Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-06-24
The Luxury Of Making Believe.

Inc 1u1uTy Oi RAINING OcAhcsce
"sDid you ever taste orange-peel and
waterr said the Warehouses.
Mr.. Swiveller replied that he had
never tasted that ardent liquor.
elf you make believe very much, its
quite Bice,' said the small servant; but
if you don't you know, it seems as II II
would bear q little more seasoning, Ger.
tainly.'n
In giving utterance to this sentiment
the diminutive, unpampered mental OF
the house of Brass enunciated great
truth, which applies not only to the sim
pie beverage she mentioned, but also to
many of the circumstances of our daily
lives. We are constantly called upon to
do or to endure things so thoroughly dis
tasteful to our mental or moral palates,
so lamentably deficient in seasoning, that
but for the making believe with which
we Appetite them, we should turn In dis
gust from their approach.
Do not hastily infer that eulogy is
about to be pronounced upon that form
of making believe which consists in
stretching the truth of matter until il
bears striking resemblance to false
hood This method indicates serious
unctional and even organic arrangement
of mans moral system, snd cannot, by
the widest flight of fancy or the most
reckless use of language, be called lux.
ury. 1t is met with, however, not un-
frequently in fact it is rather more com
mon than unclothed truth.
Mr.. A. Blower, with grand air, speaks
TO an acquaintance of his "place" in the
country: and # he converses with a
stranger, before that strangers vision
floats a panoramic view of undulating
fields thickly set with waving gram; OF
pastures green and dewy meads, on
which wander countless herds of lowing
kline; of noble park, through which
broad, winding avenues, shaded by elms
and lindens and ancestral oaks, lead TO a
baronial mansion, whose turrets rise SO
picturesquely above the foliage. But the
person to whom he speaks is acquainted
with that portion of the State in which
the Wanted place" is situated, and
knows well that it is a barren patch which
nourishes no vegetation less hardy than
the indomitable Lockwood and the in.
eradicable thistle; that its forests are
composed Of scrub-oaks and stunted
pines, and that the only creature which
can find sustenance there is the lonely
sheep that browses unappetizingly up
on the isolated mullen-stalks which,
sentinel-like, rise here and there up
ON the arid waste. The baronial
mansion, when viewed under the il.
Illuminating ray of truth, is frame
building containing two rooms and an
attic, and is totally destitute of any tur.
rets. This kind of making believe is
without excuse, and its usual and well
merited result is discontinue and mort.
fication. A. Blower is not disgraced by
owning a farm which is not worth the
taxes levied upon it, but he has no right
to go about deluding people into the be-
lief that it is the combination of comfort
and grandeur which the human mind
naturally associates with the title OF
"place."
But the philosophical nature of the
Marchioness is exhibited by the fact
that when she could get nothing more
palatable than orange-peel and water
she glorified it by the exercise of vivid
Imagination into beverage ambrosla
and nectaric. She not only made the
best of it, but even little more than th G
best, and manifested cheerful content
ment truly commendable and worthy OF
imitation.
Most of us are frequently compelled
| to limit ourselves to things in life cor.
| responding in tastelessness and want OF
attractiveness to orange-peel and water
Shall we grumbie and groan because il
is not Chateau Margaux and Amontilla
| do; or shall we come down to it with a
good grace, and, shutting our eyes to its
imperfections, solace ourselves by a
wholesome making believe that 1t is a
delightful beveragey A due regard foi
the happiness and comfort of ourselves,
and not less of those by whom we are
surrounded, will doubtless lead US To
choose the latter frame of mind.
But notice that il is the lurury of max
ing believe, and should not by constant
habit become necessity. The life
which thrives only In the ideal is united
for the hardships and struggles OF the
real. To meet these we must be armed
with q spirit of endurance and deter
mination to bear unmurmuringly what
ever may be eur lot; but if we mingle
| with these little of luxurious making
believe, may not the effect be TO tighten
the cares of the way and disperse the
darkness OF the pathY May not the
warm, rosy tints of imagination be
pleasingly blended with the colder glare
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