The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-09-14 00:00:00

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SATuRok.Y. PTEMBER 14, 1878,

MISTA KES IN LIFE.

One of 07ir greatest statesmen, at the
close of a, lon -; political career, declared that
in the coarse of his life he had said many
things that he regretted, and done many
things that he deplored. Bat, as he went
on to remind his h.,arers, a man's life must
!)3 judged of as a whole, and not from an
iOnflL isLlateri part in which any
he might have taken would appear
to the luast possible advantage. All of us
mast see how mach of forcible truth there
ia this appeal to estimate a man's career
as a whole, and not by this or that par-
ticuia,- cowrse of action. In days long ago
he tha-,, was without sin was requested to
cakit the first. stone ; and in all ages there
probably has not been a man who could
declare that his whole life had been so well
planned that he would not have done very
differently in many things had he only
known the result which would have followed
from the er,urce which we had actually
pursrel. " -7..‘nkly admit," once e7c.

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complained of had I foreseen its conse-
quences." Great intellects, no more than
ordinary minds, are unable to command
prescience outside the boundaries of human
limits, or forecast future results from the
light of present events. We do that which,
at the tune, we regArd to be wisdom and
prudence exemplified; gradually the thought
forces itself upon the mind that, after all,
it was not quite the best thing that could
have been done; the advance of time
deepens the conviction that it was utterly
wrong, and never ought to hayo been done
at all. But if this condition of affairs is
examined, it will be seen how idle it is for
a man to blame himself, or for others to
launch accusations against him because he
took a decision in on year which the
experience of a succeeding year showed to
be wrong. If he did his best at the time
he made his decision, and without the light
of subsequent events to guide him, ob-
viously he could do no more. His critic
comes to the front by-and-bye, and armed
with wisdom after the event, avows that be
would have acted very differently. But
how would he have acted without the light
of that experience of which he makes such
good use, and which the man whom he
censures did not possess?

When a man- reaches what one of our
poets has called the -wintry hour of matnrer
age, he often, perhaps unconsciously, glides
into a meditative vein, and passed in review
the principal events of this life. Like a
traveller who has made a toilsome ascent
upon a mountain side, he has reached
a poii.t from which he can survey the scene
below him. In his passage through the
"cool sequestered vale of life,' he feels that
he has committed some errors, which had he
his time to go over again, would be avoided.
Decisions which he came to in his early youth
and which then appeared to him to have
been based upon the soundest judgment, he
would now utterly repudiate. He cannot
go back from them now; he can only make
the best of the mistakes that have been
committed. At one time he made choice of
an adviser whose judgment seemed to him
to be based upon the very embodiment of
wisdom, and who appeared before men the
incarnation of prudence. Through the sug-
gestions of this friend he has embarked
in a speculation, or as it might have been
termed at the time, an enterprise, regarded
as perfeetly safe and sound. The sapient
adviser had not, however, calculated upon
the effects of either a sudden financial panic
at home, or an unexpected fall in the mar-
kets abroad; and the undertaking which
was represented to be certainly remunera-
tive, proves to be a ruinous failure. The
kaleidoscope of his mind also shows to him,
at intermittent distances of time, many a
a chance and many an opportunity permit-
ted to pass by him unimproved. If they
would only come again, he would not let
them slip ; but chances and opportunities
have a habit of not often presenting them-
selves. It too frequently happens that,
once gone they have disappointed us for ever.
If there is a tide in the affairs of man which
seized at the flood, lea do on to fortune, it is
equally true that if that flood is not so
seized, and is allowed to ebb away, it
cometh not back again. Occasions are
given to man in order thae he may use
them; if he fails to see his advantage they
pass on to others. Again, the man upon
whose brow the snows of many winters have
settled, when he casts a retrospective glance
over his life, is enabled to see that he has
began many things without carrying them
through, and that the number of his achieVe-
ments are in striking contrast with his
designs. He has more than once launched
a scheme which with the requisite amount
of perseverance, might have been made a
success. But in this life it is seen that
schemes, however promising, have a habit
of not always floating in the direction in
which a man would like to see them. They
require to be attended to, followed up, and
steadied; and if this is done, the labour
expended upon them is remunerative after
many days. But if after floating them he
allows them to drift, the meanest intellect
must see the consequence of such inatten-
tion,
There are doubtless some men whose
judgment is so defective that no amount of
training or experience could teach them
wisdom. Their mental calibre is wrongly
ballasted, and do what they may, they
seldom form a correct estimate of anything.
Others, with calm reflective faculties, and a
keen insight into future probabilities, make
a mistake occasionally no doubt, the result
of accident, defective knowledge, or insuffi-
cient information. Such men can scarcely
fail to succeed in the great work of life. If
they aim at riches they obtain them; if they
desire to accomplish an object, it is clone.
But the majority of men find it necessary to
be constantly upon the watch, to keep a
look out in all possible directions, and to
weigh the bearings of all kinds of probabili-
ties. Even ,with the most careful calcula-
tions mistakes will be made; but their fre-
quency will be less in proportion as wisdom
is gained from experience. Let the heart
be kept with all diligence; let a man do his
best in the circumsttbncos of life as they are
presented to him ; and although in after
years he may have much to review and to
recall, let us hope that he may have very
little to regret.