New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-05-16

SINGULAR Coincidence.

Singular Coincidence.
Tue Sunday editions of the New Orleans
Zines and Bulletin, in the editorial effort |
II the one and the selected matter OF the
ther. give remarkable illustrations Of how
reat minds run in the same channel OF
hought. The Bulletin reprints and credits |
the Coys,hR Maga-ine an excellent and
hou ghtful article entitled "The Pessimist's
TAw of Life" commencing as follows:
The pee eesimist's view of life is q singularly |
lear one. He is satisfied that nobody ls
Apply or can be 90. The suppostion OF
appiness, he tells US, is gross illusion,
layed of on US by the restless will which |
astains our being, and which must have
ant at all costs. Take, for example, the
ase of a man in fair health, with sum
erc- of material goods, with family ana |
iends about him. You will iud even here
real happiness, only constant alnlSg
something fresh, an nnux a;ont "a no" AnJ ND
Tres after every successive attainment. ana
leu what caa be said as to the mass OF
paukind. who are wanting in tie hrst con
itious of q pleasurable existepces heath
nd the means of livelihood!
just consider, says Hartmann, the simple
act that the majority Of men have to work
good part Of their lite tor tneir oreao;
nat IS " Say W CcSoSo 49, ~
lalIv painful and repulsive, simply to avoid
greater evil. just reflect, says SchOpen-
suer, that all for which men toll SO anx-
ousIy and so painfully ia the feeting pos
essOn of the moment The radical evil of
bur life is ennui, which comes from the IN
urable restlessness of the will. Human
ife" says Sobopenhauer, ''oscillates be-
re indeed the ultimate elements OF life.
Driven by fear of ennui, men aud women
rush into society, thinking to gain a fleet
ny pleasure by escaping from themselves.
But in vain; their inseparable foe will re-
new his torments only too surely. Schopen-
hauer tells us, among many Other curious
things, that our common forms OF art
piness.
The leading editorial in the Times is hap
.,ilv called Coaching Revived" and runs
rs follows:
The pessimist's view of life is singu-
Rarly clear one. He is satisfied that no.
body is happy, or can ever be so. The sup
illusion played of upon US by our restless
wills. Take man with physical devel-
opment fully adequate to the perfect enjoy
ulent of existence. with excellent health,
|surrounded by friends and family. and with
the means and the leisure to amuse himself,
and yet he is disturbed by q constant aiming
at something as yet unattained, steady
dood of new desires following constantly
upon every achievement. Apparently it is 9
far more grievous condition to which the
great mass of men are consigned. who must
toll for their daily bread, and whose means
of pieasurab excitement are necessarily
limited. Yet, it eeems that the difference
is merely an imaginary one, Tor, Whatever
his condition, the radical svll OF Ss,msan man
hauer, "oscillates between pain and ennul
which two states are the ultimate elements
of life." 1t is the fear of this ennui which
drives men and women into society, hoping
to escape it in escaping from themselves.
The vain and absurd things, the solemn
conceita, not less than grotesque antics.
men indulge in to escape 1t are marvellous
| indeed.
This is something more than mere pla-
| giarism. The Thackary of the Cornhiu ia
1 no servile imitator of the Thackary OF the
| Times. and would scorn to feIoniously ap-
propriate the fruits Of his brain. The name
less foroe of thought has simply operated
/ simultaneously on two powerful minds, and
4 generated the same ideas. The singular
phenomena belongs to the vaguely under
stood scisnce of mind reading. The Corn
j EiR writer and the powerful editorial writer
4 of the Times are possibly strangers to
each other, and they are thousands OF
miles apart, unconnected by even
telegraph wire, and yet the Enghsn
scholar brin % such remarkable brain force
to the composition of his essay as to I'M
mediatel7 communicate his ideas to the
erasping and powerful mind of the original
thinker who furnishes thought for the New
Orleans public through the columns Of the
Times. Instances Of the kind have ire
auently occurred before. Great minds in
different parts of the world have at the
same time conceived the same ideas. There
| is about such condolences an illustration
| of mental electricity that can scarcely be
couprehended. Thoughts go from mind te
mind as lightning flashes through cloud
land. or as air rushes to fill vacuum.
brain overcharged in one quarter of the globe
will throw of it's superfuous force, and find
sepulchre in vacant brain cells, in distant
land. as bees swarm from the parent stock
and reach empty hives. The contemplate
m an of facts and figures will assert that the
CornhiA article may have been published
irst and transferred to Times editorial by
vulgar scissors and paste. The appearance
of the Times article disputes such theory
In the first place the headlines are entirely
different. and secondly there are trifiine
differences in many Of the sentences. &c
that it is impossible that the same copy
con,d have been ueed in the Cor1.hM office
in England and in the other hill office II
America, and until letters patent are Sc
cured to protect the inventions OF brain
no author can be safe from mind which II
powerful enough to grasp his ideas the mo
mens he puts them into words, and has tne
cunning 20 reproduce them in different
form.
Personal.
Mr., John w. RoxbOrough has OF lat<
been rendering excellent service to the
oub,ic. as a detective Of the metropolitan
| Police in this city. His merits seem te
| have attracted notice abroad, and now ht