Southern reveille. (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1851-185?, 1852-04-07
A Short Patent Sermon
On "STcH is LIFE"
TExr,-Up hill down hill
Trouble and strife,
Slide along. dig along.
"SIcH is life ~

NV Hearers savages 90 through life easily
enough, without any hard grunting sweating
or swearing They are just about So at all
times-contented sure to have living, and
consequently happy but we civilized Aons Of
sin, care and sorrow, have to fight against our
fellow kind for a foPence to get us food We
have to twist and turn-make our way among
the crowd-stick our elbows into the ribs Of
others-and, perhaps knock down dozen or
two to get decently through the world. SIcH
IS LIFE Brutes have a living prepared for
them-the table Of Nature is bountifuly
spread before them, and all they have to do is
to eat drink, sleep, and be satisfied; but
man, having brains to contrive, and hands to
execute, has to make living and not be sat
isfed at that He is never satisfied, no wo-
man either. Give me so much, says he. and
I will ask for no more; when he gets il, his
avaricious appetite is as msatiate as ever
You can no more supply to satisfaction the
mammoth capaciousness Of human desire than
sou can I'll the bottomless pit by the dropping
in Of pebble stones. The future dosn't al
ways deceive us; but the deuce of it is, we are
apt to find fault with the ful6llment Of what
our most ardent hopes had promised. 'Taint
good enough, after all say we, with a snuff
and sniyel: give us something better. And
50, at last, we 20 whining to our graves, ex-
claiming Vanity vanity all is deception
double-distilled deception Mans existence
is beautiful humbug. "Sich is life!" /"
Ny friends it is up hill and down hill
with US in this RE-probationary sphere Ev-
ery one Of US seem to be kicked about as il
we were each football for the fates.-
Through hypocritical courtesy, we don't ex-
actly put the blame upon Providence, but lay
it to our own ill-luck, and be id to it,
Sich is life And yet when, upon the ebb
tide Of prosperity, man finds his frail bark
cast back into dangerously troublesome waters,
be foolishly imagines that all the winds Of
heaven have conspired against him. and, rath'
or than resort to the paddle Of perseverance
he gives up for lost, and says, There's no use
in trying, for sich is life" On the other
hand, an unfortunate philosopher, in tattered
vest and forlorn financial condition, doseni
altogether give way to despair, but patiently
contents himself with the idea that sich il
life; and that, in the process Of mundane
mutations, there is a good time coming,
which some day or other it viii be his gooC
fortune to experience.
My worthy friends: how many there arr
who having to dig through the world, ant
finding it hard digging at the best, will no
philosophically consider that sich is life; bu
they must rail at everybody and everything
They distractedly imagine that all Of mankin'
are set against them; and their only prayer
is that they may have an opportunity Of sen
ding word to the devil. and all the royal family
Of hell, to receive the scoundrels with the
respect due to their rascally deserts. Thes'
fellows had better 60 there themselves-ant
in sufficient season to introduce the rest Of th'
company.
Ny hearers: there are certain truisms
which need no ghosts from the grave to tel
us about, and establish He that hath NJ
money hath few friends, and the fur upon th'
friendship Of those few is hardly worth gath
ering The moneyless must expect to b
pushed about, rode over and trOdden upon
for sich is life The daDdifed puppy, viii
features Of brass, brains Of frogjelly, and
heart made Of putty and beeswax-submit
to the SCOTS and jeers Of boys; is barked a
by dogs; be dem'd if he knows how il is
but sich is life' lie that tells the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth
nowadays, is pelted with the brickbats Of per
secution by moralists, religionists, political
lists, and the people at large for sich Is life
EccE sIcNUM. LIoNUM UrE.
MY hearers imagine. as did my frien'
Shakspere. a locomotive shadow; apoor play
or, that frets bis brief hour upon stage, ant
then is heard no more---and consider tha
sich is life ; a tale told by an idiot, lShaks
PEREZ full Of sound and fury, signifying moth
ing But learn to live well; keep the stom
ache wen supplied with roast beef, the hear
with true religion, and the head free from al
foolish fancies--and verify you shall be re
warded in the life TO come, which at the wors
cant help but be better than the miserabI
sublunary existence allotted TO us here below
So mote ID be