Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1853-08-03
For the wheeling 1ntelllgoncer.

For the Wheeling Intelllgeneer.
MrssRs. Ep1roRs-In asking place in your col
umns. for the accompanying scraps, thrown of IN
a moment of leisure, cannot refrain from making
Won my humble Acknowledgements for the agreea-
BILE compliments to my humble endeavor in the
paths of literature, conveyed in your paper of the
2sth, though perfectly aware 1t is due more to my
intention than to my performance in behalf of this
interesting cause. But every school boy knows
that
"Tall oaks from little acorns grows"
and so, from the winnowings ofmy chnf, may spring
something better worthy of commentator than the
ephemeral flowers you have been pleased to ap-
prove, but which know to be OF too common and
improbable production to metit more than pass
ing glance. Would it were otherwise; and that
might have the satisfaction Of knowing had been
instrumental in giving an impulse TO that taste, the
absence of which your correspondent deploreS,
but which om faiu to imagine Is rather unexer-
ciSed than inexiStent III our community com
munty SO distinguished for other essentials of So
cial elevation; for energy, talent, perseverance
and success, whenever these qualities have been
called into action. Such, however, is the march
of civilization and improvement. First the neces-
sary; then the useful; then the ornamental; and,
when we have accomplished the first, may we not
hope the last will follow as natural consequence?
Nay, do we not already see more than the dawn
ings of this matured condition; the foreshadowing,
it were, of the perfect day, in the increase OF
means which indicates augmentation of demand
for light to lead beyond the pale of the actual, in
to the broader and more attractive regions where
intellect expands, and mind delights to revel? We
certainly have every reason to augur favorably
from the developments of the last few years, and
as new fields open for improvement, so, doubt
not, will laborers be found for cultivation, seed
time, and harvest.
Conscious of my own inability 10 do more than
agitate this subject will you allow me to address
your readers in the words of one who, himself
profound scholar in the scholastic sense, did not
disdain those lighter offices of literature which, if
they do not advance the cause of knowledge, give
zest and establishment to the purposes of existence.
One whose voice has influenced senates, and d.
rected nations, and who yet delighted to WOO the
muse-to sport with flowers Of rhyme, and indulge
in ornaments of prose.
ain life of action, however prosperous its ca
reer, there will always be seasons of adversely
and days of trial. The trials of prosperity them
Selves though arrayed in the garments of joy; are
not less perlouS, severe, than those OF distress
The heart Of man is, alas, liable to corruption
from both faces of fortune, and the vices of nSo-
lentsuccess fatal TO the moral dignity of the
human character, rs the reckless plunges of de-
Spair. 1t is only by absorbing all the interests,
and all the faculties of the heart, that passion
spreads over it like consuming fire. Form but
the habit of taking delight in other objects than
those which merely affect our personal condition
in the world, and you will be guarded from that
dissipation of mind which is the wretchednesS of
prosperity, and that perturbation ofsoul which is
the agony of misfortune. The mastery of our own
passions can, perhaps, only be accomplished by
Religion, but, in acquiring il, her most effectual,
as well as her most elegant instruments, are let
ters and SCIENCE AT no hour of your life will the
love of letters ever Cypress you as burden, OF
fail you as a resource. In the vain and foolish ex-
ntation of the heart, which the brighter prospects
of life will sometimes excite, the pensive FORTRESS
of science shall call you back TO the sober pleas
ures Of her holy cell. In the notifications of dis
appointment, her soothing voice shall whisper
serenity and peace. In social converse with the
mighty dead, of ancient days, youwill never smart
under the CALLING sensation of dependence upon
the mighty living of the present age, and, inyour
struggles with the world, should crisis ever &C.
cur when even friendship may deem it prudent to
desert you; when even your country may seem
ready TO abandon herself and you; when even
priest and Levite shall come, and look on you,
and pass by, on the othe! side; seek refuge, my
friends and be assured you shall find it in the
friendship of Lealeus and scipio; in the patriot
ism of Cicero, Demosthenes, ahd Burke, as well
as in the precepts and example of Him whose
law is love, and who taught us to remember iniu-
ries only to forgive them"
Glendale, Va. W. B. B.