The War, the Terrible...August 1917

"As he nearly strangled, he exclaimed,

"These beans are sure salty!"

Once upon a time, 
a crowd of men were working in

the woods where they had
 to do their own cooking.

They took turns being cook,
 and they made a rule that

when any of them found fault
 with the food provided,

that man must take the cook's place,
 until he in turn was

released from the distasteful job
 by someone  finding fault with his cooking.

This worked very well,
 with frequent changes in the

occupancy of the cook shanty,
 until the men learned better

not to criticize the food.
 No one wanted 
to take the cook's place,

so they became very careful 
about what they said; 
and the poor

unfortunate who was cooking 
for the hungry crew saw no chance

of escape.
 He was careless
 as to how his work was done
 but no one found fault;

 he burned the biscuits,
 then he made the coffee too weak,
 but still no one objected.

At last he cooked a mess of beans
 and made them as salt as brine.

One of the men at supper that night
 took a huge mouthful of the beans,
and as he nearly strangled, he exclaimed,

 "These beans are sure salty!"

Then, as the eye of the cook,
 alight with hope, glanced in his direction,
 he added, "But my, how good they are!"

It is so much easier to find fault
 with what others do than to do the 

thing  right one's self. 
Besides, how much more pleasanter 
to let someone else do it.
 Of course, a mere woman
 is not expected to
 understand politics in Missouri,
 but there is no objection to her 
understanding human nature, 
and it is certainly amusing to
 watch the effects of  human nature
 on men's political opinions.

I know some men
 who were all for war 
during President Wilson's first term. 
 "The United States soldiers 
ought to go down there and take Mexico!
  A couple of months would do it! 
The United States should fight 
if our shipping is interfered with.
 It would be easily settled." 
There was much more to the same effect. 

But now that the fight is on, 
and there is a chance for them
 to show what they can do,
 their fighting spirit seems to have evaporated.
 It was easy to find fault,
 but rather than do the work themselves,
 almost anything is good enough.
 It is the quiet ones who hoped
 we might be able to keep out of war
 that are volunteering.

One after another our young men are enlisting.
 Eight in a body volunteered a few days ago.
 The war, the terrible, has been something far off,
 but now it is coming closer to home
 and soon we shall have a more understanding
 sympathy with those who have been experiencing
 its horrors for so long.
  There is nothing quite like experience
 to give one understanding,
 and nothing more sure than that 
if we could be in the other fellow's place for a while,
 we would be less free with our criticisms.

American Wounded Making Way To First Aid Station

In The Village Of Marne During German Attack

 George Matthews Harding

In the days of long ago 
when armored knights went
 journeying on prancing steeds,
 two knights coming from opposite directions, 

saw between them a shield
 standing upright on the ground.

As the story goes,
 these fighting men disagreed
 about the color of the shield,
 and each was so positive,
 the one that it was black,

and the other that it was white,
 that from disputing about it, they

came to blows and charged each 
other right valiantly.

The fury with which they rode their steeds
 carried each one past

the shield to where the other had stood before, 

and as they turned to face each other again,

 each saw the side of the shield which the other

had first seen; 
and the man who had said the shield was white
 found the side he was now looking at to be black, 

while the one who had declared the shield was black
 found himself facing the white side, 
so each got the other's point of view
 and felt very foolish that they had fought over
 so simple a thing.  

It makes a difference
 when you're in the other fellow's place. 

The War, the Terrible...

August 1917

By Laura Ingalls Wilder

From the book, "Little House In The Ozarks"

A Laura Ingalls Wilder Sampler

The Rediscovered Writings

Edited by Stephen W. Hines

(1991)