The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1857-07-02
IMAGINARY EVILS

:. .Nf6sWesnot WI % us aiIllcteu WIN linaSn0-
: fY defnonse and in fighting with them do
I'VE not leave n black blotcl, somwherea- g.
There is n ridiculous story told Of girl
who was found cut by the well, one sum-
ner's day, weeping bitterly. When asked
what was the matter, she sobbcd-"O, I
was thinking if I was married, and had
dear little boy like Tommy, and then if
lighted fire in the oven one day, and then
if went away, and left Tommy all alone,
ami then if Tommy should creep into the
re'-hot even. and, and Tommy should be
burned to -ol-oh"-an with a
cry Of great grief, tho poor girl tortured
herself with this imaginary evil.
What strange form, this demon takes.
sometimes! One very respectable lady
spent her spare time in sigling for fear she
should be troubled with the rheumatism
when she got old. Another was tortured
with the fear of consumption, and read all
the treatises, editorial tracts and tones rela-
ting to tina: interesting subject, besides Wis
iting every consumptive patient within forty
miles, to become more minutely acquainted
with the symptoms, and after all her sighs
and groans and fretfulness and tears, died
quietly i'll her bed of old age. Had the
days Of her murmuring been spent in Civ
ing consolation to the poor the sick the
suffering, what different tale might her
life have told.
Another was afflicted with the demon of
poverty. lie was rich man, and upon his
brow gray hairs were growing, but rich,
beloved by his own family as lie was, the
demon told him constantly, in haunting
whispers, that he would be poor very poor,
that he would end his life in an institution
Of charity, and there he would sit in his
costly armchair, with bowed down head,
musing on his forth coming destitution.-
In vain his children were praised, in vain
his fine possessions lauded; it was all verv
well, now. he would say, but wait, wait-a
few years would tell a different story. And
so strong did this mania, with which he
should have done manful battle in the be-
-ginning-become, that it was melancholy
to visit him-to sec him wandering with
long yisage over his beautiful grounds, his
eyes, fixed upon the ground to hear
his sighs, to listen to his mournful predc-
tions. Of what good was that mans life
to him?
Another is perpetually haunted with the
thought that his neighbor, perhaps the man
with whom he has grown up from child
hood, will outstrip him in a show of wealth
. and better living. 1t is like a constant
nghtpare, this thought, it robs him of bis
sleep; it leads him to subtifuge-he in
vents lies; he grows dishonest in a business
way; he enjoys not one moment of his ex-
istence in the continual strife for competi.
ton with his more successful neighLor.-
Poor man see, the color fades out of his
cheek; long, deep wrinkles take their seat
upon his brow, his eyes turn yellow, his
skin grows sallow gray hairs come rapidly
disease saps at his vitals; he kills him.
seIf in order to live; he commits suicide
that he may outstrip his neighbor; he has
not lived the pure life meet for heaven
if progression is eternal, to what deepe,
deeds of misery must he be constantly de-
scending!
Is it 500 are we all giving heed to some
imaginary ghost? There is not much ir
the world, to be sure, that encourages the
blessed attribute Of trust but surely tla
man may trust God. We talk of prov
licences, but do not believe in them
weplant the seed, and trouble ourselves fo
fear it may never come up. And when it
tardy head, all jewelled with dew, and snil
ing in the sunshine of the great Creator
loyc, lifts itself from the ground, then VI
begin to wonder if it will bear blossoms
And if the blossoms come rich and red
more beautiful than the painters hand cal
color, then we doubt if the fruit will eve
appear. And when the fruit, with its dc
lectable juices hidden by the crimson rind
is.fully formed from the bud, even then W
grumble if it has not the peculiar tlavo
which we expected. And thus we 90 on
day after day, night after night, weepin.
and mourning and doubling and protesting
when God has given us so many things t.
be thankful for. We love to summon ou
familiar demon, to gaze upon bis hatefu
yisage and predict our sorrow, that our
selves nurse into active being. Ho,
strange it is! What makes man such
doubter2
There once lived in an old brown cottage
SO small thatsit looked like chicken coor
solitary woman. She was some .hirt,
years Of age, tended her little garder
knit and spun for a living. She wa
: Known every where, from village to village
bv the co0nomen Of n Hannv Nancy