The Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, Ohio) 1853-1861, 1856-05-31
Original.
E x 7 R AC 7.
BY MRS. C. II. PARLIMAN.

4 n N n " L.
BY MRS. C. II. PARLIMAN.
There is no excuse for the
vast amount Of ignorance, of folly and crime,
which like living, breathing pestilence taints
the moral atmosphere, bearing upon its pol
luted bosom, the ever-quickning germs Of
death Oh, it is a humiliating, degrading
sight to meet continually in our daily walks,
with those whom God made men, formed in
his "his own image" inbreathed with a spark
of imm ortality whose enkindled blaze might
irradiate with intellectual lght-the world to
see them groyeling, yea, rejoicing, insanely
rejoicing in the dark, degrading depths of ig
norance and folly, or perchance of vice and
crime Watch them as year succeeds year,
and say if in aught sane speech, they much
excel the instinct which guides and governs
the brute creation Surely, the dumb
brutes" are more innocent, more harmless
than they Their souls seem literally crust
ng out" past hope of re-polishing, beneath
the corroding influence of an inc xcusable, ur-
parbonable,-a criminal ignorance. Out
spreading before them lies land teeming with
golden harvests and lucious fruits, while from
every hamlet, village and city, rise Heaven
pointed spires, which tell the passer-by, that
before their sacred affairs, minister those who
do, or should teach and practice the holy pre-
cepts of truth and virtue, and fill With live
divine, the hungering souls of their fellow
beings and scattered far and wide, are
proud and noble institutions of wisdom and
learning, inviting as cordially, the neglected,
degraded children of ignorance and poverty
as the offspring of the wealthy millionaire.
Many of those who now occupy with honor
the highest stations in our country's greatness
and power, and those, from the fiery crucibe
of whose brain, have leaped forth, to benefit
and ennoble mankind, those great inventions
ard Improvements, which stamp with undying
glory, their names and nation; were once
sunk in the midnight darkness of poverty
and ignorance. Yet, some ray oflight, from
the all-searching sun of truth, fell upon the
dormant mind, and reused the giant soul
which slumbered there. Henceforlh, it was a
vain, futile attempt TO bar the prisoner in.
Dangers and difficulties but awakened new
energies, and triumphing over all obstacles,
they pursued their rugged way uudaunted on
and up and as we view the thorny path
they tod, our heats are imbued with graft
tude and respect Would that others, drunk
with the poisoned wine of ignorance and folly,
might start from their deadly lethergy and
follow their noble example ! Would that the
same energy which thousands have exhibited
in tearing themselves away from their homes,
their families and friends, s,-braving th- storms
aud tempests of Heaven, the violence Of saw
age foes-risking their life, their all, and as
it were, tempting fate, enduring long and
to.lsome march beyond the frownirg noun
tans, to the dazzling land Of gold,-had been
exerted during the years gone by, in treasur-
ing up health for the body, wealth for the soul.
Then might they have been respected for the
qualities of heart and mind and notalone for
the weight of their g0ld,-honored, useful
members of society, instead of adventures, or
the most toilsome and laborious of slaves
They may heap up the shining dust, but mean
aclile tie beauty and Iustrc ottar more peiceless
gems, are fast becoming furnished, oJscared, o6
liberated.
We were called into being, not to enjoy or
to endure few fleeting years of happiness or
of misery, but to perform some part, some
action worthy Of that existence. How are
we to ascertain what good, what great, what
glorious deeds lie within our sphere or our
capacities, until we have gone forth and fairly
tested the power which slumbers in our frame,
or plays like living light around the Gol-hke
mind Shall we drink blindy, willingly of
the thick and turbid stream with rolls It's
heavy waves at our feet or shall we o'erleapI
its noisome banks, and balhe our parchcp lips
in the pure, sparkling, lile-giyng streams be-
yond, as they course their bright way to the
wide ocean.
Whist hinders the great mass cf people
from being well educated in heart and intel
lect,-prosperous and happy9 Difficulties,
difficulties which to them appear more i'm
passible than the glacier Alps II
And ,rhat are those difficulties They lie '