Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1861-01-25
ssIF.'
ny VIRGINIA r. TowSsEsp.

q. E.....-. Hh NittUINIA Y. TOWNsENp. ..g. .-.E
"1f could only live my life over again.
said the old man as he plunged his hands into
his deep coat pockets, and looked up at the
office ceiling with a sigh; sit should be a
very different life from what it has been.
wouldn't give all the Joy Of my youth, all the
strength of my manhood, to getting rich
catch me! I'd have some good out Of life,
and do some, too, instead of toiling early and
late, and taxing brain, and wearing my nerves
over railroad dividends, and bank stock, over
investments in lead and coal mines, over real
estate that is to come down here and 60 ND
therc--no, it isn't the three score years that
are on my head which has bleached my hair,
and wrnkled my forehead so, it's the wear
and tear Of watching the market, and fore
stalling changes, and looking out for the right
moment to come down with a bargain.
overheard one man say to another, as got
into the omnibus last night There goes old
Grainger--good for million and half
lucky dogH and said to myself, 'Are you a
lucky dog, Tom Granger? No! OF all men
you're the most unlucky one. You've paid
down your youth, your manhood, your health,
your peace Of mind, every faculty God gave
you to live, and to enjoy you've paid it all
down for this million and a half of dollars,
and it's poor bargain. after all y .s..
!" 1t don't do any good to fumc and fret
now; but il could live my life over again,
I'd never stand where do this day; I'd lay
up some better treasures for my old age than
n million and half of money. I'd lay up
treasures of blessed mcu ories--of some good
done to othrrs---of human hearts made hap
pier--of human souls comforted and reioiced
because Of me! If | could only live my life
over again!' and the old man settled back
farther in his chair, and groaned heavily as
he looked back over the years Of his past
barren, and cold, and unclothed, as they rose
up before him. .. .
And yet, he clutched his million and half,
and carried it with him to the last hour of his
life. He didn't rise up that day and go out,
and find the widow and the fathcrless, and
gladden. their hearts with part of the wealth
which he did not need. II was not too late
then to set about doing good. In the ten
years more of life which God had appointed
him. he might have scattered blessings, many
and bolntiiul as summer showers; and the
cold and barren day ight have been crowned
with sunset so radiant and glorious that it
would have half redeemed the faded morning
the wasted noon! -#E.
But the old passion and the old habits held
him in iron bondage still, and the rich old
man went down to his grave with his aimlcss,
un!ruitful, qucru!ous if"
"lf I'd never began this sort of life I'd
never live it for day." murmurs the fash.
ionable wife and mother, as she walks up and
down her elegant parlors, swinging the tasscls
Of her morning robe betwixt her jewelled
fingers; and the weary, dissatisfied expression
of her face tells its own story of the tired,
restless heart beneath it. Il know well
enough it's a miserable, wasted life we're all
leading - that this dressing and going to
parties, and giving them that this constant
striving 10 be Stylish and keep up ones
position, is foolish and sinful thing. I'm
sick and ashamed of it. It's running our
children. 1t will make spcndthritts of our
boys and silly. fashionable dolls of our girls.
II we had never begun this foolish plan OF
keeping up with our neighbors, or if / could
only 20 back ten years in my life Butthcre's
no way of getting out of it now. All our
acquaintanccs would stare at MS, and laugh
at us. and the children would be perfectly
miserable; and the only way to effect any
change is to go off and bury ourselves in the
country, away from all the influences aud
stimulants of our present life; and that can t
be thought OF. | wish knew what to do, or
where to turn. ........- g.-g ...... ....
If had only commenced diferentlyr
And the wife and mother rung her changes,
and the children committed to her, for good
or for evil, went on in the ways Of folly and
vanity, for good impulses never bring forth
good fruits, unless they harden into fret
am, p,a,Jno pf' an ap1 xx-h,f a.,
human soul adrift on the wild and stormy
waters of life, is an aimlcss and purposclcss j?
" IT, says the young man full of dreams
and ardor, 81 could only have some grand,
heroic career If | could only do something
to benefit my race, and send my name shin
ing down tn, future ages. great and honorable,
bcnefactor to humanity IA blessing to my
age! III could only sec a glorious future
before met
And alas the youth does not look upon
that sweet and tender Face which shines
down to us across the slumbering centuries +;
that Face, which, though it came on earth to
be the one Hope and Healer of our humanity,
sought no high and honorable station amongst
men, but won its crown Of thorns, and was
lifted up only upon Calvary.
If only had something to do.' says the
young girl in the first blossoming years Of
her womanhoo !, 81 should love to crown
my life with all which poets. and good men
say is sweet, and noble, and tender in woman
but dear there is nothing can find here,
and now in my quiet home, and my everyday
life, to do for good. or for blessing TO others y
And in the shelter of that young girls
"quict home" were father and mother, broth
crs and sisters, upon whose hearts her loving
deeds would fall, as the summer sunshine
falls upon the earth, welcoming the birds,
calling to the flowers Aa
All around her were souls who needed
hourly her counscls and minis.rations oil
tenderness, and yet she turned away from the
sublime, though lowly duties of the present,
and whispered to the future her plaintiye
dissatisfied ''if"
All, reader, these "if's" never accomplish
anything! Weak mourning over the past,
plaintive regrets for its lost opportunities and
wasted hours, never make one better
And remember. the only way in which you
can prove to God the sincerity Of your regrets
for the past, is to improve the present
No matter how late it is, nor what you
have lost So long as an hour of life re.
mains to you, SO long yon have something to
dol Turn steadiastly to the work that lies
at hand. no matter how small it may seem
If Won lo n II, tho rUhf cnirit II ;l Al t,ro r,d