The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-12-31
Turning over a New Leaf.

There Is wondrous difference In people
as regards the propensity for turning owe
new leaf. 1t is odd that, for the mos
part, they who have power Of will .anI
Seli.rcstraint enough TO keep good resolu
tons are least In the habit ot makint
them, and appear most content to live OF
q lower plane, without aspiration; while
on the oiherhand they who are most sen
sible Of personal shortcomings, and mos
appreciatiVs of better modes Of living, oil.
tenest break good resolutions, and seldom
est reach the standard they covet. Thus
nturdiness or stability Of character is ffe.
Quently earthly by instict, and incapable
Of that volatility which, on It's part, can
never walk steadily onward, but iG always
on series OF ofexcursiOnary -kips and hops
upward 10 higher lie, whence It as
regularly founders and tlops down bruis.
cd but not tanned to the clay. Goethe
says that persons quite unstable and In.
capable OF all Improvement Frequently
accuse themselves in the bitterest man.
ner, conlessing and deploring their Iaults
with extreme iugenUousness, though
they possess not the smallest power with.
In them to retire from that course along
which the irresistible tendency Of their
nature is dragging them forward" No
body need be downhearted at this diCtum.
Some men seem TO be governed by fate,
because they have no will worth speak.
ing Of, or at least give no proof Of any;
while others apparently have o will tree
Of fate, so strongly does 1t act on circum.
stances; and il 1t be answered that this
strong and free will is itself a form Of
late, at least it Is one the posseGsors can
neither fear nor complain Of.
Many lads have such practical views OF
life, Joined with such seli.consciOusness
and selfesteem, as to mature at once
They imagine themselves grown men be.
fore their boards arc out; in their elders
they sec only their peers, and hence ieel
the burdens ol life already in youth.
These are they who become famous be.
tlmes-grcat traders, money LEADERS, rail.
road builders, soldiers, lawyers, journal.
lists, at the dawn Of active life. Their
opposites waste each New Year in won.
dering what will happen when they grow
to be men; when the opportunity comes;
when life really opens wide. Humble and
timid, they fancy all other men to be wis.
or or stronger than they. At thirty, they
hear with wonder that yonder stalwart,
thoughtful man, whom, in old childish
habit, they address with q deferential
"slr, lis only thirty years old, too. at
forty, they still cling to their concilia.
tory, deprecatory ways-feel like boys
doging about bewilded among men,
though manhood had encompassed them
twenty years. 1t comes upon them like a
shock to find their hair whitening, and
people describing them us the "old gen.
tlemGn," while their feet nre too palpably
sliding on the down hill stretch. Til
then, they had never thought themselves
mature for a career, nor suspected that
they had reached the now.or.never of
life till it was years away in the past.
Such men take an armpna Of the cradle
with them TO the grave, only quitting their
first childhood when they enter the
second; ever are they dreaming OF the
possible future, and proposing to turn
over the new leaf.-Dritrtoo0a, by Phillip
QuI!i6et, in January GALAXY.