BEWARE OF MAN-TRAPS. 159
drop of grog. Beware of him who says " Is it not a little one ? " Little sins are the eggs of great sorrows. Beware of lips smeared with honey: see how many flies are caught with sweets. Beware of evil questions which raise needless doubts, and make it hard for a man to trust his Maker. Beware of a bad rich man who is very liberal to you ; he will buy you first and sell you afterwards. Beware of a dressy young woman, without a mind or a heart ; you may be in a net before you can say Jack Robinson*
" Pretty fools are no ways rare : Wise men will of such beware."
Beware of the stone which you stumbled over the last time you went that way. Be- ware of the man who never bewares, and beware of the man whom God has marked. Beware of writing your name on the back of a bill, even though your friend tells you ten times over " it is only a matter of form, you know." It is a form which you had better " formally decline," as our school- master says. If you want to be chopped up, put your hand to a bill ; but if you want
160 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
to be secure never stand as security for any living man, woman, child, youth, maiden, cousin, brother, uncle, or mother-in-law. Beware of trusting all your secrets with any- body but your wife. Beware of a man who will lie, a woman who tells tales out of school, a shop-keeper who sends in his bill twice, and a gentleman who will make your fortune if you will find him a few pounds. Beware of a mule's hind foot, a dog's tooth, and a woman's tongue. Last of all, beware of no man more than of yourself, and take heed in this matter many ways, especially as to your talk. Five words cost Zacharias forty weeks' silence. Many are sorry they spoke, but few ever mourn that they held their tongue.
" Who looks may leap, and save his shins from knocks; Who tries may trust, or foulest treachery find ; He saves his steed who keeps him under locks ; Who speaks with heed may boldly speak his mind.
But he whose tongue before his wit doth run, Oft speaks too soon and grieves when he has done. Full oft loose speech hath bound men fast in pain, Beware of taking from thy tongue the rein."
A BLACK HEN LAYS A WHITE EGG.
THE egg is white enough though the hen is black as a coal. This is a very simple thing, but it has pleased the ii (161)
1 62 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
simple mind of John Ploughman, and made him cheer up when things have gone hard with him. Out of evil comes good, through the great goodness of God. From threat- ening clouds we get refreshing showers ; in dark mines men find bright jewels : and so from our worst troubles come our best blessings. The bitter cold sweetens the ground, and the rough winds fasten the roots of the old oaks. God sends us letters of love in envelopes with black borders. Many a time have I plucked sweet fruit from bramble bushes, and taken lovely roses from among prickly thorns. Trouble is to believing men and women like the sweet- briar in our hedges, and where it grows there is a delicious smell all around if the dew do but fall upon it from above.
Cheer up, mates, all will come right in the end. The darkest night will turn to a fair morning in due time. Only let us trust in God, and keep our heads above the waves of fear. When our hearts are right with God everything is right. Let us look for the silver which lines every cloud, and when we do not see it let us believe that it is there. We are all at school, and our great
THE BLACK HEN LA YS A WHITE EGG. 163
Teacher writes many a bright lesson on the black-board of affliction. Scant fare teaches us to live on heavenly bread, sickness bids us send off for the good Physician, loss of friends makes Jesus more precious, and even the sinking of our spirits brings us to live more entirely upon God. All things are working together for the good of those who love God, and even death itself will bring them their highest gain. Thus the black hen lays a white egg.
" Since all that I meet shall work for my good, The bitter is sweet, the medicine is food ; Though painful at present 'twill cease before long, And then, oh how pleasant the conqueror's song ! "
HE LOOKS ONE WAY AND PULLS THE OTHER.
HE faces the shore, but he is pulling for the ship : this is the way of those who row in boats, and also of a great many who never trust themselves on the water. (164)
LOOKS ONE WAY, PULLS THE OTHER. 165
The boatman is all right, but the hypocrite is all wrong, whatever rites he may practise. I cannot endure Mr. Facing-both-ways, yet he has swarms of cousins.
It is ill to be a saint without and a devil within, to be a servant of Christ before the world in order to serve the ends of self and the devil, while inwardly the heart hates all good things. There are good and bad of all classes, and hypocrites can be found among ploughmen as well as among par- sons. It used to be so in the olden times, for I remember an old verse which draws out just such a character: the man says, —
" I'll have a religion all of my own, Whether Papist or Protestant shall not be known ; And if it proves troublesome I will have none.''
In our Lord's day many followed him, but it was only for the loaves and fishes : they do say that some in our parish don't go quite so straight as the Jews did, for they go to the church for the loaves, and then go over to the Baptist chapel for the fishes. I don't want to judge, but I certainly do know some who, if they do not care
166 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES,
much for faith, are always following after charity.
Better die than sell your soul to the highest bidder. Better be shut up in the workhouse than fatten upon hypocrisy. Whatever else we barter, let us never try to turn a penny by religion, for hypocrisy is the meanest vice a man can come to.
It is a base thing to call yourself Christ's horse and yet carry the devil's saddle. The worst kind of wolf is that which wears a sheep's skin. Jezebel was never so ugly as when she had finished painting her face. Above all things, then, brother loborers, let us be straight as an arrow, and true as a die, and never let us be time-servers, or turn- coats. Never let us carry two faces under one hat, nor blow hot and cold with the same breath.
STICK TO IT AND DO IT.
SET a stout heart to a stiff hill, and the wagon will get to the top of it. There's nothing so hard but a harder thing will get through it ; a strong job can be managed by a strong resolution. Have at
(167)
168 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
it and have it. Stick to it and succeed. Till a thing is done men wonder that you think it can be done, and when you have done it they wonder it was never done be- fore.
In my picture the wagon is drawn by two horses ; but I would have every man who wants his way in life pull as if all de- pended on himself. Very little is done right when it is left to other people. The more hands to do work the less there is done. One man will carry two pails of water for himself; two men will only carry one pail between them, and three will come home with never a drop at all. A child with several mothers will die before it runs alone. Know your business and give your mind to it, and you will find a buttered loaf where a sluggard loses his last crust.
In these times it's no use being a farmer if you don't mean work. The days are gone by for gentlemen to make a fortune off of a farm by going out shooting half their time. If foreign wheats keep on coming in, farmers will soon learn that —
" He who by the plough would thrive, Himself must either hold or drive."
STICK TO IT AND SUCCEED. 169
Going to Australia is of no use to a man if he carries a set of lazy bones with him. There's a living to be got in old England at almost any trade if a fellow will give his mind to it. A man who works hard and has his health and strength is a great deal happier than my lord Tom Noddy, who does nothing and is always ailing. Do you know the old song of " The Nobleman's generous kindness" ? You should hear our Will sing it. I recollect some of the verses. The first one gives a picture of the hard- working laborer with a large family —
" Thus careful and constant, each morning he went Unto his day labor with joy and content ; So jocular and jolly he'd whistle and sing, As blithe and as brisk as the birds in the spring."
The other lines are the ploughman's own story of how he spent his life, and I wish that all countrymen could say the same.
" I reap and I mow, I harrow and I sow, Sometimes a hedging and ditching I go ; No work comes amiss, for I thrash and I plough, Thus my bread I do earn by the sweat of my brow,
" My wife she is willing to pull in a yoke, We live like two lambs, nor each other provoke ;
170 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES,
We both of us strive, like the laboring ant, And do our endeavors to keep us from want.
" And when I come home from my labor at night, To my wife and my children in whom 1 delight, I see them come round me with prattling noise. Now these are the riches a poor man enjoys.
" Though I am as weary as weary may be, The youngest I commonly dance on my knee ; I find in content a continual least, And never repine at my lot in the least."
So, you see, the poor laborer may work hard and be happy all the same ; and surely those who are in higher stations may do the like if they like.
He is a sorry dog who wants game and will not hunt for it: let us never lie down in idle despair, but follow on till we succeed.
Rome was not built in a day, nor much else, unless it be a dog-kennel. Things which cost no pains are slender gains. Where there has been little sweat there will be little sweet. Jonah's gourd came up in a night, but then it perished in a night. Light come, light go : that which flies in at one window will be likely to fly out at another. It's a very lean hare that hounds catch without running for it, and a sheep
STICK TO IT AND SUCCEED. 171
that is no trouble to shear has very little wool. For this reason a man who cannot push on against wind and weather stands a poor chance in this world.
Perseverance is the main thing in life. To hold on, and hold out to the end, is the chief matter. If the race could be won by a spurt, thousands would wear the blue ribbon; but they are short-winded and pull up after the first gallop. They begin with flying, and end in crawling backwards. When it comes to collar work, many horses turn to jibbing. If the apples do not fall at the first shake of the tree your hasty folks are too lazy to fetch a ladder, and in too much of a hurry to wait till the fruit is ripe enough to fall of itself. The hasty man is as hot as fire at the outset, and as cold as ice'at the end. He is like the Irishman's saucepan, which had many good points about it, but it had no bottom. He who can- not bear the burden and heat of the day is not worth his salt, much less his potatoes.
Before you begin a thing, make sure it is the right thing to do : ask Mr. Conscience about it. Do not try to do what is impossi- ble : ask Common Sense. It is of no use
172 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
to blow against a hurricane, or to fish for whales in a washing tub. Better give up a foolish plan than go on and burn your fin- gers with it : better bend your neck than knock your forehead. But when you have once made up your mind to go a certain road, don't let every molehill turn you out of the path. One stroke fells not an oak. Chop away, axe, you'll down with the tree at last ! A bit of iron does not soften the moment you put it into the fire. Blow, smith ! Put on more coals ! Get it red-hot and hit hard with the hammer, and you will make a ploughshare yet. Steady does it. Hold on and you have it. Brag is a fine fellow at crying " Tally-ho ! " but Perseverance brings home the brush.
We ought not to be put out of heart by difficulties : they are sent on purpose to try the stuff we are made of; and depend upon it they do us a world of good. There's a sound reason why there are bones in our meat and stones in our land. A world where everything was easy would be a nursery for babies, but not at all a fit place for men. Celery is not sweet till it has felt a frost, and men don't come to their perfection till
STICK TO IT AND SUCCEED, 173
disappointment has dropped a half-hundred weight or two on their toes. Who would know good horses if there were no heavy loads ? If the clay was not stiff, my old Dapper and Violet would be thought no more of than Tomkins' donkey. Besides, to work hard for success makes us fit to bear it : we enjoy the bacon all the more because we have got an appetite by earning it. When prosperity pounces on a man like an eagle, it often throws him down. If we overtake the cart, it is a fine thing to get up and ride ; but when it comes behind us at a tearing rate, it is very apt to knock us down and run over us, and when we are lifted into it we find our leg is broken, or our arm out of joint, and we cannot enjoy the ride. Work is always healthier for us than idle- ness ; it is always better to wear out shoes than sheets. I sometimes think, when I put on my considering cap, that success in life is something like getting married : there's a very great deal of pleasure in the courting, and it is not a bad thing when it is a mod- erate time on the road. Therefore, young man, learn to wait, and work on. Don't throw away your rod, the fish will bite some
174 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
time or other. The cat watches long at the hole, but catches the mouse at last. The spider mends her broken web, and the flies are taken before long. Stick to your call- ing, plod on, and be content ; for, make sure, if you can undergo you shall overcome.
If bad be your prospects, don't sit still and cry, But jump up, and say to yourself, " I will try."
Miracles will never cease! My neighbor, Simon Gripper, was taken generous about three months ago. The story is well worth telling. He saw a poor blind man, led by a little girl, playing on a fiddle. His heart was touched, for a wonder. He said to me, " Ploughman, lend me a penny, there's a good fellow." I fumbled in my pocket, and found two halfpence, and handed them to him. More fool I, for he will never pay me again. He gave the blind fiddler one of those halfpence, and kept the other, and I have not seen either Gripper or my penny since, nor shall I get the money back till the gate-post outside my garden grows Rib- stone pippins. There's generosity for you ! The old saying which is put at the top of this bit of my talk brought him into my
STICK TO IT AND SUCCEED. 175
mind, for he sticks to it most certainly : he lives as badly as a church mouse, and works as hard as if he was paid by the piece, and had twenty children to keep: but I would no more hold him up for an example than I would show a toad as a specimen of a pretty bird. While I talk to you young people about getting on, I don't want you to think that hoarding up money is real success ; nor do I wish you to rise an inch above an honest ploughman's lot, if it can- not be done without being mean or wicked. The workhouse, prison as it is, is a world better than a mansion built by roguery and greed. If you cannot get on honestly, be satisfied not to get on. The blessing of God is riches enough for a wise man, and all the world is not enough for a fool. Old Gripper's notion of how to prosper has, I dare say, a good deal of truth in it, and the more's the pity. The Lord deliver us from such a prospering, I say. That old sinner has often hummed these lines into my ears when we have got into an argument, and very pretty lines they are not, certainly : —
?' To win the prize in the world's great race A man should have a brazen face ;
176 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
An iron arm to give a stroke, And a heart as sturdy as an oak ; Eyes like a cat, good in the dark, And teeth as piercing as a shark ; Ears to hear the gentlest sound, Like moles that burrow in the ground; A mouth as close as patent locks, And stomach stronger than an ox; His tongue should be a razor-blade, His conscience india-rubber made ; His blood as cold as polar ice, His hand as grasping as a vice. His shoulders should be adequate To bear a couple thousand weight ; His legs, like pillars, firm and strong, To move the great machine along ; With supple knees to cringe and crawl, And cloven feet placed under all."
It amounts to this : be a devil in order to be happy. Sell yourself outright to the old dragon, and he will give you the world and the glory thereof. But remember the question of the Old Book, " What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ? " There is another road to success besides this crooked, dirty, cut-throat lane. It is the King's highway, of which the same Book says : " Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteous- ness; and all these things shall be added
STICK TO IT AND SUCCEED, 177
unto you." John Ploughman prays that all his readers may choose this way, and keep to it ; yet even in that way we must use diligence, " for the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force."
12
DON'T PUT THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE.
NOBODY will ever take that fellow to be a Solomon. He has no more sense than a sucking turkey; his wit will never kill him, but he may die for want (178)
CART BEFORE THE HORSE. 179
of it. One would think that he does not know which side of himself goes first, or which end should be uppermost, for he is putting the cart before the horse. However, he is not the only fool in the world, for nowadays you can't shake your coat out of a window without dusting an idiot You have to ask yourself what will be the next new piece of foolery.
Amusing blunders will happen. Down at our chapel we only have evening meet- ings on moonlight nights, for some of our friends would never find their way home down our Surrey lanes of a dark night. It is a long lane that has no turning, but ours have plenty of turnings, and are quite as long as one likes them when it is pitch dark, for the trees meet over your head and won't let a star peep through. What did our old clerk do the other Sunday but give notice that there would be no moon next Wednes- day night in consequence of there being no service. He put the cart before the horse that time. So it was with the young parson, of very fine ideas, who tried to make us poor clodhoppers see the wisdom of Providence in making the great rivers run
180 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
near the large towns, while our village had a small brook to suit the size of it. We had a quiet laugh at the good man as we walked home through the corn, and we wondered why it never occurred to him that the Thames was in its bed long before Lon- don was up, and our tiny stream ran through its winding ways long before a cottager dipped his pail into it.
Dick Widgeon had a married daughter who brought her husband as pretty a baby as one might wish to see. When it was born, a neighbor asked the old man whether it was a boy or a girl. " Dear, dear/' said Dick, " here's a kettle of fish! I'm either a grandfather or a grandmother, and I'm sure I don't know which." Dick says his mother was an Irishman, but I do not believe it.
All this is fun, but some of this blundering leads to mischief. Lazy fellows ruin their trade, and then say that bad trade ruined them.
Some fellows talk at random, as if they lived in a world turned upside down, for they always put things the wrong side up. A serving-man lost his situation through his drunken ways ; and, as he could get no
CART BEFORE THE HORSE. l8t
character, he charged his old master with being his ruin.
"Robert complained the other day His master took his character away : * I take your character,' said he, ' no fear, Not for a thousand pounds a year.' "
The man was his own downfall, and now he blames those who speak the truth about him. " He mistakes the effect for the cause," as our old schoolmaster says, and blames the bucket for the faults of the well.
The other day a fellow said to me, " Don't you think Jones is a lucky chap ? " " No/' said I, " I think he is a hard-working man, and gets on because he deserves it." " Ah," was the man's answer, " don't tell me ; he has got a good trade, and a capital shop, and a fair capital, and I don't wonder that he makes money." Bless the man's heart ; Jones began with nothing, in a little, poking shop, and all he has was scraped together by hard labor and careful saving. The shop would never have kept him if he had not kept the shop, and he would have had no trade if he had not been a good tradesman ; but there, it's no use talking, some people
i82 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
will never allow that thrift and temperance lead to thriving and comfort, for this would condemn themselves. So to quiet their consciences they put the cart before the horse.
A very bad case of putting the cart before the horse is when a drinking old man talks as if he had been kept out of the grave by his beer, though that is the thing which carries people to their last home. He hap- pens to have a strong constitution, and so he can stand the effects of drink better than most, and then folks say it was the drink which gave him the constitution. When an old soldier comes alive out of battle, do we think that the shot and shell saved his life ? When we meet with a man who is so strong that he can be a great drinker and still seem little the worse, we must not say that he owes his strength to his beer, or we shall be putting the plough before the oxen.
When a man thinks that he is to make himself good before he comes to Jesus to be saved, he is planting the fruit instead of the root ; and putting the chimney pots where the foundation should be. We do not save ourselves and then trust the Saviour ; but
CART BEFORE THE HORSE. 183
when the Saviour has worked salvation in us, then we work it out with fear and trembling. Be sure, good reader, that you put faith first, and works afterwards ; for, if not, you will put the cart before the horse.
A LEAKING TAP IS A GREAT WASTER.
A LEAKING tap is a great waster. Drop by drop, by day and by night, the liquor runs away, and the housewife (184)
THE LEAKING TAP. 185
wonders how so much can have gone. This is the fashion in which many laboring men are kept poor : they don't take care of the pence, and so they have no pounds to put in the bank. You cannot fill the rain-water butt if you do not catch the drops. A six- pence here, and a shilling there, and his purse is empty before a man dares to look in it. What with waste in the kitchen, waste at table, and waste at the public- house, fools and their money soon part to meet no more. If the wife wastes too, there are two holes in the barrel. Sometimes the woman dresses in tawdry finery and gets in debt to the tally-man ; and it is still worse if she takes to the bottle. When the goose drinks as deep as the gander, pots are soon empty, and the cupboard is bare. Then they talk about saving, like the man who locked the stable door after his horse was stolen. They will not save at the brim, but promise themselves and the pigs that they will do wonders when they get near the bottom. It is well to follow the good old rule : —
" Spend so as ye may Spend for many a day."
186 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
He who eats all the loaf at breakfast may whistle for his dinner, and get a dish of empties. If we do not save while we have it, we certainly shall not save after all is gone. There is no grace in waste. Econ- omy is a duty ; extravagance is a sin. The old Book saith, " He that hasteth to be rich shall not be innocent," and, depend upon it, he that hasteth to be poor is in much the same box. Stretch your legs according to the length of your blanket, and never spend all that you have :
" Put a little by; Things may go awry."
It will help to keep you from anxious care, — which is sinful, if you take honest care, — which is commendable. Lay up when young, and you shall firid when old ; but do not this greedily or selfishly, or God may send a curse on your store. Money is not a comfort by itself, for they said in the olden time —
''They who have money are troubled about it, And they who have none are troubled without it."
But though the dollar is not almighty, it
THE LEAKING TAP. 187
ought to be used for the Almighty, and not wasted in wicked extravagance. Even a dog will hide up a bone which he does not want, and it is said of wolves that they gnaw not the bones till the morrow; but many of our working men are without thrift or forethought, and, like children, they will eat all the cake at once if they can. When a frost comes they are poor frozen-out gar- deners, and ask for charity, when they ought to have laid up for a snowy day. I wonder they are not ashamed of them- selves. Those are three capital lines : —
" Earn all you can, Save all you can, Give all you can."
But our neighbor Scroggs acts on quite a different rule-of-three, and tries three other cans :
" Eat all you can, Drink all you can, Spend all you can."
He can do more of all these than is canny; it would be a good thing if he and the beer-can were a good deal further apart.
188 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
I don't want any person to become a screw, or a hoarder, or a lover of money, but I do wish our working men would make better use of what they get. It is little enough, I know; but some make it less by squandering it. Solomon com- mends the good woman who " considereth a field and buyeth it : with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard ; " he also tells the sluggard to go to the ant, and see how she stores for the winter. I am told that ants of this sort do not live in England, and I am afraid they dont ; but my master says he has seen them in France, and I think it would be a good idea to bring over the breed. My old friend Tusser says, —
" 111 husbandry drinketh Himself out of door; Good Husbandry thinketh Of friend and of poor."
The more of such good husbandry the merrier for old England. You cannot burn your faggots in autumn and then stack them for the winter; if you want the calf to become a cow, you must not be in a hurry to eat neats' feet. Money once spent is
THE LEAKING TAP. 189
like shot fired from a gun, you can never call it back. No matter how sorry you may be, the goldfinches are out of the cage, and they will not fly back for all your cry- ing. If a fellow gets into debt it is worse still, for that is a ditch in which many find mud, but none catch fish. When all his sugar is gone, a man's friends are not often very sweet upon him. People who have nothing are very apt to be thought worth nothing : mind, / don't say so, but a good many do. Wrinkled purses make wrinkled faces. It has been said that they laugh most who have least to lose, and it may be so ; but I am afraid that some of them laugh on the wrong side of their faces. Foolish spending buys a pennyworth of merry-mak- ing, but it costs many a pound of sorrow* The profligate sells his cow to buy a canary, and boils down a bullock to get half-a-pint of bad soup, and that he throws away as soon as he has tasted it. I should not care to spend all my living to buy a mouldy repentance, yet this is what many a prodigal has done, and many more will do.
My friend, keep money in thy purse : " It
190 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
is one of Solomon's proverbs," said one; another answered that it was not there. " Then," said Kit Lancaster, " it might have been, and if Solomon had ever known the miss of a shilling he wrould have said it seven times over." I think that he does say as much as this in substance, if not in so many words, especially when he talks about the ant ; but be that how it may, be sure of this, that a pound in the pocket is as good as a friend at court, and rather better ; and if ever you live to want what you once wasted, it will fill you with woe enough to last you to your grave. He who put a pound of butter on a gridiron, not only lost his butter, but made such a blaze as he won't soon forget : foolish lavishness leads to dreadful wickedness, so John Ploughman begs all his mates to fight shy of it, and post off to the Post Office Savings' Bank.
" For age and want save while you may ; No morning's sun lasts all the day."
Money is not the chief thing, it is as far below the grace of God and faith in Christ as a ploughed field is below the stars ; but
THE LEAKING TAP. 191
still, godliness hath the promise of the life that now is as well as of that which is to come, and he who is wise enough to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteous- ness, should also be wise enough to use aright the other things which God is pleased to add unto him.
Somewhere or other I met with a set of mottoes about gold, which I copied out, and here they are : I don't know who first pricked them down, but like a great many of the things which are stuck together in my books, I found them here and there, and they are none of mine : at least, I can- not claim the freehold, but have them on copyhold, which is a fair tenure. If the owners of these odds and ends will call for them at the house where this book is pub- lished they may have them on paying a shilling for the paper they are done up in.
MOTTOES ABOUT GOLD.
A vain man's motto is " Win gold and wear it."
A generous man's motto is.." Win gold and share it." A miserly man's motto is. ..'■ Win gold and spare it." A profligate man's motto is." Win gold and spend it."
A banker's motto is " Win gold and lend it."
A gambler's motto is " Win gold or lose it."
A wise man's motto is " Win gold and use it."
FOOLS SET STOOLS FOR WISE MEN TO STUMBLE OVER.
THIS is what they call " a lark." Fools set stools for wise men to stumble over. To ask questions is as easy as kissing your hand ; to answer them is hard as fat- (192)
FOOLS SET STOOLS FOR WISE MEN. 193
tening a greyhound. Any fool can throw a stone into a deep well, and the cleverest man in the parish may never be able to get it up again. Folly grows in all countries, and fools are all the world over, as he said who shod the goose. Silly people are pleased with their own nonsense, and think it rare fun to quiz their betters. To catch a wise man tripping is as good as bowling a fellow out at a cricket-match.
" Folly is wise in her own eyes, Therefore she tries Wit to surprise. "
There are difficulties in everything ex- cept in eating pancakes, and nobody ought to be expected to untie all the knots in a net, or to make that straight which God has made crooked. He is the greatest fool of all who pretends to explain everything, and says he will not believe what he cannot understand. There are bones in the meat, but am I to go hungry till I can eat them? Must I never enjoy a cherry till I find one without a stone ? John Ploughman is not of that mind. He is under no call to doubt, for he is not a doctor : when people try to puzzle him he tells them that those who 13
194 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
made the lock had better make the key, and those who put the cow in the pound had better get her out. Then they get cross, and John only says — You need not be crusty, for you are none too much baked.
After all, what do we know if all our knowing was put together? It would all go in a thimble, and the girl's finger, too. A very small book would hold most men's learning, and every line would have a mis- take in it. Why, then, should we spend our lives in perplexity, tumbling about like pigs in a sack, and wondering how we shall ever get out again ? John knows enough to know that he does not know enough to explain all that he knows, and so he leaves the stools to the schools and the other — ools.
A MAN IN A PASSION RIDES A
HORSE THAT RUNS AWAY
WITH HIM.
WHEN passion has run away with a man, who knows where it will carry him? Once let a rider lose power
(i9S)
196 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
over his horse, and he may go over hedge and ditch, and end with a tumble into the stone-quarry and a broken neck. No one can tell in cold blood what he may do when he gets angry ; therefore it is best to run no risks. Those who feel their temper ris- ing will be wise if they rise themselves and walk off to the pump. Let them fill their mouths with cold water, hold it there ten minutes at the least, and then go indoors, and keep there till they feel cool as a cu- cumber. If you carry loose gunpowder in your pocket, you had better not go where sparks are flying ; and if you are bothered with an irritable nature, you should move off when folks begin teasing you. Better keep out of a quarrel than fight your way through it.
Nothing is improved by anger unless it be the arch of a cat's back. A man with his back up is spoiling his figure. People look none the handsomer for being red in the face. It takes a great deal out of a man to get into a towering rage ; it is al- most as unhealthy as having a fit, and time has been when men have actually choked themselves with passion, and died on the
A MAN IN A PASSION 197
spot. Whatever wrong I suffer, it cannot do me half so much hurt as being angry about it ; for passion shortens life and poi- sons peace.
When once we give way to temper, tem- per will claim a right of way, and come in easier every time. He that will be in a pet for any little thing will soon be out at elbows about nothing at all. A thunder- storm curdles the milk, and so does a pas- sion sour the heart and spoil the character.
He who is in a tantrum shuts his eyes and opens his mouth, and very soon says what he will be sorry for. Better bite your lips now than smart for life. It is easier to keep a bull out of a china shop than it is to get him out again ; and, besides, there's no end of a bill to pay for damages.
A man burning with anger carries a mur- derer inside his waistcoat; the sooner he can cool down the better for himself and all around him. He will have to give an ac- count for his feelings as well as for his words and actions, and that account will cost him many tears. It is a cruel thing to tease quick-tempered people, for, though it may be sport to you, it is death to them ;
198 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
at least, it is death to their peace, and may- be something worse. We know who said, " Woe to that man by whom the offence cometh."
Shun a furious man as you would a mad dog, but do it kindly, or you may make him worse than he would be. Don't put a man out when you know he is out with himself. When his monkey is up be very careful, for he means mischief. A surly soul is sure to quarrel ; he says the cat will break his hearty and the coal scuttle will be the death of him.
" A man in a rage Needs a great iron cage. He'll tear and he'll dash Till he comes to a smash ; So let's out of his way As quick as we may."
As we quietly move off let us pray for the angry person ; for a man in a thorough passion is as sad a sight as to see a neigh- bors house on fire and no water handy to put out the flames.
Let us wish the fellow on the runaway horse a soft ditch to tumble in, and sense enough never to get on the creature's back again.
WHERE THE PLOUGH SHALL FAIL
TOGO, THERE THE WEEDS WILL SURELY
GROW.
I
N my young days farmers used to leave broad headlands ; and, as there were
(199)
200 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
plenty of good-for-nothing hedges and ditches, they raised a prime crop of weeds, and these used to sow the farm, and give a heap of trouble. Then Farmer Numskull " never could make out nohow where all they there weeds could 'a come from." In those good old times, as stupids call them, old Tusser said :
" Slack never tby weeding for dear or for cheap, The corn shall reward it when harvest ye reap."
He liked to see weeding done just after rain : no bad judge either. He said,
" Then after a shower, to weeding a snatch, 'Tis more easy then the root to despatch."
Weeding is wanted now, for ill weeds grow apace, and the hoe must always go ; but still lands are a fine sight cleaner than they used to be, for now farmers go a deal closer to work, and grub up the hedges, and make large fields, to save every bit of land. Quite right, too. The less there is wasted the more there is for us all.
To clothe the fields with plenty and all our barns endow, We'll turn up every corner and drive the useful plough.
NO PLOUGH, MANY WEEDS. 201
No weed shall haunt the furrow, before us all shall bow, We'll gaily yield our labor to guide the useful plough.
It would be well to do the same thing in other concerns. Depend upon it, weeds will come wherever you give them half a chance. When children have no school to go to they will pretty soon be up to mis- chief; and if they are not taught the gos- pel, the old enemy will soon teach them to thieve, and lie, and swear. You can tell with your eyes shut where there's a school and where there's none : only use your ears and hear the young ones talk.
So far goes the plough, and where that leaves off the docks and the thistles begin, as sure as dirt comes where there's no wash- ing, and mice where there are no cats. They tell me that in London and other big towns vice and crime are sure to spread where there are no razored schools and Sun- day schools ; and I don't wonder. I hope the day will never come when good people will give up teaching the boys and girls. Keep that plough going, say I, till you have cut up all the charlock. Don't leave a rod of ground for the devil to sow his tares in. In my young time few people in our parish
202 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
could either read or write, and what were they to do but gossip, and drink and fight, and play old gooseberry ? Now that teach- ing is to be had, people will all be scholars, and, as they can buy a Testament for a penny, I hope they will search the Script- ures, and may God bless the word to the cleansing of their souls. When the school- master gets to his work in downright earnest, I hope and trust there will be a wonderful clearance of the weeds.
The best plough in all the world is the preaching of the gospel. Leave a village without Christ crucified, and it soon be- comes a great tangle of thorn, and briar, and brake, and bramble ; but when sound and sensible preaching comes, it tears all up like a steam plough, and the change is something to sing about. "The desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose."
Inside a man's heart there is need of a thorough ploughing by God's grace, for if any part of our nature is left to itself, the weeds of sin will smother the soul. Every day we have need to be looked after, for follies grow in no time, and come to a great head before you can count twenty. God speed the plough.
ALL IS LOST THAT IS POURED INTO A CRACKED DISH.
COOK is wasting her precious liquor, for it runs out almost as fast as it runs in. The sooner she stops that game the better. This makes me think of a good deal of
(203)