The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1878-08-09


Il there one of us who does not some
times need this bit OF advice? Things /
are contrary. The people around US are
not entirely cengenisl. Our worldly |
sfF,;rs are not adjusted to our satisfac> |
ton The childrrn are iretful. Our 1
fsvorite book has been borrowed, and the /
borrower is a VIGOROUSLY careless person,
so that we know that it will come back /
deseoiled OF its freshness. The plan of
life an which we have built seems very
much like a failure. We are in some
anxiety abo&t some loved one, whose
chamber of sickness may. perhaps, become
the chamber OF death. Some other loved
one misunderstsnds US, or opposes us
with caprice and temper when we are in
almost childish want of sympathy and
support. Perhaps our hardiy-earned
money, the accumuiations OF faithful
and frugal savings + years, is gone, like
q pun OF smoke, or breath. Look on
the bright side? How can we? We are
ready to say that the heaven is hung
with gloom, the earth obscured, the on
ward path hidden from our view. We
are in the condition of travellers in
mountain land, on whom, midway in
their journey, has descended a cold,
binding, and impenetrable veil of fog.
A step either way may be Perilous,
Tor 1t may be over a precipice.
1t becomes to our thought al
most an impertinence, this sweet voice
which bids us be of good coursge. and
count up the miseries, instead of mourn
ing over the disasters.
Yet there is, If we but care to look fer
it, always a bright, serene aspect some
where, always an element OF cheer, and
always the hope of better days to come.
1t is very seldom indeed that things are
so utterly forlorn that they may not be
worse. In our reasonable moods, we
/ recognize this, and, however great our
/ trouble, we can acknowledge that it
might be greater. This is true, particu-
/ larry with regard to calamities and
affections, such rs visit US and constitute
/ events in life. These, it is true to say,
are frequently encountered and borne
with rare heroism by those whose fOrti-
I tude fails them when small worries and
1 cares annoy and distress. 1t is amid the
trifing, fretful pin-pricks of vexstiOn
and daily embarrassment that we are
mortified by finding that the souls
armor Is not of proof. Then we are re-
solved to see no bright side, and we are
angry at those who try to present it TO
our view.
Quite apart from material burdens and
sorrows, there is another region of life,
in which at times there seems to be no
brightness possible. g In the midsilence
of the veiceless night" have you ever
lain awake questioning your own soul,
while the tick of the clock and the echo
ing football of some belsted passer on the
street alone broke the stiffness All :
the mystery, the vague terror, which
have blsckened on you, and shut you in,
as the tide imprisons a loiterer in some
cave on the ocean shore How the
+. thought of a swift-coming eternity has
made you feed your own nOthingness,
your helPlessness, and with what awe
/ you have contemplated the hour wSen
/ but few falling pulse beats should be
I between you and that vast unknown.
/ Speculation, separated from faith, sets
you adrift, mere chip upon q torrent,
and you have taken up the cry of one of
old, Lord, what is man, that Thou art
mindfu of him or the son of man that
/ Thou Vsitest him ?' with chill dismay
creeping over you, lest you should slip
away from the ever present care of God
Some of the purest, noblest natures
suffer from this benumbing paralysis of
doubt, now and then. 1t is humiliating
visit the intellectual and mental part are
often part of the penalty which an abused
physical constitution exacts, The nerves
are ever-wrought, the brain has been IN
duly stimulated, or the stomach has been
Ill-trested, and then the body makes its
reprisss on its spiritual tenant.
But ceme from what source soever it
may, there is a mute agony Of soul,
which we sometimes endure, and in
whichit Is a consolation indeed to re-
member the Master, and His hard and
bitter conflict beneath the olives OF
Gethsemane. At such hours, like sheeted
ghosts, the errors and defects of the past
revisit you, and life grows unutterably
sad.
Is there a bright side here? Some
poet has said that the mark of rank in
nature is capacity for pain, and to these
nights of sorrow there are correspond
ing days of Joy. But the real bright
side is found only when, out of the whirl
of struggling emotions, the spirit casts
itself upon the sympathy of Jesus. So
strong. so true, 80 tender is the love OF
our Lord, that even as we cry, "Save or
we perish" there comes, swift as cur
need, the answer, "Lo, 1 am with you
always"
NO subtier habit OF evil ls there In the
world than that of self pity. The victim
of this form of selfishness is always sur
Seying the dark side of things. II we
choose we can cultivate in ourselves and
in our children the sunny nature, as
well as that which is ever bemoaniDg
itself, and comparing its lot with that OF
others. 1t would be well for each of us
every day, when the trials press, to say,
g But after all, how much pleasure there
is here; how much delight there ia yon-
der, and what garden of glory is this
beautiful world. Let mo, at least, try
to be as happy as 1 CAM Margaret E.
Sangster.