New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-11-23

/ oohas and woes, but for all no" Do"
,;ta suddenly, in the twinkllng Oh an ese'
N.o aa hand tears away the curtain oeloie
o. nine We stagger, we faint, Tor our
. .no anr beautiful one, that which un
onsciously lent life its poetry i.s '"e. na
= nbantom-a myth. we ga%0
~ vacancv. and while thus stripped ian.s !
~ ha.r the hooking laughter OF thousanu
fends who 10Y at our agony anu ,nan.
narrv over our desolation we LOOK ou'
again into the world, judging as oei0io
from ourselves. Now how chanseo' no"
ura+cbed. how miserable is life. Inc JOY -
drowned in sorrow-the brightness Is s"ai'
1owed M in gloom. But all this mus' no'
h 1,ovn nv the common herd; SO we 90
forth with a smile on the face anu SUI IL
Tho heart. with a gleeful song on our ups
while the soul is chanting dlrge over JUL
shattered hopes.
Oh. the agony, the woe. TiEae passes Do
MO +ale no note; night and day are just as
bonelessly black Such is not LIE; IL Is tx
istance: it is the beating of the pulses, the
continuation of the physical, but we are
temporarily dead. Temporarily, for sucn d
state can not last There are three possible
results-entire death, when even the animal
mart of our natures refuse to support Inc
terrible mental prostration; but these cases
are rare; the heart may bend but IL selooin
breaks. God has created US SO that we may
endure the greatest shocks, and still support
life. Again to some this ordeal IS as cru
chile to purify the dross OF their natures.
1t is the furnace heated seven times hotter'
Such come out chastened purified, exalted
This alas. is also seldom; the demand Is too
great, poor fragile human nature too weak.
The third result, and the one bearing
more directly on our theme, is the most ire
ouent outgrowth of such an experience.
The nature thus rudely shocked must find
a foundation somewhere. The old bright,
trusting life has gone out forever. 1t can
not rise to the sublimity just referred to,
therefore it takes upon itself form OF Bit
terness which results in cynicism. Judging
the world from its own experience, all seems
dark and baleful
Illus dlC tuC oNOSoSSl' uAo''' AAAoD' oSN
tiful lives wrecked. Sometimes, alas, we
see those on the threshold of life thus
blighted their whole lives embittered.
The young girl, happy, trusting. coniding,
life seeming made Of sunshine and flowers,
lavishes wealth of love with sweet prodi-
gality, and finds out too late that the OBJ
ject of her devotion IS unworthy; has won
her young affections only to cast them
away-that she had been the pet, the play
thing of moment. What she has re-
ceived might be likened to the foam on the
sparkling champagne; what she has given
to the pure wine beneath.
After the first wild, passionate outburst
of grief is over, she turns with loathing
from the soft tiattery Of the world, becom-
ing either misanthropic and disdainful OF a
heartless coquette, who vainly seeks to as.
suage her own suffering by making others
suffer as she has.
So when we condemn those who take |
exaggerated views Of life, let US reflect upon |
the circumstances which may have brought
them to their positions look rather with |
compassion than censure, for every heart |
knoyeth its own bitterness.
NJ A r.