Show A HEART TO HEART TALK I 1 written fo for the deseret farmer by J cecil alter let us just you and me ae promise our better selves those selves that thai are supposed to stand always just over our shoulders that hereafter we will do the things we kroml i 0 to do and that we will do them when we promise and the way we promise and that we ve will not promise and have folks expect fhern us the impossible or the unreasonable briefly that we will make our word good for some of us this will mean harder I 1 work rork and a stricter attention to business while for others it will mean simply ill the promising of less far less candidly is there a person that can create more annoyance to you than he who promises ro say to pay ap pp y you wednesday or to sharpen your plow tuesday and then without a pretense of explanation does neither in his his infirmity of the will will he has succeeded only in laying one more large smooth paving stone of good intention in the road to hades which takes him him one step larther farther from his his self respect and probably marks the beginning of the losing of his good name however a more provoking person than this may te be he be that repairs the plow on tuesday and pays you or on wednesday according to agreement but tempers your plow badly and sharpens it poorly apil asks you to take part of the amount he owes you in poor potatoes that you do not need or a calf that he knows is a runt and says is a purebred when at the same time you kow he has money about one such deal Is sui sufficient 1 to show the average person that this fellow is all skin and no backbone there are those who so persistently do not the thing expected of them or that they have promised in all faith to do who I 1 firmly believe if asked to receive a genuine favor in their usual habit of dilly dallying and putting off would say wait awhile walt wait just a second wait tor for what wait till the spirit moves them wait till they scratch their back wait till they shake the dirt out cut of their shoes wait till the clouds roll by wait in heavens hea veas name such appalling imbe rzel C ahn to be alert alen such inability or u unwillingness to concentrate on a thing and do it at the proper time with a lurkin intention of Elish ting the job or chucking it away the moment you leave while they stargaze star gaze such an atrophy of the vertebrae such awad ling indifference are hobbles upon the feet 6 of thorn them who must do business with the loafer him who on the judgement jud gement day will be calling wait I 1 forgot my pocket knife or some such nonsense these folks may sometimes lie be prevented by legitimate hindrances and have good excuse for failure but in the name of justice why then do they not promise less why not learn their capacity for doing and know what they can expect of themselves and make forecasts accordingly why do they not frankly admit their error lo be 10 honest about the matter and tell you instead of letting that day come and go without a word about the tuli fuli 2111 ment of the promise no heroes no he the stamina and what is more 1113 he be assumes as much ease W telling you he flunked as you assume when you do and deliver according to promise most exasperating is he who can but will not why no one he does not know his clumsy bungling machinery simply cannot adapt itself to quick changes no matter how important the work at hand may be it if he be a lawyer he will permit you to remain in ill ills his waiting room hours of your useful time while lie be polishes a piece of furniture tinkers with his mustache takes a nap experiments with a kea flea or rides some other hobby bobby wait rather than the client reference in not made to him who cannot perform difficult work well but to him who can and does docs not for inexcusable reasons him who contracts work twice his capacity who invariably bites off more than he can chew will the business of such one prosper come around in a few years to see and if I 1 am not b idly badly mistaken you will find him and his business in the vicinity of the log dog pond his bis backbone i is s a mere column of soap greese and he naturally goes to the dogs such uch a habit in a school boy would be lambasted lam basted out of him it is a species of spring fever which lasts through all seasons it is the same power which is indeed a terrible power that lets him go all week without a bath a criminal indifference that after it passes the helpfulness of a no 10 boot sinks into hopeless failure whoever he be the real estate man the vegetable man the lawyer or the farmer this man cannot do business with me but once if I 1 can help it this man who falls fails without explanation to make his word good let us then for goodness sake pro raise a whole lot less and quietly expend the energy doing more and be reliable to the letter so far as our word goes out or frankly confess the overestimation we have given our ability should we overestimate and thereafter remember this shortcoming just a little longer than the the other fellow does |