Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1860-03-07
OUR BURDENS.


OUR BURDENS.
BY VIRGINIA =. TOWNSEND.
'Oh, well, my dear, said the lady, as she
rose up from her morning call, and gath
cred her shawl about her, all this that you
say about the discipline of life, and the
burdens appointed of our Father, sounds
very fine and eloquent from you-whO have
nothing to do but to live as bird among the
green bOughs of life, while we poor mortals
below have to Ire the great TRACE
dies of JOY, hope and fear, of sorrow and
patience, of aspirations and wearines, which
you only write Of Be thankful, my child,
that your work is to sing and not labor.
that dwelling on high, among the sweet
blossoms, and golden fruits of your fancies,
your words strike great keys of human life,
but cheer, and help, and strengthen the
hearts who struggle amid the great TRACE
dies that you write Of
And she to whom the words were spoken.
and out of whose face had not yet gone the
look of its girlhOOd. shielded her mo nth
with her hand, so that the smile which
waved across it, sadder than any tears,
should not be seen, as she asked, only,
'Thsn you believe that never had
any sorrOws never felt any truth l have
written?'
Scarcely, for you only know trouble in
name and never had real sorrow.'
The other opened her lips and then
closed them; it may be to shut down the
dumb wall that was in her heart, and SO
the friends, for they had long been true
and tender ones, separated, and the one
recked not what was in the soul of the 9TH
er
And SO it is appointed unto us, reader,
to Dear the hardest and heaviest of our bur-
dens alone; to feel our souls conYulsed,
sometimes, with that dumb cry for COM
prehension, appreciation, sympathy, which
is heard only by the great Heart into which
all means of wickedness, and pain, and
-so-ro1r- 49, &o1-a, OIL -, ,rboaos o4o,.,ol
depths they stand Ike solemn witnesses
pleading for us by night and by dayl
Then, to each one of us, our own. bur-
dens seem the heaviest; and especially one
which. requires stronger hands than our
own to bear it over the sharp rocks of life;
but, after all, he only is strong who can
take care of his own sorrows. 1t is hard.
we know it, for the delicately-organized.
reflective, sensitive nature to find on all
sides misapprehension and coldness, and
worse than these, coarseness, and narrow
mindedness; but so long as God has placed
us here, it is best to have cheerfulness, and
courage to open the windows that look east
ward in our lives, and hear the singing of
the swallows, and be glad for the light
For, after all, the barest, and hardest, and
saddcst life. is flushed all over with light,
and the darkest hours are inserted thick
with blessed promises, as the night with
stars, and the years through which We go,
blinded with tears, and pierced with thOrns,
are crowned with great and radiant crown
of our Fathers tenderness and mercy
So, dear readers, who send US letters of
pain, and yearning, and weariness. don't,
we beseech you, forget to let all your fac
ulties look to the light This world is an
extremely finite world, and it isn't worth
all thefever and fret which slowly eat away,
like rust the springs of our lives. Then,
not far of, is the end. That awful Cloud,
that solemn Mystery of DeatL closes the
perspective of the future for ali of US, and
when we enter it, and lift up our foreheads,
saddened and SCARED by the storms of
time. and behold the roofs of the merry
mansions as they fash down to US their
eternal splendor, we shall see that 'eterni-
ty is long enough to be happy in
And Time, too, is full of blessings that
bear the image of and superscriptiOn of
Gcd, if we will only lift up our eyes to see,
our hands to take them. And though you,
too, reader, may think the race of your life
drenched with rains, as the face of No
vember day-thOugh you may carry in your
soul griefs for which time has no assuaging
though wrong, and disappointment, and
sorrow, may have walked with you far
through the journey of your life, still the
end may be better than the beginning
The flowers fade, and die, but the seeds
fall into the earth, and sow themselves into
new summers of fragrance and beauty. and
so shall it be with you, for nothing can
really harm your life but yourself; the
toughest discipline shall only make you
stronger. Be brave, hopeful, true to your
selves, and get up from the valleys where
you can have broader horizon, and bOlder
outlooks, and understand the sublime mean
ing of those words that roll majestically
down to us through the ages:
But thou, oh, Lord, art a God full Of
and gracious long suffering,
and plenteous in mercy and truth