Lexington union. (Lexington, Miss.) 1838-18??, 1843-06-10

Hope springs eternal in the human breast,
Man never IS, but always to b., ble,t.
My hearers-the chief end of man ap-
pears to be, to contrive ways andtmeans
10 ENJOY happiness to its fullest extent; but
1T often happens that the more he exerts
himself TO gain this desired end, the far
Their he approGimates from it--as the ne
gro said when he ran after his hatin gale
oil wind. We mortals find considerable
enjoyment in drinking the sap of antieipa-
ton; but when it is boiled down to the
moasses of reality, we find its sweets too
sickening to be relished for any length of
tlme--So we return to the sap again, and
soothe our anxious souls with the expec-
tatlon of something still richer to come.
AS soon as one bubble Of hope rises from
the wellspring of the heart and bursts up
on the surface, another and still another
follows in quick succession. By their
continual bubbling and bursting, they
keep our bosoms in state of perpetual
etlervescence, which so exhilerates and
pleases, that many of our past and present
ills are overlooked, while fancy is leasting
on future delights. Truly readeth the
text:-Man never is, but always to be,
blest. His bread is hope, thickly bespread
with the butter of expectation. lie is
always poor with what he actually pos
sesses, but as rich in the idea of what he
is going to have, as a luckess loafer who
eases his sad soul upon the seductive pro-
misses OF a lottery ticket. While angling
for golden fishes in the sunlit stream of
speculation, he says to himself, "These
flatterlng nibbles give full assurance of
glorious success; and when | catch this
one and two more, shall have three.
My iriends-Hope is the nurse of am
bltion. She coaXes it to climb as well as
to creep, and builds for it castle upon
the highest summit of fame. She rocks
the cradle of care-binds rosy wreaths
around the wrinkled brow of age-and
garnishes mans path to the tomb with the
falrest of flowers. Without hope happi-
ness were as dead as mutton, and every
earthly enjoyment would be sulled and
dimmed by the dust of doubt, if not com
pleteIy darkenedby despair. Hope, with
her twin sister happiness, leads us over
the flowery lawns ofliie, and opens for us
an avenue when surrounded by the inter-
woven briars of misfortune. She journeys
with us through veal and through wo on
our pilgrimages to the grave-lends us a
staff when our knees begin to remble
with age-and sits smiling with her pin
ions folded, upon the tomb; but as the vi
tai spark expires, she spreads them to the
air, and takes a heavenward flight to CON
duct the spirit to mansion of peace in
the realms of immortality.
My hearers-you are all so constituted
by nature, that, although you had whole
ocean OF enjoyment to yourselves, you
would still want few extra puddles Of
pleasure in which you could paddle for
the sake of vanity. Could you have the
privilege of every bung hole belonging to
each barrel Of bliss, YOU would still have
an itching desire to get suck at the sweet
cider contained in every small Jug ofioy.
Some of you drink beer, wine, whiskey |
punches, gin sings, and brandy cocktails
in order to obtain happiness. You feel
merry for the time--but as you never are,
as says my text, but always to be, best,
you continue repetition of the doses, till
you overleap the climax, and find your
selves sunk deeper in the slough of sorrow
than at the outset. The only way is, to
indulge in nothing that has tendency to
enslavc the mind and corrupt the finer
teelIngs-imagine yourselves as happy as
circumstances will possibly permit-and
ion't neglect present opportunities for the
sake OF those that lie in embryo in the
Unmatched egg of the future. Yes, my
friends, You must make the most of the
present hour if you would have your anti
'ipations of happiness to come half real
zed. BE industrious, sober, moral--cul-
iyate your understandings as farmer
,ultiyateth his felds-eradicate every vi
.ious weed from the garden of the mind
With the hoe of wisdom, and engraft the
prouts of virtue on the tree Of knowledge. L
know there is no such thing as filling [
he bottomless pit of your grovelling de- !
Tres; for, the more you have, the more $
-ou want, and as you growricher in purse !
he poorer you are in spirit--and still you Q
imagine you are approaching towards the Q
looming Eden of bliss, when you are II
traying as far from it as backslider from Y
hrishanity; and there is no more chance :
{ gaining the object of ones earnest de- \
Tres than there is Of drunkard's SNUG a
ling himself into heaven with bottle of II
in in his pocket u
Mp worthy friends---t is all nonsense n
, suppose that you will for certainty y 4
e happier tomorrow than you are to-day a.
The evening sun that goes down in the Y
~ r. ,.lo.,, ,,,o,y ,.en in tba t,,orninc- VI