Daily American telegraph., 1852-04-10
Editors Correspondence.
From our Baltimore Correspondent.

BALTIMORE, April O. 1852.
| have generally been rather u matter-of-f fact
business man. Bread and meat and raiment, the
almighty dollar and other similar substantial
ties, as matter of course-perhaps of neces-
sity-have been the incentives, in great degree,
of my physical and mental action.
"All work and no play" it has been said,
makes Jack a dull boy" Nothing can be truer
than this old proverb.
What was man made for? Was it merely to
till the EARTH and earn his bread by the sweat of
his brow Is it his destiny to toll on and toll
ever simply that soul and body may be kept to-
gether? Was there no higher ambition allotted
him Must the rising and setting of each sun
find him slave to mere physical wants? Is his
inmost heart to become frigid, callous, and petri
fed for the sake OF mammon? Is he to be trans
formed into beast of burden, to carry food to
his stomach and earn clothes for his back? Is
it enough that he shall blunt the energies of an
immortal mind by putting filthy lucre in his
pocket? Are the godlike elements and facu-
ties with which nature originally endowed him to
be subverted, and the inmost fountains of his
soul dried up, merely that flesh and blood may
be fattencd and ripencd for the tomb and the
worms To all these questions ! answer with
one emphatic No!
1t would seem, however, if common daily OBJ
servation be a criterion of judgment, that there
are those in the world-and many of them
whose ambition aims ut no higher accomplish
ments. Accustomed to fix their hearts, souls,
minds and strength on the isolated object of
amassing wealth, they lose sight of every noble
trait and accomplishment requisite to adorn and
elevate human nature. The chords of sympathy
arc unstrung Not even whispering echo Vi
brates in their breasts to tell that they beings
whom God made III assimilation to himself The
lamentations of distress pass by them the idle
winds. They have neither heart to feel nor ca
pacity to enjoy the innate knowledge of kindness
or friendship.
1t is constant application Of the mind and
energies towards social sclf-aggrandizcmen that
superinduccs these loathsome feelings, and mars
the primitive nobility of man. These reflections
are Mt the service Of your readers, for what they
are worth
Man IS capable of pure enjoyment. His soul
can, il it will, while fettercd to earth bask
in the sunshine of exalted happiness. To do
this, however, his thoughts must aow in a chan
mel free from the rough chafngs of n rude un-
couth world. Let the mind seek converse with
kindred spirits, or retire within its own secret
chambers, and rcvel in the contemplation of ele
waited thoughts. Byron found
"a rapture on the lonely shore,
Ky the deep sea, and music in its roar,
If there is one time more than another when
pleasure really sheds her eifulgent rays upon
our pathway, and attunes the heart to happiness,
it is when, forgetting the worlds turmoil and rude
care, we give wing to imagination, and live, as it
were in the tranquil sunshine of an intellectual
abode.
Giving up somewhat to this exquisite state of
feelings, memory in her hayward wnnderings has
carried me back to the home of childhood. That
home is sweet romantic spot on the green
banks Of the Conedaguinnett, stream which
winds through the Cumberland Valley, Pcnnsyl-
vania, and empties its waters into the broad and
noble Susquehanna. There the light of heaven
first broke upon my vision. 1t was there that ]
first learned to initiate my mothers voice. 1t
was there that fathers counsel checked my
wayward folly. There, too, the sweet voices of
sisters, brothers and friends mingled in harmo-
nious unison around the social hearth of home.
There it was learned to utter the same language
in which now write. There, too, was taught
to think, to reason, and to know my spirit was
immortal. Every leaf, and tree, and plant, and
flower, and shrub--each lane and pathway-the
azure heavens, the stars that studded them-the