New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-02-17

tai coil, no matter what may have made exist.
ence intOlerable, there is an illogical absurditv
in this violent abbreviatiOn OF life which
must soon have ceased in the course of naturs
When q child of sixteen voluntarily nps IN.
bud Of existence, the absence Is indicated not
merely of hope but Of the ability pbilo.
sOpbcally to estimate the better chances ~
the future. In each Of these extreme eaae.
moral responsibility is so limited either b,
inexperience or by the decay of the powers q,
mind and body, that q harsh Judgment woua
be not only unfair but useless. OF the Yer,
young. and equally of the very old, the tender.
est and most yigiaDt watchfulness is reanirod
But between these extremes is the great ma.
jOrty of human beings in the full possessioo
presumNively Of every faculty required iov
vital activity; and the melancholy feature OF thu
matter is that in the highest heat Of the BATH.
with forces adverse to Success ard haDpipess
so many should prove craven. Ii is tue ,L,,
the man or woman of many mistakes NOV
have lost at last not only moral energy br,
the power Of moral discrimination. # il dan.
gerous, it is inequitable, it is demorazing for
us to regard merely the ruin, appealing az 4
naturally does to our charity and our pity. II
is necessary that we should also take into AZ
count the long confederation of causes which
have eliminated in the tragedy-follies intellect.
ual, moral, and physical; infrmities, mapy of
them cOngental, it is true, but for which not lea.
those somewhat more remote in the succession
of cOnsangiIinity are responsible radically bad
means and ends which had much better have
been missed; failures which 10y no possible
!. ;,H k,-
trine of chances, could have been successes.
vices which are undeniable tokens of selfish.
ness; passions to which the bride has been
given until it cannot be resumed with all the
waywardness and unemployed persistence Of
which the race is capable. Na.ure, full as shs
is of benefcent purposes, never fOrgives the
violation of her laws, nor is she ever sublimer
in her judicial aspect than when she makes the
culprit his own executioner.
1t may be proper to point out to those who
have not yet utterly lost the power of moral
discrimination, that there is no feeling less
countenanced by human experience than
despair. To surrender to it is simply to abdi-
cate manhood. No falure-nOt even the fail.
ure to build up coherent and self-pOised
character-is irretrievable Indeed, there is no
depth of disaster of which we can conceive, IL
we except the disaster of death, from which
we have not instances, frequently multiplied,
of q triumphant resurrection. Fortunes have
been utterly lost, only that greater ones might
be secured. The sick, in the very article OF
death, have recovered. The drunkard has
become sober, the criminal honest, the incOnti-
nent chaste, and habits of intellectual activity
long abandoned have been prOftably resumed.
What we call chance or "gOOd fortune" or
more cOilOQuiaily good luck" is simply the
working Of some law with the particulars OF
which we are unacquainted. The highest
wisdom, therefore, even for a wretch whose
life is saturated with sorrow, and for whom
apparently there is no future, is to wait
Surely, considering how much We need them,
faith and patience should not be lightly aban-
dOned The very fact that we are not yet
called from the scene of wcarisome struggle
and disaster, seemingly cOnSummate, should
prove to us that Providence has, some design
in continuing our existence.
The collection of cases of suicide which has
prompted this article, it is not paradoxical to
say, is full Of hopeful inspiration, because as
we examine it we see how seldom is there a
cOmplcatlOn OF mlsefies WITHOUT Single tie'
ment of hope. This poor wanton at Detroit
had she never heard or had she forgotten the
story of Mary Magdalene9 This mother in
Ohio who thought that her children must
starve, and who left them to starve-had she
no faith in the Divine promise of daily breadf
This drunkard at Niagara, sick of the dominion
of strong drink-cOuld he not think how many,
enslaved as he was by persistent exercise OF
the will had achieved emancipation For all
these victims of perverted reasoning and IN
wholesome feeling we can see that there was
future. Why could not they, too, see it'll
They are dead and gone. and for them there
need be no answer; but for the living there Is
the response which asserts the supremacy OF
man over his accidents and the sheer pol
troonery of an acquiescence III defeat.