"All Sorts."
Coming up in the elevator one day, I heard a sentence and a reply that I have heard before, I suppose, a thousand times, but without once thinking of their import:
"Oh, well, it takes all sorts of people to make a world."
"That's so."
They had been talking about some very disagreeable person, I could not help gathering. They wanted to dismiss the annoying subject, and they contemptuously turned it off in that way:
"Oh, well, it takes all sorts of people to make a world!"
No, it doesn't.
The world could get along very well without a good many kinds of people.
Crusty people.
Fussy people.
Selfish people.
Egotistical people.
Opinionated people.
Silly people.
Sour people.
Malicious people.
Suspicious people.
Dogmatic people. Domineering people.
Procrastinating people.
Slouchy people.
And
so
on.
Why, so far is it from being true that it "takes" all kinds of people to make a world, that the world could wag merrily, far more merrily than it wags now, with only one kind of people, Helpful people.
Yes, we could even dispense with the people of genius, and the people of wit, and the people of skill, and the people of power, and with lots of other kinds of fine people, if the entire globe, Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and the Falklands, could only be filled with Helpful people.
Let us stop thinking and talking as if the world were a great museum, and had to have a complete collection of all genera, species, and varieties, however ugly and poisonous. There are many varieties that we may spare from our assortment. There are many animals we are quite content to allow to become extinct with the ornithorhynchus. In the progress of our spiritual evolution they are to become extinct, and I, for one, am eager to expedite the process.
The Air-Pillow.
The air-pillow lay on the sofa, homely and flabby, for it was not inflated. On the end of the sofa lay a large and very handsome sofa-cushion. Said the cushion to the air-pillow: “How very little you are!" "Littleness is sometimes an advantage," answered the air-pillow: "But how ugly you are, too!" the sofa-cushion continued, with very unkind frankness. "Why—'handsome is as handsome does,' “the air-pillow quoted cheerfully. "And you are so very flat!" the sofa-cushion continued its criticism. "Are you ever stuffed out? and where do they put in the feathers?" At this the air-pillow only laughed, for the question seemed ridiculous. Just then the mistress came around. She was packing up to go on a journey in an automobile. "I must have just one cushion," she said "for my back gets so tired." "Here I am," cried the sofa-cushion; but the mistress pounced upon the air-pillow. "Just the thing!" she said. "It will take almost no room, and when it is inflated it will support my back perfectly." So off she went with the air-pillow, leaving the handsome sofa-cushion to sulk.
The Ignorant Samaritan.
It was cold weather. Smith had to leave his automobile in the street, the motor running so that the engine might remain warm and not freeze up. As the law does not allow an unattended car to remain running, Smith asked his friend Brown to stay with the auto and keep an eye on it, which Brown agreed to do.
Along came Jones, and, noticing that the car was steaming, he advised Brown to shut off the engine. Brown did not know how to do this, and asked Jones to do it. Jones, willing to oblige, shut off the engine, and went on his way smiling to himself in the consciousness of a kind act performed. He had saved Smith so much gasoline, But when Smith came back he could not start the car. Investigation showed that the engine was frozen up, and some of the parts were ruined. He brought suit for damages against Good Samaritan Jones, and the court, in a kindly and witty decision, awarded him fifty dollars.
All of which goes to show that folks ought to know something about other people's business before they interfere with it. Good nature is not enough for a good Samaritan; he also needs good sense,
The Word That Was Not Spoken.
William A. Dorr was electrocuted at the Massachusetts State prison for a horrible murder. Before his execution he said to the clergyman who was with him: "I have never done anything wrong in my life that has done me any good. If when I was a boy fifteen years old some kind friend had put his hand upon my shoulder when evil influences were brought to bear upon me and had given me a kind word of good advice and cheer, there would have been a different chapter from that which closes with me to-night."
Yes, and not only in the case of Dorr, but in the case of practically every murderer and thief and drunkard and useless vagabond the wide world round.
The kind hand on the shoulder, the kind word in the ear, kindness and sympathy and love radiating from a strong soul to the weaker one—these are the great reforming agencies. It is these that would empty our prisons and saloons. It is these that would brighten the dark places of the world, and fill with joy and beauty the pages of the recording angel.
A brotherly hand and a brotherly word—how easy to give! We are none the poorer for them, and time and all eternity are so much the richer! Let us be on the watch for chances to give them. We shall find those chances everywhere.
The Rear Light.
Sometimes, as one is driving an automobile, the electrical connection with the rear light fails, and the light goes out. Then the motorist travels in fear, for he may be held up by the policeman at any corner, and made to pay a fine. To guard against this, some drivers carry a pocket flash light which may be held out backward in an emergency, warning all who come up from behind. The principle is of wide application. Indeed, one cannot journey far on the road of life without discovering the necessity of letting one's light shine in all directions, for warning as well as encouragement, for cheer as well as guidance. If we are to be lights in the world, we must not be content with rays thrown in only one direction.
Life's Radiations.
Inventors were a long time discovering the best way to make a gas stove. At first they shut the lighted gas inside the stove as if it were a mass of coal that had to be kept from tumbling out. Of course such a stove had to be heated almost white hot before it began to radiate as much heat as the gas would have sent out if it had been exposed. But now a gas stove places the gas jets in the focus of a convex corrugated surface, brightly shining, and all open to the room. As soon as the jets are lighted the heat is radiated powerfully. The room is warmed with no waiting, and the gas may soon be turned off. There is a lesson here for all who wish to live helpfully. Look to your radiations. It is easy to cheat one's self into the belief that one's life is helpful just because one is conscious of comfort and wisdom and beauty within. But the question for each one is: "Do my neighbors get it? Has my life a radiating surface? Or is it all lavished upon my own shut-in soul?"
Saving Crutches.
A noble New York policeman, as the papers tell us, rescued a crippled boy from a burning building. But he was not satisfied, for the boy's crutches had been left behind. Back went the policeman through the smoke and flames, over the shaking floors, and amid the falling timbers. He almost lost his life, but he came back with the crutches. No one but a cripple is likely to understand how precious are crutches which just fit one, to which one has become accustomed; but that policeman knew. His kind and brave act deserves lasting remembrance. We confine ourselves too much to the big helpfulness, to aid for the so-called fundamentals of life. Often what we regard as a little thing, too trifling for notice, amounts to more in the life of someone in suffering or danger than what the world calls important. Nothing that touches life closely is a trifle to a loving heart.