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Thames Star, Volume IIII, Issue 1762, 26 August 1874, Page 3

■■-■CimfiiJiT:—.!' ":' '*fam6us u''Nottingham", player, known betler to the generation! that has just faded away than to the present, wa3 standing one day as umpire in the ordinary fulfilment of an engagement he had made with a certain small school that used to be allowed the privilege of playing at Lords. With the ; honest v 6 corn tofla gdiiuibe. \cricketer, old Tom 13 r had been watching the->per-formance of;his employer^ no arts or device of the bowlers could induce to moVfehis' bat*. /'-At last,' goaded on foy the itapatien'ce ibf the opposition; came 'the appe^ sfrpmi <tho pedagogue to' Ihe J6ricketerl : be'duti: '8~--j as they tell me, if I don't movemy iba&? " " I dont If now nowt about your not moving your bat,'' was the reply, '' but I know you'lll sbbh; be v Wt iiP you do."— " Cricket," in Cassell's Popular Educator. . under Chiticism.—Many thousands of workers will rise this morning to pursue their work; many thousands of critics (their natural enemies as the workers would say) will rise- to pursue i their work. Without undervaluing criticism, we may admit that a great deal of needless pain is caused by it; and as a general rule we all sympathise more with j the doers than the critics. Tho object pt! this short essay is to aid,the criticised in j bearing criticism." Tliefirsi thing is not to pretend not to carc.foy hostile criticism. Thatf6rmjpf iinsincer%.;ne ! ver.h man. 'One' of. tW .b^sf; comforts; in'the case of hostile criticism is, to reniember the proverb, " many men, many minds." Any man who has done anything which provokes much comment will tell you ' that it is. ass^Dniihing.hpvv diverse are the opinions!; m persons" whom you would admit to be equally qualified for criticising. That which pleases one disgusts another : and vice versa. This diversity of opinion in mankind might alone suffice tp comfort those who furnish matter for the criticism in the world. Butrunfortunately, the worst part of criticism is misrepresentation. No man can pretend to be quite indifferent to that. You, the ' person criticised, are made out to have said this, thought that, done the other thing,; and in/reality $oujdid not say this, think that, or do the other thing. This is undoubtedly, a .great /grievance. But look at the whole matter as a question of forces. It;besets all human effort?, ; I*opk at the whole matter as a'merchant would at any separate venture of his, of which he calculates the gain or loss 'by double entry. There are such and such prosperous wdnda in: favour qfitbe/good ship Mary Anne, and there were such and such adverse winds against the good ship. She came into a port where there were no British goods or she c?.ine into a, port which was over-stocked with them. In a word, separate the venture from yourself, and consider it as a distinct transaction. Vain arid retrospective persons suffer most from hostile criticism. Go on working. When you have done— what has been said atiout it soon moves into the region of the past, arid it moves much more quickly for, you when you give your mind to attempting something new. As a general. ruh?,,,neyer reply-to hostile criticism; do riot waste your fire by returning the shot aimed at you from behind a stone wall. This, of course only applies to anonyrpMs criticism, _ which is now the principal public criticism of the world.—-Arthur Helps. ' ' ■