The Cedar County advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Iowa) 1853-1856, 1855-11-07
TlPTON, IOWA---WEDNESDAY. NOV. 7, 1855.
OLD TIMES

III Is strange with what tenacitv we
cnng to the past, and with what ons,an.
cy we harp upon the good old times" -
All tunes seem good times, if they are
ohiy Ola The merry-makings Of the
hoar 90 not seem halt SO pleasant to US
as
Inc Gays we went gypseying,
long time ago.
VI course, in the decline of life, when
we are incapable Of present enjoyment,
we cannot believe that anything i. enjoy
able IN the present, and look back to that
period as the golden age, when we were
part OF the movement of the times. -
out the backward looking Of vigorous
manhood is another affair." IL perhaps
habit rather than natural impulse
Inc sort OF rsgretlulness BY which we
cah up by-gone embraces, not only the
eafiler OF our own years, bu, the earlier
ages Of the world. We weary of the
present, and fancy the pas. was bright.
er era, SIMPLY because distance has OBJ
liberated ITS repulsive features. Were
me memory as tenacious of evil as it IS
OF good this would be a wearier world
than 1t Is. Our religion inculcates the
duty OF the forgiveness oil injuries, and
Providence has kindly rendered memory
less tenacious OF pain than pleasure. We
can fecolIect JOY vividy, but who can
iecaii or describe pain that he has sui-
iofSa' We cannot, and ought moi If we
could close our eyes to the evil tha, sur
rounds us, ior 1t IS each ones duty 10
do his share towards its mitga,ion but
the pas, is utterly beyond our c,ntrol.-
1t Is fixed iact-h is completed histo.
ry. Perhap. we take tha, sort of pleas
ure IN looking upon it that we do on
completed structure, a finished painting
aud regard it with more iavot because we
knew it incapable of heing altered. We
gaze with almost unaloyed delight on
the ruins Of the Colosseum, save tina, we
regret It's erumbling condition, its falling
arches, forgetful of the fact tina, man met
man IN deadly strife within its bloody
arena,
"Butcbcred to make a Roman holiday"
and that here our co-religionis,s were
torn Limb from limb by ravenous wild
beasts, for embracing the doctrines of the
meek and holy Jesus. A golden mist RI
sea between us and the pasta lovely
mirage that changes the desert into an
oasis. Few persons have 10, wished at
some time, TO have existed in the good
old time rather than at present. But these
good old times had, all Of them, their pet.
.y annOyances, their constant trials; and
it would be unphilosophical to deny that
the world Is not progressing Oar grand
old Puritan ancestors, with their tar-rea.
ching political foresight, Their deep reh-
gious enthusiasm, their care for the well
fare Of the mind, their soaring seIf-denl-
al, bad faults and errors, not indeed Pc
cular TO them but to the good old times
in which they lived. They banished,
whipped, branded and hung; believed in
wi,ehcratt, and punished sorcery by death
They smotc the indians, hip and thigh
and sold into slavery the vanquished
cheittaln's innocent children We may
thank heaven thai we are not So bigo,ed
and cruel, but yet without much selt-glo-
Tor we lave sins and errors OF
our own 10 answer for that will scarcely
bear the light of rigid examination. |,
is well TO honor the virtues Of the pasl;
but it is idle to be constantly regrettlng
the good old times. and fancylng them
superior 10 our own.