The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1872-02-24

LIaHT BEHaD THE CLoUD.-No peo-
PIE. perhaps, in the whole history of
Civilization were ever more suddenly
overwhelmed with SORROWS than were
our Southern people at the close OF the
late war between the two great sections
OF the Union. There was hardly q
household in the Confederaoy on which
tho shadow Of death had not unexpect-
edly fallen-scarcely family in which
there was not member missing. And
:hese loved and lost we're net the eyed,
gathered to the grave as the ripened
grsin is gathered in the garner-not the
lnfirm who were summoned from earth
because their earthly days we're out;
they were the young, the robust, the
buoyant, the pillars of the house-the
lusty. trusty youth, the stalwart men in
the morning OF manhood, upon whom
fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers
OF tender years, reposed in hope, in
confidence. in affection, and in pride.
And, added to all the anguish of ago
nizing grief arising from this deep, Bit
ter and sacred source Of sorrow, our
people were Frustrated in O moment
from plenty to poverty. Everybody was
sad; almost all Of us were despondent;
and it was reasonable, it was natural, it
was inevitable that We should be SO.
Seven years have passed since then, and
although the Southern people are still
Tar from having retrieved their fortunes,
they have managed to live, and right
rapidly they are moving forward to
health and strength. prosperity and hap
piness again. We have cause to cou-
gratulate one another; we have reason
to hope on and toll on. And, beyond
all, above all. we ought to feel grateful
to God for our deliverance from the ab-
solute want that threatened liz.
The impoverishment of the South hns
fallen with special hardship upon the
old people, and apparently upon the
younger children who are deprived of
the means of obtaining such educational
advantages as their parents desired for
thetn; but may it not be better for the
rising genera ton, after ali. that they have
to work more with their muscle and less
with their minds than they would If
they had the fortunes Of their fathers to
sustain them? 1t is popularly supposed
that ead-work is easier than hand
work; but this is an empty illusion.
There are some people, too, who think
it is more respectable to live by mental
than manual labor. Such individuals
are rs incapable of the one as they are
too lazy for the other. Their heads are
soft. their hearts are hard, and the bone
and sinew that God gave them that they
might work, are 1seless to themselves
aud to the communities they cucumber
with their Incidence. Colleges and high
schools are excellent institutions, aud
eduoation to the highest degree is desi-
rable. But because q man is highly
educated, it does not follow that he has
more practical sense than he who can
only read and write correctly. Our pub
lie schools afford sufficient facilities for
education 20 enable any boy who has
brains and energy and pluck to learn
enough to enter the arena of life, even
with coarse shirt on, as the peer of the
proudest aud an equal competitor for
fame and fortune.
What the South needs now is not
drawing-room gentlemen and parlor
knights, but stout. sterling, wide-awake,
enferprislng men, to revive her indus
tries and develop her resources. She
needs IN peace such men as she had in
war. Old men who accumulated wealth
before the war. and lost it in that terri
bic struggle, should not mourn that they
have no fortune to leave their chill.
dren, for it is often better, far better,
for youth to start in life dependent
upon himself. He who learns to swim,
with life-preservers to support him, will
be in much more danger of sinking, if
he falls overheard, than if he had been
q swimmer from the first, on the strength
OF his fearlessness and his faith in him
self. Let us not weep, therefore, be-
cause we can't send our children to the
high schools and colleges, and leave
them money enough when We die to
enable them to live without labor. It is
good for them to work. The necessities
Of the times, all over the world, require
work. And in the development of the
true manhood Of the rising generation,
we see at lenst little light behind the
cloud. Norfolk Journal.
A BLONDE BEAUTY STAnvRs TO DEATH
-BURLEsQUE ENDING IN POVERTY
About four years ngo. thero emigrated
to this country from London n rather
pretty burlesque actress Of medium
standing in the metropolitan theatres.