Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-05-29

Il sometimes go musing along the
street to see how few people there arc
whose faces look as though any Joy hat
come down and sung in their souls.
can see lines of thought, and of care
and of fear-money lines, shrewd
grasping lines but how few happy
lines. The rarest feeling that eve,
lights the human face is the content
ment of a loving soul. Sit for an hour
on the steps Of the Exchange in Wall
street, and you will behold a drama
which is better than thousand thea
ters, for all the actors are real.
1t is not ignoble to feel that the
fuller life which a sad experience has
brought us Is worth our own personal
share Of pain surely it is not possible
to feel otherwise, any more than it
would be possible for man with a cat
aract to regret the painful process by
which his dim blurred sight of men as
trees walking had been exchanged for
clear outline and efulgent day. The
growth Of higher feeling within us is
like the growth Of faculty bringing with
it sense Of added strength: we can
no more wish to return to a narrower
sympathy than a painter or musician
can wish to return to his crude manner,
or a philosopher to his less complete
formula.
An Alpine hunter, ascending Mt.
Blanc, in passing over the Mer de
Glace, lost his hold and slipped into
one Of those frightful crevasses by
which the sea Of ice is cleft to its
foundation. By catching himself in
his swift decent against the points of
rocks and projecting spurs of ice, he
broke his fall, SO that he reached the
bottom alive, but only to face death in
more terrible form. On either hand
the icy walls rose up to heaven, above
which he only saw a strip of blue sky.
At his feet trckled little stream
formed from the slowly melting glacier
There was but one possible chance
of escape-to follow the rivulet, which
might lead to some unknown crevice or
passage In silence and terror he
picked his way downtown the noun
tain side, till his further advance was
stopped by giant cliff that rose before
him, while the river rolled darkly be-
low
He heard the roaring Of the wat
ers which seemed to wait for him.
What should he do? Death was beside
him and behind him, ana he might
fear. before him. There was no time
for reflection Or delay. he paasel but
an instant and plunged into the stream
One minute of breathless suspense-a
sense Of darkness and cloudiness, and
yet of swift motion, as if he were glid-
inc through the shades below, and the
light began to glimmer family on the
waters, and the next instant he was
amid the green fields and flowers, and
the summer sunshine Of the vale of
Chamony.
so it is when believers die. They
come to the bank Of the river and it is
cold and dark. Nature shrinks from
the fatal plunge. Yet one chilly mo-
meut and all the fear is left behind
and the Christian is amid the field Of
the paradise Of God.
Life is series Of surprises, and
would not be worth taking or keeping,
if it were not God delights to isolate
us every day. and hide from US the
past and the future. We would look
about US, but with grand politeness he
draws down before us an impenetrable
screen Of purest sky, and another be-
hind us of purest sky. You will not
remember he seems to say, and you
will not expect. All good confersa-
ton, manners, and action, come from
a spontaneity which forgets usages,
and makes the moment great. Nature
hates calculators her methods are
saltatory and impulsive. Man lives by
pulses our organic movements are
such and the chemical and ethereal
agents are undulatory and alternate
and the mind goes antagonizing OH,
and never prospers but by fits. We
thrive by casualties Our chief exper-
fences have been casual. The most
attractive class of people are those who
are powerful obliquely, and not by the
direct stroke: men Of yenins, but not
yet accredited: one gets the cheer Of
their light, without paying too great
tax. Theirs is the beauty Of the bird,
or the morning light, and not Of art.
In the thought of genins there is al
ways surprise and the moral senti-
ment is we'll called "the newness,'' for
it is never other; as new to the Oldest
intelligence as to the young child
"the kingdom that cometh without OBJ
servation.' - In like manner, for prac-
tical success, there must not be too
much design. \ man will not be OBJ
served in doing that which he can do
best There is certain magic about
his properest action, which stupeGes
your powers of observation, SO that
though it is done before you, YOU wist
not Of it. The art of lie has puden-
cy. and will not be exposed. Every
man is an impossibility, until he is