The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1858-05-06

"a iiS-ie) " thO olidi CiS SlS LhC HldIHcIlS
OF taste are struck with crashing sweep,
is range which no other instrument
possesses. A few exercises on it daily at
home fit llan wonderfully for his habit
ual labors, and refresh him immensely
as he returns from them. No stranger
can Get great many notes of torture out
of human soul it takes one that knows
it well,-parent, child, brother, sister, in
innate. Be very careful to whom you
give the side-door key; too many have
them already
You remember the old story of
the tender-hearted man, who placed a
frozen viper in his bosom, and was stung
by it when it became thawed? IF we
take cold-blooded creature into our bo-
som, better that it should sting us and
we should die than that its chill should
slowly sloal into our hearts; warm it we
never can [ have seen faces of women
that were fair to look upon, yet one could
see that the iclcles were forming round
these women's hearts. | knew what
freezing image lay on the white breasts
beneath the laces
ga very simple intellectual mechanism
answers the necessities of friendship, and
even of the most intimate relations of
life. If watch tells us the hour ard
! the minute, we can be content to carry
it about with us for a lifetime, though it
.as no secondhand, aud is not repeat
er, nor musical watch, though IS not
alfmelled nor jeweled, in short, though
/ 1t Las little beyond tie wheels required
for a trustworthy instrument, added to a
god face and pair of useful hands,
! The more wheels there are in watch or
a BRAIN, the more trouble they are to take
care Of. the movements Of eXaltation
which belong to genius are egotistic by
their very nature. A calm, clear mind,
not subject to the spasms and crises that
are so often met with in creative OF in
tensely perceptive natures, is the best ba-
sis for love or friendship.-Observe, |
am talking about mitdS. ] won't say,
the more intellect, the less capacity for
loving; for that would do wrong to the
understanding and reaoon but, on the
other hand, that The brain often runs
away with the hearts best blood, which
gives the world few pages of wisdom or
sentiment or poetry, instead of making
one other heart happy, l have no ques-
! ton.
"If ones intimate in love or friend
ship cannot or does not share all ones
Intellectual tastes or pursuits, that is a
small matter. Intellectual companions
can be found easily n men and books.
After all, if we think Of II, most If the
worlds loves and friendships have been
between people that could not re;td nor
spell.
But to radiate the heat of the affec-
ti0ns into clod, which absorDs all that
Is poured into it, but never warns beneath
the sunshine Of smiles or the pressure of
hand or lip,-this is bhc great mariyrdom
Of sensitive bcings,-most of all in that
perpetual auto da .fS yhere young woman
hood IS the sacrifice.
|--You noticed, perhaps, what I just
said about the loves and friendships of
illitcrate persons,-that is, Of the human
race, with few exceptions here and
there. | like hooks,-[ was born and
bred among th.m, and have the easy feel
ing, when [ get into their presence, that
q stahle-boy has among horses I don't
think | undervalue them either as COM
panions or instructors. But [ can't help
remembering that the worlds great men
have rot commonly been great scholars,
nor its great scholars great men, The
Hebrew patriarchs had small libraries, |
think, if any; yet they represent to our
ina ginations very complete idea of man
hood, and, | think, if we could ask in
Abraham to dine with us men of letters
next Saturday, we should feel honored
BY his company.
THOUGHTS ABOVE BOOKS.
HWhat | wanted to say about books is
this: that there are times in WHICH every
active mind feels itself above any and ali
human books.
"--I think man must have O good
opinion OF himself, Slr,---sald the divinity
student, who should feel himself above
Shakespeare a. any time.
"My young friend,-I replied, the
man who is never conscious of auv state
of feeling or intellectual effort entirely
beyond expression by any form Of words
whatsoever is a mere creature Of flanguage.
! can hardly believe there are any such
men. Why, think fer moment Of the
power Of music. The nerves that make
US alive to it spreads out $50 the Professor
tells mle) in the most sensitive region OF
the lYarrow, just where it is widening to
run upwards INTO the henispheres. 1t
has its seat in the region of sense rather
than Of thought. Yet it produces con-
tinuous and, as it were, logical sequence
of emotional and intellectual changes
but how different from trains Of thought
proper! how entire.y beyond the reach of