New-York daily tribune., 1861-08-18

Il
| OF the sand IL gradually wore down TIL II be-
came too short for use. l see the human BE-
| ing issuing from the door of a little parsonage
mot the one where there magnificent beeches and
rich eyergreens and climbing roses and always wait
ing at the door for him there friendly dog, ter.
iier, with very short legs and very long back, and
shaggy to that degree that at cursory glance 1t was
difficult 10 decide which was bis head and which ms
| tail All poor old dog, you are grown very sim and
! lazy now and time has not mellOwed your temper
| Even then it was somewhat doubtful. Not that you
ever offered TO bite me- but it was most unlucky, ana
it looked most nyioous that occasion when you rushed
out of the gate and severely tore tie garments OF the
! dissenting minister. But be a worthy man: aud
trust that he supposed that upon that day you
acted by my iBstigation You were very active then;
and so few faces did you Though considerable
town was with in few hundred yardsl, that the ap
pearance Of one made you rush about and bark te-
inendously Cross field, pass through hedgerow oi
very scrubby and sunted trees, cross railway by
path on the level go on by dirty track on is further
side and you upon The seashore. IL Is level,
sandy beach; and for mile or two inland the grourd
is level and the soil upgenia TheIeare sandy downs,
tbnly covered with coarse grass. Trees VIII hardly
grow: the few trees there are, are cut down by tie
salt winds from the Atlantic. The land view, In
raw twilight Of early Spring. IL dIeary beyond desclp-
tom buI looking the sea, there Is magnificent
view of mountain peaks. And if you turn in another
direction and look along the shore, You will zee hne
hill rising from the sea and running inand al whoe
base there flows beautiful river which pilgrims come
hundreds of miles TO vis How often, Osandy 6eaSf,
have these feet walked sowly along you. And!fn
these years OF such walks, old not meet or zee III al
Fix human beinge good many years have passed
since saw that dismal beach last; dare say would
look very strange now. The only excitement OF those
walks consisted in sending the dog into the sea- ana ln
making hin, run after stones. How Tremendously ne
nan; what iger.like bouuds lie made "a he overlook
the missile. Just such wake my friends many oi you
have taken. H0nincs esGs. And then you have
walked into your dwelling again, walked lLto yonr
study had tea ia solitude, spent Tie evening alone 10
reading and writing. You have got on IN NE lei u De
hOIed but sou remember we'll tie aspect and arrange
ment of the room; YOU remember where stood tables
cbairs caudes YOU remember the pattern OF the grate
often yacanly studied. think every one must look
back with great interest upon such days Life was m
great before yoI what you might do WITH IT,
For anything you knew then, you might be great
gonins; wbera If the world even ten years later has
not yet recognized you as great genius It is all but
certain that il never will recognize yon ar such at all
And through those long Winter evenings, often pro-
longcd far into the night, not only did you muse on
many problems, social, philosophical, and religious,
but you pictured out dare say your future life and
thought Of many things which you hoped to do ana TO
be.
very subduod mood of thought and feeling, think,
creeps gradually "A man living uch solitary life.
/ mean a man who has been enaccusomed TO house with
many inmates. There IL something odd IN the look Of
an apartment in which hardly word l. ever spoken.
Ii YOU speak while by yourself, II Is in very low
tone; and though you may smile, | don't think any
could often laugh heartily while by himself.
talking and no llugbng. Why, oGe distinctive char
actorltic Of rational man is cut of when laughing
ceases. Man is the only iyiug creature that laughs
with the sense of enjoyment. bavc heard, indeed,
OF the laughing hyena, but my information respecting
il il mainly drawn from Shakespeare, who was Tther
great philosopher aud poet than great naturalist.
II viii largh Ike hyen" says that great mans and
these words spoken rs threat appiehend TIE
laughter in question is OF unI leasant and unmrth-
fu character. But return from such deep Thoughts,
let il be repta ed that tue entire mood OF the solitary
mau il likely TO be &C bered and subdued one <i.yen
if hopeful aud content, tie Wi never be In ligh spr-
s. The highest degIee ~ the scae he VIII ever
reach NAV be- that of quiet ghtheartedness and that
will come seldom. Jolllty, OF exhilIra'ion Il ehtey
a social thing. / do not believe that even sydney
Smith could have got into one OF bis rolckng VEINS
when alone. lie enjoyed bis own Jokes, ana laughed
al them ith extraordinary zcst; but he enjoyed them
because he thought Others were enjoying ttem too.
Whv, YOU would be Terrified that your f1cnd nina
WIS going ii before entering he room you heard such
a peal ,f neIriment from within ~ woud seem mo;t
natural ting were two or three cheerful cOmpanona
together. And gradually that chastened, subdued
stage cones, IN which man can s Tor h"li an hour
before The Ire as motonless as maj ble-even man
who la the iey of others III ceaseless movement.
Ii j. an odd feeling when you lind that you yourself,
ono. the most rc-tlc,s of living creatures have come
20 THE. dare cay Kohinson CrnsOe often sat for two
or three hours together ia hi. cave without stirring
hand or foot. The vital principle grows weak when
soated You must have q number Of enibers together
60 make warm hIe; sclarHte them, aud tney VIII
400 20
bri.k consc,ou, vigorous life, YOU must have num-
Der OF lives together. They keep each other warm.
They encourage and support each other. L dare ray
the solitary man. riting at the close OF long evening
by his lonely rede has sometimes felt as though the
hsue Of HE had -unk 20 low that very little thing
would be enough TO put 1t oui altogether From the
moi0nless lmbs, from the unstrung hands II seemed
~ though vitality bad ebbed away and barely KEEP i's
home Ia the feeble Len. AT such "A tine sudden
blow, some no, very violent shock, would suffice to
qucnch the spark for ever. Reading the accounts III
tie newspaIes .. the cQd, hunger and misery which
our poor soldiers suffered in the Crnea, have you nor
thought ~ such time that hlndcdth part OF tt0f
wonld Lave been enough 10 eXtinguihh yOH Have
you wondered at the cnaciy OF material life, and
at the desperate grasp with which even the most
wrvtChed cling 10 II Is II worth the beggars while,
in Le IiOw-,torm, 70 struggle on through the d1ing
heap toward the Town eight miles oil where hc may
lind mortol Of food 10 bal-apease hls hunger aud
stone stair 10 sleep in during the night Have not
YOU ihCnghi, in hours when yon were conscious OF
that drinking OF life into its smallest COM
pass-tbat retirement OF 1t from the Confines
OF lis territory, Of which we have been thinking
that in that beggars place you would keep mp the
fight 10 longer, but creep into quiet corner aud
the lay yourself down aud sleep away uto forgeiful.
ness do not say that the feeling Is 10 be approved,
or that it in any degree bear being reasoned uoni
but / ask such Ieadcr az have led solitary lives,
whethor Il ey have not sometimes felt it II is but
the subdued ceiling which comes of Loneliness carried
olt 20 Is LAST Development IL Is tue highest degree OF
that influence wi ich mauiests itself in slow steps in
subdued torres Of voice. III moloness musings beside
the fire.
Tho influence Of such volume, if not in the
highest degree exciting to the intellect, is kindly
and humanzing beguiling the mind of the
reader amid the tolls and conflicts of life with
gentle f;ncies aud pleasant images. The ques
tions which it SO asreeably discusses belong less
to the head than to the heart; they are answered
by feeling rather than by reason; aud, as treated