OCR Text |
Show SHAME. Truth should be ashamed of what it last week published about the Hon, Perry Heath, to the effect ef-fect that when a Washington correspondent of some great Indiana journal, his name was also on the government pay roll as a stable man, and also as two or three kinds of a laborer. He was young in those days, and it was necessary nec-essary for him to establish precedents. He expected, doubtless, to some time be a candl-date candl-date for office and he was preparing to be able to be all things to all men. His literary status he could establish by his correspondence", but when he was to go out among the horny-handed sons of toil in Indiana, what could be a better recommend recom-mend than to show that he was on the honored rolls of laborers in Washington. That he was working work-ing the Government only did not matter. It was labor, was it not, and even if it was like Macbeth's where "the service and the loyalty lie owed paid itself," what of it? Again in the uay of need can he not always establish that he is a stable citizen, for was not this trait so pronounced that even when a youth In Washington he was placed on the roll as a stableman? It is ungenerous in Truth to review the gentleman's gentle-man's efforts to lay the foundation of a character and parade them as discreditable idiosyncrasies. Some men are like the ant and the bee. They are born workers and when they develop the intellect needed to work the Government, why should they not rather be praised than derided? The bee can gather honey from the humblest flower and it does it without ever asking leave. The bee, because of its ruling trait, has been the admiration of the ages. When a mortal imitates the trait which has through all time been so commended in the bee, why should he be denied his full mead of praise? Tho ant is one of the humblest of insects, but in and out of season it lays up its stores. Why should not thrifty citizens imitate the ant? Does Truth forget that the only thing that succeeds suc-ceeds is success? Or that with success gained, there are few to question how it was obtained? There is many a man who in the war was always ill when a fl.ght was coming on, but who obtained an "honorable"' discharge, who now bears a military mili-tary title and draws a pension and who at last is liable to be buried with military honors. How much better off is the soldier who lost a leg and now works or begs for a pittance? Truth should keep these facts in mind and if a brother journalist develops abnormal faculties fac-ulties when it comes to looking out for the main chance, it should excite admh-atlon rather than condemnation or ridicule, and our neighbor should remember the proverb which sayeth: "He that is; diligent in business shall stand before be-fore Kearns," or words to that effect. |