Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1860-07-24
's For the Spectator.
New HAMPDEN, Va, July -, 1860.
Iife,s COmDensati0ns.

| F0r the spectator.
New HAMPDEN, Va, July ~, 1860.
Life's Compensations.
| Mr.. Editor The happiness of this world is
not so unequally distributed as many imagine,
the rich have not all the privileges, nor the poor
all the privations. Thank God the purest
pleasures of life are those which money cannot
buy. The artisan going from his wearisome Ia
Dor to his humble home as he meets the love-lit
smile of his wife and takes his fair and healthy
child upon his knee, knows q thrill of sweeter
joy than the most lavish expenditure of gold
| upon costly stimulants can bring the faded mind
of the epicurean in pleasure. The wildwood
! flowers and the dew-drops are not bought the
| glory of sunset and the magnifcence of the full
moon are free to all.
The blushing cheek and beaming eyes of af-
fection cannot be purchased; virtue and beauty
receive not their glorious riches from the hand
! of Mammon; the Intellectually wealthy may
| well hold in contempt the baser coin of the
| world. 1t is true that the bridegroom work
| ing man as he bears his bride to their lovely
home longs with the impulse of affection, to at
tire her graceful form in the same adornment
| which her prouder sisters use to heighten their
charms; but it is foolish, though generous i'm
pulse.
If he loves bis bride, and she him, they need
not covet the situation of those whose love of
rivalry, display and ''pride of place" have most
likely driven out simple heartfelt happiness -
The radiant smile Of affection and the clear
glance of unsullied virtue, are ornaments above
price, and will make the face of woman beau
| tiful even in old age.
So the working man father, looking around
upon his blooming children is conscious that
their intellect is as keen, their perceptions as
ready as those of the nabob's in the next ad-
joining neighborhood; and he determines they
shall have similar advantages. This is noble
ambition. But in these days it is no reason why
a man should spend his years in grnmbling dis
content because he is not rich. Our system Of
common schools places education within the
reach of the humblest. With mind and educa-
tion, every son and daughter has fair chance
| to achieve respectabity in this country; and it
| is false ambition which would seek the power
and honor conferred only by money.
Yet that son or daughter may have yearnings
after the development of peculiar talents or ge-
MUS. The son may thirst to drink deep of the
Pierian spring of classical learning; may have q
gift for profession (without which especial call
ng he has no business to attempt competition in
| the overburdened ranks of the profession) and
the daughter may have visions of beauty, or
have dreams of melody which call for her fin
gers to accomplish themselves in painting or
music.
With health, moderate industry will bring
about all this, and still the soul not fall victim
to the prevailing fever-the terrible gold fever
which scorches the sensibilities and dries up the
springs of humanity in so many hearts.
| There is still another class who feel yet more
keenly the want of wealth; not for the petty
pleasures of sense or the local influence it would
give them, but because they worship the beau
tiful, and money would give the means for graf
flying their exquisite tastes
With souls aspiring after grace, fitness and
beauty in all things, they have to struggle with
the details OF life and poverty. These are the
people of genus-poets, artists, men of divine,
unworldly gifts. They would convert the glo-
Tious Ideal into the Real, if they had the neces-
sary means They are fretted by the coarseness
and ugliness from which they cannot escape,
yet they self deceived if they do not consider
themselves among the most fortunate as far even
as happiness is commonly concerned.
! We doubt not that the Painter in his unfurn-
ished garret with his cofee-pot and loaf OF bread
and his hard bed in the same room with him is
filled with richer pleasure, as be sits and
dreams and broOds over creations of his genius
upon the canvass before him, than it is possible
for the wealthy egotist who buys it Of him to
conceive We doubt not that his art-his be-
loved, worshipped art--is more to him than
pyramids of diamonds. Ask him if he would
exchange himself, his hopes, his dreams, his
ideals, his fine perceptions of beauty, his deep
emotions for the withered soul OF yonder Cree
sus who has spent his life in accommodating bonds
and mortgages and interest upon interest.
And the poet-will he say that he has ever
entered the portals of any Fifth Avenue Palace
that could begin to equal the splendor of the
unearthly palaces through which his imagina-
ton daily walks.
Will he give up the materials from which he
constructs these-gold of the sunset, marble of
the clouds, silver of the starlight, gems of the
dew and waterfall, draperies of intangible mists
and inexpressibly lovely shadows, spray and TO-
iage, with all the delight which they give and
the beauty which they suggest-for the brown
stone mansion of the millionaire
Will he not say that his day and his night
dreaming, his fancies, his earnest aspirations af-
ter the pure and true, his deep sympathy with
the heart of humanity, his mighty store of love,
his keen delight in all that is fair, his broad and
boundless realm of feeling and imagination
where angels walk and yisitants more beautiful
than flowers linger to smile upon him-will he
not say that these are beyond price-a wealth
which he has inherited from the Father in
Heaven.
| The scholar and the scientific man will they
measure their pleasures along with those of the
sensualist and epicurea yet for what nobler pur-
pose are the most of these fortunes acquired
than for indulgence in good eating, good drink
ing, rich clothes a snowy house and for the
means of rivalry, arrogance and ostentation.
A good fortune well spent upon objects of real
merit; upon works of art, the cultivation of the
mind and soul; upon the sick, and upon strug-
Cling men of talent; upon the advancement OF
science and general intelligence, is desirable
thing. But how few acquire money for such
purposes.
Take heart you who belong not to the throng
of the vulgar 'great." Reconsider your for
tunes and see if you have not cause for true
thankfulness. Press not on so madly for the
glittering payment. Do you not see how you
trample out the flowers by the wayside.
| Why will you be so unmindful of their fra
GRANGE upon the air. and of the blue heaven a.
bove your heads. More anon.
Respectfully yours, -
Matthews, the celebrated commedian stepped
into an auction room one night on his way
| home.
"Who bids more? 2" called aloud the auction
| eer.
| II bid more," cried voice from the far end
of the crowd.
"And pray, sir what do you bidi" cried the
auctioneer in tone of contempt.
II bid you good night" said Matthews, and
| bolted
| The auction room was in a roar that time.
|