The Cairo bulletin. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1872-1878, 1875-06-06

for
life Is before US, and nov stand
lager to spring upon the promised land.
air smiles the way, where yet our feet have trod,
Hut few light steps upon a howery sod
Round are youths green bowers aud to our eyes
Tho honson's line but joints the earth and skies
Daring and triumph, pleasure, fame and Joy,
Friendship unwavering love without alloy.
Brave thoughts Of noble deeds and glsry won,
Like angles beckon us to venture on. "
MISS JESSIE FREMONT pIiILLIs' ESSAY.
Miss Jessie +. Philis read her essay,
entitl, d "Half Fact. the Rest Dream,
Us follows:
Our lives are not composed entirely OF
unyicldng reality any more than beau
tiiul picture that arrests the eye and ab..
serbs the mind. Is composed entirely oi
harsh straight lines, without grace and
without finish. Aud as there are IN
every masterpiece softening shades a>
well as boldnes< of outline. so In the life
pictures that we all work out 80 he ID
iessly, sometimes so reluctantly. there
are tender. softenng tints thrown in by
the wise master hand above Us all. and
thus. while the "half Of life l, u stern
unrclcnting fact the rest in kindnes.
Is ''drean.'
This tender influence /, known 10 us by
many names. We see TIE rosy babe
smile without apparent reason, aud We
say the angels are whispering 10 II, aud
who can know a soul 50 fresh from
the hand. of it, Creator may still have
communion with kindred spirits. We
see maiden IN the morning Of her life
drcamily happy. and call II ''romancc,
and predict IT, early blight. but let us be
! careful how we crush so fair flower--ii
may never again bloom forth IN such I'M
sullied beauty.
A merchant lifts his weary eyes from
the long columns of figures that have held
them enchaincd for so long a time. at the
sound of some familiar song heard years
before. aud we think him sentimental. but
who knows the train Of thought that has
been awakened by means so simple: IL
may be, that all he has learned of theol-
ogy could not have moved him so
strangely.
The miser palises in hi, search for gold,
aud raises his eyes to the starry vault
above, and II may be that his thoughts are
nearer Heaven than they have ever been
before.
The moon is the only planet where we
are assured that intense shadows and
sharp outlines exist, but then the moon
has no atmosphere. Our lives have all
an atmosphere, and they are partly Of
our own making. This tender, mellow
ing influence Is called by some imagina-
ton, and its results, ''thc fairy frost work
can only wish that all the hideous rent,
and assures made by the relentless hand
of time We're covered over and
hidden from view by it, sublime tracery.
And not more kindly is the clanihering
ivy. that spreads its living vcrlure over
some ruined tower. clothing II with "A
beauty not lis own. than the years that
come with silent feet and bear away the
sharpness and the poigDaucy of all our
earthly troubles. Day and night are called
'twin slstcrs,' and the dreams of both
are rep,ete with the revelations OF God to
man. 1t was In a dream, that the lonely
Hebrew boy on his rocky couch and
stony pillow, beheld the earth united to
Heaven bya shining stairway, when the
habitation of man became. for the time,
the abode of the heavenly visitants.
Ii WAS in a vision on The sea-grt is
land of Patmos, THAT the Heavens were
opened" and the holy man OF God stood
transiixed. with the glory that was re-
vealcd. Death Is beautifully termed -
dreamless Sleep" and not without good
authority. The Bible says of the dead
'behold he sleepeth," and the Savior says
Il 20 to awake him out of his sleep
Poets and painters who play on tn
hearts of men. rs Oh n many stringed in
strument, aud touch so tendcriy tn,
oisorr', eiate are nfgI to breaking, wei
know this subtle avenue, leading to tn,
human soul. and Englands brilliant
bard, who lived too soon To be freeman
and too late to be slave to petty ty-
ranny, begins the recital of one of the
purest and most pathetic of his own early
disappointments, IL had a dream, which
was not all dream, in which he saw
two beings in the hues of YOUTH" land
both were young and one was beauti-
full"
A later poet has given us his
"Dreams of Fair Women" and In Holy
Writ we are told that our lives ut last
Evil be rs "A dream when il is told"
This blessed influence, il rightly used,
will, like all of Heavens gifts, prove n
blessing indeed, and we will find our
selves at last standing on 1.-THE border
land of time" the years of our lives
stretching out tar behind us, Gods mer-
cies standing out in bold relief, while the
sadness we have known will hang as
gentle shadows about them, aud in our
clearer visions we will behold "The Half
u L dct, INC itcst DTc'till.
MISS MOLLIE L. RILEy's ESSAY.
The subject Of Miss Mollie T.. Rlley's
essay, published below, is "The Present
Age.
Can the present age be compared with
any OF the preceding ages:
This Is the question asked in this are
Of competition. All things are under.
taken with an aim TO slrpass the efforts
of the past. We find this true in regard
TO the different eras into which time is
divided. In each succeeding age, WON
dertul discoveries are made in science,
strange and new developments, until ig-
norance and superstition have no longer
any power and the enlightened
mind can give clear and well
defined ideas, upon all the natural phr-
nomcna by which we are surrounded,
whether occurring in the earth beneath
US, or III the atmosphere around us.
The Recommendations us with accuracy
OF the distances, size, and weight of the
plancts-of their times ofappearance, dis.
appearance, eclipscs aud ali other changes
which they undergo. Tie chemist de.
composcs our liie-giving atmosphere, and
| tells us that IL Is composed of gases
which ifnot united In certain proportion,
| would prove destructive TO al
| animal life, The botanist take,
rudely our choicest and lovclicst flowers
and tears apart the calyx, petal ant
stamcm, and then gives our lovely plan
a llorrid-sounding name, which he call,
scientific, and which we care but littl,
about and scarcely remember The gcol
o9ist Investigates the crust of the cartl
for miles in depth, and verify beley,
he would gladly blow 1t to fragments /,
order that he might crafty his cnriosit,
IN regard TO Its formation, and then add
fresh laurels to science. WV