New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-06-05
LINE.

Here we have the year again in her middle
age and if we have found our own way into
the forties, we are quite convinced that for
years or men there is no age like mddle-age.
A great deal of poetry has been wasted on
youth and Spring; but in fact who likes the
sharpness and gusty tempers OF the one or the
other? What nOurishment is there in forced
green peas, or IN opinions borrowed from text
booksl The opening leaf and the rose-plnk
on schoolgirls cheek are pretty things
enough to look at in passing, but what COM
fort can a rational man take in the malarlOus
fOgs of May morning or the logic of con-
ceted collegian seeking truth n Middle-age,
since the days of Job. has snubbed and fiOuted
callOw youth; though, oddly enough, 1t can
imagine no better reward in the heavens be-
yohd than that itself shall be again and for
ever Young. And here comes June, welcomest
of all the months, simply because she is old
enough to be good tempered No freakish
frosts or storms; she carries sunshine and IS
crowned with roses she grows her asparagus
in her own soil; she fiaunts neither in bor
rowed vegetables nor ideas; having made up
her mind, like other middle-aged folk, she is
fair. quiet, serene; her bounty is wide as the
to her brOOding sleep at night you know her
to be one who is certain, secure, and one who
will bring forth gifts for the world on which
its life depends
The full crops the crimson roses, the grass
covering every unsightly rock or dung-heap,
are not Natures idle smiles, but the fruit of
long, patient drudgery in that busy work.
house under ground. The argumentative
sophomore, or the pink checked schoolgirl,
therefore, may easily find the moral of these
sunny days, and the welcome which every
body gives them. Hard Woodwork which
the world can use-and cheerfulness are what
makes man, as n month, successful and
popular. Your Byrons and your Werthers
have had their day; there Is too much average
ability and culture competing for prizes nova
days for any so called genius to win the
nights of fame by an easy, unconscious flight
they must be conquered step by step, through
patient, gOod-tempered drudgery. There is
too much real nervous disease and Over-work
in this country for gloom or cynicism to be
popular. We don't want to see our own
sallow faces OF moody tancies reflected any
where; without knowing the scientific reason
of it, We feel the healing and tonic in hearty,
cisely as we do in this wholesome June sunshine.
Agassiz was not more popular demigod for
his knowledge and power than for his geniality
and sweet moral nature. The most successful
authors in America are those who can provoke
a laugh in the audience; the applause is sure
to follow. True, we are not critical in our
appreciation Of wit: a joke Of q very poor
quality contents us; we crown with laurel
mere circus-clOwns who have taken to writing
poetry OF preaching sermons, but our indis-
criminate gluttony for fun proves how much
we needed it. Cheerfulness and humor even
of the lowest kind are at premium with all
Anglo Saxon people. Our English cousins
need them more than we, to mOisten their
solid, downright practically. A party of re-
formers here were terribly chagrined the
other day to find q great English philanthro.
pist bored by their schemes of aid for hui
mainly, and repeating with keen delight some
jokes of Mark Twain.
These are but trivial signs, yet they all,
even the half-animai enjoyment with which
We greet these calm Summer days, show our
disease-the tension which has been brought
to bear Of late years on the educated classes,
and the effort they are making to resist it, to
find the relaxation in which alone there il
security for health or life. The more of
June and June's temper we bring into our
work and ways and words the better chance
there is for ourselves.