Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1854-10-04
LIFE IS SWEET
BY CATHARINE NJ. sEDGwICK.

BY CATHARINE NJ. sEDGwICK.
IT was u summers morning. I was
awakened by the rushing of a distant en-
CINE, bearing along a tide of men to their
busy day in a great city. Cool sea-breezes
stole through the pine-tree empowering my
dwelling the aromatic pines breathed out
their reedy music the hummiug-bird was
futtering over the honeysuckle at my win
dow; the grass g%littered with-dew-drops.
A maiden was coming from the dairy across
the lawn, with a silver mug of new milk
in her hand by the hand she led a child.
The young woman was in the full beauty
of ripened aud perfect ~womanhood. Her
step was elastic and vigorous moderate
labor had developed without impairing her
fine person. Her face beamed with intel
ligent life, conscious power, calm dignity,
and sweet temper.
How sweet is life to this girl 7 I
thought, 'as, respected aud respecting, she
sustains her place in domestic life, distil-
ling her pure influences into the little
creature she holds by the hand! Aud
how sweet then was life to that child! Her
little form was so erect and strong-so firm
ly knit to outward life-her step so free
and joyous-her fair, bright hair, so bright,
that it seemed as if a sunbeam came from
it: it lay parted on that brow, where an
infinite capacity had set its seal. And
that spiritual eye-s0'quickly percciving-
so eagerly exploring and those sweet, red
lips-love, and laughter, and beauty, are
there. Now she Snatches a tuft of flowers
from the grass--now she springs to meet
her playmate, the young, frisky dog-anC
now she is shouting p~layfully he ha;
knnnknd hAr quar-. and they are railing or
the turf together /!
Before three months passed away, sht
had lain down the beautiful garments o
her mortality she had entered the gate
of immortal life and those who followed
her to its threshold, felt that, to the end
and in the end, her ministry had been mos
sweet. Life is sweet to the young, will
their unfathomable hopes, their unlimited
imaginings. 1t provides the everchangin!
loneliness and mysterious process of tn
outward world in the inspirations of art
in the excitement of magnanimous deeds
in the close knitting of affections-in tn
joys of the mother the tolls and harves
of the father-in the countless blessing 0
hallowed domestic life.
Life is sweet to the seeker of wisdom
and to the lover of science aud all pre-
gress, and each discovery, is a JOY to them
Life is sweet to the true lovers Of thei
race and the unknown and unpraised goo
they do by word, or look, or deed, is jo
ineffable.
But not alone to the wise, to the learned
to the young, to the healthful, to the gi
ted, to the happy, to the vigorous door c
good, is life sweet for the patient suffere
it has a divine sweetness.
what l asked "a friend, who had bee
: on a delicious country excursion, { did yo
t see that best pleased your
My friend has cultivated her love
moral, more than her perception o~fphysici
; beauty; and | was not surprised when, aftt
: replying, with u smile, that she should tie
me honestly, she went on to say
my cousin took me to see a man WI
had been a clergyman in the Method
connection. He had suffered from a ne
e vous rheumatism, and from a complicatiC
u of diseases, aggravated by ignorant dru
Y SlnRs 11NCAJ A4uOO III Ill UO0Js CACCDtll
those which move his eyes and tongue,
paralyzed. His body has become as rig
u as iron. His limbs have lost the hum;
form. He has not been lain on a bed f
seven years. He suffers acute pain. T
re has inventeda chair which affords him son
u alienation. His feelings are fresh al
r kindly, and his mind is unimpaired. I
e. reads constantly. His book is fixed in
is frame before him, and he manages to u
c. the leaves by an instrument which
er moves with his tongue. He has an i
D. come of thirty dollars This p~ittance,
t. the vigilant economy of his wife, and sol
IN aid from kind, rustic %neighbors, bring t
year round. His wife is the most gent
y patient, and devoted of loving nurses.
te She never has too much to do, to do
well; no wish or thought goes beyond t
Re unvarying circle of her conjugal duty
d Her love is as Astounding as his wants
her cheerfulness as sure as the rising
the sun. She has not for years slept t,
hours consecutively.
( Il did notknow which most to reverenc
his patience, or hers-and so said to the
'Ah! said the good man, with a me
smile, life is still sweet to me how can
W but be so with such a wife?'
ID Oh, ye, who live amidst alternate su
ID shine and showers of plenty, to who
RS night brings sleep, and daylight freshne
is -ye murmurers and complainers, who fl
or in the harness of life, till it gall you to t
lP bone-who recoil at the lightest burde
lt. and shrink from a passing cloud-consid
lis the magnanimous sufferer, my friend d
cribed, and learn the divine art that c
lc-' distil sweetnessfrom the bitterest cup!