The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-09-24
AMERICAN LIE


along by the crowd, we ascend the huge tread
mill of work, and mechanically begin the
weary lifelong tramp, with scarcely a thought
as to the end we wish to attain. No one asks
himself what he should desire his career to be,
until It Is shaped, by circumstances or his own
acts, beyond the possibility of change. In the
battle Of life, we do not know for what we are
lighting; acting on the worlds stage, we have
never chosen part sailing on liie's ocean, we
have no harbor TO reach.
Our existence is a huge waste. It's machi-
merry, driven at full speed and without STOP
produces nothing. It's motto should be
Double double toll and trouble" Il is true
that this is better than the misery and the
degradation Of Incidence, and yet this fevcrish
struggle for nothing is no less irrational The
loom may as well stand still If it spins no
cloth-the rattle of the hopper is dsagrceable
as well as useless, If there is no wheat TO
grind. That anxiety and toll are worthless
If they have no aim, is a truism even with
those who are hurrying on after wealth
which they do not want, and which, if they
should get, they would not know how to
spend. Knowing that it is necessary to COM
fort and happiness, men carelessly regard it as
being in itself happiness; and thus, by a
| thoughtless confounding of the means with
the end, they sacrifice life to gain the means of
its support
As one may have all the business virtues of
| the merchant which are essential to true man
hood, and his character still not be that Of a
man, so he may acquire a fortune, and his life,
even to himself, be one great failure. Whether,
then, the pursuit will satisfy if it prove sue
cessiul, is surely question worth pondering;
it is of some little Importance to find out if
the bubble will please, before beginning to
chase it. "The game was not worth the
CANDLE" is not pleasant proverb for a man to
have to quote about his own life. There is
obviously no content here. Every one, dis
satisfied with the present is restlessy looking
forward to something ahead.
This iron energy, untiring effort, and rigor-
GUS sell-denial, evince great capacities, but
our mountain cannot point even TO mouse.
All this restless activity is devoted to a pur-
suit which, to be successful. only requires
isolation from social and family enjoyments,
fatigue and parsimony, and sometimes, per-
haps, slight sacrifice of bonor-trifles, un-
doubtedly, IN the opinion of every prudent
!, person but it would be as well to find out,
before paying this insignificant price, If a for
tune is the thing wanted. A poor tailor of
Bagdad excited the envy OF his neighbors by,
in some way, getting an elephant. Proudly
and haughtily he rode through the Streets
and thought that at last his happiness was
complete.
When evening came, however, he having
but little fodder, and the elephant having a
large appetite, there was such discrepancy
that, during the night, this cause of pride and
envy broke loose, and destroyed everything
that came in his way. The tailor was of
course forced to kill him; and being too poor
TO pay for the removal of the carcass, which
soon became nuisance, the unfortunate man
was cast into prison for want of compliance
with the sanitary regulations of Bagdad.
Those who have seen the perpleXity of rich
men in their silly attempts to spend fortune
which they had unlucldly made; who have
laughed in pity at their misshapen house, the
auction-bought daubs which dlsgraced their
walls, their empty or badly-chOsen libraries;
and who have known OF the sleepless nights
passed in walking the floor when note after
note was proving worthless, or child after
child was seeking ruin in the haunts of dissi-
patton, sent thither by ideness and money
those who have seen and known such things
will find a moral in the story.
The unsatisiying nature of wealth is a truth
that does not rest merely upon the authority
of preachers and philosophers. The limited
experience of every man must teach him that
real enjoyment is not dependent on position
or riches. These remarks are repeated till
they are hackneyed, and still men who believe
that they were created to be happy will not
take one moment to find out the true way to
be so. Because others have done it before
them, they, too, deny themselves all enjoy
ment and relaxation, and set aside the means
of ofhappness which lie on every side in order
to get that which, ii gained, viii prove
| trouble to themselves and curse to their
| children.
1t is true that many intend to stop at very
moderate figure, but it is an unfortunate mis-
take to suppose that one who forgets and
! ignores everything but business, during his
best years, is to lay it aside at will The law
OF cis iaertiB governs mind as truly as it does
matter, and if one gets fairly started, he can
! not withstand his own momentum. IL rests
with the young only to determine il they are
10 have the culture derived from literature
and art the genial amenities Of home and
society, or the ignoble destiny Of being
"hewers of wood and drawers ofw water"
Let all, however, bear in mind that the hap
piness Of people is q question as worthy OF
public notice as tariffs or banks, it being quite
as tue that the miserable are always vicious
as that the sinful are always wretched. It
deserves, indeed, more attention than it will
get; for truly,
| "TLe world Is too much with u.s. Late and soon
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers
And give our hearts away