Randolph County journal. [volume] (Winchester, Randolph County, Ind.) 1855-1862, 1857-12-31

Ii is in the nature of things that !
should consider these relatively excel
lent lines or passages as absolutely
good. SO much must be pardoned to
humanity. Now / never wrote a
good" line in my life, but the mo-
ment after it was written it seemed a
hundred years old. Very commonly /
had a sudden conviction that L had
seen it somewhere. Possibly i may
have sometimes unconsciously stolen
it, out | do not remember that / ever
once detected any historical truth in
these sudden convictions of the anti
putty of my new thoughts or phrase. !
have learned utterly to distrust them,
and never allow them to bully me out
of 8 thought or Inc.
This is the philosophy of it. (Here
the number of the company was di-
mirished by small secession.) Any
new formula which suddenly emcrgeS
in our consciousness has its roots in
long trains of thought il is virtually
old when II first makes its appearance
among the recognized growths of our
intellect. Any crystalline group of
musical words has had long and still
period to form in. Here is one theory
l'ut there is larger law which per-
haps comprchends these facts. Ii is
this, The rapidity with which ideas
grow old in our memories is in direct
ratio to the squares of their importance.
Their apparent age runs up miracu-
lously, like the value of diamonds, as
they increase in magnitude. a great
calamity, for instance, is as old as the
trilobiteS an hour aitcrit has happened.
1t stains backward through all the
leaves we have turned over in the book
of life, before its blot Of tears or of
blood is dry on the page we are turning.
Foi this we seem TO have lived : il was
forshadowcd in dreams that we lcapcd
out of in the cold sweat OF terror in
'.lc "dissolving views" of dark day-vi-
I sions all omcnS pointed to it; all
lpaths led to it. After the tossing half
iorgctlulness of the first sleep that fol-
lows such an event, it comes upon us
airesh, as surprise, at waking; in a
few moments it is old again,-old as
eternity.
| wisA ] had not said all this then
and there. | might have known bet
ter. The pale schoolmistrcSs, in her
mourning dress, was looking at me, as
| noticed, with wild sort of express
sion All at once the blood dropped
ont of her checks as the mercury drops
from broken barometer-tube, and she
melted away from her seat like an inn
age of snow a slung could not
have brought her down better. God
forgive me
After this little episode, | continued,
to some few that remained balancing
teaspoons on the edges of cups. twirl-
ing knives. or tilling upon the hind
legs of their chairs until their heads
reached the wall, where they left gra-
tuitous advertisements of various popu-
lar cosmetics.
When n person is suddenly thrust
into any strange, new position of trial,
he finds the place fits him rs If he had
been measured for it.. lie has commit
ted II great crime, for instance. and is
sen, To the State Prison. The tradi
tions, prescriptions, limitations, privi-
lcgcs. all the sharp conditions of his
new life, stamp themselves upon his
consciousness ms the signct of soft wax;
"A single pressure is enough. Let
me strengthen yhe image little. Did
you ever happen to see that most soft
spoken and velvet handed stcam-cn-
gine at the Mint ? The smooth piston
slides backward and forward rs a lady
might slip her delicate finger in and
out of a ring. The engine lays one of
us fingers calmly, but firmly, upon n
bit of metal it is a coin now, and will
remember that touch, and tell new
race about it, when the date upon it is
crusted with over twenty centuries
So it is that great silent-movmg
misery puts new stamp on us in an
hour or moment, las sharp an i'm
preston as if it had taken half life
time to engrave it.
1t is awful to be in the hands of the
Wholesale professional dealers in mis-
fortune undertakers and jailers
magnetic you in moment, and you
pass out of the individual life you were
living into the rhythmical movements
of their horrible machinery. Do the
worst thing you can, or suffer the worst
that can be thought of, you find your
self in a category of humanity that
stretches back as far as Cain, and with |
an expert at your elbow that has stud
led your case all out beforehand, and |
is waiting for you with his implements
of hemp or mahogany. l believe, if
a man were to be burned in any of our
cities tomorrow for heresy, there
would be found master of ceremonies
that knew just how many fagots were
necessary, and the best way for arrang-
ing the whole matter.
We are sorry to deny our Jockey
friends the paragraphs that follow on
the horse and horse-racing-thc more
so as we think the takers reflections
might do them good. But we must
cconomisc our space:
---Apropos Of horses. Do YOU
know how important good jockeying
is to authors? ? Judicious manage
ment; letting the public see your ami
NAL just enough. aud not too much /
holding him up hard when the market
is too full Of him letting him out Mt
just the right buying intervals always
gently feeling his mouth never slack /
ing and never jerking the rein this