Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-06-26

thanse,ves of the sorrow which has been
denied them, and the unhappiness which
they have so far failed to obtain. For the
future is necessarily more fertile than the
"has been''-"of all words the most pa
thetic.n as an apostle of sorrow has beau
tifully said or sung-because imagination
can roam at will but memory, though she
NAV exaggerate and color, ought not to be
allowed actually to invent. So take 1t
that we are young now, with friends ana
relatives around u.s. We may lose all.
Fathers, our children may die or break
our hearts. Husbands, our wives may
drive us either into the Bankruptcy or the
Divorce Court. 1t is advisable to dwell
much on these possibilities and to realize
them in thought; SO that even if circum-
stances turn otherwise, we shall at least
have enjoyed these miseries by antlclpa-
ton, delight of which no man can de
prive us. Again, whatever is. uncertain,
old age and death are not. Ii you are
Young, reflect that the young may die; II
YOU are old, that the old must die. BY i'm
agining lingering, solitary death caused
by some especially dreadful disease, an
ingenious person can easily create an
amount of mental Indebtedness little if at
all inferior TO the reality. "Thank God
it is no worse" is an expression often
heard on the lips of the votaries OF cheer
fulness Such phrase, or such frame
of mind as causes it, ought to be decisive
" discouraged by those who seriously
cultivate unhappiness. If these people
are poor, they find comfort III the fact that
they are not paupers; if they break a
limb, they rejoice that they have not
broken two. You must view things In
another light, and steadily anticipate the
very worst Think that modification
may, and often does, result from fracture,
that headache may be the precursor OF
insanity, that pimple may be the be
ginning of cancer, and that II you dle
even that may be an Illusion, in which
case you will certainly be buried alive. The
precise degree of misery which it is pos
sible thus to induce can hardly be gagged,
but it is very considerable. 1t comes
easily by practice, and is much more
commonly to be met with than is general
" supposed There is also to be attained
the habit of rejecting all fresh or acciden-
tai sources of happiness which open
out, as it were, hap-hazard IN
life. These obstacles to your success
must be conquered in detail; regard them
with GOODNESS and sour distrust, examine
them one by one, discover or believe that
YOU discover their hOllOwness or their
fleeting, temporary, and unsatisiying ma
ture If, Notwithstanding this severe
ordeal, these advantages are undeniably
real, substantial, and of a lasting kind,
little indeed can be done except to close
your eyes, ignore them, and reflect that,
in the natural order of things, decay fol
lows blossom and fruit as sure as night
follows day after the most beautiful OF
sunsets, But if by no exertion can you
procure sufficient unhappiness OF your
own, you may still suffer vicarious misery
in the persons of your friends-lt such
you still possess; apprehend all things,
attain hOpelessness, make the worst OF the
present, and look on the black side Of the
future There is an art not sufficiently
understood in this country, Of posing in
your wretchednesS, and surveying your
self as it were from the outside The
French have the word and understand the
knack or trick de Sc poser. Il am not
made" says Rousseau IN his Confessions,
like any other man | have seem" and
thence inevitably follows burst Of sense
less pitie de sol meme whence by easy
gradations through dismalness to blacklist
melancholy. 1t is true that all this will
make people disagrecable, and that it has
distinct tendency to sc Uielltr ets'e1at0adir
NAV be taken as certain as that two and
two make four SO best. The assurance
of being thus rendered through advanc-
ing wears more cankered and unattractlve,
more unfit to love and be loved, will cast
solid and legitimate gloom on any stray
particles of the happiness which they
have rejected and the pleasures they have
fOrswOrn Pull Nal Gazette.