Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1869-12-11

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Lutte A. Taylor is = humorist sud = pol
itician, but some Of the gems ofssutiaasnt
that fall from his pen ste % 6ns and ~
genuine 10 any that arc foupd il the works
Of our best writer's. recently sens .
letter to Frank Dsggess, from which We
extract the following: e4 qH ii.a anoal
Iu the days long ego, Ftank, whsn yos
and / sat ON hard hssshss At the aistsist
school house, vriggling on our seats like
the fat worms which We impaled on our
fish books on the holidays-in those days
when wc studied Olncy, we were taught
that mirage was located on tho great dos
erts. Your remember how our boyish WON
der Was excited BY the stories of, the
travellers in the deserts, weary, worn, seek
ing vainly for the saving sfring, tortured
beyond endurance by the hellish agouics
of burning thirst, and how to their long eyes
there would sometimes como vision beau
tiful as Paradise, vision Of cooling waters,
Of greenncss and herbagc, and their eyes
were lighted with new hope, their weary
feet strengthened with new vigor as they
pushed on toward the promised relief.
But the taunting vision cludes their search
tho mocking, impalpable basis fees i'm
perceptibly before them, and at the last
cruel conviction is forced upon them that
the pleasing picture is phantom, and the
horrid thirst burns 6crcer and the heart
sinks in deeper despair. This is mirage.
But the geographer forgot to tell us what
is equally true-that more pirage hangs de.
ceitfally about political capitals than desert
travellers ever saw. The hopes which clos
ter around these places are none the less
high, the pursuit is none the less bitter,
the despair none the less crushing and
complete. 'a "'F ".-a: si 80
A man with compelling purposes. with
tiroless brain, and an honorable position,
fixes his heart on desirable place. Month
after month, and year after year, he tolls
with indomitablc perseverance aud unflag-
ing zeal. At length the looked for time
arrives. Hopeful, almost cxultant, he is
sanguinc of success, but line from the
executive, or the silent fall Of bits Of paper,
cludes his grasp, and tho burning sands
press not more pitilessly tho blistered feet
Of the desert traveller than the world looks
pitilessly upon the disappointed which has
thwartcd the cherished purpose Of his life.
But not to political life alone does mir
age lends its deceptive arts. The business
man is often its: victim 1; and over all the
sky Of youth it hangs its rosy colors, its
pleasing tints its glowing pictures Of com:
ing Joys. The maiden, in the beauty and
purity of dawuing womauhood, looks, for
ward to happy life Of love, but -,
"Thc cloud lands still before her lays
The mirage looms across her way" ia'd
and the boy eager for manhood, with its
tolls aud triumphs, looks forward to q goal
which lie 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, to the Rest
beyond, where Faith shall Sud It's fulhll-
ment, Hope its fruition, and Love its re-
ward-when We look over to that other
shore Of life, perhaps wishing to be there,
yet shrinking from the passage-whcn =
vision of the loveliness Of that land cools
the fever and calms the strife Of our daily
lives, can it be that the beauty which beck
ons rs and the smiling joys which reach
out welcoming hands, are like the fair de-
lusion here's mirage aud oheatsi" .,la
do not believe it, and trusting that
you, my boy, may find at least, that the
mirage of life here is but reflection from
the reality of life hereafter, am, very
trulv vour friend, 's" So T.