Mineral Point tribune. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1854-1858, 1856-04-08
THE TONGUE AND THE EYE.

Words and glances how sharp and swift thew
fly, and how tremendous in their power for
good or evil. for joy or sorrow
There are words which carry healing TO the
sad heart, and those which crush and uproot
the young and joyful hopes Of the bravest spirit.
There are those which cheer and inspire. which
renew the courage of those ready to perish and
which send the thrill of life and hope even
through the cold bosom of despair There are
words which make the soul of the weeper TO
sing for joy and Thanksgiving which can cause
that poor, suffering thing, the sport OF passion
and the fount of tears-the human heart-to
reel beneath Its overpoweriag load of rapture,
or to shiver and shrink away into the chill dark
ness of a hopeless night.
Oh, words are mighty things Who can
stand unmoyed before them They melt or
burn, they warm scorch, they bless or curse.
Sharper than two edged sword do they fall
from the lips of anger and scorn.
They can sootbe and calm the troubled spirit,
can comfort the afflicted and oppressed, or they
can lash the waves of passion, hate and strife.
TO fearful fury.
Words can sting like serpents, they can gnash
and rend and tear, like wolves they can cleave
through the nerves and marrow, and make
wounds whose ragged sears will never pass
away These may indeed be held from sight
covered over by the withered leaves and flow
ers which choke and moulder in every human
heart
Words, gentle, sincere, and kind, from warm
heart, can make friends whom death hath not
power to sever, and the harsh and angry words
oft makes a life long enemy.
Words words ! words now they rush and
ring. About the highway, the sheltered path
way, in the valley and the meadow ON the noun
tain, through the forest, in the village, by the
riverside, along the shore and ON the sea. The
most remote and quiet hamlet hath lis countless
words, and through the town and city they roll
and sweep with deep continuous roar Who
can tell the sum of them Yet for every single
word that man shall speak /" he shall give an
account in the day of judgement"
oh, words are fearful things. And the silent
glances of the eye-who has not felt their in
fuence All, who has followed all the depths
of that orb of mystery, the human eye p
Whence comes its amazing power Whence
but from that strange living creature, the invsi-
bic spirit that dwells within the prison house of
clay O, undiscovered essence, it is throupb
the wonderful eye though lookest forth and in
the eyes of each other mortals nav catch glimT-
ses OF the uncertain radience, and the SNOWY
outlines of that subtle thing, the human SOUL
But let any try to behold less vaguely, let one
seek TO give those fitting, waverly CLEANS, that
impalpable presence, distinct form, and he is
at once batfled and made aware, 10 his ever in
creasing perplexity, that man may not see him
self nor yet his brother whom he loves but only
the perishing and shattered tabernacle wherein
he dwells. Strange, bewildered mystery The
eye, though thing of dust, which must dark
en- and close heavily, and molder back from
whence it came, is yet monarch. Who dis
putes its sway? Who has not warmed and
glowed beneath its glances who has not trem-
bied and turned pale, and cowed and shrunk
away from its cold glances its chilling scorn I?
1t can thrill with rapture unutterable every
pulse and nerve and it can freeze the spring
OF happiness, even in their widest flow.
Since, then, the eye is so powerful for good
or evil, let each one set watch upon its glances,
as well as upon the " words of the mouth and
the thoughts of the heart " York Eudnqelist