Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1869-12-22
Health

Mcn complain Of the caprices OF
fortune, that to one she gives riches,
to another, poverty; to this man.
honor and fame, to yonder pIodding
wretch, q lot of lowly toll; to some,
happy homes and friends, to Others,
the pining misery of loveless lives.
But in dispensing the blessing of
Health, the goodness appears more
strangely capricious thanin bestowing
all her other gifts. The mere circum,
stance Of more or less wealth does not
make much difference in q mans hap
piness. The obscure day.laborer has
doubtless as much genuine enjoyment
as king. Love, to be sure, is bles.
sing OF such inestimable value that we
are apt to consider it the best of all
glitsj but even this depends in a great
measure for its fruition upon that
primitive boon of health.
And health-how diverscly is IL
distributed among men The beanti.
iul and beloved wife lanruishes with
an incurable disease, while the robust
washer.woman sings merrily over her
tub. The prosperous landlord is laid
up with the gout in the midst of his
luxurles, while the jolly mowers shoul.
Ger their scythes and 60 laughing and
Joking to their work. he can hire
their bones and shows to cut his
grass, but he can not with all his
riches, buy one particle Of the health
that makes it SO much pleasanter to
60 to the field Of toll and earn ones
daily bread, than TO sit nursing the
anguish Of swollen feet on a couch of
unenjoyed abundance. Not the crown
itself can comfort a royal headache \
and not rags and toll aud exposure
can repress the outgushing Joy of the
tsherboy who captures a salmon fit
for the royal table. The physician
who has learning and experience, can
not cure the consumption that is
gnawing his own vitals: while here
comes hardy mountaineer, eighty |
years of age, who never took medi- |
cine, and who scarcely, at this day.
knows what it is to feel pain or apathy |
check the gladness of his lusty and /
hilarious life.
Since these things are so, does it |
not seem strange that while so many |
are striving for riches and honor and |
happiness, so few wisely seek to
secure that other priceless treasure
that gives value 70 all these The |
merchant, over-eager to achieve for
tune, contracts dyspepsia that for.
ever hinders his digestion of It. The
great student imbbes with his philoso-
ply nervous diseases es-melancholv,
irrilability, which set at defiance all
philosophy. The pleasure.seeker ex-
hausts in ruinous excesses all suscep-
tibility to pleasure. Ambitions wake.
ful nights produce feverish and miser-
able days. The statesman studies the
constitution of his country to the neg
lect of his own, the lawyer gives no
heed TO the laws of his own being, and
the saint sins with gross ignorance
against the simple commandments of
nature. Even in the pursuit of love
we sacrifice that which gives zest to
love. Romeo fingers too late in Juliet's
garden, takes cold from the effects of
the night air, a q gh sets in, and
consumption ends Min; while the
young lady meets with similar fate
in consequence of walking to the post.
Office, on a damp morning, in thin
soles.
This is tho real tragedy Of Romeo
and Juliet; and the practical signi6-
cance of the pathetic tale of Hero and
Leander is this-that the young man
went into the water when it was too
cold, or stayed in too long, caught
cramp, and was drowned.
1t is not Fortune, after all, that
bindly distributes benefits, least of all,
this gift of gifts, which is health
but, perfect or imperfect, it is an
inheritance bequeathed to us by our {
parents, and il is for us choicely to ,
cherish it, improve and fortify it, :
whatever else we do,