The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1871-01-19

ffThe Bright Side."-An audience o
about four hundred and fifty greete,
: Miss Olive Logan, at National Hall
on Monday evening last. Though
, small, the audience was a highly in
teIligent one, and greatly appreciated
the IectUress and her lecture, 9th.
Bright Side" Pressing engagement
prevented our being present, and W,
are therefore under obligations to q
friend FOR the following brief synopsis
I Of the lecture:
The speaker made her appearance
promptly at the hour, and after a briei
survey Of the faces before her, wa,
introduced by Mr.. Brown and beg an
her lecture.
The first half Of ''The Bright Side'i
was an argument in favor Of uniform
Iy looking at things from a cheerful
point Of view, opening with a very ef-
{ fective description OF a scene upon the
I Sierra Nevadas, where she was over
taken by nightfall in travelling, and
sought shelter in a IumberInan's hut.
Among. the occupants was an old wo-
man who had no happiness or joy the
year through who growled when the
sun shone, and who growled when
the sky was overhung with clouds ;
who shuddered at the CHEEKY voice Of
her son in the forest, and who mourn
ed by the hour for the loss Of a babe
that had died thirty-hve years previ-
ousIy. This YVES the dark side. No
smile ever came to the features Of that
old woman, and not one ray Of light
ever entered her heart. The bright
side was pictured in the character Of
the son, who found happiness and en-
joyment in all things; who rejoiced
in getting out logs where none were
ever gotten out before, and who made
light Of all accidents. He sang, he
played upon his fiddle in the corner
while the hard knots bIazed in the
/ fireplace, he kissed his young wife as
he went away early in the morning,
and he came back at night tired with
the days labor, but the happiest and
most cheerful man in the whole of
California. This was the bright side.
Miss Logan then went on to give IL
lustrations Of the effect of associating
with those who continually referred
to the dark side Of misery and woe,
rather than a bright one Of cheerful
ness and pleasantly She eontended
that if the practice Of looking on the
bright side was indulged in, it would
lead to prepOnderanee Of happiness
rather than of sorrow. She believed
laughter, pleasantly, mirth and geni-
ality conduced to undoubted happi-
ness and pleasure. Rather than preach
the continued doctrine Of 6esolation
and woe, she recommended the re-
verse course as tending to accomplish
the foregoing results. What she
termed the sackcloth and ashes of the
system Of theology met her strongest
condemnation, contending that such
did not indicate any more sincerity
and seriousness than a cheerful coun-
tenance.
The sick ard the poor shouid also
look on the bright side. A great deal
of sickness is produced by morbid,
gloomy feelings, the only antidOte for
which being the opposite, cheerful
ness. All could look on the bright
side if they would; and a cheerful
countenance is the first step in this
direction. She based this assertion on
personal experience, and on the testi-
mony Of the physician and the phi
losopher.
So many persons preferred to keep
the woman suffrage question on the
dark side, that she felt it her duty to
present something on the bright side.
If ever sunshine was needed on a
it was this one. Women |
were voters in Wyoming. In Maine |
they were Justices Of the Peace; and |
everywhere the cause of the female |
sex was advancing exeeptingin China |
and the Cannibal Islands. Here Miss
Logan gave an exhilarating account |
of what she saw in Wyoming, where |
it appears all the outlaws and crimi-
mails fed in alright before a resolute
Indictment of the Grand Jury, that
was half composed of women. The
favorably eontrasted this with
the administration of the law in New
York city.
The first duty of those in grief is to
arise at once and endeavor to shake
it off. There is a limit to capacity in
this respect; but all should make the
effort. Troubles come to all on earth;
let them be borne cheerfuIly. Miss
Logan also urged the divine command
to 'Love one another" There is a
bright side to everything, if we only
choose to look upon it. The conclud-
ing passages were full Of pathos and
histrionic beauty.
We have heard Lectures more pro-
found than this, but none more pleas
ing, and none better calculated to
make men and women happier and
more contented. Miss Logan has a
clear, ringing voice; and speaking as
The does without notes, and season.
ng her discourse plentifully with ges-
5ures, she never wearies an audience.
She tells story well, and never fails
% bring out the laugh at the climax
Many times when the text gives op-
her style is somewhat the
ltrical-though not unpleasantly so.
And while there are Lecturers whose
may be more erudite,
here are none who command 8 larger
hare of the enthusiasm of their audi
,nces.