The Portage County Democrat. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1859-12-14
From the Pittsburgh Christian Advocate.
iss PERSEVERANCE. e ssif sa

r- II.
4 MI desperandunl - never despair - is q
maxim rendered venerable by antiquity ant
g 'od usage. Nor is there airy ,adage of equa
breyity that occupies more valuable lessor
than this Every man who has ever achieved
anything noble-who has left his name t'i in hon.
orabIe mention on the page Of history, has la
bored on cheerfuIly and perseveringly. determ
ed never to relinquish his purpose until he has
seen his efforts crowned with success. The
longer live.' says Sir r. F. Buxton, the more
am certain that the great difference between
men-between the feeble and the powerful,
the great and the insignifican It's energy, in in.
vincible determinations, purpose once fixed
in, and then death or victory .'iast
| Without this distinctive and leading feature
in the soul, no aspirant for honest fame or po
sition need anticipate triumph. Persere.
rance is the chief element of success. Had
those persons who by their laudibls works
left behind them names more enduring than
monuments of brass shrank from their course
because of opposition, the world would indeed
be in moral darkness, unenlightened by those
res6endent orbs which shine in every depart.
ment of human learning. It is opposition
which brings ont the true worth. of an ,ind
vidual. as fire separates the pure metal from
the crude mass. and leaves it glowing in its
virginity. He who falters in his progress, tn
excellence. because some mole hill. which his
imagination aggravates into an Alps, is thrown
across his way is unfit to occupy an elevated
position in society. Such are the little streams
whose meanderings loose themselves in the
barren wilds; but he who unswervingly tolls
on, is the majestic river that steadily and ire.
sietibIy bears down every obstruction. s,.,fI
The world perhaps has furnished, no more.
admirable example of the power of perse. e
RANGE than is 10 be found in the history of De !
mosthenes the orator. Besides the usual diff
fcuitiea that are to be overcome before one,
can acquire fuency of oratory, was, an i'm
pediment which would have deferred almost
any other individual from any attempt towards
this object. His speech was detective amount.
ing 10 stammering. Yet, despite this did
the sturdy Athenian persevere. until he at
tained the summit of his purpose. and became
the first, orator of his own age. if not of all
ages. 'IncredibiIi studio ct lahore 60 pervenit,
ut, quum multi cum ingenio penum yalere
existimarent, omnes aetatis suae oratores so
peraret eloquentia.' But the history of the
Greek orator does not furnish the only exam
pie of successful perseverance,. The history
of mankind is prolific of those who. by their
unaided but persevering exertions have ip
scribed their names IN glowing capitals on the
scroll Of success. The Genoese navigator,
through years of repeated rebuffs and disap
pointment. did not despair, but with unliring
energy continued to pursue his plans until he
saw them happily and triumpbantly consum
mated. But We need not fly to distant lands,
nor need we go back over centuries, to find
characters Of this stamp. Oar own country
and recent years have produced men who have
ed laudable lives, who have won imperishable
aurels, and dying. have bequeathed their
names and achievements noble legacy 10
heir fellow men.
Solomon.,he wise king Of Israel. has coached
n few words volume of instruction upon
his subject. The spider, saith he. .taketh
lold with, her hands, and is in kings palaces,
This is the beautiful allegorical language pc. i
'uliar to the Sculptures. and to them clone r
let the intent and meaning is plainly, percep a
ible. It tembodies the sentiment that he who !;
,oeth about his own work with his own hands :
rustiug not TO others to do that which he !,
AN do as well himself, working with the dill !
,ence and assiduity Of that diminutive insect,
Fill attain the end for which he strives, be a
hat end ever so difficult. a.
Bot to sum up the whole matter in few a
lords: He who has marked out for himself t.
n honorable course OF action, let him not wa "
er in his mind nor retrograde in his movement i,
in life depends upon going forward, o.
'hile nothing is. to be.,eainsd by going back. a,
'ard A retrea,ing army fiads nothing in its II
,arch but heaps Of blackened ruins, and fields W
larksd With CARNAGE and devastation 90 the tr