The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1860-01-25
KINDN e S s..

?
To do kindness kindly--to cenfer favor
with such tact and delicacy thIt the recipient
will not be oppressed by a sense of obligation,
is an art. Wherefore is it one so little cultiva-
ted by the Kind spirits Of this world ?
There are persons quick to execute praise
worthy actions, who take pleasure in works of
benefcence, yet who always perform them in a
hard, cold way, as though impelled by the
promptings of convulsive duty alone.
individuals of another class lestow their
good gifts more graeiously, but evidently ex-
peet due acknowledgement-they have the
air of requiring $50 much for SO much, - and
their undisguised demand for full measure of
thanks often annihilates the very existence of
gratitude. ~ lou see at a glance, that they are
laying their kind deeds out at usury, and hope
for a large income of f'reward-perhaps in the
shape of awide reputation for goodDess-per-
haps through the qualification of assuming an
air of superiority in the character of benefactor
The Kindness of another order of tempera-
ments is impulsive, whimsical and spasmodical
the effervescing exuberance of pleasant state
of mind-a transient excitement which quick
ly exhausts itself Wearied of we'll doing,
these uncertain friends soon exclaim :--s'I've
done enough!" EnoughI as if poor, feeble
mortal, though he use his best energies for the
promotion of his neighbor's welfare can ever
arrive at a period. when, through the great
ness of his deeds, he may fold his hands and
say, "I've done enough p E51~oH -eaH.'-a aF
There is an old proverb which warns us that
the last person from whom we should expect
to receive favor is one upon whom we have
literally bestowed favors. And it is not unu-
sual for persons to experience positive aver
sion towards those who have done them great
serviees-an aversion they struggle against
they are ashamed of-they despise themselves
and L
conscious of feeling. Is not this very often
the consequence of the manner in which the
services have been rendered? .77 arsi.V
Nothing so Thoroughly destroys the beauty
of an act of kindness as the desire for or even
the expectation of gratitude, and yet nothing
is more common ZGf IS saE3si ipiTli j -
The poet Rodgers tells us that 'sto bless is to
be blest, and true kindness iRstinctively COM
municates to those whom are permitted to
benefit a consciousness of the happiness we
ourselves derive from the power of benefaetiou
placed in our unworthy hands--makes them
sensible of the blessedness which springs from
that powers exercise-reveals to them the in
debtedness we cherish towards those who have
needed and received kindness at our hands.
Efectual, widely extended kindness, does
not alone consist in the performance .of tan
gible and undeniable services to others
Kind looks, and words, and gentle, kindly ways,
| may be of incalulable benefit. Nature grows
hard and rough through the absence of sur
rounding atmosphere of permanent kindness,
and are softened and humanized by habi:ual
persistent genteness and consideration. When
the angel of kindness enters a heart where it
can take up its abode, it looks through the
eyes of the man, and speaks with his voice.
and moves with his motions, and guides his
hands and his feet, and stretches out his arms
to clasp the whole world in Charity's warm
embrace: and this, every day of his life, and
every hour of his day. Good works become
the. light of his existence, and the very idea OF
remun Grafton, of reward in any imaginable
shape, save that of internal satisfaction, weuld
diminish the happiness he enjoys. -s..- if'
aye are not your own" said ST. Paul. If
God demanded from us at any moment all that
he has given, what should we have left p
What physical, mental, spiritual attributes
would remain ? Would not our very existence
cease2 Can the truth of the apostles asser-
ton need a stronger demonstration than is
found in the answer to these queries? If we
are "not our own, the power to serve-ths ca
pacity to comfort--the faculty to s'be kind"
are not orr own, but are among the precious
gifts entrusted to us by the Great Giver, as the
ten talents were placed in the keeping of the
faithful servant. What right have we then to
claim the return even of our gratitude, since
we are using that which is not ''our own but
our Master 'ssincewe are only the medium chosen
for dispensing that Masters benifcence? since
we must render. up an account of the equitable
and liberal distribution of al that has been
placed in our hands? With the conviction
that we are not "our own ever. present, who
could ask return for the kindnesses lie is
Heaven commissioned to bestow, and which
are not ''his own" albeit they are distributed
through his ageney?. If a thought of grati-
tude-a hope Of compensation-on spring up
in the mind, the kindness with which they are
associated is spurious, and its true name is in
terest, gain, whim or selfloye. g. How many of
the acts, upon which we bestow the appellation
of "kind," will not suddenly. change their
shape and title beneath thetouch of that Thu
riel like test T? ~ -t.l ...t. a..r ira.4i 5sI-
A NEAPoLITAN ROWLAND HILL.-There