SILENT INFLUENCE. ANTIDOTE FOR MELANCHOLY. THE SORROWS OF A WEALTHY CITIZEN. "WE'VE ALL OUR ANGEL SIDE." BLIND JAMES. DEPENDENCE. TWO RIDES WITH THE DOCTOR. KEEP IN STEP. JOHNNY COLE. THE THIEF AND HIS BENEFACTOR. JOHN AND MARGARET GREYLSTON. THE WORLD WOULD BE THE BETTER FOR IT. TWO SIDES TO A STORY. LITTLE KINDNESSES. LEAVING OFF CONTENTION BEFORE IT BE MEDDLED WITH. "ALL THE DAY IDLE." THE BUSHEL OF CORN. THE ACCOUNT. CONTENTMENT BETTER THAN WEALTH. RAINBOWS EVERYWHERE. FRIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS. GOOD IN ALL. THERE IS GOOD IN ALL. Yes! we all believe it: not a man in the depth of his vanity but will yield assent. But do you not all, in practice, daily, hourly deny it? A beggar passes you in the street: dirty, ragged, importunate. "Ah! he has a bad look," and your pocket is safe. He starves —and he steals. "I thought he was bad." You educate him in the State Prison. He does not improve even in this excellent school. "He is," says the gaoler, "thoroughly bad." He continues his course of crime. All that is bad in him having by this time been made apparent to himself, his friends, and the world, he has only to confirm the decision, and at length we hear when he has reached his last step. "Ah! no wonder—there was never any Good in him. Hang him!" Now much, if not all this, may be checked by a word. If you believe in Good, always appeal to it. Be sure whatever there is of Good—is of God. There is never an utter want of resemblance to the common Father. "God made man in His own image." "What! yon reeling, blaspheming creature; yon heartless cynic; yon crafty trader; yon false statesman?" Yes! All. In every nature there is a germ of eternal happiness, of undying Good. In the drunkard's heart there is a memory of something better—slight, dim: but flickering still; why should you not by the warmth of your charity, give growth to the Good that is in him? The cynic, the miser, is not all self. There is a note in that sullen instrument to make all harmony yet; but it wants a patient and gentle master to touch the strings. You point to the words "There is none good." The truths do not oppose each other. "There is none good—save one." And He breathes in all. In our earthliness, our fleshly will, our moral grasp, we are helpless, mean, vile. But there is a lamp ever burning in the heart: a guide to the source of Light, or an instrument of torture. We can make it either. If it burn in an atmosphere of purity, it will warm, guide, cheer us. If in the midst of selfishness, or under the pressure of pride, its flame will be unsteady, and we shall soon have good reason to trim our light, and find new oil for it. There is Good in All—the impress of the Deity. He who believes not in the image of God in man, is an infidel to himself and his race. There is no difficulty about discovering it. You have only to appeal to it. Seek in every