The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1874-02-06
THE HAPPIEST PERIOD.
[Rev. George H. Hepworth, in the Indc-
pendent.l

since the world began the majority OF
people have misjudged. Thoroughly
dissatisfied with any present time, we
cast about for golden age. We can
not find it in the future, as the cloud of
uncertainty hangs on the horizon in
that direction. We are compelled,
therefore, to explore the past. The
immediate past, with its facts and dis
appointments, is too fresh in our men,
ories to allow us to throw the required
halo about it, and so we continue our
journey until we get to the point where
memory grows dim, and the imagina-
ton works actively, and we call that
the halcyon period of life. The dis
tant past are both creations Of the
fancy. They have 4 charm of their
own, and we are always ready to leave
to-day, with its realistic drudgery, and
roam over the Elysian fields from
which we came into the desert of man.
hood, or over those which lie on the
thither edge OF the sandy plain along
which we are SO toilsomely travelling
now. We delight to dabble with the
paints of Imagination, to live in pic
tures of what has been or what may
be-. The present has sharp angles, and
when looked at close to, has the ap-
pearance of a mere daub. You can
see only Irregular patches of paint,
which look as though the brush had
fallen there by accident, while the out
line seems to fade away into the color
ing Of the background. The past and
the future, on the other hand, are like
the same picture when seen from the
proper distance. The outline is per-
feet, and the ridges and valleys Of paint
become Il startingly lifelike portrait.
TO say that childhood is the happi-
est period of life is to offer an insult to
Providence. The child is, at best, but
a bundle of possibilities. He is a crea-
ture of unframed impulse, of unde-
Veloped affections. His mind is like
crate in well ordered house. The
coal is there, the kindling wood is
into q blaze when touched by a match.
Now, until such CRATE before the match
has touched it is a pleasanter and more
profitable sight than halfa dozen Jumps
of camel coal enveloped with royal
blaze and filling the room so full of
light and heat that one forgets the
wintry sleet without, childhood, with
its sugar plums and its toys, will be
inferior to manhood, with it's burning
enthusiasm and its lofty ambition.
I hear people sigh for the days of
their childhood, and I grow impatient.
All poets have uttered their rhythmic
wall over middle age and sung their
sweetest strains over the dimpled days
of babyhood. What they say on this
subject may be very good poetry, but
it is wrctched religion. If an uncon-
sciousness of the grand struggle of life,
which is one of the peculiarities Of
childhood, constitutes happiness, then
~ -S,,3. 4,1-1 -.
evidently the one to be accepted. He
tells Us Of the descent Of the race from
animals; and we are quite right in
making the perfect unconsciousncss of
the animal the very perfection of hap
piness, while next in order will come
the blurred consciousness of the child,
and lastly the perfect consciousness of
the man, which is the equivalent of
wretchedness and misery. Childhood
is certainly we'll enough to begin with
but think we should all be sorry to
end with it. There is place in every
human life for China dolls and Japan
ese toys; but there is also a place for
mental culture, for struggle, for hard
work, and for q reasonable faith. Baby
hood is beautiful, but manhood is he
roic and divine.
Neither do I think we should draw
OuI CiIClc SlOCul lHitluIlly anu
claim for it the hours of our supremest
happiness. a strong man is certainly
a magnificent spectacle. To be in full
possession of ripe powers is a great
privilege. To cope successfully with
adverse circumstances, as a brave knight
fights with an equal foe, and compel
them to unconditional surrender, must
open a hidden fountain of satisfaction
in the heart, whose waters have pc
culiar taste. Not every one drinks at
that fountain; but the happiness Of
those who do must be quite indescriba-
bic. To be conscious of mighty cner-
gies, to set those energies at work to
achieve success, to grapple with a
giants Drawn with the edisappointments
and the misfortunes of life, which, like
an army of furies sometimes beset one,
and to stand at fifty an honorable vic
tor, must fill a man so full of happiness
that, like strong perfume in rose, it
will permeatc every fiber Of his being.
Such happiness is no more to be COM
pared to that of childhood than is the
physical bulk of Colossus to be COM
pared to the tiny body Of an infant in
swaddling clothes. 1t is not only
,rreatpr in UJantitv b,lt also ricbnr apI