The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.


The Wisdom Of Barnyard Bruke: "GLASS, CHINA, AND REPUTATION ARE EASILY CRACKED & NEVER WELL MENDED."

Greetings to everyone in western Illinois. I"m a hope'n everyone is chugging along trying to get their harvest complete.

I read recently where some liberal economist concluded in his studies that Iowa's tax system is not "fair" since the "poor" pay a higher percentage of their income than the rich (meaning the hard working middle class).

I'm not sure how to define "poor" and "rich". It seems at times what is defined as poor today would be classified as "Rich" of yesteryear. However, I do know about life and fairness.

Of course "life is not fair"! If'n life were fair we would die in the same order we were born. See'n as how that doesn't happen, we can conclude, at least in regards to the important issue of live'n and die'n, that "life is not fair".

Once you get thru that important issue, it is down hill all the way. So pick up your grit and get with it.

If'n it don't work out, then let it be said of your efforts, "magnis lamen excidit ausis" (he fell, however in a great enterprise").

In doing so, always keep in mind to give it your best honorable shot. Remember, "Glass, china, and reputations are easily cracked, and never well mended".

Some folk make a big to-do over their family lineage and at times seem to want to coast on their ancestor's good reputation. You are what you make of yourself. Take that responsibility and remember life's choices are yours to make. Keep in mind what Abraham Lincoln once said: "I don't know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be".

And, don't let ego push you in the wrong direction. Some folk will shower you with flattery to coax you to their will. Flattery can be the worst form of deceit.

Besides, nothing is so great an instance of ill manners as flattery. If'n you flatter all the company, you please none, if'n you flatter only one or two, you affront all the rest.

Not to say, no one likes flattery. Everyone likes flattery, and when you come to politicians, you should lay it on with a trowel.

So there you have it then. Flattery is like flapjacks, there is always two sides!

On do's and don't's, be careful on faultfinding. Especially don't tell your friends their social faults; they will cure their fault and never forgive you.

Beyond that advice I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure-which is "try to please everybody".

Half the failures in life arise from pulling in one's horse as he is leaping.

Never let it be said of you that "Failure has gone to your head". But if'n you have to let this befall you, then don't bore your friends with your troubles; tell them to your enemies-They'll enjoy hearing about them.

If'n your personality requires you to have a good enemy to stimulate your drive, choose a friend-he knows best where to stick the knife. And, if'n you really want to annoy your enemy, keep silent and leave him alone.

Between the optimist and the pessimist, the difference is droll. The optimist sees the doughnut, the pessimist the hole!

There are always croakers in every country, always boding its ruin. (Ben Franklin).

By the way, when Ben Franklin opened his own print shop, a distinguished old gentlemen name Mickle appeared at his door. Mickle asked Ben if'n he was the proprietor, and when Ben replied that he was, Mickle said he was sorry. Printing was an expensive undertaking, he explained, and Philadelphia was a bad place to start any new business.

Half the citizens were bankrupt, and the rest were on the way to ruin. True, new buildings were being constructed and rents were rising, but those were simply signs of false hope. The area was doomed.

The old man went on in this vein for some time, and by the time he left, Ben was thoroughly depressed. Later he said if'n he'd met Mickle before going into business, he never would have done it.

Nevertheless, in years to come, Philadelphia thrived-as did Ben's printing business-and the old man Mickle continued to predict its downfall. Many years later, Mickle finally bought a house in the city, and Ben was pleased to note that he paid five times what he would have when he first began his "croaking".

I have seen the same analogy with farmers as it pertains to land prices and cash rents. But then that is a story for another column.

Keep on smile'n and keep up with the fall work.

Catch Ya Later!

Barnyard Bruke