Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1869-09-22
LIFE is WHAT WE MAKE IT.

so pdpdolc W NV NN"''" ""N f~f i
orty. health and sickness, education
and ignorance, ability and fecbleness,
success and failnre, certainly present
very opposite appearances but that
they arc either the fixed and inevita-
BILE lot of those who now possess them,
or that they are themselves the true
elements of life's happiness or misery,
are erroneous, through very prevalent
ideas. The truth that ought to be
impressed on every mind, and es-
pecially upon the young, both to
prevent rcpining, and TO animate the
energies to their fullest capacity, is
that life is phat zoe make Il. Two men
stand side by side, gazing on the same
scene in nature. To one, who has
bright and cheerful disposition, 1t
reveals only beauty and gladness;
while to the other, gloomy and sad,
the whole scene is spread over with
lcaden pail 1t is our own state of
mind that creates for us, even Nature
herself, and paints the same scene in
beauty or 10 gloom.
Still moro is our social iooTld what
we mako it ourselves. The selfish
and cold.hearted will ever find cold.
ness and selfshness in others; the
proud will be treated haughtily, the
angry and passionate will receive
rudeness and violence, and those who
dishonor themselves will be dishonored
by others But society, TO the good,
the gentle, and the benevolent, is
different. Their example wins others
to similar virtues and develops the
germs of good, which, though they
may be hidden, yet exist in every
heart. From a mans estimate Of
society as whole, we may gain a
very fair knowledge Of his own
character, for as he is, so will others
appear to him. To tho pure, all
things are pure, because their purity,
like the magnet, attracts the same
quality in Others; while the heart
that is itself estranged from virtue,
can find none elsewhere.
Equally true is it, that our world Of
circumstances and events is what we
ourselves make il. The luxuries Of
wealth, the triumphs Of success, the
scintillations of genius, and even the
blessings of health, may be converted
into bitter evils if the well springs
Of nature are corrupt; while the Sc
verest trials and temptations can, to
pure aud noble heart, be changed
into blessings. The power of trial to
harm us does not reside in itself, but
in our own feebleness to resist or to
endure it. Every temptation resisted
purfes and eleyates the heart, and
every suffering rightly borne strength
ems oar nature. Business life seems
to dry up some natures, and lead them
away from higher things; while in
Others, it creates virtuous independ-
ence, manliness, and integrity. Pleas
urc to one proves poisonous draught,
while to another it is healthful re-
freshment. Thus life is i5kdt ,ce make
~. 1t is not made up, in its intrinsic
nature, of the material world, nor Of
the society in which we move, nor OF
the external circumstances which sur
round us. 1t is our own internal
character that moulds and fashions
all these outward things, and extracts
from them the bitter or the sweet
that best assimilates with itself
These outward circumstances contain
the essence Of both happiness and
miscry-both good and evil. Happy
is the person who can extract the
sweet and leave the bitier-who can
develop the good and exiinguish the
evil. As the chemist works up the
elements into the desired condition.
and obtains fresh knowledge from all
the difficulties they exhibit, so in the
moral, everything external may be
resolved into good by the patient
efforts of man, and all that seems
most adverse may be so overcome or
endured as to prove a greater blessing
than the most apparently favora Die
events.
This view Of life will lead us to put
a juster estimate upon the complaints
which are so rife among all. If life
is what we make it, we must look
within and not without, for the sour
ces Of discomfort. We complain of
society, Of circumstances, Of every
thing external, but in a most literal
sense they are all what we make them.
In proportion as we are industrious
aud virtnous shall we be honored and
rewarded in proportion as we are
lovely, We shall be beloved and even
in the most trying situations, and the
sorest trials, the main point as to their
severity is the spirit in which they
are received. Patient, faithful en-.
deavor never results in continued
unhappiness, and is never ultimately
unsuccessful. Misery chiefly arises
from insufficient effort and consequent
ill-suocess If then we should find lite
good, We must GIL our hearts with
goodness; IL VIC would have the world
shine brightly upon Us, we must kin.