Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1870-04-14
The BrIehter Eide.

O~S-~ - = -N~~F~~- ~'-~
their mental gaze can no longer see
gleam Of light in the clouds that
environ them. With bodies of men,
this is usually the result Of those
crises in their organization and pro-
gress, from which nothing human is
exempt. AS our nature is a strange
compound of weakness and Of
strength, so must our destiny Cn
earth be a varied succession of tri
umphs and of failures. History is
but the narrative of national strug-
giles for existence and supremacy-a
| fiuctuating record of glory and Of
gloom, marked by the painful pro-
gress upward, the temporary tri-
umph, and, then, the decadence, Ell
ther swift or gradual, of nation after
| nation, which each, in turn, dazzled
and overawed the world. The Isreal-
ites;. the Babylonians; the Medes
| and Persians the Egyptians; the
| Greeks, and, then. the Romans, race
| after race, and state after state, con-
| trolled mankind, and then sank from
the pinnacle fof their greatness to
give place to new developments Of
social andg political Organization.
But, during the period of their pro-
gress, the most difficult and perplex-
| ed passages of their career, until the
| last, were but, the forerunners of
their grandest triumphs. The very
errors they. had committed became
the sources of better self-examina-
ton, closer discipline, and, subse-
quently, wiser effort. z.d gt4ss. fcS
When we apply the same philoso-
phY to the career of individuals, the
lesson impaired to us there, is still
palmer and more instructive. The
greatest ana the best of men, in the
higher Christian point of view, and
| in practical light, as well, Is not he
who has never fallen, but he who has
raised himself and girding his Ioins,
| again, with manly courage for the
| battle of life, has gone forth with
hone and faith in his heart, and God
above him, to raise and conquer at
last.
: We are led to these reflections by
the gloomy and despondent tone
that we too often hear among our
business classes, and from the editor
iaI d esk. Vexed by the many trials
| to which peculiar management has
subjected the prosperity of our conn
try, we, too, have been more than
once tempted to repine and earnest
But. when shaking off the mo-
mentary influence of some mistake
that we observe in legislation; some
deficiency in the guiding hands that
control this or that branch of public
development, we take in, at one
broad view, the vast extent Of our
positive progress the grandeur of
our national domain; the magnifi-
achieved over the wilderness and
over the barbarisIn of past ages, and
survey the limitless variety and OPP
j ulence of our. natural resources, the
Summer sun is not brighter at his
| rising than the future that dawns
before our mental vision. The more
| too that we look and ponder the
promises that Providence has appar-
/ entity strewn broadcast In the path
| of this nation, the more sustained, we
feel in believing that we shall quick
| ly emerge from all the difficulties
that have recently surrounded us,
and ascend by swift graduations to
/ the most commanding position ever
vet held by any. people, not even ex-
cepting those colossal states OF the
ancient world, which once, grasped
at universal empire.
| The public mind il ripening upon
all great questions ofnatiOnal policy,
and is settling to sound views Of a.
nance. revenue, taxation, public
| works, international law, and home
control, in Accordance with the spir-
it of this peculiar people, and the de-
| mands of our situation, and OF the
| age in which we live. The mistakes
| Of the past have been an admirable
sehooling,l and. the future, we be-
| Iieve.W will be the safer and the brig ht-
| er for them. A very few years ago
we were seriously exposed toBa sud-
/ den overthrow of our system, thro'
| the heedlessness and indifference OF
our business classes to what was go
/ ing on in legislative and political
/ circles. All that self-satisied dream
! ing has been broken up by the hard
/ pinchi11g Of the past twelvemonth,
/ and the two preceding seasons. The
| mind of trade has been thoroughly
aroused and stirred to nervous vigil
lance, and we now observe symptoms
i all around us that the voics Of COM
merce, backed by Gthe requirements
/ of labor, is going to be most poten-
i tiaI in the great governing centres
/ of the nation, hereafter. Than that
there could not be q healthier sign OF
coming good, f.sva zey. no -
/ AT the same time, the outward ell
/ enents of material strength and op-
| uIence grow with accelerated speed.
| Our area of agriculture broadens by
/ hundreds of mules from year to year;
/ steam navigation and railroad tram
/ sit strike out new filaments of life
/ while we gaze; the steam and tele-
i graph map of 1859 is already grow
i ing antiquated in the first quarter oi
i 1870; our immigration increases by
from 25 to so, per cent, in different
nationalities, no longer comes to US
sickly and penniless, but hearty, in
telligent,I and with something to
spend; those sections of the country
that contain our richest staples, the
cotton-bearing South and the grain
growing West, never had received
such an upward impulse as 1870 is
bringing to them, and the voice o.
fault finding and evil predictions is
smothered amid heaped mp granaries
and we'll crammed storehouses.n.5
We cannot help thinking, then, as
we get farther on in the year, that,
after ali the rough work Of the last
three or four seasons, the bright side
of the picture is beginning to turn
toward US, and we have only to look
closely IN order to see the Hghi
breaking through to us on all sides
IKNow somebody who always ap.
pears to be miserable, and this is the
way she contrives to be SO, thinking
always about herself, constantly
wishing for that she has not got
idIing away her time, fretting an6
grumbling. Il know somebody WhS
is much happier, and thisis the way
she contrives to be so, thinking o
others, satisfied, with, what her heav