Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1859-05-13


has expanded into full bloom, and the
red at the heart was not quite so deep;
the voice is still soft and the laugh
silvery and cheerful. w., ~
"Don't set discouraged, George
all will yet be right"
81 have not yet heard anything else
but "Don't get discouraged, George"
these twenty years, Carrie ; l am tired
of it. Just think what a fix | am in
now, after all my struggling"
1t is very unpleasant, to be sure,
but don't you remember how often,
when We lived in the cabin here, on this
very spot on the lone prairie, you used
to feel so, and threaten to leave and 60
back to the old haunt? What il the
company should fail, shall we be bank
rupt? Shall we complain, if out Of
our abundance, in such time of trial
as this, we lose with Others"
eyes, but" said George, "the in
Auential proprietor Of the town, the
Judge of county, the owner and in
dweller of that beautiful mansion, who
held in possession half the surrounding
landscape, the rich railroad imam and
bank director .' Here he stopped
short, as if he did not know what to
say next. ,...
.'But what, George % asked his
pleasant wife, laying her hand upon his
brow. .".
81 don't want you to say, Don't
get discouraged " a... .s,
'.,rhen don't give me occasion, my
dear l pledge you l will not. But
really l don't see why you should SO
much dislike the phrase, for out Of it
has grown much of the success Of your
life" a,.
"And that is the very reason, Car
RE. Man, when he gets the blues,
don't love to be reminded Of his own
weakness. But really, Carrie, / will
own up. The hopeful heart Of yours
has kept me up through thousand
misfortunes, when I have sunk down in
despair, and let the waves roll over
me. / felt this morning about as
gloomy as I did when we travelled here
on the prairie with one yoke Of oxen,
a COW, and household stuff in cart,
and ten dollars in purse, and looked
over the lonely landscape. Don't you
rem ember how hard I begged your con-
sent to turn round and plod back 3
how l even accused you Of unwifely
disobedience-ofI setting up your will,
when you declared you would rather
make bed Of prairie grass or sleep in
the old cart, than to turn about SO
faint heartfelt"
eyes, I remember" go, @
stAnd howl sat down and growled
in despair when the old oxen died"
eyes" -r.. ..ss a..as.s.- ..r.-..g
sApd when the Lightning burned
the 'hay-rack - - : "
eyes" ....'.....--
"And''-here he looked up with a
laugh Of half-shame-"when they To-
Gated the railroad through my farm -
ooh, George. George! one would
suppose you'd never have the blues
again; for with all these accidents,
and they have been many, were .griev-
GUS at the time and hard to be borne,
we have had so much Of good luck and
prosperity, that when look back over
the past, the misfortunes are SO cover
ed up with blessings, that l see only
brightness and beauty over all the way.
So don't get discouraged" And she
stopped again, and left her kiss upon
his brow, as of old.
And though he had lost his thous-
ands, though his heart was sore over
treachery Of trusted friends, though his
plans Of future speculation had to be
abandoned, though his bank had sus-
pended, his railroad operations were a
dead loss-his heart rose from its de-
spondency, and seating himself by his
pleasant, vine covered window, in his
old arm chair, with his wife by his
side, he babe Carrie, the second, open
the piano and play an accompaniment,
while he sang the following:
"When the black -lettered list to the gods
was presented,
| A list of what Fate for each mortal in
tend>; -..,s-.r .- ...s.rs.
At the long string of ills, a kind angel re-
Tented,
And cast in three blessings wife, child
rem and friends.
In vain surly Pluto declared he was cheated,
That Justice divine could not compass his
ends,
The scheme of mans fall he maintained was
defeated,
Aud earth becomes heaven, with wife,
chill !ren and friends" r.i#
The stock of our bliss when in strangers
/ hands vested, -g-a .- -U 81
The Unsecured trust oft in bankruptcy
ends;
But the heart issues bills that were never
protested .t..g.-
When drawn on tho firm of wife, child
rem and friends" s.-
The storm-cloud passed over, and
the earnest, energetic man, full Of
power and force, gathered up his
strength and went forth to his business,
and righted up in a few days what he
had, in his moments Of dependency,
set down as bankrupt concern.
There is many man who sinks
down into hopeless dependency, for
want Of pleasant word and cheerful
look !; many one, in time of power
full pressure and misfortune, by cold
words of reproach and murmuring, has
been driven from the paths Of duty and
honesty, to crime, insanity, and even
suicide; many one, too, by reckless
and wild speculation, by spurning all
| counsel and helm from her. who ;s