Smyrna times., 1875-07-14
The Unsuccessful Family.

deaths, i'll their marriages or in their bust |
ness, were they generally fortunate or
happy. They had not inherited that |
Yankee elasticity which RECEIVERS instantly |
from every strain and misfortune. When
ever they entered upon struggle they sur
beforehand by expecting defeat,
and thus they grew painfully familiar with
the word "fail." One son promised to be
be an exception to this rule. a hardworll-
ing and honorable lawyer, he gathered
together in early life practice Of which
most veteran lawyers would have been
proud, and made new fortune as soon as
he lost the old in unfortunte investments.
But his brothers and sisters never enjoyed
in their even glimpse Of his transient
prosperity. The other son, modest Metho
dist clergyman, had no clearer idea of pros
pcrity than distant perspective could give
him. Priyation of luxuries had been so
long his lot that he ceased to think of
them as attanable. He even suffered pri-
vatiOn of things necessary almost to life
itself, and knew what hunger and thirst
and heat and cold were, as few men know
them. His income never exceeded that Of
Il pert and . smart" boy in New York
banking-housc, though he was one of the
best scholars his college-through which he
worked his way-ever sent out, and his
mind was stored richly with knowledge
which he never displayed to dazzle the
simple people about him. The sum total
Of the earnings Of his lifetime a shrowd
stock broker would make and lose five times
day. He never wrote any books or re-
ceived any degrees; he did not live where
there was a newspaper to report his SER
mons, and it is safe to say they were never
advertised in advance His life was a
plodding and painful one, full Of care and
anxiety, unbrokcn by amy pleasure save
that which he drew from the love of his
wife and children, and uncheered bv the
society of any but dull villagers. The
eldest Of the sisters married Young and
foolishly. But Of the story of the labor>,
the trials, the heart-b breaks and suflerings
of the woman who learns too late that the
treasure of her heart has been poured out
| in vain, vino shall write? The longyears of
hope that are without hope; the constant
| struggles which arc foreordained to defeat :
! the slow and reluctant transfer of love and
watchfulness from drunken husband to
needless and thoughtless children: the
| constant outpouring of affection where there
is no return; the work of the worn fingers,
stitching under the midnight lamp; the
| hunger for education and for bread for her
children that denies her eithcr-these are
to be read in more than one white and
weary face you whirl carelessly past in the
| street. Tho other sister was the happest
of ALL for she had no history. The kind
fates sent her quiet and obscurity. As q
school teacher, she lived a sheltered life
save when one or two great storms broke
over the barriers of her retreat. She never
did anything remarkable or achieved ever
in her limited sphere anything more than
the half-success that seemed to be the
family characteristic.
They are all dead now, and the eartl
that 50 seldom seemed to have a restin!
place for them lies green and peaceful
above their dust. They were gone, ant
their places were filled, as one wave follow
another; they were gone, and there was II,
more trace of them than of the lines in tn
sand the wave washes away. They left IL
fortunes behind them, or fractions of fol
tunes; nor any fame-their very name
were known only to few score people
They had not even the happiness Of quic
decline. The lawyer lost his mind and hi
fortune at one blow, and died uncomforte,
by heartless wife and no less heartlcs
children. The clergyman suffered in til
body the equal of all his former distress {
mind, and passed away as poor as he ha
come. The sisters lived out their lives i
the patient way of women to the very enc
Failures? Wrecks? Not The ministC
was carried to his little church on til
= bleak hillside by loving rArishioners who.
hobnailed boots crunchcd with a coars
unfceling sound the frozen yellow mu
beneath their feet. The church where /
had labored was filled with mourners, lC
Q every child in the neighborhood was
Q grief, and the very Winter winds th
! moaned about the building seemed an eel
:, of theirmourning. NoSpurgeon or Beech
could be more lamented. If his memol
dies it will not be because it was unwortl
to live. His brother was followed by
the lamentations of those whose helper
had been when he was able to help other
His charity was original and even whim
at cal; it sought out people who were n
g. reached by the charitable machines, wi
a, their long titles and many oilicers-prolal
le little ncwsboys, broken down men, al
te struggling sewing-women. The two siste
Id lived in tho hearts of all the children WI
I'd knew them, and in the memories of
I'll those who had learned to recognize the
er silent Christianity. Heaven is filled wi
1T failures like these. They were prime,
g, but not of this earth. Their crowns glitt
70 with the eternal glory of the stars.-N.
m Tribune.
- Two years ago a Pennsylvania serva