The Columbia Democrat. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1837-1850, 1837-07-15

udhu Toau nave arrived, ana heard OF the
glorious resting places to which they have
been committed at the end--they are led to
conclude in the excitement which is the
cdncomitant of eagerness, that they can at
tain equal success. On such occasions it
is quite common to forget that in their eager
ness they have thrust themselves through
the party wall at their own bidding, and
are unwelcome guests on the eminences
upon which they have obtruded. They do
not perceive in the hurry of the chase that
they are escaping danger only by accident,
and that no true security for elevation can
exist except in popular affection--and that
can only be procured and permanently re-
talned by means similar to those which kept
their eminent predecessors in possession of
it. This cardinal point once lost sight of,
various articles are usually resorted to-
and the fraud once discovered often ends
its inventor more speedily in the very gulf
he desired to avoid, Another eminent
cause of this infamation is, that the advep-
turers having heard of the efficacy ofglasses,
provide themselves with those articles,
through which they constantly look, but
owing to the obliquity of them, they usual
ly conceive themselves much nearer the
object Of their desires, than they really are,
and hence are induced to follow hopeless
journey, that every one, but themselves,
discerns must end in misfortune: some pro-
cure retrospective lens, through which they
peep into futurity, and are of course con-
stantly in error. Thus the multitude in
their eagerness see Washington, or Gin
cinnatus, on the most envable eminence,
and their false mediums point them an easy
road to similar cites"
| expressed my gratitude for the lesson
and my preceptor, replied-'l will show
thee one thing MORE" He then reversed
the lens in his tube, and handed it to me,
observing that she dare not show futurity
clearly, but that the glasses are now ar
ranged so as to be moderately prospective"
looked and saw the party wall become
more transparent, less cloudy; the path on
the left less precipitous and uneven, and
fewer persons at the extreme verge of it,
In proportion as the wall became more
clear and the persons on the left consequent-
ly more under the supervision of those on
the right, observed the attempts to force
passage diminished; at which ph enome-
non expressed much surprise. "Why,"
said |, ''are the temptations to pass less
powerful when the restraint appears to be
weaker?" sit is because no honest man
ever attempts to pass forcibly," said my
preceptor, ''and those who do make such
attempts, are those who owing to the "evil
of their ways" desire to escape behind some
opaque body, to hide their deformity."
Besides continued my friend, sit does
not follow that the wall is weaker and east
er overthrown when transparent, than when
Opaque. On the contrary, it follows, as
consequence, that the more Opaque and cov-
cred with blemishes and stains it is found,
the less likely will travellers be to observe
the wounds inflicted upon it BY knaves,
till they have perforated and probably ire
trievably, ruined it: and hence the extreme
necessity of preventing one blemish. Any
object having an infinite number of figures
on it, may receive one more each day for
long time and yet those who see it every
day will not perceive the increase--yet had
there been more originally, the first would
be instantly detected, and the perpetrator of
the offence exposed and pnnished."
! inquired if l might be permitted to see
the actual operations Of future travellers,
which being answered in the negative, my
friend bade me look above the road. Icom-
piled and saw dark body hanging over
the whole plain which appeared most
gloomy on the right. gazed upon itwith
anxiety and saw the darkness assume an
infinite variety of shapes. At one time it
assumed the shape and form of cloud, at