The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1872-05-16

gilded futurity and Heaven grants him {
moment of bliss in blessing his vision with the
sight Of the unknown world
There is an evil which has diffused its with
ering influence over the land, and oftentimes
casts the black veil Of dependency over III
hopes Of deserving youth.
This Is the tendency of the mass Of mankind
to estimate the standing and worth of Indiuid-
uals by the amount of the worlds goods which
they possess, the style and texture of the
plnmage that bedeek their persons.
We often forget how happy an illustration the
poee gave us of this error, and how well at
tuned TO truth was his expression, when lac
said:
Though richest hues the peacoek's plumes
Yet horror screams from his discordant
throat"
Will the young men ever continue to admire,
most Of all, the reputed heiress, and richly
dressed lady =?
Win the young ladies always be most at
traeted by the fashionably and extravagantly
dressed young; by the beauties of person
rather than of mind2
Can we never learn to value each other at
our real intrinsic WORTH
hat encouragement does the void give him
who endeavors to act with honor and dignity
when the rich rascal and finely dressed fool is
placed above him2
What reward does it confer upon the upright
and honest man when it patronizes the cheat
and swindler?
What preventive does it hold out against
dishonesty and theft when the man who has
stolen his fortune receives more favors and
attention, and is admitted into a higher circle
of society than the honest poor man? These
are lamentable facts that stare US in the face,
and none deny. All will acknowledge
their evil consequences, yet few rise superior
TO their influence.
Let US resolve to shake off this evil propen-
sity and recognize and reward merit wherever
1G Lot Sais - in, o4r0 To
mount and ride upon the crest of fortunes
wave, and not by ignoring it strike out its
hope and force it to end its days unknown and
unhonOFed.
ment, those prejudices felt by some of the
poorer and ignorant class against the rich and
cultivated, simply because natures God has
been wondrous kind to them. This is a
contemplate, base and ignoble principle i'm
planted by ignorance and nourished by fend-
ish corruption.
Common sense would have men cherish
nobler feelings than these and the experience
and observation of the learned would teach
them, through the medium of Political Econo-
my, that the wealthy and cultivated are abso-
lutely essential to the happiness and prosper
ity of the whole mass of people, poor as well
as rich.
Some may think that it ill-becomes one of
my age and experience to speak so freely of
the evil and errors of man and society, but in
answer to this have simply to say, let the
apology =,
My young friends, cannot impress too for
chilly upon your minds the necessity of en-
ploying, for some good purpose, each moment
of life.
Nothing is more uncertain than the duration
of human existence. There are thousands upon
of means by which the vital spark
may be extinguished without a moments
We cannot escape the irrevoeable decree of
nature. No higher tribunal can be appealed
to- We flourish like the flower on the plain
for season, but like it we must fade and die.
The tender bud that blooms to-day and with
ers tomorrow has no weaker claims on life
than the mightiest ruler who ever shook by his
nod, the fate of Empires.
Proud man, the "lord of creation" must
bow to the mandate of heaven. The young,
the fair and the gay, buried deep in the giddy
round of pleasure, suddenly fall like the
blasted leaf, which is fit emblem of mans
sun may cast a glimmering ray on our solita-
ry graves.
The fire which the youthful fancy enkindles
in our bosoms, and the flowers which our
raptured Imagination gathers may serve, the
one to light the passage to the grave, the other
to bedeck the moss-covered turf. Death is
the antagonist of life, and the cold thought of
the tomb is the skeleton of all feasts."
\ ct there is strange monitor within us
that tells us this is not all of life, there is a
home, paradise beyond the dark valley,
where we may rest under the trees" How
and yet how sadly is this con-
seriousness of the Immortality of the soul ex-
pressed in the touching words of the death
devoted Greek, described in the drama of Ion.
When about TO yield up his soul in obedience
to the memorable fat of Heaven, his Cleman-
tina asked him if they would meet again, said
he: " l asked that dreadful question of the
hills that seemed eternal-of the clear streams
that flow for ever-of the stars among whose
field of azure nv spirit has walked As | look
nv feel is
something in love that cannot wholly perish.
We shall meet again"
Upon this strange conviction hinges the
of man The consciousness
hat all feel, of the intimate connection be-
tween our earthly career and future condi-
ton, fills us with a sense of the duty and the
Importance of life, thht probationary state in
the existence of the immortal soul. This is an
age which seems anxiously to hold out a
crown of honor to him who aspires to be good
and great. The wheel of dissipation and cor
ruption, by the new impetus it has recently
has bv the very swiftness of its mo-
ton caught on fire, famed up and spread ter
rOr and desolation on all around
The aged father, the beardless son, have
alike fallen victims to its fury, and now revel
in its consuming element. Almost the entire
seems to have inhaled the pestifer-
GUS malady, and all move on to a common
grave of sloth, shame and infamy. Shall sucn
be our destiny, Hermeans and Phi Sigmas?
Heaven forbid it Let us turn our backs to
principles of man, and transforms his being
into den of pollution from which arise ex-
halations fOuler than the deadly stencil of
he dreaded Upas tree.
Let our aspirations be to claim kindred with
The spirits of our own beloved patriots, whose
leeds will ever live in song and story; whose
proudest monument is a nations gratitude
whose highest encomium is peoples love
Do not become dispirited because the wicked
ness of the age seems to bid your honest as
be down because you cannot dis
Germ the dawn of the day of prosperity
happiness and freedom, beyond the gloom
Recollect the true adage the darkest hour is
nearest the dawn" that" the gloom ofsthe
grave is the essential forerunner of the glories
Of resurrection" and the dark valley must be
before the Elysian fields of para
disc can be reached
When the public spirit of Athens was slum-
bering when law had lost its authority, and
she was buried in luxury, incidence and
Demosthenes appeared as prodl-
~ from heaven.
Cicero was contemporary with the in
Lrigue, debauchery and blOOdshed of the rule of
Cesar. The martial reign of queen Anne pro
luced Pope an Addison, a Swift, and other
literary luminaries, who shed an inperishable
ustre ON Britains name. Bossuet and
Fenelon alone were sufficient to render i'm
mortal the reign of Louis the Fourteenth
Hesiod tells us that from the foam of the sea,
ashed into existence by contending pillows,
sprung the fair goddess of Love.
Amid the upheavings of the sixteenth CEN
fury, three men, unobserved by the world in
the seclusion of their own closets were en-
gagged in a work destined to change the phase
IF three of the chief fields of mans labor, and
bear the world three steps higAer in the scale
Of civilization The one studied the means by
" hich thought might be disseminated over the
world upon the printed PAge: Another re-
volved in his mind the method by which the |
mariner might traverse the trackless ocean,
with full knowledge of his whereabouts.
The last combined the elements of gum
ri red ne 0f
BATTLES, and committed to skill what had be-
'ore been accomplished by brute force. When |
energy and perseverance exist, obstacles and
disadvantages serve to stimulate thought, to
lourish aspirations and crown success with q |
brighter halo.