The Belmont chronicle, and farmers, mechanics and manufacturers advocate. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1848-1855, 1853-05-27


head and journey onward.
| This is not rhapsody, it is the true logi
of life. But, droppi ing its poetic tone, let u
look more soberly at the subject,
To endure then, to suffer, is to live; bu
there is more in life. To do is preeminentl
to live. "Action, action, action" was tn
reply Of Demosthenes to the question, "Wha
is eloquence!" 1t is a befitting answer t.
the question, What is lifel the most il no
the whole Of life. Activity is not only tn,
law of life, but especially the law of the hap
ptness of life. Here it is that men, oven goo,
and Thoughtful men, blunder, some of then
practically, most Of them theoretically. Thel
long for retirement" The success whicl
will enable them to retreat from the active
pursuits of life is The goal OF their endeavors
A shrewder thinker than Mountford, DR.
Chalmers, when entering his sixtieth YEA
had beautiful fancy of this kind:--
,,. "It is fayorite speculation of mne," he says
that 1t spared to sixty, we then enter on the seventh
decade OF human lile nnd that this IL possible
should be turned into the Sabbath of our earthly
pilgrimage, and spent Sabbaically, as if on the
shore OF an eternal world, in the outer COURTS as
1t were, OF the temple that is abovethe tabernacle
IN heaven, What enamors me oil the more of this
idea is the restrospect OF my mothers wdowhood
long, ii God should spare me, for such an old uge
as she enjoyed" &c.
A fine but thorough falacy this. Chalmers
instincts were truer than his i'm agnation re-
specting it. He was in amaelstrom Of agita-
ton and labor when he uttered it, and went
on, brave man as he was, striking right
and left at every evil within his reach, until,
going to bed one night, after wearisome day,
he woke up within the gates of heaven. There
he found his Sabbatic life in its appropriate
place. What sort of close to such life as
his would that Sabbatic decade he longed for
have been! One of downright wretchedness.
Can the old war-steed browse calmly in the
shade of tree while the trumpets and the
"shoutings of the captains" startle the air
from the neighboring battlefield!
Not only does an original instinct of our
constitution require that we should be active,
but habt-especially the habit Of long life
renders this instinct inexorabie. The only
right rule for the old workman is to work on;
work on manfully, slackening his work only
as his faculties slacken, and the instinct
which always corresponds with them abates.
Fight your way right onward to the very
gates of death, and drop not the weapon from
your hand till DEATH. ."the last enemy" drops
under its blow. Then come rest and the
'crown of glory
Thus much for the general law; but there
are notifications of it-secondary laws
which should be borne in mind.
One of these is that the actiriiy of life
should be sustained by engrossing purpose-a
purpose high enough to give life tendency
above its ordinary level, and continuous en-
ough to keep up this tendency uniformly
This was Goethe's great maxim, his summary
philosophy of life. 1t sustained him through
eighty-tbree serene, healthful, and successful
years. He needed higher moral support to
render him fully happy, but the engrossing
pursuit Of literature and fame sustained his
life in spite of this want. His poetic SEN
siblities exposed him to the usual sufferngs
of intellectual men, and at one time in early
life he tells us he did actually fall into
"hypochondria;" but he threw it off by man.
ly resolution, and kept it off by the maxim
we have quoted. Never be without something
to do-not merely something ordinary (this
you cannot easily escape), but something that
would be extraordinary to most men, but
which habit will render ordinary to you. And
when one such achievement is done, find an
other and q still nober one. The difficulty
will be not the scarcity, but the multitude of
opportunities.
Further. The activity of life must be varied
Monotony of life is like the stagnaton of
water. 1t breeds perversons-narrow views,
the prejudlces of an exclusive line of thought,
petuant whims, morose views, and sometimes
outright madness come of it.
With an engrossing aim, forget not to vary
life by frequent reiarations; such as shall
allow the tasked faculties to recruit them
selves for their wonted labor. Bushnell
(whatever his imputed heresles in other re-
spects) presented the orthodox postulate und-
er the title of "Work and Play" to the pale
faced Phi Beta Kappa brotherho ood of old
Harvard. Work and Play; yes, play that you
may work; the instinct that will not let you
rest if you will not work, will not let you
work if you will not play.
Go forth, then, at goodly intervals from
your study, 0 grave man of books (;
walk among the CHEEKY breezes and the ge-
nial sunlight; behold how all nature around
you is playing as well as working. The stars
sing together, and the sons Of God shout for
joy. Escape to the vale or the mountain
height; take to the oar on the laughing wat
ers, or to good old Isaac Walton's "Contem-
plative Mans Recreation" the angle on the
banks of the shaded stream; you will think
nobler thoughts for it in your cloister.
Turn often away from the mart or count
ing room, o man of mammon; look up and
around you at Gods blessed works; they have
none of your keen and selfish intensity; they
move on joyously and gently though mighti-
ly. Look into good books. Is not knowl-
edge gain, as well as golden dust! Enjoy the
bounties of God at your table in the midst of
your household; eat not as if eating even
were part of your impetuous, never-abating
task; and remember that you have an epigas-
trium, and that hell on earth sometimes finds
a lodgment there. He that makes haste to
eat, as we'll as he that "makes haste to be
rich, shall not be innocent" or rather sim
poverished," as saith the marginal reading.-
Play, man, play; and work will go the bet
ter with thee for it.
And thou q man of Godi core tbo, .I,o