The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1872-07-04

more ana more real, as month after month
and year after year, glides sweetly by
Who can hesitate to embark in such
delectable mode of existence as this /?
Alas many gloomy day is ushered in
by glorious flood of sunlight. Go, when
dhe dream is passed, when the life is
nearly ended, and illusion no longer need
ed, ana ask the worn out ,sobered pilgrim,
now well covered with the dust of the
battle OF life, what has been the result of
all his early fancies? Will he admit one
OF Them to be delusiou, or even one to
have been entirely fulfilled? He will
tell you his happy days have been few
and far between, his domestic bliss, always
a land flowing with milk and honey,
which he was just about to possess, but
upon which he never quite entered. Sen
ses, expectations, anticipations, and affec
lions, all--all one huge illusion, that the
more you seek, the surer you become that
you Will win In the next trial but the
beauty Of it is, that like to morrow, it is
always just alittle way ahead.
What, low, ID the aim and scope of
Illusion In life? Is it mere amusement
and nothing more? Nay, it is the main
spring of all lite's activities, the grand
i driving wheel OF all human energies. IT.,
at the outset Of d game of chess, or of
croquet, the partners knew the result as
accurately as at the end, they would never
play the game If the journey of life
were all mapped out in one level plain.
50 that al its events were as visible at
the outset as at the close, few, if any,
would lind courage sufficient to begin the
task, and none, perhaps would deem the
result worth the trouble to attain it, AS
1t is, every game must be played in order
to get the true result life must be gone
through with in order to know how it
Will end. 1t does the smitten sutton no
good to be told that the object of his pas
sion IS coqpette; nay, he is doubtless
dlSpioased at the suggestion. He can
only know the fact by being Tilted. The
idea that he may win, eventually, is an
Illusion that allures him to the result, as
The scent OF a WOOdcOck leads a pointer
to point his game
1t matters not how many failures there
are in life, no one will ever believe life
to be unreal, no one ever will, no one ever
can, believe life to be delusion, for that
were to pronounce it a lie, which it is not.
Inc real truth OF the whole matter is this
human beings are only pupils all their
Gays. Life is a school, and illusion is the
prize offered to all who strive in the
school OF experience. Man in business
man in professional life, must have illu,
} sion, must have some reward held up, that
ne seeks to win, or he will at once pro-
noancc life aimless. Yet, it is true, that
the ostensible aim oflife, the illusion that
, keeps the man awake and earnest, is sell
, dom, If ever the highest aim The mer,
chant seeks wealth-gets it, but that is
not the reward Of his twenty years of toll
+ and care. To seek riches is not his high
J est aim if he be q true man. Bv getting
the riches, he has developed character.
} Inc wealth is Il reward, but one which he
may at any moment lose: the reward
which he las attained by and through
the illusion Of wealth, is habits of perse
Verance, of honesty, of consecutive thought
and concentrated action. He has formed
; aud developed certain stamp Of man
, mood, that will go with him beyond the
pearly gates, when he lays off material
= things, and sets out to live q a pure spirit
1t is these things that constitute real
treasure, lasting reward, investment that
will pay the owner dividends regularly
In quantities Of satisfaction throughout
eternity.
1t is vain, therefore, for the patriot, the
E statesman, or the philanthropist, to com
plain that his fellow~men have not re.
Warded him sufficiently with wealth, with
titles, or with honor. Such things, mere
illusions to act well ones part, are not re-
wards tor right action. There would be
no such thing as a noble action, if these
were the rewards. TO be an Upright man,
to have the power of doing noble deeds,
and tC Go them, is far more than all adj
jectiVe rewards
Common honesty, that just fulflls an
agraement,says honesty is the best policy
But honesty is not, it cannot be, policy at
all. The moment honesty becomes policy,
it ceases to be honesty, and degenerates
from an aim TO an allusion. Pat it thus :
honesty is the best policy, is just equal to
dishonesty IS the best policy, so far IS
merit is concerned; and for this reason,
that honesty lS put on a par with money.
1t Is the same as 10 say honesty is worth
to me, to day, one thousand dollars ; and
that is the same as to say, dishonesty is
worth to me, to-day, one thousand dollars.
1t is mere business transaction, mere
equation in either case. The real point is
to aim at THE highest star of the armament,
and that is to be honest for the sake of
honesty. Lei the illusion be something,
| between, let IL be material reward, but
/ principles OF action must never be pros
tituted so as to be only illusions Illusion
says, act in order to have, but aim says,
act in order to he. Illusion makes man
act, but illusion and action make charac-
tcr--make man.
- -
A mars true wealth hereafter is the good