The Van Buren press., 1876-01-18
THE FUTURE,

upon anticipation or hope. They tell III
that this faculty is the occasion or direc
cause Of every happy beating of thu
heart. every blissful emotion of the ma
ture What prompted our boys ant
girls to array themselves So prettily and
tastily, last week, and attend the ball
Because they anticipated pleasure from
so doing. why do men toll day after
day, month after month, and year after
year? Simply because they anticipate o
pleasure in the money which is the re
suit Of such labor. The boy labors
hard at his mental taak, because he an.
ticipates both pleasure and profit from
the information.
Anticipation implies futurty. We do
not hope for that which we already pos
sess, but for that which is yet to come.
Nothing gives such zest to our labors,
such strength to our arms. such -endu.
rance to our bodies, such energy and de-
w pui IIl'uus, anu ouNu WI
fnl and obstinate persistence in the pur.
suit of objects the ultimatum of which is
in the future, as this principle of antici-
patton.
1t scarcely ever exists In the mind uf
human beings save as cheerful angel
to light their path No one hopes for un
happiness. The poor consnmptive, with
one lung gone, and the other nearly de-
composed, hopes that he will get well
The condemned criminal, doomed to ex
plate his crime on the gallows, sees
CLEANS OF hope in every ray of sunlight
that peers through the windows of his
cell, nor does the bright eyed seraph
leave his breast till life has left his heart.
Each creaking of the dungeon-door will,
he hopes, bring message Of reprieve
Thus, every one must see, that life is
one great season of anticipation That
human existence, is strictly and posi-
lively antieipatory. That no man or
woman exists who does not expect. Such
u thing is apositve impossibility.
Now there is a possible and impossible
hope. The former is to expect those
things which are probable; the latter
those which are totally and rredecmably
the opposite. For instance. il child is
brought up properly, it is reasonable and
right to hope or anticipate that he will
make good man. II, however, he is
brought up amid vicious and corrupting
surroundings, We have no just right to
suppose, for moment, that he will rise
superior to sueh influences. Again, be-
since the war We have had State govern
mcnt under the management of the most
corrupt group Of radicals that ever mis-
ruled commonwealth, Would there
be reason, or sense in anticipating any
good from the operations of such un-
principled and rcmorseless miscreants !?
Why, We had no more right to expect
decency, morality, and coed laws from
the operations of such men, than we
have to hope to get clear, pure water
from filthy mud-hole. To have induls.
ed. even in small degree, such anticipa-
tions, is what we d,nominate impossible
hope, or, rather, that which can nercr ult.
mate in fruition.
On the other hand, we have a right,
under our present State officers, and the
wisdom. honesty and prudence of their
management of the affairs of our Com.
monwealth, to anticipate bright and
glorious future. Light is penetrating
the huge veil Of darkness which so long
dropped over and around us What
cheered us amid all those gloomy years OF
oppression, preventing despondency from
ending in dsspair9 Hope The sweet
spirit said: "There is future with ligh,
o'erspread, that shall to you come, il
you will patient wait" We waited, and
that blissful future came; prosperity was
its attendant saint Virtue sat in thu
highest places, and from its pure ant
holy lips, went out benedction on th'
State. When the administration of ou
State changed, we INDUCED possible hope
and we have experience the glad fruition
AS we hoped in the past for future
and 1t came, to us ladened with choices
blessings, so let us encourage bright an
ticipations for the future. that glimmer,
in the distance like twinkling star. lie
our people be honest, and perform the
whole duty, and the future shall be a
much more glorious than the present a
the present is than the past of tcrribl
rule Of villainy and oppression.
EE The St. Louis Globe Democra
says that there are twenty idiots in tn