Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-07-22

They were sll unsuccessful, a. the word
wsss Neither In their lives nor IN their
deaths. IN their marriages or ia their busL
ness. were they generally fortunate or
happy. They had moi inherited that
Yankee Elasticity which RECEIVERS Instantly
from every strain and misfortune. When.
ever they entered upon q struggle they
surrendered beforehand by expecting de-
feaf. and thus they grew painfully familiar
.gith Tie word "fail" One son promised
10 10 an exception 10 this rule A hard
working aud honorable lawyer, he gath.
cred together In early life practice ~
WHICH most veteran lawyers would have
been ;stsad. and made a new fortune an
.ss5u ~ he lost The old Ia unfortunate In.
yss,raenis. But his brothers and sisters
never cnioyed In their homes even n
glimpse u his transient prosperity. The
other .on a motlest Methodist clergyman,
had 30 cisarer idea of prosperity than dis
tani perspective could give him. Priya.
ton Of Injuries had been so long bis lot
that IT, ceased 10 think Of them ~ aitalna-
BE. He even suffered priyalion u things
necessary almost 10 life itself, aud knew
AHA, hunger and thirst and heat and cold
acre ~ few men know them. His Income
never exceeded Tia; ~ pert and smart
boy In a New York banking house,
though he wns one ~ the best schol
srs AL. eollege-~ihrongh which he worked
his gny---eyer sent out. and his mind was
stored fichly with knowledge which he
neVcr displayed 10 dazzle the simple peo.
pie about him. The sum total Of The
earnings IL bis lifetime shfewd stock
broker would make and lose five times u
day. lie never wrote any books or re-.
eeiystl any degrees lie did not live where
there was . newspaper 10 report his ser
mons aud IL IL safe 10 say they were never
advertised In advance. His life was u
piodding and painful one, full of care and
anxiety, unbroken by any pleasure save
that which he drew from tho love OF his
wife and children, and uncheered by the
socle;y OF any but dull villagers. The
eldest of The sisters married young and
f,oiishiy. But Of the story oi the labors,
the trials, the hear. breaks and sufiefings
Of the woman who learns too late that the
treasure Of her heart has been poured out
In vain, who shall writsf The long years
OF hope that are without hope; the con-
slant struggles which are foreofdained ~
defeat. the slow and reluctant transfer Of
love and watchinlness from "a drunken
husband to needless and thonghtless chill
drent the constant OutpouriDg ot affection
where there Ii no return; the work 81 ths
worn fingers, stitching under the midnight
lamp the hunger for education and ioI
bread for her children that GENES hcI
either--thcse are tobe read In more than one
white and weary face you whrl carelessl,
mast In the street Tile other sister was tl,
happiest Of all, for she had no history
The kind fntes sent her quiet and obscure
ty IA a school.teacher she lived shell
tered life, save when one or two gren
storms broke over the barriers OF her re
treat. She never did anything rcmarka
Bile, or achieved even In her Unite,
sphere anything more than the half sue
cess that seemed 10 be the family charac
lerlstlc.
They are all dead now. and the cart
that 80 seldom seemed 10 have resting
place for them lies green and peaceful
above their dust. They were gone ant
their places were filled, as one wave fo
lows another; they were gone and ther
was no more trace OF them Than OF IN
lines In the sand the wave washes ava,
They left no fortunes behind them, 9
fractions Of iastunes; nor any fafne--thel
very names were only known TO lew scor
PEOPLE. They had not even the happlnes
Of a quiet decline The lawyer lost hi
mind and his fortune at one blow, an
died uncontrolled by a heartless wife I'm
no less heartless children. The clergyma
suffered In the body the equal OF all h
former distress Of mind, and passed ava
~ poor as he had come. The sisters live
out their livesin the patient way Of wome
10 the very end.
Failures Wrecksf Mol The mini
,er WAS carried TO his little church on u
bleak hillside by loving parishionel
whose hobnailed boots crunchcd with