Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-10-08

II is curious to see how fullness and
emptiness of stomach have to do with moods.
A business man who has been at work all
day enters his house for dinner as crab
bed as hungry bear-crabbed because he
is hungry as hungry bear. The wife ua-
derstands the mood, and, while she says
little to him. is careful not to have the din
ner delayed. In the mean time, the chill
dren watch him cautiously, and do not tease
him with questions. When the soup is
gulped, and he leans back and wipes his
mouth, there is an evident relaxation, and
his wife ventures to ask for the news.
When the roast beef is disposed Of she
presumes upon gossip aud possibly upon a
JEST and when, at last, the dessert is spread
upon the table, all hands are merry, and
the face of the husband and father which
entered the house so pinched and savage
and sharp, becomes soft and full and beam
ing as the face Of the round summer moon.
Children are very sensitive to the influence
Of hunger; and often when we think we
are witnessing some fearful proof Of the
total depravity of human nature in young
child, we are only witnessing the natural
expression of desire for bread and milk.
The politicians and all that class of men
who have axes to grind, understand this
business very thoroughly. If a measure is
to be carried through and any man wishes
to secure votes for it, he gives a dinner.
If man wishes for profitable contract,
he gives dinner. If it is desirable that
pair of estranged friends be brought to-
gether, and reconciled to each other, they
are invited to O dinner. If hostile interests
are to be harmonized, and clashing measures
compromised, and divergent forces brought
s,tn ,,aro1Ia1tsra oil hn of al I>,,
means of dinner. a good dinner produces
a good mood-at least, it produces an inn
pressible mood. The will relaxes wonder
fully under the influence of iccd-lemonade,
and canvas-backs are remarkable softeners
of prejudice. The daughter of Herodias
took Ilerold at great disadvantage when
she came in and danced before him and
his friends at his birthday supper, and se-
cured the head of John the Baptist. No
one, presume, believes that if she had un-
dertaken to dance before him when he was
hungry she would have had the offer of
gift equal to the half of his kingdom. 1t is
more than likely that, under any other cir
cumstances, she would have been told to
''sit down and show less" 1t is by means
Of food and drink, and various entertain
ments of the senses, that moods are manu-
| factured, and used as media of approach to
the will which is desirable to bend or di-
rect.
This subject find TO be abundantly pro-
| life, and see that l have been able to do
| hardly more than to hint at its most prom
inent aspects. II seems to me that moods
only need to be studied more, and to be
better understood, to bring them very much
under the domain of our wills. A great
deal is learned when we know what mood
is and know that we are subject to varying
frames of mind, resulting from causes which
affect our health If know that am i'm
patient and cross because l am hungry,
then | know how to get rid of it. If feel
unable to labor, not because l am feeble
but because / am not in mood, then l have
the mood in my hand to be dealt with in
telligently. If my reason tells me that il is
only q mood that hides me from the face of
my Maker, my reason will also tell me that
my first business is to get rid of my mood,
and that my will must approach the work,
directly or indirectly. We are always and
necessarily in some mood of mind--in some
condition Of passion or feeling. II is the
intensifcation and the dominant influence
Of moods that are to be guarded against or
destroyed. Moods are dangerous only when
they obscure reason, and destroy selfcon-
troll, and disturb the mental poise, and be-
come the media of false impressions from
all the life around us and within u.s. Tim
othy TicomJ.