Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1845-01-07
COMMUNICATED.


REFLECTIONS.
The smiles and tears of life are closely blended
The gay heart of to-day is tomorrow stricken with
sorrow nd the mourner of to-day, drying the tears
of woe, in his turn sends forth the merry neal of
mirth. The funeral train is met by the gay revel-
from the scene of recent pleasures; and again,
the jewellers are treadlng the SOW measure of sor-
row, whilst the once sorrowful are now surrounding
the festive board. We may be said at all times in
view of the uncertainty of life and the many aven-
ues by which death approaches, to be as blind
man walking on the edge Of precipice. ''Alan
proposes, but God disposee, is a pregnant fact.
How fondly we iudulg &c in our calculations for tho
future how many little enjoyments have we laid
up IN store for coming use, yet when least expect
il the spoiler comes. The strong frame. so lately
buoyant with health, is now PROSTATE under the in
huence OF disease the sensi i've nerves. before the
ministers of sweet anuclpations, now trembling and
enfeebled are consuming with slow fire; and
the pulse OF the strong heart becomes more and
more enfee bled till it beats no more. The day or
the hour perhaps. when we promised ourselves a
nch harvest OF pleasure, weeping friends con-
veying cold remains to their last resting place.
The portals of a new year have just opened-we
stand upon Its thresholds: Have we not all sent
forth our expectations upon glttering wing, reach
ing to the very portals of the year TO come. How
many of will reach the point of our xpectatons
The hand which traces this paragraph may be cold
and moonless: many an eye which scans IL NAV
be fixed in its bony socket, CLASSY and rayless But
still the great tide Of life rolls on One by one we
pass from view like bubbles breaking on the great
ocean of life, but hurrying footsteps etface our IA
mlliar walks and the vacant place is at once filed
up. The soul goes forth TO iningle again with the
universal deity. and the tenement is consigned to
he dust from which il came; we drop as a stonet
into the depths OF the placid waters-a ripple marks
the spot for moment, but straightway all is again
calm.
A barque flies Ger the boiling wave,
Around her keel the waters leap;
So swift she passes from our view,
And leaves track upon the deep.
Perchunce when by the tempest tossd,
She sinks beneath the boiling surge
What tells gallant ship here LOST
What lut the winds shall sing her dirge'
IT'S thus in passing DER life's sea;
We leave no track upon IT'S deep,
And when We sink beneath its wave,
Q, few the eyes that DER weep.
Yes, few the eyes that o er US weep,
And fewer yet the hearts are found,
Ofus retain a thought or trace,
When close the darklIng waves around.
But then, s'away with melancholy Time is
most truly on the wing; and in view of its short and
rapid Fight all of Us, indugng in gloomy antici-
pafons is the worst possible use can put 1t 10.
We have been wisely constituted that we may not
penetrate the mysteries OF the future, and to aatc
pate er live in dread OF what the future contains
for us, is warning against Providence. That Hope
which tnges the future with such glowing colors-
is one among TIE few faculties OF mind which esca-
ped the degradation eonsequen, upon the tall. 1t
lives in all its primeva perfection, and though the
SIN of lis fellow faculties, blight after another
its fond anticpaons, yet IT is not the less holy and
God-ke in its character, nor does less deserve TO
be cherished among the community OF sensations.
Let Hope then, with its golden wing, go forth, and
let Us by cheerfulness of disposition obey its dictates
for it is the spirit of God speaking to Us through
perfect minister of his own choosing. Cheerfulness
of spirit in wise conflicts with our duties; we
may indulge itand so live that the future shall have
for us no terriers