Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-07-15

Charlie'' of nineteen. Some one suggested
| that Charlie would marry and cease
| to care for her ''.Then | should be so I'M
happy" sighed the sadlittle voice. b" What
II he married a wife he was very fond OF,
and who made him quite happy-weuld
you be unhappy then? NO" was the
answer, given after slight pause, which
showed this conclusion was not come to
without thought--'sno, | would love his
wife, that's all .eaIe
The poor little maid had jumped by in
stlnct, WOmanly instinct, to the true secret
OF faithful love-the love which desires,
above all, the good of the beloved, and
therefore learns to be brave enough to
look at happiness through another's eyes
This is the only way by which any girl
can take up the fragments of lost or I'M
requited affection; by teaching herself,
not to forget it-that is impossible-bu to
rise above il until the sting is taken out
of her sorrow and it becomes gradually
transformed from a slow poison into bit
ter but wholesome food.
Besides, though the suggestion may
seem far below the attention of poetical
people, there are such things as fathers
and mothers, brothers and sisters, and
other not undeserving relations, to whom
a 1.-THE of the affection wasted upon some
possibly only half-deserving young man
would be priceless boon. And so long
as the world endures there will always be
abundance of helpless, sick and sorrowful
people calling on the sorrow-stricken one
for aid, and ready to pay her back for ali
she condescends to give with that grateful
affection which heals wounded heart
better than anything-except work.
Work! work! work. That is the grand
panacea for sorrow, and, mercifully, there
is no end Of work to be done IN this world,
if anybody will do it. Few households
are so perfect in their happy selfcontain-
edness that they are not glad, oftentimes,
of the help of some lonely woman, to
whom they also supply the sacred conso-
lation of being able to help somebody,
and thus, perhaps, save her from throwing
herself blindly into some foolish career
for which she has no real vocation, except
that forced upon her by the sickly fancy
of sorrow; for neither art, nor science,
nor religion will really repay its votaries
if they take to It, like opium-eaters, mere
" to deaden despair. ....
Say what you will, and pity them as
you may, these broken hearts are exceed
ingly troublesome to the rest of the world.
We do not like to see our relatives and
friends going about with melancholy faces,
perpetually weeping over the unburied
corpse of some hopeless grief or unpar-
donable wrong. We had much rather
they buried it quietly and alloWedu us, after
a due season Of sympathy, to go on our
way. Most of US prefer to be comforta-
bic if we can. have always found those
the best-liked people who have strengthto
bear their sorrows themselves, without
troubling their neighbors. And the sight
of all others most touching, most emo
bling, is that of aman or woman whom
we know to have suffered, perhaps to be
suffering still, yet who still carries cheer
full face, is burden to no friend, nor casts
shadow over any household-perhaps
quite the contrary. Those whose own
light is quenched are often the light
bringers.
To accept the inevitable; neither to
struggle against it nor murmur at it, sim
ply to bear it-this is the great lesson of
life, above all to woman. It may come
late or early, and the learning of it is sure
to be hard, but she Will never be a really
happy woman until she has learned it. I
have always thought two Of the most pa
thetic pictures Of women's lives ever given
are Tennvson's . Dora"
AS time
Went onward, Mary took another mate
But Dora lived unmarried to her death;
and Jeanne, in g Aud Robin Gray" who
says, with the grave simplicity of God
fearing Scotswoman:
daurna think O Jamie, for that wad be a
sin;
So will do my best guide wife to be,
For Aud Robin Gray is vera kind to me.
Besides lost loves, common to both men
and women, there are grlefs which belong
perhaps to men only-lost ambitions. 1t
is very sore for man just touching, or
having just passed, middle age Slowly to
find out that he has failed in the promise
of his youth; failed in everything aspi-
rations, hopes, actions; a man Of whom
strangers charitably say: e Poor fellow,
there's a screw loose somewhere; he'll
never get on in the world And even his
nearest friends begin mournfully to be-
lieve this; they cease to hope, and con-
tent themselves in finding palliatives for
a sort Of patient despair. That {" loose
screw''-Heaven knows what it is, or
whether he himself. is aware of it or not
always seems to prevent his succeeding
in anything; or else, without any
fault of his own, circumstances have
made him the wrong man in the wrong
place, and it is too late now to get out of
it. Pride and shame alike keep him
silent; yet he knows-and his friends
know, and he knows they know it-that
II, oo,,oa,. I. ~ l,co, lI,-a1-r