The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-10-07
UNUsED POWER

The Independent has the fol owing valuable
remarks
A modern essayist calls atte, ton to the fact
that many, perhaps most persc IS, use and en-.
joy but small portion of thei native powers,
and concentrate the whole enc " of their be-
ing upon certain forms of act On, as if these
were the sum of life; 80 that y ian these over
wrought powers fail, or the RET lit dsappoints
them, they feel that life itself is gone. The
edmonton OF the essayist is timely and i'm.
portant.
Most men expend their pow 8 mainly upon
physical good. To be thrifty | worldly bust.
ness, to achieve success in th calling upon
which they have entered, to res the results of
that success in afluence, promot IN, and fame
this. constitutes with many the ,od of life, and
they put forth their utmost g, ergies in that
direction. Hence fslse stand I'd of life ia ere.
ated, and the soul is distorted certain facul.
ties, while others are suppress. I'd or unused.
Many have fictitious standard If happiness in
physical things, and, in strait ing after this,
they exRggerate its Importance, nd strain their
own natures out of tune. A. good business
talent should be improved with diligence from
its highest practical DEVELOPING t; but if one
aims solely to be a good busins " man, and to
reap the fruits of this in cert. in established
and conventional forms of physical good, he is
sorely negligent of the powers and capacities
OF his own soul, and he does hinself q wrong
IN suppressing other faculties o. his nature.
Let the business activity of ,ch q man be
tor . while restrained by stringent or sluggish
times let him have leisure for books, for lee.
lures, for music, for galleries of .rt for friendly
and refined society; the enjoymspt he may find
in these, the sense of refreshmess /, the pleasing
variety they bring, will open new experiences to
his soul, develop latent powers and show him
to be capable of other forms of 1 lion and quail
flied for other kinds of pleasurs than the rou
tine OF business affords. He mag not be capa-
BILE OF writing a book or a pos a, or of com
posing an oratorio he may haas, no talent for
painting or sculpture, and no grssh gift for CON
versation and yet the fact thst he finds en-
joyment in these, proves him to % possessed of
powers which have been useless through in.
action. he has committed thslarror, with re-
gard to his moral nature, which, as q business
man, he would surely avoid in psActical affairs
viz that of investing his whole sroperty in one
thing. The whole energy of lis nature has
been turned into one channel 6nd when that
is obstructed, his strained powersfall back upon
himself.
But he has other powers, whi,h, for his own
sake, he should have cultivated And, though
stripped of an exaggerated physical good, he
may actually possess resources & good wide as
the universe; for he has not only muscles
wherewith to labor, and braia to plan for
worldly profits, but he has tastes to be cult.
waited through the works of God - creation and
the works of man in literature AM art He has
intellect for other purposes than, traffic in ma.
terial things he has powers of S5nagination as
well as OF calculation; he has afs,ctions az we'll
as muscle and brain; and is capable of embra
cling in his own love all that is sure and noble
and good 10 the present and in the past, in earth
and in heaven, from the creature up to the Gre
ator, and of receiving and enjeying the holy
beings. He carries within his own soul powers
and capacities for good that eliminate only in
the being of God. s,
feel some pang of grief, some sense of loss,
when the ties of nature are sun6ered by death
And yet how many, while the objects of their
natural affection are still living. give to these
but an infnitesimal portion of their thought
and time and demonstrative love, IN comparison
with what they bestow upon az income and
such physical good as can be bought with gold.
Their powers of loving are unut ed in their ma
tive strength-lie idle and neglected; while all
the energies of the man are put forth upon the
outer world for good. If the l,ss of fortune
shows one what q treasure he b, in the home
which he has 80 often neglected for the sake of
gain; if it shows him what abstantial Joy
there is in useful reading and in good society,
for which he could never find tim, when business
prospered; if it leads him to di cover, or if he
already knows in part, brings Tim to realize
in full the joy of communion " tn God in his
Word and with his people in worship; if it
gives him q more tender sympst " with the un-
fortunate, and opens to him the elights of mis-
| sionary life among the houses Of the poor
then all this new activity and development of
unused powers, of affections, g. mpathies, and
capacities for happiness, hitht to neglected,
doth more enrich him than if on of gold had
been landed at his door. W! Of would have
been thought of man who, VII 81 the Central
America was sinking, had left hi wife and chill
dren to shift for themselves, tina he might lock
after his gold-or of one who, ,sving escaped
| from that dire calamity, in the next moment
thereafter, instead Of giving tina ks for life and
his living treasures, should Civ, himself over
to inconsolable sorrow because { the gold that
had gone to the sharks? Who would not say
to such an one, Let the gather gold of years
sink in the depths of the sea -but keep you
alive that soul, with its wealth If capacity for
knowledge and affection in Il life, and its
wealth of promise for JOY and DRY in the life
to GOMEZ"
ACCOUNT OF REGINA-A sTol 2 FOE Chill
/ DREN.
From narrative, written in Danish Pastor Rome, Of
H. Elsinore. ~
Many years ago, several Ger, IAN families left
their country, and settled in orth America.
Amongst these was man from: Wurtemburg,
who, with his wife and a large family, estab-
lished himself in Pennsylvania, There were no
churches or schools then in THAI neighborhood,
l - - 10 &C 4 ,v,o
the Sabbath at home with his amily, and in.
structing them himself to read A,e Bible and to
pray to God. He used very oft>n to read the
Bible to them, and always usth first to say,
" Now, my children, be still, an. listen to what
1 am going to read, for it is g, ] who speaks
to US in this book"
In the year 1854, q dreadful gar broke on,
in Canada, between the French Hsnd the Eng
lish.- The Indians took the sidesof the French
and made excursiens as far "a Pennsylv ania
where they plundered aud but at the houses
they came to, and murdered tee people. In
1853, they reached the dwelling of the poor
family from Wurtemburg, Will the wife and
one of the sons vere gone to NIL, few milel
distant, to get some corn ground The husband
the eldest son, and two little gins, named Bar
and his son were instantly killeS,by the savages
bat they carried the two little farls away int
captivity, with great many other children
Who we're taken in the same saanner. They
we're led many miles through woods and thornJ
, bushes, that nobody might follow them. Ii
, this condition, they were brougt, to the habita
|, tons of the Indians, who divided amongs
4 themselves all the children ehom they had
[ taken captives. Barbara was 8. this time ter
years old, and Regina nine. 1t was neve
! known what became Of Barbarp; but Regina
With little girl Of two years ole, whom she bad