,a ,,little ,,philosophy of ,,life ,a ,,little ,,philosophy of ,,life ,by ,,robert ,j4 ,,burdette 8,for what is your ,life8 ,it is even a vapour1 that appeareth for a little time1 and then vanisheth away40 --,,james #d2 #ad4 ,,copyright1 #aiad ,,by ,,robert ,j4 ,,burdette ,illustration3 ,clara ,vista ,press ,,pasadena1 ,,cal4 ,,to ,,my ,,little ,,granddaughter ,,clara ,,bradley ,,wheeler ,who1 with tottering baby steps1 is coming in to the entrance of the ,stage of ,life1 just as her ,grandfather1 with footsteps equally uncertain1 is slowly passing out at its ,exit4 ,the baby1 doubtless wondering much that the ,world should be so immeasurably large4 ,he certainly1 marvelling1 as he looks back1 that a ,stage so small and circumscribed could hold so many people4 ,she looks at her ,grandfather with the ,wonder-,wisdom in the baby eyes1 but she does not know what he is thinking1 nor how much he knows4 ,and he1 looking at the ,little ,one with the meditative inquiry of ,old ,age1 knows just as little what she is thinking1 just as little how much she knows4 ,for a handful of days only have they known one another1 each speaking a language strange and incomprehensible to the other4 ,but the two hearts1 one old as the ashes of last year's camp fires1 the other young and fragrant as the roses of this ,june morning1 have knitted themselves together with a love that will outlive ,time4 ,this is one of the ,beautiful ,mysteries of ,life4 8,and the ,evening and the ,morning are another ,day40 8,,sunnycrest0 ,,pasadena1 ,,california ,,christmastide1 #aiac ,a ,,little ,,philosophy of ,,life ,is there such a thing as a 8philosophy of life80 ,life is the philosophy of everything2 the study of all things2 the testing of all things4 ,the lucky man is he who despises luck4 ,the unlucky one is the fellow who worships it4 ,great inventions may be wrought out in the brain4 ,great thoughts are born in the heart4 ,one of the best ways to find trouble1 my boy1 is to carry a revolver without knowing how to use it4 ,memory may be a hell or a paradise4 ,it depends on whether you spend your youth manufacturing brimstone or planting roses4 ,when ,i hear a man trying to do all the talking for the crowd1 ,i remember that a drum makes more noise than a cask of sugar1 because it is empty4 ,a man is a fool to worry about his 8past10 if he has one4 ,a man or woman with a 8past0 isn't half so badly off as the sinner who yet has 8something coming to him40 ,i don't believe in rejecting and despising a man because of his faults4 ,make them useful to him4 ,for example1 a conceited man is like a tire1 which is of no earthly account until it is inflated4 ,one of the meanest things about sowing wild oats is that the profligate scatters about half the seed on some good man's wheat field4 ,and more than half the wild oats turn out to be rye4 ,whenever you begin to complain that you are not appreciated1 you are plainly off your job4 ,when a dog is chasing a rabbit he doesn't care whether you call him pet names or throw stones at him4 ,very few men are vain1 ,i think4 ,but all men love comfort as their chief joy4 ,there isn't one man in a thousand who would exchange his good digestion for a handsome face4 ,now1 a woman---- ,money talks--yes1 my son4 ,but only while it's working4 ,when it goes on strike1 or is loafing on general principles1 it loses interest in everything and becomes as silent as a log on a mudbank4 ,a man can hardly be so bad that he will not have some friends who believe in him and who stick to him4 ,but the trouble with a bad man is1 that his friends are so much like himself he would be much better off without any4 ,it is pleasant to have people love you who do not know you4 ,but oh1 the immeasurable love of a friend who has found you out1 who knows you through and through1 and still loves you4 ,well1 that's the way ,god loves us4 ,it has been a good world to me4 ,i have always had more friends than ,i could count and more good fortune than ,i could measure4 ,i have always got everything ,i wanted4 ,when ,i couldn't get it1 ,i didn't want it1 which is the same thing as having it4 ,sometimes it is better4 ,no1 religion does not give--it does not promise a man immunity from misfortunes4 ,neither does an accident policy promise or protect the holder from a railway smash-up or an automobile accident4 ,but it is a beautifully comforting thing to the insured while he's in the hospital4 ,what you wish you were1 that's your ideal4 ,what people say you are1 that's your reputation4 ,what you know you are1 that's your character4 ,to paraphrase ,abraham ,lincoln1 you may fool some other people part of the time1 but you can't fool yourself a little bit of the time4 ,the heart always has ruled the world1 and it always will4 ,love is the best teacher in the universe1 because it is the most patient4 ,the race of mankind is wise and strong1 as it is today1 only because ten thousand years of our stupidity1 our obstinacy and our ingratitude haven't wearied ,god4 ,if the uses of adversity are not sweet--and ,paul says they are not--they are most efficacious4 ,you have to hit a nail on the head half a dozen times before it will comprehend its perfect destiny4 ,well1 ,god has to deal with some men--fellows like you and me--in the same manner1 sometimes4 ,life has never presented many 8problems0 to me4 ,i have been too busy4 ,working people do not evolve 8problems40 ,they are invented by the learned idlers1 gossiping about the market place like ,paul's ,athenians1 8who spend their time in nothing else1 but either to tell or to hear some new thing40 ,i have lived a busy life4 ,i entered the newspaper grind early1 and ,i have never been out of the old mill4 ,whether ,i abode at home or went on long journeys1 around the town or around the world1 ,i carried my work with me4 ,my vacations were merely 8assignments40 ,the nearest postoffice was a copyhook4 ,people and things were 8stories40 ,it is a good world4 ,five times in the story of ,creation the historian pauses to say as new things were made1 8and ,god saw that it was good40 ,and the seventh day--the day of completion and rest1 ,he made holy forever1 8blessing and sanctifying it40 ,so the cornerstone of creation is goodness1 the finial holiness4 ,how could a better world be made8 ,it isn't enough to be good nor to do good4 ,it is quite essential to do good in the right way4 ,a prayer for many of our ,best ,sinners would be--8,dear ,christ of the ,leper1 ,savior of the ,publican1 ,lover of the ,unlovely and ,friend of the ,hateful1 forgive me in that ,i have done good spitefully1 that ,i have given alms scornfully1 that ,i have done a kindness savagely1 and that ,i have loved a friend grudgingly40 ,whenever ,i have done right1 it has always seemed to me that somebody or something helped me4 ,but when ,i have gone wrong1 ,i have sinned through no one's fault but my own4 ,no man ever made me do wrong4 ,the man who has the headache next morning is the fellow who transgressed the night before4 ,the sinner can no more shift his responsibility than he can wish his headache off on the other fellow4 ,well1 ,i have always loved to work4 ,it has been pleasant in the old mill1 with its rafters bronzing by the years1 its shadowy corners1 its far views from the dormers up in the loft1 the mysterious gurglings and murmurings of hidden waters down deep among the foundations1 the quiet pond and the earnest rush of the race1 and the merry laughter of the 8tail race40 ,for ,i ground my finest flour from the grist the people brought me4 ,the best of my work might have been done much better2 the worst of it had better been left undone2 all of it has been mediocre4 ,but ,i ground the grist that was brought me1 and took only fair toll4 ,and some day1 in a better mill1 with improved machinery1 with finer material1 with choicer grist1 a steadier power and a better light ,i will do better work4 ,a good father and a good mother--8old-fashioned80 ,well1 yes2 about as old-fashioned as fathers and mothers have been ever since the birth of ,cain--taught me from a ,good ,book that the way of life and the plan of salvation is so simple and plain that not even the philosophers could muddle it--8,he hath showed thee1 ,o man1 what is good1 and what doth the ,lord require of thee but to do justly1 to love mercy1 to walk humbly with ,god40 ,that's plain enough until some learned man begins to explain it4 ,if that's all that ,god wants of me1 ,i don't care what the 8,apostle's ,creed10 of the 8,thirty-nine ,articles10 or the 8,confession of ,faith0 demands of me4 ,but that seems to include about everything4 ,and yet ,i believe in 8creeds40 ,how can a man live without a standard8 ,i never worry about the ,day of ,judgment4 ,that there will be one ,i am positive4 ,that it will be as dreadful as ,john of ,patmos describes1 ,i believe4 ,but terrible as it will be to have all one's sins uncovered and set before ,god and the world1 naked and in the light of day1 that won't be one-half so terrible as it was to have committed them4 ,and yet that we rather enjoyed4 ,and another most dreadful thing about the ,day of ,judgment is the fact that somebody knows all about our sins now4 ,there never was a 8secret sin0 since the serpent invaded ,eden4 ,there have been at least three living eye-witnesses to every offense--the sinner1 the victim1 who is frequently only the other sinner1 and the ,judge who is going to try you both4 ,the best time to get scared about the ,day of ,judgement is about ten minutes before you make a fool of yourself4 ,life has been to me a pilgrimage of joy4 ,i've never had very much trouble1 and what ,i have had has been of my own making and selection1 and when ,i went to the hospital ,i took my medicine without making faces or asking for 8sympathy40 ,i was ashamed to4 ,like 8,peter and the ,pain ,killer10 ,i knew ,i was only getting what ,i had asked for4 ,but up one hill and down the other the pilgrimage had lain through pleasant places--good roads1 safe trails1 fine pasturage1 sweet water and beautiful camping places4 ,a few giants1 mostly windmills2 millions of midgets and mosquitoes1 troublesome but not fatal2 occasionally a mean man1 so ashamed of himself that he lied about it2 now and then a liar2 once in a while a hold-up man1 with a subscription paper2 and all along the way a horde of beggars4 ,but in the main good people2 kind-hearted1 generous people1 honest people4 ,lots of houses build close 8by the side of the road40 ,the world is full of friendly people for friendly men4 ,and ,i'm fond of people4 ,i believe in them4 ,i love them4 ,i sympathize with them4 ,i like to meet them1 and to walk with them1 and to have them about me1 so long as they can stand me4 ,a young disciple one day asked me1 when ,i was pastor of the ,temple1 8,pastor1 how can ,i learn to trust ,god8 ,how can ,i acquire faith80 ,and ,i said1 8,that is easy and simple4 ,just lie down at night and go to sleep4 ,you are helpless and defenseless as a dead person4 ,you do not see the storm gathering above your home1 with black destruction in its whirling wings4 ,you cannot see the tiny tongue of flame catching at the corner of the room in which you sleep4 ,you do not hear the robber stealthily unfastening the fancied security of lock and bolt4 ,you know absolutely nothing of the score of evils that may be threatening your peace and safety4 ,the night may be ghastly with perils all about you4 ,but you sleep sweetly1 safely1 and you awake in the morning refreshed and strengthened4 ,protecting love has enfolded you like a garment4 ,and you believed it would when you lay down1 else you never could have gone to sleep4 ,well1 that's trust4 ,that's perfect trust4 ,just hold on to it while you are awake4 ,who takes care of you while you sleep8 ,not father and mother4 ,not the servants4 ,nor the watchdog4 ,nor the policeman a mile away4 #8,except the ,lord keep the city1 the watchmen waketh but in vain4' ,you trust in ,god1 that's all40 ,do ,i believe in laughter as much as ever ,i did8 ,a great deal more than ever ,i did1 even in the days that were ripples of dimples on the sunlit eddies of a river of laughter4 ,how could life be best lived without it--,god's exclusive gift to his human children8 ,laughter is a good servant4 ,but don't overwork him or he will sulk1 and maybe strike for shorter hours4 ,don't smile so much all day that the corners of your mouth droop with weariness when you come home at night4 8,always leave them with a laugh0 is the axiom of a commercial traveler who has no home4 ,laughter is cheery1 good-natured1 willing1 but wearies easily4 ,he is a poor hand at 8day's work0 and tires at a continuous job4 ,he is a thoroughbred1 and must be humored and well groomed4 ,you can't work him like a plow-horse4 ,he shines most brightly at 8piece work40 ,he must needs have intervals of quiet meditation2 sober reflection2 tranquil introspection4 ,he must have the inspiration of earnest purpose2 the repose of a little minute of prayer4 ,don't mistake the ever-lasting barnyard cackle that emanates from between the roof of the mouth and the glottis for ,laughter4 ,unless there is brain and heart--intellect and love in it--it isn't the laughter that ,i know anything about4 ,the thing on the face of a skull is a grin1 but it isn't a smile4 ,it used to be1 but the smile died when it became perpetual4 ,no matter what the empty-headed philosophers say on the postcards1 don't try to smile all the time4 ,unless you want people to hate the sight of you4 ,life is a book in which we read a page a day4 ,we can't read a page ahead2 we cannot turn clear over to the last chapter to see how it ends1 because we write the story ourselves1 setting the type1 as a good compositor can do1 from the copy of our own thoughts and actions1 till the evening of each day runs off the edition4 ,the best compositor is he who sets each day's page with the fewest errors1 and wastes the least time correcting a 8dirty proof40 ,even with the best of us1 much of each day's page is an 8errata0 correcting the mistakes of yesterday4 ,unsinkable ships--the bottom of the sea is covered with them4 ,invulnerable armor--it cumbers the reefs1 full of holes4 ,incontrovertible arguments and incontestable theories--they lie dusting in the scrap-heaps of history and philosophy1 answered1 contradicted1 disproved and thrown away4 ,but the pages are--or should be--growing cleaner every day4 ,the compositor learns4 ,the child is fearless1 knowing nothing4 ,so he grasps the flaming candle4 ,the old man is cautious1 knowing too much4 ,he knows that ice burns like fire4 ,and another thing to be remembered about this book of life which every one of us is writing1 each for himself4 ,the pages are all the same size--twenty-four hours1 brevier measure4 8,the evening and the morning was the first day40 ,that established the standard4 ,and every morning the inexorable office boy with the intolerable name stands at your door shouting 8copy60 ,and you've got to furnish it4 ,got to4 ,got to4 ,got to4 ,kill your grandmother once a week to get to the ball game if you will--that goes into your 8story0 and fills up that day's page4 ,that's life4 ,is the world as funny as it used to be8 ,funnier1 my son2 a great deal funnier4 ,it grows 8funnier0 as you grow older4 ,but it doesn't know it1 because it is apt to be 8funniest0 when it thinks it is wisest4 ,laughter grows more serious as it contemplates the funny old world4 ,the tragedies of the years temper the jests4 ,yes2 ,i understand4 ,i read a paragraph about myself in a critical editorial the other day1 saying that 8ten years of the ministry had taken much of the ginger out of old ,bob's fun40 ,it was written by a young man1 of course4 ,the things that are funny to him were uproariously funny to me fifty years ago4 ,i used to write funny sketches about sudden death and funerals4 ,but during ten years of the ministry ,i have sat beside many deathbeds1 and have stood beside many caskets trying to speak words of consolation for breaking hearts4 ,today1 ,i can't laugh over 8,buck ,fanshaw's ,funeral0--the funniest mortuary narrative ever written4 ,misfortunes used to be my principal stock in trade for mirthful sketches4 ,ten years in the ministry have made the sorrows of thousands of people my own4 ,what a rollick there used to be in a good poker story1 told in rattling phrase4 ,i have seen too many homes broken up and too many lives wrecked by the gamblers to appreciate the humor of the cards4 ,twice ,i have seen men murdered at the gaming table--and each murder was followed by a hanging4 ,hard to write funny poker stories with those grisly phantoms of blood and strangling leering up into your face from the white sheet under your pen4 ,eh8 ,and when there was nothing else to write about on a dull day1 the drunkard was always an unfailing figure for comedy4 ,what could be funnier than a drunken man8 ,well1 now ,i can no more appreciate the drunken man1 even on the comic stage1 than the wife whose face he bruised with his clenched fist could appreciate the antics of her drunken husband4 ,i have seen the brute too often at close range1 with all the old manhood gone1 and not a thing but the brute and the devil left4 ,oh1 ,i enjoy life better than ever ,i did4 ,i can assure my critic that 8ginger is still hot i' the mouth40 ,the world is just as funny as ever4 ,but the fun has changed with the point of view4 ,don't you understand1 son8 ,it's the old story of the frogs and the boys4 ,humor is a matter of personal taste1 to a great extent4 ,what sends your neighbor into convulsions of mirth may disgust you to the very soul4 ,it has been such a good world that ,i'd be sorry ever to leave it1 if there wasn't another one1 as much better than this1 as this one is better than the chaos out of which it was born4 ,no2 ,i don't just 8believe0 this2 ,i know it4 ,that's one of the few things ,i do know--positively1 absolutely1 certainly1 and ,i didn't have to wait for ,sir ,oliver ,lodge to tell me about it1 either4 ,i knew that when ,i was a boy1 just as well as ,sir ,oliver knows it now1 and for the same reasons1 and with the same proofs4 ,all this summer and late into the autumn days we have been living in our seaside home1 8,eventide10--so named by ,mrs4 ,burdette because it faces the sunset4 8,afternoon land0 is very pleasant in spite of broken health and increasing weakness4 ,every evening ,i sit in the sun-room and watch the sun creep down the western wall of the sky1 sinking to its rest beyond the farther rim of the blue ,pacific4 ,i know what is over there1 because ,i have journeyed in those lands1 and can follow the sun as he fades out of sight and begins to illuminate the ,orient4 ,there1 just where he drops below the waves1 rise the green shores of picturesque ,japan4 ,yokohama1 ,tokyo1 ,nikko1 snow-crowned ,fujihama1 the beautiful ,inland ,sea1--,i can see them all4 ,there where that silver star is shining through the crimson bars of the clouds1 is ,china4 ,over there1 where the clouds are white as snow banks--there is ,manila4 ,yonder1 where the black cloud is tipped with flame1 is ,port ,arthur4 ,i know them all4 ,i have been there4 ,well1 beyond the gates of the sunset1 farther away than the stars1 away past the bars of the night1 there is another land4 ,i have never seen it4 ,i have never seen anyone who has been there4 ,but all that ,i know about the oriental lands in which ,i have journeyed is mere conjecture with my positive belief in that ,blessed ,land which eye hath not seen4 ,that ,fair and ,happy ,country ,i do know4 ,know it with a sublime assurance which is never shadowed by a cloud of passing doubt4 ,i may become confused in my terrestrial geography4 ,but this ,heaven of ours--no man1 no circumstance can ever shake my faith in that4 ,as the sun sinks lower and the skies grow darker in the deepening twilight1 the star of ,faith shines more brightly and ,hope sings more clearly and sweetly4 ,every evening1 when the sun goes down1 ,i can see that land of ,eternal ,morning4 ,i know it is there1 not because ,i have seen it1 but because ,i do see it4 ,the ,shadowless ,land1 8where we shall hunger no more1 neither thirst any more2 where there shall be no more death1 neither sorrow1 nor crying1 neither shall there be any more pain2 where ,god shall dwell with men1 and they shall be ,his people1 and ,he shall wipe away all tears from their eyes40 ,the shadows are deeping around the pond and the stream is singing itself to sleep4 ,but there is yet a little grist in the hopper1 and while the water serves ,i will keep on grinding4 ,and by the time the sun is down1 and the flow in the race is not enough to turn the big wheel1 the grist will have run out1 and ,i will have the old mill swept and tidied for the night4 ,and then1 for home and a cheery evening1 a quiet night1 lighted with stars and pillowed with sleep4 ,and after that1 the dawning1 and another day2 fairer than any ,i have ever seen in this beautiful world of roseate mornings and radiant sunsets4 ,,transcriber',s ,,notes3 ,italicized text is surrounded by underscores3 italics4 ,inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized4