Nebraska advertiser. [volume] (Brownville, Nemaha County, N.T. [Neb.]) 1856-1882, 1860-12-20
Miscellaneous.
From Arthur's MagaEins
Down I'm the Valley.
BIZ =. s. ARTHUR.

Since my last meeting with Mrs Alb
ercrombie, she had been down In the val
ley; away down, IN dark, gloomy, and
bewildering places. The had suffered
both afi1icgion and misfortune; heart
trials, that left q heart-ache behind, long
after The trials had passed.
] remembered her as an attractive, in
telligen,, worldly woman, whose thoughts
rested, apparently, almost entirely IN out
ward things; a charming companion all
ways, IN whose society the mind found
pleasant recreation, if not interior
strength, / was now 10 meet her as one
who had known sorrow and adversely; as
one who had suffered trial and pain; and
one who had gone down IN the valley Of
humiliation and grief, and assembled again
into the open day.
"On which side of this valley has she
ascended !'' said 70 myself. .-"On the
side from which she went down, or onthe
other side, where ways lead up TO higher
mountains and purer regions z"
/ felt some interest IN the question.
Without sorrow, misfortune, or suffering
of some KIND, few ever rise out of the
lower stratum of life, but live on in poor
wordliness, drawing, from mere external
things, a gross aliment from which the
immortal spirit turns IN loathtng. To
many, alas! the discipline Of sorroE
comes in vain. They go down into the
valley, and wander there, IN darkness
and complaint for awhile, but find not the
paths leading up therefrom TO the noun
tains Of regeneration, that lift their green
submits beyond, up toward the blue hea-
vens of Gods love. In ascending from q
mere natural sorrow, In the pains of
which no spiritualAife is born, they return
on the side from which they went down,
to find the old brightness departed from
the sky, and the old beauty from the fa-
ding landscape. Alas. for such They
suffer the anguish of death, but have no
Joy IN the birth of sons orldaughters, We
may hope that the number of such Is
small that Of those who go down into
the valley, the larger portion come out on
the other side, and dwell, in some alti-
tude, on the mountains that rise above.
These valleys and these mountains are
not mere figure Of speech. Their ex-
istence Is as real as the soul itself--as
real as natural valleys and mountains, to
our physical bodies. And this leads to
the notice of fact, which all persons of
true observation have remarked; the aP-
parent height and distance, at which some
of those who have passed through great
sorTOws rnd misfOrtunes stand. We look
into their natural faces; their voices are
in our ears; their hands rest in our hands
and yet there seems an almost immea-
surable distance between Us. We are
conscious that they have risen above the
meanly selfish of our nature; that they
are standing above US, and see over
broader spiritual landscape than it is pos
sible for our eyes to reach.
These have been down into the valley
of self-humilialion, and come up from lis
sorrows and darkness on the heavenward
side. They. are ascending the celestial
heights; they are, as TO spiritual states,
afar of aid higher than we.
HAS my old friend assembled on the
other side?' l asked myself, in antici-
patton of meeting with Mrs. Aber-
crombie.
"Yes, on the other side 20 / was in.
no doubt as to the truth, when my eyes
rested on her face. and so answered my
own-quesuOn. "Yes, on the other side y
/ repeated, as / held her hand, and look
ed into her calm, peaceful eyes, that
seemed as deep well, in which you saw.
only the reflection of heaven.
/ had distinct remembrance Of my
last meeting with Mrs. Abercrou1bie
three years before. and held in my
thought clear impression Of her state
and personality. Her face. with almost.
every light words rippled in surbeams,
and her voice was musical with laughter.
She was witty, brilliant, critical and sar-
castle By turns, bat always interesting.
Even what she said at the expense of
others, provoked a smile You forgot,
in the ludicrous ideas thatcame into your
mind, the wrong inflicted upon another
even repeating her smart sarcasms, with
out rehecting on their injustice and pow
er 10 do harm.
Now, the old, sunny play of features,
and the merry thrilling tones, were gone
The grave quiet Of her manHer, the pla-
cidity of her countenance, and the low
measures Of her voice, gave, at first, ar.
impression of sadness, as she wereyet
in paid, or darkness, or doubt. But 1
soon perceived a quality of thought in her
Sentences, that obliterated this impress
sion If the sunlight Of natural Joyous
ness did not play in reflections over her
countenance, through the transparent tis-
sues of her face you saw an inner Light,
which drew its sustenance from the sun
of divine light IF her voice did not
break out in laughter, il had tone of
tenderness and sweetness 10 which It was
a stranger before. Affection and thought
had receded from dependent interest
on the outer world, and were now dwell
ing IN the true, substantial, and abiding
things of The inner world not, however,
I in any false, authoritic spirit Of separa.
ticn from the world, bat IN an unseE6Sh
life OF good deeds IN The world.
While her conversation dwek more IN