American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1863-12-16
Selected for the Citizen
THE BUBBLE BURST.

Shcc toO, has ttStiHeu 10 tHe same eHect
Itissaid thata lady once came suddenly up
on an Etrurian monument, in which there
was just aperture enough to see, for a
moment only, sitting figure with its look
and drapery of more than a thousand years,
she beheld it for few seconds, preserved
only in the stiffness of antiquity, when IL
fell TO dust al her breathing. Such is the
world to its pursuers, beautiful in per-
spective, dust in possession These testi-
monies you now find it difficult to believe.
From the gay dream-land of your youth
the world appears scene of surpassed
loveliness and peerless beauty. You see
nothing but bewitching gardens and sunny
wales tastefully filed with green trees, gay
singing birds, warbling delicious music,
lovely flowers, and cool fountains glancing
in the sunbeams. To these you add null
titudes of joyous youth who sport away
the flying hours in the highest excitement
of unmingled delight. Such to your i'm
agination is the brilliant future of a world
ly life Alas alas My heart is pain
ed at the bare thought of your certain dis
appointment, for full well knew that
these dreams will have no fulfillment.-
These ideal pictures, created by the en-
chantment of your fancy, will change to
rude, rough, bitter realities, when touched
by the wand of that more than magician,
Experience. Could | convince you of
this, young pilgrim in the journey of life,
you might be saved from many an hour of
sorrow, perhaps from the jaws of destruc-
tion itself; open your heart, therefore, to
conviction, for a aeise man wW hear, and
s1iW Increase learning; and man Of an
7erstasding shall attain unto wise cowm-
sch." Suppose for moment, that you
were suffering very severely from hunger,
and were even on the point of actual star
vation. In this extremity you look inn
ploringly toward an approaching friend,
and with your expiring strength cxclaim,
Give me food for PHYS sake am dy-
ing of hunger Give me something to eat,
my friend p Your friend gazing upon you
with a pitying eye, promises to bring you
instant relief. He hastens away, but spec
Oily returns laden with dusty tones, the
works of the ablest minds and profound
est thinkers among mankind. Throwing
them into your arms, he exclaims, Here,
my friend, are some of the finest books ex-
tant. They contain the loftiest produc-
tions of genius, and TEEN with the noblest
ideas. Feed upon them freely and satisfy
your gnawing hunger" j can easily i'm
agine the look of wonder and indignation
with which you would receive the strange
communication, and the sharpness of the
tone in which you would cry, Books !
Ideas ] want bread, not ideas Who
ever heard of ideas being offered to man
in my condition ? Sir, if you pity me,
Give me bread" Now contend that
such an offer of ideas to satisfy the pains
of hunger would be as truly consistent as is
your attempt to crafty the wants of your
soul with the world Your friend is sup
posed to offer hoatghts-immaterial ideas
to satisfy material or physical want
You offer your spiritual nature material
food, and command it to be satisfied Is
not the supposition as consistent as the
fact? Is not the one thing as impossible
as the other? Remember, therefore, that
the high nature you possess, the spiritu-
ality of your inner principle, renders salts
faction in the things of this world impos-
siblc The lofty aspirations, the earnest
yearnings of your spiritual nature, will ev-
er turn with unutterable disgust rom q oil
that is ia he ,eorld, The lust Of The flesh,
and the tust of the eyes, and the pride Of
life" as beneath the demands of its inf
nitely superior capacities. 1t aspires af-
ter communion with the mind of God, it
longs to climb eternal heights. Will you
doom it to trail its glories in the dust p
You may crush its noble aspirings. You
may enslave it to the feshly and the visi-
ble, but in so doing you insure its present
uneasiness and its eternal misery Is the
world worth the price? Permit me to
bring another illustration to this great
question. Imagine yourself bound to take
an European voyage. Your residence is
some hundred miles or more from the port
of embarkation. You gather your outfit,
pack your trunks, and take your depar-
ture from home. But such has been the
confusion attending your preparation, and
the excitement of leaving your friends,
that after starting, you find yourself with
out letters of introduction, and with bare
ly means enough to carry you to the port
from whence your vessel is to sail Now,
with this discovery, could you take any