True American. [volume] (Steubenville [Ohio]) 1855-1861, 1855-02-15
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PLEASURE.
BY j. D. Raglan,

What is pleasureH This is brief in
terrogation ; and we would suppose soshort
a question would be easily and briefly an
-swered. But it admits of dissimilar and
numbcrless answcrs--for happiness is not
alike to all, nor is it always derivablc from
the same sources, because pleasure cannot
be at all times obtained from one thing
alone, but is dependent on various objects,
under different circumstances, and owing
to the peculiar state and habits of the mind.
One class of persons will tell us that
pleasure consists in the prudent indulgence
of several appctites. They can see pleas
ure only as it sparkles in the flowing bowl;
as enjoyment is reaped by partaking of rich
and costly viands-or as its more stirring
power is realized in the reveries of intoxi-
cation. Another class of people define
pleasure as consisting in the possession of
wealth, extensive fortunes, princely edif-
ccs, splendid sofas, elegant tapestries, and
oil the costly improvements and appliances
of aristocratic munifcence. And third
class, entirely repudiating the views main
tanned by both of the other classes herein
mentioned, appear to be certain that pleas
ure is alone enjoyed by those who have ex-
tensive education, refined sensibility and
a higly cultivated imagination. Such per-
sons live very much in the regions of ide-
ality and sentimentality. They love ic-
ton. Truth they admire, but they glory
in romance-and high atmosphere is it
in which they dwell. The world around
is too course for them; its views are too
low-too contracted spent up"--and too
narrow for them; and its scenes too mea-
gre and too barren of incident to suit them.
Hence, eagle-like, they soar aloft towards
heaven, and lose themselves in some far-off
land of beauty and sentiment, where earth's
dull clouds and transient beams are un-
known--a world of loveliness, where end
less rays of sunlight breathe on all around.
But to the queStion-What is pleasure? ?
Let US not wander from it, and forget the
puapose of our inquiry. Pleasure does not
consist in Indulgence of the appetites. A
man, in the midst of an inebriating reyery,
may feel agreeable, or fancy that he real
ICES much delight And 50 he often does.
So, too, the wicked enjoy the pleasures of
sin for a season. But it is delight which
but just precedes his fearful plunge from
the towering height of fatal precipice in.
to the ruinous vortex of an cvcr-eddying
whirlpool Of misery.
Pleasure does not consist in wealth, nor
is it attained by afauence. Yet, in sub
ordinate sense, We may sometimes say that
wealth is accessory to pleasure. But it is
apainful truth, corroberated by the history
Of man in all ages of the world, that rich
men are often the most miserable beings on
earth. They not only hate others, as a
general thing, but even abhor themselves,
and loathe their boarded pelf.
Pleasure does not consist in the posses
sion Of great intellectual culture. Spirits
Of ether and 9enii of fire, adorned with all
the brilliance and excellence that intellect
and learning could confer, have ascended
mountain high above their fellows, and
amid it all have been unhappy. Byron
himself, giant genius, and man mighty
in excellence, scared up, miracle of mind,
superior to the darkly-shrouded doubts
that
"Dim this shadowy sphere"
But was he, then, in possession of plea
sure? Hear the mournful strains in which
he addressed his own heart, few days be-
fore his departure from time:
"Count DER the joys thy hours have seen;
Count DER thy days from anguish free :
And know, whatever thou hast been,
'Tis something better not to be-
All, no! pleasure is not in all these
things. 1t is found not in wealth, nor in
, pomp, nor in power, though it may be en-.
ioyed in connection with all these. when