Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1869-05-07
The Mira &c of Life.

We extract the following from dis
curave letter written by Lutte a. TAr-
LoE TO his fragile friend FRANK Dag
GETr, of the Wabasha Herald. 1t is n
picture finely wrought and as truthful in
IFS application as il is beautiful in thought
and expression
In the days long ago. Frank, when
YOU and | sat on hard benches at The
district school house, weighing on our
seats Ike The fat worms which we i'm
paled on our fish hooks on the holidays,
in those days when we studied Olney.
we were taught that mirage was located
on the great deserts. You remember
how our boyish wonder was excited by
the stories of the travellers in the desert,
weary. worn, seeking vainly for the sa-
wing spring, tortured beyond endurance
by the helIish agonies Of burning Thirst,
and how 10 their longing eyes there
would sometimes come a vision beautiful
rs Paradise, vision of cooling waters,
of greenness aud umbiagc, aud their
eyes were lighted with new hope, their
weary feet strengthened wiki new vigor
as they pushed on toward The promised
relief. But the taunting vision eiudes
their search-the knocking, Inpaipable
oasis fees imperceptibly before ,lIen, and
at last tie cruel conviction is forced upon
them that tho rIeasiu 9 picture IS 3 phan-
4,
and the heart sinks in deeper despair
This is mirage.
But the geographer forgot to fell us
what is equally true--that moro mirage
haHgs deceit:uliy about political capitals
than desert travellers ever SAW. The
hopes which cluster around these places
are none the less high, the pursuit is
none the less careful and intent, The dis
appointment is none the less bitter, the
despair is mono the less crushing and
complete.
A man with compelling purpose. with
tireless brain and an honorable ambition,
fixes his heart on desired Place. Month
after month and year after' year, he tolls
with indomitable perseverance, and un-
Tagging zeal. at length the looked for
time arrives /; hopeful, almost exultant,
he is sanguine of success. but line from
the executive. or the silent fall Of Dts of
paper and tho prize, struggled for with
manly strength. coveted with intense de-
sire, eudes his grasp, and the burning
sands press not more pitiles~ly the bis
tered feet of tie desert traveller than the
world looks pitilessiy upon the disap-
pointment which has thwarted the cher
ished purpose of his life.
But not 10 political life alone does
mirage lend its deceptive arts. The
business man is often its victim; and
over all the skv of youth it hangs its
rosy colors, its pleasing tints, its glowing
pictures of coming joys. The maiden,in
the beauty and purity Of dawping wo.
manhood, looks forward TO q happy life
of love, but
ssThe c,oud lands still before her lay,
The mirage looms across her way,"
and the boy eager for manhood, with its
tolls and IFS triunphs, looks forward to a
goal which he may never reach--a prize
which he may never win.
Blessed are they whose undoubting
faith survives all disappointments, and
before whose hopeful. eyes the mirage
never fades away.
But when we look, Frank. 70 ths Rest
beyond, where Faith shall md its fulfill
meut, Hope its fruilion, aud Love its
reWar,l--when VIC look over to that
other shore of life, perhaps wishing to
be there, yet shrinking from the passage
when a vision Of the loneliness of that
land cools The fever and. Gains the strife
Of our daily lives, can it be that the
beauty which beckons US and the smil
ing joys which reach out welcoming
hands, are like the fair decisions here
a mirage and cheat. zag5
LIDO not believe it, and trusting that
you, my boy, may fad at last that the
mirage of life here is-but reflection
from the reality of life hereafter, L am
very truly yours, sl# Lat.