The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1873-12-09
ttllOOIrbutp Ae0lstrr.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 0, 1873.


II is q weak and contemplate cow
ardlce which is always seeing and only
seeing the horrors of II possible danger.
Such Il frame of mind is inconsistent
with any real success or valuable ac-
qusition in life, either in the realm of
the body or mind n morbid care OF
ones health is destructive to health.
Hence the wise physician warns against
undue anxiety about the wholesome
and unwholesome. IA mean and ser
vile solicitude which debases the mind
of man can do little good to his body"
AS in matters of health so in other mat
| ters there are proper risks to be run,
accepted of course under the sense that
we are members of the human family
and subject to general laws, and using
discretion in the choice and nature of
them. But when we have used such
discretion and made such elections as
our best judgment shall dictate, to be
further worried and annoyed with the
possible evils which may result from
our chosen course of action is as dan
gerous as it is unwise.
There is a sense in which all life is q
risk. We live very much on trust
and probably quickened faculties would
show us daily and hourly chances for
evil alternatives now undreamed of,
and hairbreadth escapes haunting the
i Il Az f.,r IN
stance, in the country air, the many
inhale health while one takes in a
whiffof poison and sickens and dies.
Thousands walk the street in safety,
while one slips and breaks his leg. The
multitude ride in safety about our
streets, or in the railroad car, or upon
the ocean, while the few, in taking
their chances, are mutiated, or killed.
What happens to Que might happen to
hundreds. So it is impossible to avoid
infinite forms of risk land lives spent in
/. the attempt are the most useless and
/ miserable of all lives. Life too anxious
: ly defended is an insufierable burden.
But there are classes of risks we have
no right to take, even if our natural
caution does not warn us against it,
Those risks which involve unnecessary
r dangers to ourselves, las to life or proper
ty, or moral character, and especially
the chances which involve the safety
of others, should never be taken. Those
risks which are encountered under no
: necessity but only for the purpose o
= gratifying n love of excitement, like
d. gambling. smuggling, or the unlawful
i sale of intoxicating liquors, are Away
which sometimes takes the pious form
n of recognizing the Divinity whicl
c shapes our end while declining tn,
t rough hewing which is mans appoint
!, ed work. So the risk of losses IN specu
= lation with the hope of securing larg
o gains, which is species of gamblin.
o and under that head has been befor
referred to-.
We must also condemn that rockies
c contempt of precaution which is tn
g courage of some natures. 1t is crimi
d nal, passive "risking it' that leads mel
T. to take the chances of leaning stacl
:. of chimneys, or leaky barrels of gun
powder, of passing an Infatuated bull
or of leaping down an unknown preci
pice in the dark, or skating over unsai
h ice, and other acts Of that sort. w
!. should use every means to make al
9 safe. There should be no unnecessar
If risks, and the risks that are necessar
p should cause us no uneasiness bccaus
(, they involve no responsibility on on
l. part. All that the best general can d
u is to leave nothing to chance that brain
u and vigilance can master. Nobody i
j. !, fit to be leader or to have the we'll
- being of others in his keeping, VIII
leaves anything to chance which ough
to be faced in all its bearings.