Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 17, 1995 TAG: 9504180051
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MONTY S. LEITCH
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Published in 1903 by H.M. Caldwell Co. of Boston, this compilation of aphorisms, platitudes, witticisms and cliches reflects its times. To wit, ``The great difference between a cow and a woman is that the latter has sentiment.''
Among Mr. Meader's other thoughts, however, are some that seem, if not especially original, at least curiously contemporary: ``We seldom realize how easily our places could be filled. One day a man is considered indispensable, the day after he is gone some one else is doing his work, and in a few days more he is forgotten.''
According to the Foreword, Mr. Meader ``never intended'' his thoughts for publication. He ``scribbled them down ... for the same reason that a man leans over the rail of a ship on his first sea-voyage. He is not interested in fish-culture, and has no grudge against the ocean, but simply feels he has something he must give up.''
What an odd combination of allure and repellency!
No name is inscribed on the book's flyleaf, but I suspect a woman as owner; for the observations marked include these:
``Men criticise women very harshly about gossiping, but a crowd of fellows in the cafe of a smart club will make the conversation at a women's luncheon sound like table talk in a mute asylum.''
``A man reproaches himself for injuring his health, he regrets squandering his money, and he swears if the rain spoils his new straw hat, but the most precious asset he has, his time, he wastes away without a care.''
``A man without a few evil intentions is like lingerie without lace - uninteresting.''
The book is divided into sections, each of them titled. These include ``The Noble Biped'' (reflections on men), ``Our Former Ribs'' (reflections on - you guessed it - women), ``The Lockstep'' (reflections on marriage!), and ``Fortune's Wheel.''
This last concludes thus: ``The remains of a great man are interred with pomp and ceremony, while the corpse of an unclaimed convict is thrown into a bed of quick-lime. The soul of either is probably concerned as much as the inmates of an almshouse care about an income tax.''
Herman Lee Meader ends his book with an ``Excuse'': ``What was the use of publishing all this? Lots of brainier men have expressed themselves on all these subjects. Yet, after all, how little we do is of any real value; the best we can hope for is to be kept agreeably occupied. Preparing this manuscript has kept me so, and I trust that reading this book has done the same for you ... ''
It strikes me this morning that what Mr. Meader calls keeping ``agreeably occupied'' is just the same goal at the heart of our much-touted contemporary soul-searching. According to all the commentators, we in the 1990s seek soul, vocation, significance; we long for deeper meaning in our lives. We've invented ``New Age'' religions and credos of permanency and perfectibility toward this end.
In 1903, Mr. Meader wrote, ``To watch most people plan for the future, you'd think they had a thousand years to live.''
Well, we don't have a thousand years, do we? Consequently, I end up admiring Mr. Meader, even though he does compare women to cows. He knew he didn't have a thousand years either, and so he just quit worrying about it and kept agreeably occupied. Reading his book has kept me agreeably occupied, too. And that's no small achievement, for either of us.
Monty S. Leitch is a Roanoke Times & World-News columnist.
by CNB