Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1872-03-21
ssIF.''


tie word thar If? Two letters only, and
no variation of mood, tense, or declen-
sion-no root, even, of respectable anti
auity and doubtful origin. over which
philologists can quarrel-just a mean,
pert, absurd little biliteral, which changes
the whole current of history and the ac-
ton of every mans life.
If. If the Duke d'Alva had never been
born, there would have been new read
ing in history for Spain and the Neither
lands, and new impulse altogether given
to Europe. And if Catharine de Medisis
had been quiet, gentle, homely bonnie
femme, mainly occupying herself with
saying her prayers punctually and prepar
ing her children's pottage in the best man
ner then known, France would have worn
another aspect than that which she wears
to-day. If Anne Boleyn had been snub-
nosed, cross-eyed, ill-shapen little girl' ii
Silent William had been dispossessed? if
bonnie Prince Charlie had come to his
own? well, then, England would not have
been where she is now, and the Liberties
we and our fathers have won would yet
be impossibilities. Germs lying in the
womb of time, and nowhere near MATURE
ty or qualification. If Nelson had had a
fit of apoplexy at Trafalgar? If Yelling
ton had lost his self-command at Water
loos There were mighty contingencies
hanging on that little word, more mighty
even than we have come to the end OF yet.
And so of private lite as of history.
There is scarcely one of us whose whole
career has not been moulded by an elf. J"
Hear a small history of an eff" as 1t was
told to us the other day by poor little
woman, whose face of illimitable sadness
gave mournful emphasis that went to
ones heart for pity.
eff my sister Rosy had not called on
Mrs. Jones that day she would not nave
seen her nephew julius Smith, who was
stayine there, and on the point OF leaving
ENGLAND for Australia; she would not
have been kept to dine and spend the
evening. OF, if she had been, Bobby
Jones would have walked home with her,
and Bobby of seventeen was harmless.
AS il was, Julius Smith on the point of
leaving for Australia, disguised with En-
gland and all it contained, took on him
self that escort of two miles under the
moonlight on a warm summers evening;
and at the end of it felt inclined to recon
slider his determination, and disposed to
think, that on the whole, England was q
fair place enough for young man to
make his way in, and that English crea-
tures-when of the stamp of my sister
Rosy-were not the most unattractive in
the world. And when they were married
and had settled down in their Cumberland
home, where julius had taken farm, if
Door mamma had not died when she did,
1 should not have gone down to them,
and should not have seen julius brother
Tom; so should never have married
him and gone out to India, and been
through the mutiny, and lost my baby
and my husband, and came into all this
sorrow, and misery, and poverty-so mis-.
cradle that wish was dead! And all
that poor little lfe-drama hung upon that
one small cliff Rosy had not walked
over one summers afternoon to call on
Mrs Jones, and, to amuse the nephew
who was going to South Australia, been
asked to dine and spend the evening!
Like entertaining angels unawares, we
never know what the Ii lurking round
the corner of the days events may bring
forth IF we refuse that invitation, we
miss the chance of meeting the man who,
had we met him, would have been the
means of our life's success. He held the
kew of the gate at which we had been
bammering so long in vain; he was the
great railway contractor, and could have
given us the order which would have laid
the foundation Of our fortune; he was
the Quarterly editor who would have
been pleased with our idea, and have
gladly accepted our article instead OF AS,
and 80 we should have become in time
the right hand of the editor, and ultl-
mately the editor ourself; he was the
hishor, of the diocese in which was sit
uated the living that inclosed our fondest
hopes and highest ambition, and ne
would have presented it to us next week,
puzzled as he was by crowd OF candi-
dates. among whom he could discern
none that quite hit the mark. All THIS
hung unon the cliff we had gone!
Again. another time, if we had but
STAYED away, we should not have met the
man or woman to whom we owe our rum.
The clever scamp who swindled us, the
heartless woman who deceived us, the nat
tering friend who led us, step by step, TO
the brink of the precipice, and then push
ed us over; we should have escaped them
ali. if we had only refused an invitation
which did not specially please US, and had
STAYED at home, where, at least, we were
safe. The if! what witch or wizard was
ever 80 potent as that one small word!
and to think of the destinies OF human
life depending upon it, and the fate OF an
immortal soul, perhaps, to follow.
There are many of us who pride our,
aelyes on an ordcrly'and farseeing KIND
of life. We lay out our plans and ABIDE
by them, working up to point that we
have distinctly set before us, and for the
attainment of which we bend all our
energies and regulate our actions. YET
not the most carefully planned existence
that can be named but owes something 10
chance. And the changeful power OF IL.
Il lies at the root of all organization; IS
itself the root from which springs up the
aoodlv tree of accomplished facts. There
Z not one human being that breathes the
breath of heaven who does not every Gay
pass along that little word as across the
bridge finer than hair which the souls OF
the Musselmen faithful traverse on theiT
way to Paradise If Caesar had remained
within doors on the Ides Of March? u lhe
bullet of that young assassin BIND mao iaa
struck true and Won Bismark had dled
at his feet? They were possibilities lha'
would have born fruit in fact for centur-
les after-for all the worlds future histo-
nv; but they were possibilities 1ia'
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