{"id":110226,"date":"2019-12-23T13:22:37","date_gmt":"2019-12-23T18:22:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=110226"},"modified":"2019-12-23T13:22:37","modified_gmt":"2019-12-23T18:22:37","slug":"the-musings-of-a-simple-country-man-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=110226","title":{"rendered":"The Musings of a Simple Country Man"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Little Praise Goes A Long Way: A Christmas Gift Never Forgotten <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Hobie Morris<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

By Hobie Morris<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is\nbetter than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.\u201d \u2013 Mahatma Gandhi<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe influence of each human being on others in this life is\na kind of immortality.\u201d \u2013 John Quincy Adams<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For 96 years, a great Utican has been silently standing at\nthe very busy intersection of Genesee Street and the Parkway.  Each day thousands of vehicles speed by, their\noccupants too rushed to notice this solitary man.  His anonymity not always so.  If you look carefully, his left hand is\nreaching toward a pocket.  The sculptor\nknew why, as did a young boy at Christmas many years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a bitterly cold Christmas Day morning over a century\nago.  The young boy is dressed for the\nharsh weather.  A heavy canvas bag filled\nwith tightly rolled Utica newspapers hangs heavily on his thin shoulders.  His patrons are waiting anxiously for their\nlarge Christmas paper.  Snow is falling\nheavier now as he continues his long route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man\u2019s beautiful Genesee Street home \u2013 imposingly\nstanding above Oneida Square \u2013 suitably reflects its owner\u2019s importance not\nonly in Utica, this state but also our nation. \nHis prominence and affluence far different from the paperboy\u2019s whose\nimmigrant parents are living on Miller Street. \nA street, among many in Utica containing struggling immigrants all\ntrying to make a new life in the land of endless opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His full name is James \u201cSunny Jim\u201d Schoolcraft Sherman.  Sherman is a former Utica mayor, political\nleader, influential member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and the 27th\nVice President of the United States. \nUnquestionably he was one of Utica\u2019s great native sons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The boy kicks up snow as he walks up the snow-covered\nsidewalk leading to the elegant house\u2019s wide porch and massive wooden front\ndoor.  He grabs a paper and is about to\nplace it on the door sill when the door opens. \nHe hands the paper to a well-dressed man.  The lad is turning to leave when the man says\n\u201cwait\u201d. (When the Vice President of the United States says it, you do!\u201d)  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The paperboy stops and looks up at the imposing but kindly\nman.  Reaching into his pocket, he pulls\nout a shiny silver dollar and hands it to the boy.  Sherman thanks the lad for his good work\u2026 A\nbig grin comes to the boy\u2019s rosy cheeks and an excited \u201cthank you\u201d to his lips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kind words that this young paperboy never forgot, long after\nthe silver dollar was spent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

James Sherman\u2019s equally famous friend, Elihu Root, sadi of\nSherman \u201cHis life made men happier, and his example is making men better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As actor Ralph Fiennes has written:  \u201cSuccess is all about being able to extend\nlove to people\u2026not in a big capital-letter sense but in the everyday:  little by little, task by task, gesture by\ngesture, word by word.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The boy grew up to be a handsome young man.  Like James Sherman, he graduated from\nHamilton College and became a lifelong Utican, an attorney, a political and\ncommunity leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will never precisely know what may have precipitated this\nson of poor but proud immigrants to excel in life.  Could it have been such praise and\nencouraging words on that snowy Christmas day?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once again this Christmas Vice President Sherman will\ncontinue watching over his beloved community. \nHis hand will still reach for his pocket.  Does he still want to praise and encourage\nanother deserving young person like that paper boy many Christmases ago?  I like to think so.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kindness, praise, and encouraging words are Christmas gifts\nwe can give to each other every day of the year!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editor\u2019s note: Hobie\nMorris is a Brookfield resident and simple country man.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Little Praise Goes A Long Way: A Christmas Gift Never Forgotten By Hobie Morris \u201cTo give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.\u201d \u2013 Mahatma Gandhi \u201cThe influence of each human being on others in this life is a kind of immortality.\u201d \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23677,23808,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-opinion","category-top-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Morris-head-new.jpg?fit=226%2C287&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43meu-sFQ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=110226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=110226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=110226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=110226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}