The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1858-06-19

ny the use OF language lhat little creed
Of Mrs. Browning, uttered impulsyely, IN q
flush Of inspired conviction, has world Of
meaning In Il that the slow suul does not per
eeiye. 81 do believe In God and love-" said
the sweet songstress aud 40 do /. With
God and love Ia human life. II bscoines
essentially a noble and beautiful thing, To
live a life thus informed is peerless privilege
z-no matter at what ro1t Of transient pain, OF
unremIiling toll, Il isA thing hboye protest.
ions and eallings and oroOds, Il Is thing
whluh brings TO Ia nouriAhment all good
and Abpropriates 10 Ia development ofpower
all evil II 10 the gfeatesI and the best thing
under heaven. Plate cannot enhance its hon
sri wealth eanhbt add To ita value, II IA
the highest thing, II, course lies through
true ihanhBod and womanhood, through true
fatherhood and motherhood, through true
friendships and relationships, ofaIi Legitimate
and natural sorts whatsoever. II lies through
sorrow and pain and poverty. and all earthly
discipline. IL lies through unSwerying truth
10 God and man. II lies through patient,
selfdenying heroism. Il lies through oil
henyen-preScribed and conscientious duty,
and Il leads as straight Ia heavens brightest
gate, ~ the track Of sunbeam 10 the bosoti
OF flower.
a. look around me. and see how poor,
frivolous, how weak and dryeling thing
life IA, as Il Is lived by the mass Of those who
are married, ! confess that am filed with
wonder and with pity, Marriage ia too
much eonventon.--its habits. and duties
are too much conventional, That Il Is only
10 be made something better by a change in
the general estimate and idea Of life, have
said In previous letters That a man and
woman who live to eat, and dress, and make
money! whose ends Of life are answered In
the satisfaction Of appetite and ambition and
a thirst for gold and equipngc and position,
should marry for higher motive than fancy
and convenience, is not to be expected. The
structure. therefore, OF true married life,
must be laid upon the basis OF a true indi.
vidual life. When man and women have
conceived aud accepted the idea that oil good
in earth and heaven is intended TO minister
directly and indirectly to individual growth,
and that that which We call eyil-toil. poverty,
sorrow, pain aud temptation to SIMS intend
ed for the development Of power and the
discipline Of passion when they see that life
tends upward and IA only a preparation for
another sphere and better, and that all that
surrounds them is pcrishable--foot and shell
ter and ministry by the way-then they can
have a conception Of What true marriage Is.
The relstion is Illuminated with lie full aig-
nifieance only by this true idea of individual
life. Tho masculine and feminine nature
come together for mutual stimulus and mutual
.frfs4ing llKslssisRaAsl in each. becomes
the property of the other, and all that is bad
in each is neu,rnli1ed by the other. Like
the acid and the alkali, when brought together,
their united life become beaded drnught,
sfHHd rs TiTe tjHtee TTEVtSFfHvs, EITdf ~
sparkle on the lips Of an angel
And nov, my friends, farewell Life is be.
fore you,--not earthly life alone, but lifo--a
thread running interminably through the
warp Of eternity aud while wish you all
manly and womanly joy, and all healthful de-
light, do not wish that no pain come upon
youi no care oppress YOU, no toll weary you,
no sorrow swim in your eyes, no temptations
beset youi hut wish that you may bear
what God puts upon yotit shoulders, and
bear il well. lwish that il may not be nee
essary TO chasten you oyermuchi but you can
hardly grow strong without trouble, or sympa-
thetic without sorrow. II was necessary that
the only true human life ever lived should
be made "perfect through suffering y and il
is strange presumption for you to think that
you can be made perfect without it. wish
you many years upon the earth--as many as
will minister to your growth and happiness
for life is n sweet as well as great and
thing. wish you family Of
precious children TO I'LL your homes with mu-
sic, and enrich your hearts with love And
when, in the evening of life, the golden clouds
rest sweetly and inyitingly upon the golden
and the light Of heaven streams
down through the gathering mists of death,
wish you = peaceful and abundant entrance
into that world of blessedness, where the
great riddle of life, whose meaning can on
ly hint at, viii be unfoded to you in the
quick consciousness of soul redeemed and
purified. TIMOTHY TTrcoMD.
-
g--Fs Tho Rev NJ Mart;r or nn.i;onto,,