The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1877-03-02
VOICES.
BY CLARENCE VERNON.

themselves on ''life's mighty river.n
Thousands of voices are waited back,
voices which reach them through the
deeds of Others; deeds which "speak
louder than words" and from which
may be CLEANED truths that will serve
to warn all from folly and evil-doing, or
encourage and inspire them onward in
the path of duty and progress. But the
masses do not gather these priceless
truths, nor will they accept them when
offered by others. They lift their voices,
either in weak, hopeless encouragement
of any attempt to enter new path, or
in bitter opposition TO any deviation
from the old one. Empty, hollow voices
are croaking through worthless lives,
devoted to dress, fashion, and position;
voices filled with deadly teachings,
which poison the minds and blight the
lives of the young with their venomous
breathings, filling with false pride, as
with mildew, hearts which had been
earnest and strong; instilling into their
very arteries false notions of life aud its
meaning; leading them to look upon
honorable toll as disgraceful; voices of
those who, in one discordant chorus, are
! ever crying down the efforts of a strug-
Cling sister to earn her livelihood by
honest work; lifting their own silken,
trailing, mud d-bedrabbled and tobacco
juice-erasing skirts, for fear of soiLiRg ~
them by too close a contact with her as
she passes them on the street; screaming
in Mortified harshness at the "masculin-
! ity" of any who dare choose and follow
whatever vocation is best fitted to her
taste and capacity; kissing the would
be withering appellations, "woman's
rights' and "strong- minded" in connec-
ton with her name; lifting their side
walk-sweeping skirts again, for fear of
marring their beauty or dimming their
splendOr by contact with her more SEN
sibly short and cleaner ones. What a
pity that their own delicate, weak
brains were not tenanted by that un-
fashionable, and, therefore, to them,
undesirable tenant-a strong mind
From these unmusical voices are gath
cred truths which reflect discredit and
dishonor upon society, revealing but too
plainly the empty mockery of fashion,
able life, the witless vanity of its fol-
lowers. 1t has been said that "every in
dividual forms a link in the chain of
humanity which encircles our globe"
These, then, are the useless ones, cor
roded with gilded rust, erumbling into
powder at the first trial of their strength,
and flying up in weak, contemplate op-
position to the wheel of progress; throw
ing their dust into other peoples eyes,
and thus binding them to the beauty
and worth of advancement and labor.
Sad voices are wailing over the dreary
helplessness of life; voices that warbled
merrily in childhood and sang carelessly
in youth, without thought of the present
or care for the future, till the cold,
blighting blast of misfortune swept
through the gardens where they sang,
changing their sweet tones of gladness
to the shrill shrek of despair; showing
them their weakness, now that their
trial has come, their helplessness now
that adversely is near, relentIessly driv-
ing them to hard, drudging labor, of all
things the most distasteful to them.
Such circumstances can give rise to but
Indifferent success, accompanied by cor
respondingly Indifferent reward. They
were taught to look upon all labor as
beneath them, and, now that they find
it necessary to their existence, discover
too late, opportunities gone, golden
hours forever lost! Their voices, filled
with lamentation over the past, are
lifted in mOurnful requiem, chanting,
with minor chords of woe, a solemn
warning to those beginning life, not to
choose the path they have chosen, not
to heed the croaking voices they have
needed, not to live the lives they have
lived, idle, aimless, useless. These are
the weak, nerveless links in the human
chain, not able to weather the tempests
of life, but giving way at the first storm
of its December, looking remorsefully
into the past and dejectedly toward the
future. But beautiful voices are ever
singing brave words of cheer through
the endeavors and success of such lives
as those lived by Rosa Bonheur, Alice
and Phoebe Cary, Harriet Hosmer
Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Others
"whose name is legion;" voices echoing
joyfully in every heart that cherishes 9
desire for wOmaD's advancement, and
filling them with the blessed assurance
of her ultimate success, uniting in 9
grand, triumphal march, which shall
fill coming ages with its pulsing rever.
beratiOns, swelling and vibrating with
earnest invitation for all to follow in the
path they tread, path leading TOWARD
some object to be accomplished, some
mission to be fulfilled, and full of labor
followed from choice, therefore crowned
with highest fulfillment. The voices o.
these are full of sympathy and encour.
agement, calling back to their strug,
Cling sisterhood words of inspiration
and hope, bidding them look up anC
have faith, speaking of their failures
, oYd ,roa oatynaSoos IN orarF FIas4 f0noa -.