Daily Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1854-1855, 1855-06-13
tYrom ths Noctes.l
GRIxy AKp 10Y.

4
ground Of human life! But, alas! that thin
golden ring lays a heavy weight on the
hand that wearsit The finger ii seriously
and somewhat sadly decks, never again,
with 50 lightsome touch, br.ids the hair
above the fair forehead,-the gay gladsome,
tripping, dancing, and singing maiden soon
Oh lngcs into the staid, calm, douce, almost
melancholy matron, whose tears are then
sncerer than her smles-with whom Joy
seems but q transient vsitor,--Grief con-
slant guest.
Shsp ard, And this warld, ye ken, sir, and
name kens better. was made for Grief as
weel as for Joy. Grief and Joy, unlike as
they appear in face and figure, are neyertbe-
less isters,-and by tate and destiny, their
vera lives depend on ane and the same
eternal law. Were Grief binshed frae
this life, Joy would soon divine ava into
the resemblance o her departed S,ror-
aye. her face would soon be whittier and
mar woe-b cgone, and they would soon be
buried, side by side, in ae grave
". Shake hands. my dear James am
in bad spirits tonight, and lo"e TO listen to
your benign philosophy.
5. ! hue nae philosophy, my dear Mr..
North; but howp hne some religion. If
| had not, the banes o my father and my
IN ,ther would not lie at rest in Yarrow kirk
yard. Philosophy. hae no doubt. is an
excellent, a capital thing--and Pm sure
poetry is sae,-but the ane is but the moon,
which, BRIGHT and bonny though she be, is
often sairy benichtel, and at the best
shines by Il reflected licht, the ither is like
the stars-no useless in their beau,y-God
forbid ! ever should think SIGH u stupid
thoeht-but still, alter u. no just sac useful
perhaps, in the ordlnar sense y utility, as
they are pleasant and deichtfu' to the
shepherd on the hlls;--but the last, that is,
Religion. she, sir, il like the sun, that glad
dens heaven and earth, gars a. things grow,
bath for the profit and the pleasure o man,
aud eonvinces US, Ike in gloom and glory,
that the mortal senses hold a mysterious
communion with the immortal soul; that
1--WE are greater than We seem;"--may ]
he pardoned for even senturing say, even
here--and why not--that "thc III ngs which
are seen are temporal, and the thing,
which are not seen are eternal"
". You may say it, James, without re-
proaeh, here, over the soci ii board-fssre. by
yourself, in the wilderness lwhers, by
day or by night, on the world OF green earth
or iaamy waters, on the steadiast brae or
reeiing deck, IN calm or 10 storm in Joy or
IN sorrow, IN life aud iii death. 5 .ame on
the coward heart that fears u utter what IT.
II prompts! Same on the coward ear
that fears 10 hear VIII 1.-THE heart dictates, n
any tins or any place, VIII r. III mood IL
biaueles-,--iJr mirtll Is still in sympathy
with melancholy and what, oh what
thoughts profound circle round the WING
cup, when il Il ,ws 10 he memory OF one
beloved OF yorc, who lett Us IN the
sunshine OF youth, and seems to reappear
like Il veiIed shadow across the light oi
the frstal ire-and then in moment away
nto oblivion!
y Then you see, sir, the place o the b M
ME yaung distraetn' and deceit,u' creatures
-ior, WI a. their inaocence-a say0rlte
word w you, sir-ihey are deceitn - heir
pi ,ces, | say, are sup .iied by auther u sck
. h5wers--just like annu ais after aunuats-
as lair and as fragrant as theirsrlls--and
thus, amid the prrp stuai decay and the per-
petuai renovation, there is naething worth
weeping for--except, indeed, when tsa
silly poets like us,--and we are poet, sir,
though We dinna write verses, --ioregather
over brodd aud bowl, and gle vent, the
ane or the ,ther o US, It's the turnin' v
straw which, 10 mournfu' heart-snkiDgs
that mdun haze an linking o pleasure IN
them. or else they would be al aimee re-
pressed-and seek in sort o diseased or
distempered " ltuness, just as you hae been
dung III moo - to lJpk on tn world III
iicat that il Was never intended we should
look on il, and 10 people il vi sorrowtn'
speetres, ias'ead o. various kinds % guide
flesh-and bi Oh folk, "a gulr in their gree,
in their place, and in their ume,-and II
tina, be truc,is ma u mopin' contrar 10 r'cht
reason, and them that's Penserose. Tor the
malst palrt-sumphst
NJ Melancholy and gentlcmanhke," you
know, James.
s. It's wicked ack, sir. in varid like
Ours, to pretend to sham melancholy: and II
a man canns con'rive. by ony other means,
60 look like gentleman, lie had far better
keep on ioukin' like a bagman. Besides
being wicked, it's dangerous: for by pretend
ing to be melancholy, in desperation o be-
ing thought n gentleman by ony other mair
natural contrvances and endowments, q
man comes t. ge, himself universally dss-
pise1--contempt kills credit--then follows
bankruptcy--and he upshot o the whole 10
suicide--jail--or America.
~ But 70 be rational, and MS far rs pos
sible from the poetical ana the pathetic.
often shudder, James, in solitude, to think
of the change, generally slow, but often su :
den, from the happiness of naidenhood 10
the misery of the wife, especially IN nanny
of the classes of the lowe. orders Of society.
use sdvis.!.,,y the words--happiness and
Misery. James, the whole world groans.
hear il groaning-though no fine-Er to
the doleful.
s. There's owre muckle truth in what
yoG say, Mr.. North-and were we to think
too intently on the dark side o the picture.
or rather on the mony great big black blotch-
es disfigurin' the BRIGHTEST PARTS o the ia'r
est side u the married life o. the pulr, and
ignorant and depraved, weel might we shut
them in despair, and weep for the mast o
woman born Me sery never comes IN
head but in marriage. Yet, oh! how differ
eni might it be, without suppos'ng human
na'ur' to be altogether changed, but only
what it was INTENDED - be, in spite o orig
inal sin and corruption!