Editorial January 18, 1947 Issue

Out of the Brier Patch

Paul Stark Seeley

In Uncle Remus' "Legends of the Old Plantation" Brer Fox did the worst thing he could think of to Brer Rabbit when he slung him into the middle of the brier patch. But Brer Rabbit, leaving some fur behind, managed to free himself from the briers, and "sassing" Brer Fox for his stupidity skipped along to his freedom.

Many mortals feel they have been thrown by forces beyond their control into the middle of a brier patch where the briers are holding them as in a trap, from which they see no way to escape. The fox of evil, they feel, has in their case outwitted them and pinned them fast. Unlike Brer Rabbit, they are unable to extricate themselves—even with the loss of some fur!

Unhappy marriages, enslavement to liquor, tobacco, or lust, recurring grief, tenacious disease, a sense of inferiority, defeat, frustration, a dark past that overshadows the present, and crotchety dispositions are some of the briers that seem to hold many. At one time or another probably most of us have felt pretty much like Brer Rabbit when he found himself all tangled up with the briers. But he got out; so can we.

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