Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1851-01-03
HAPPINEss.L

soalsya ana stI-l more touchingly,
peEe g the wsfl-known ballad, aJohn
anaSFs4A myIJo, John,n IN addition to d.
9epta aiiE eonataney of character Of no every.
a aay E'eslsrenee supposes a peculiar. sensi-
plihsy aaa tenderness ofpa.nre; a constitu,
uonaa amn9icatlvencss, and utterancY of
heart aaa seulfI = delight ii the detail Of
sympatiE N the outward and visible signs
q ttle sasramdnt within, to count, Is it were.
the nlFesl of the life of love. But. above
All y Stpese4 . soul which. even in he
prida ara sun4mer,tide Of life, even in the
lustlAopd Of health and strength, had felt
ofteRsst And priced highest that which ace
cann9ftftake away, and which, in all our low
ings1is sfs 10y e mean that willing sense
OF Ing ipsutheifncy of the Slbf for itself, which
Preu.sfoses generous nature to see, in the
total. oeleg OF another, the supplement and
eomFietiea Of ats own; that quiet perpetual
seeh.fs Which the presence of the beloved
modHlatss, not suspends, where the heart
mon5ssrsAfffiiy finds, and, finding, again seeks
on lastly, when e life's changefal orb has
passed itbe full, , confirmed faith in the no
bseness Of humanity, thus brought home and
pressed, as it were, to the very bosom of
hourly experience it supposes, I say, a
heartseltreverence for worth not the less
deep because divested of its solemnity BY
habit, ny familiarity, BY mutual inGrmities,
and eFan By a feeling of modesty which will
arise iif delicat e minds, when they are con-
scions sfpossessing the same or the CORES
pendtnt excel fence in their own characters
In sharti there must be mind which, while
it feels the beautiful and the excellent in the
believed IS its own, and by right Of. love APP
proPriate it, can call goodness its playfellow,
and daFes make sport Of time and trinity
while the person of d thousand -fondly en-
deareIl partner, we feel for aged virtue the
caresslns-fondhess that belongs to the limo
cenceFof shildhpod and repeat the same atten-
tons and tender courtesies as had been die;
tated BIZ the same affection to the same OBJ
jeet, xhan attiEed in feminine loyeliness or
in manly beauty. These qualities which
have enumerated, are rarely found united in
a single individual, How much more rare
must IL be, that two such individuals should
meet Aogether in this wide world, under cir
cumstanees that admit of their union as hus-
band and wife. A person may be highly
estimab on the whole, nay, amiable as neigh
Dor, fsierd, honsemate, in short, in all the
concontrac circles of attachment, save only
the last and inmost and vet from how
many oatlses be estranged from the highest
perfeetlca in this ! Pride, GOODNESS, or fas-
.tidiousness of nature, worldly cares, an anx-
ious orlainbitious disposition, a passion for
display, sullen temper, one or the other,
too otten#provSs "the dead fly in the com
nest ftf me spfetq6us .6afln vi urctr0f1 ror.
some mighty good sort Of people, too there
is not seldom i sortrof saturnine, or, if you
will, nFssne vanity that keeps itself alive by
sucking the paws of its own selfinportance.
And ~ this high sense, or rather sensation
of their own value s for the most part
grounded on negative Qualities, SO they have
no better means of preserving the same but
by negatives, that Isl by not doing or saying
anything. that might be put down for fond,
silly, oR honsensical or Ito use their own
phrases1 ynefcr forgetting themselves, which
some DIFF their acquaintances. are charitable
enough 10 think the most worthless object
they could. be employed in remembering ~
The same effect is produced in thousands, by
the too general insensibility to a very i'm
portland truth this, namely, that the MISERY
Of human life is made up of large masses,
each separated from the other by certain in
tervalsE One year, the death Of o child
years after, failure in trade after another
longer or shorter interval a daughter may
have married lnhapplly;-ln all but thesin-
gularly unfortunate the integral parts that
compose the sam total Of the unhappiness of
MANS life, are easily counted, and dis
tinctly remembered The HAPPINESS of life,
on the contrary, is made up of minute frac-
tons, the little soonforgotten. charities of
kiss, smile, a Kind look, heartfelt compli-
ment- in the disguise of playful raillery, and
the countless other in6pitesimals of pleasure
bic thought and genial feeling.
CURIOUS CASE or soMNAMBULIsM.
efnd in Upham's Outline of Disorder
ed Mental Action, curious case of somnam-
bulisih, which1was published in the newspa.
pers at the time the case occurred. A farm
err in pne of the counties of Massachusetts,
had employed himself for some weeks in
winter threshlng his grain. One night, as
he was about closing bis lahors, he assembled
a ladder to the top Of the great beams in the
barn, where therye he was threshing was de-
posted, to ascertain what number of bun
dies remained unthreshed. whichfhe deter
mined to flush the next day. The ensuing
night about two O'Clock, be was heard. by
one Of his faHiily to arise and go out He
repaired to his barn, being sound asleep and
unconscious Of what he was doing set open
his barn doors, assembled the great beams of
the barn where the rye was deposited, threw
downs flooring and commenced tlfreshing it.
When he had completed 1t, he raked off the
straw and showed the rye TO one. side Of the
floor aud again assembled the ladder with the
straw. and deposited it on some rails that
Law across the great beams He then threw
dowatanother flooring ofrye, which be thresh-
ed aud finished as before Thus he contin-.
ued his labors, until he had threshed FIVE
,fioorsags and on returning from throwing
dowd the sixth and last, in passing over part
Of the hay-mow, be fell off, where the nav
had aeen cut down six feet, on thelower part
ofitIwtieh awokc him. He at first imagin-
ed himself IN neighbor's barn; but after
gronsng bout in the dark, ascertained that
he Wis Ia his own, and at length found the
Ladder. 90 which be descended to the floor,
closed his barn doors, which found open, and
returned to his house On coming to the
lirhN he found himself il such profuse
porsSiratiof that his clothes were literally.
wet lhrsugh- The next morning, on going
n N harm. lie found he.had threshed during
the light Eve bushels Of rye; bad raked the
stray If ID good order and deposited it on
| tbe treat beams, &c, carefully showed the
cra;f n one side Of the floor, without the
FL ssaleobscionsness Of what be was doing I'M
iii hR FIJI from the hay, g Bos 1lsr. 5oar.
III. Forty- pews were sold in the Metho-
d;sf3 ,hurell, Norfolk, on. Thursday even
/ iug.a for tho sum Of $4,000. which was
t1Gi ~ g. L..~I-nI lnfI.~e unon