The Portland daily press., 1874-09-24
EkhS $500 Pr ANNUM In ADVANCE

rann Al
RTse snein. He could not believe in min
60 aShanlmoUs, not through accepting
4 NJ oue overriding and so ignoring il.
| trut, afr 20 ehese cases especially we see the
u o.u1u ~, VI La Bruyere's dictum. The beauty
~ anu 1ne genlus feel their losses not less. but
Of re1rar q, Gne gets on. A certain poignancy
Si reSrer, unfelt al first, Greens in a. Charm
taue, @!d invention flags, as the world ceases
w. aeo nlre or to read; while the duh and un-
i,h4 Snatlve, who grasped their troubIe from,
the hrst, have breoded over it till II sb.doyys
trlelr Whole being. We are speaking of conrse
only OF natural consequences and effects-of
nel. not OF Christians. Resignation and sub
| graces. Hs'u4s'
But great losses are the tragedy of our
sutSect, OF which, happily, most men have
no experience. There is a medium class of
Dsses, making no importunate demand m
pn our magnanimity, of which everybody
\ Aliows the annoyance by experence-the loss
wnlcn lhrows man on self-reproach or in
searcn OF victim. We speak of the loss
| whlcn leading novelist would define nv no
grandlose epithet, for his phrase. ssserions
pit Oh money" exactly hits the case-tbe
Ioss' not OF fortune, but, saw. the twentieth
| pase pp:e vi htlited income-a loss making no
olnerence In the way of living, affecting the
Sonsciousnesso of nobody but the loser, lust the
purse Wiich he who steals steals trash. But
e. q ioSS grows win time and refiec-
tioh or rather with the various demands
unexpected, uncalcalated on-whieh rlse as
surely as though we had reckoueS on them
WIN all our foresight. The ten, twenty. ff-
" pounds-what would they not have done
!. !! oniy we mad not lost them! All the exac-
LIONS OF social life seem harder when, in some
S S.anoo vi carefessness, we have lost what.
eoau'e tSo.,' II would have discharged any one of
.neiii' we apply by turns to all. No money
Ofien m
sucn sl Yeats OF liquidation, as lost money. The
u nso sensation OF a loss Of any Importance is
iAicredullty. Few people are clear-headed
Z enough to be able to embrace at once in its
entirety the fact that the missing trea.u,,
gone forever. 1t takes some time to realize
the sudden misfortune which comes in the
form OF void, a mere absence. Several
stage; have to be passed through. which is a
happy provision of our nature. When at
lengtn we stand face to face with fact, our
spirit has risen to the emergency. 1t is not
half so bad, we reflect as some social mortifi-
cation. some fagrant blunder the missing Of
Some long-sought-for opportunity, by hairs.
oreaoin, some sudden revelation of an ire.
trlevable folly. A thousand annoyances pro-
duce much more tngling sensation then
Ihe mere loss OF money. Our philosophy at
nrst has an easier part to play than in sooth-
ing wound TO our own selflove. But things
OF that sort have way of righting them
selves. Vexations of feeling soon wear them
selves out; our indiscretions sometimes turn
out for the best and do us good service.
The failure of the most important appoint
ment is not so full of evil consequences as
our fears copjured up; we forget all about it
IN a week. But money never seems worth
less, and seldom is of less consequence to the
spender, through mere passage of time. 1t
makes itself wings, but out of sight is not out
OF mind. And the provocation is kept up
and aggravated by the duty of throwing good
money after bad in fruitless eff jrts at recoy-
cry. All forms of hue-and-cry, advertise
ments in the Times, ,handbills proclaiming the
calamity, elc., ETC., are not so much the ell
deavors OF reasonable hope as decent funer.
al obsequies OF the defunct possession, with
out which we could not make confession or
tell our tale with credit.
For, after all, few misfortunes but have
their bright side; and La Bruyere's saying
does not apply in its severity to mere curtail-
ment OF income and a temporary pinch.
There is sense of credit in having, like Dog
berry, had our losses. People cannot boast
OF the money they possess, but it is permitted
TO them to make what conversational capital
they can out of the money they have lost.
The topic is social equalizer, and sets all
tongues loose. He who has lost the biggest
sun. takes precedence. Intellect only tells in
setting OFT loss in sensational or picturesque
colors; memory distinguishes itself solely as
1t caps one story by another more grieyous
and pathetlc; temper and disposition are
seen in the view taken of the most recent ex-
amples. Some are saDguine withoutreason, and
know the most ext aordinary cases of find
ing and recovery; some are only intent upon
proving TO the loser that he has himself to
blame, expatiating on their own precautions;
some use the occasion to infuse general mis-
trust; for it is one incidental mischief of los
seS from the person that innocent people
fall under suspicion, since 1t is impossible
with some minds not to account for mis-
chance by laying it on somebody's shoulders.
And it is such losses as these that make
topics of conversation. A shareholder may
be said to be losing whenever shares go
down, but though the sum lost may be the
same in either case, it is what we see and
handle that makes the impression. the
losses that stamp themselves on the mem
ory are those which the senses Of sight aud
touch have made our own.
A loss of that which our fingers feel for
which our eyes search for in vain, reveals
to US how much more the poor man realizes,
and therefore enjoys, possession than the
rich. All that he has he holds, as it were,
in his hand /; it is never out of his reach; he
never forgets it. No pecuniary loss that does
not involve real distress is felt with such
anguish of realization as loss of earnings.
The woman who goes to market with
weeks wages in her pocket, who feels for
it in vain, and knows it is gone forever,
tastes the bitterness in its fullest intensity.
What is the loss of hundred or a thousand
pounds to rich man who knows himself 10
be so much poorer only because he is told Of
the fact, to the agonizing blank on first mis-
sing the weeks wages, the want, the dep
rivation, the despair, the dismemberment,
as it were, that follows upon the loss OF
those six halt crowns! 1t is an enduring
shadow, an affllctiOn that lasts; too
deeply felt, too sore trouble ever
to give pleasure even as pointing tale and
awakening universal sympathy.
However disagreeable they may be to the
principals, losses are gain to the commu-
nifty, as imparting that excitement to stag
nant conditions of society which is necessary
to the general spirits. There is an undoubted
interest to the idle reader in the Times daily
column of losses, while it is perfect empo-
rum of hints to romance writers. Dogs,
portmanteaus, diamonds, papers only of value
10 their owners, sentimental nicknacks, tite-
deeds, bank notes, middle-aged gentlemen
described with candor Of personal depre-
citation which arouses wonder that anybody
should want to find them-Cashmere shawIs,
gold watches, follow one another in ad-
mired disorder. On the whole, it must
be a rich world that scatters diamonds
about in such careless profusion as q
column in the season shows, and that
offers ten or twenty pounds for lost
pet; though probably blighted affections
are the truer Interpretation of the perennial
expenditure on lapdogs. But what touches
the moralist in this department of our sub
ject is the huge disproportion between lost
aud found. Every lost banknote must havea
finder, but not one in thousand seems to
have recourse to the Times for the rightful
owner. Somebody must pick up the glitter
ing earrings, lockets and brooches, but it is q
rare phenomenon TO find notice of a ''valua-
BILE brilliant ornament found by poor man."
We can only hope that the losses here re-
corded are the losses of superfuties, whatever
their nature; and lost superhuities, not usirg
the word in its severer sense, need never be
the regret of lifetime.