Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1878-08-15
BELMONTCHRONICLE,
ST, GAINESVILLE OHIO.
THURSDAY. AUGUST I5, 1878.
Romance versus Reality.
BY FLORA LANE.

To many persons this life OF ours comes
dressed in the gafb of romance; each new day
as it brings to them no realization
of the responsibilities of life, no dreaming of
the battles to be contested, no thought of the
temptations that are to be met. The blue of
the horizon above them is ever azure and
balmy as an "ltaly sky" while the flowers
which bloom in their pathways are always
II dolent with the fragrance of Southern
cline. Ard is this all of life I are we placed
in this great sphere Of action merely as ideal
beings, fitting here and there over the world S
stage pausing to gather the pleasures, bu ig-
noring entirely all the duties-all the respon-
sibilities that come in our pathway? Ger
tainly this is not liGe's entire aim and destiny?
One of our poets has said "Life is real! Life
is earnest !" and so it is an earnest, stern
reality, yet how few there are who make it
such. 1t is ce rtainty that troubles and dis
appointments cross every ones pathway IN
life, SORROWS there are-that come to each of us
which will cause the heart to feel strangely
sad, the bosom to heave heavily with sighs,
the eyes to overflow with tears, and unfortu-
nate indeed are We if-without mo-
ment's warning-from the sickly senti-
mentality of an ideal world, We are brought
face to face with the stern realization of some
sach overwhelming sorrow. 'Tis true that
life contains in it mnch that is bright aud
sunny, much that will make the heart beat
light with happiness, the cheeks grow buoy
ant with merriment, and the voice ripple with
laughter, but from these bright eras that dawn
it does not follow that life must be to US as
one summer day, that we are here merely as
pleasure seekers, gathering all the sunshine,
stunning all the clouds, for it's written again
that,
sNot enjoyment and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act that each to morrow
Find us farther than to-day"
Yes, act that each morrow find us having
made some progress in life, having made
some steps upward instead of going backward
or simply standing still. How few of us-at
the close of each day-can look back upon it
as well spent, can look back without regret
upon some duty unperformed, some golden
opportunity neglected. At this little work
life has serious as well as merry aspect to
it. 1t is not all cool morning with the dew
drops sparkling on the flowers, the tall grasses
dancing in the soft sunlight, and the little
birds-on the messy banks Of the ripping
brooklet-c caroling forth their sweetest songs,
this morning time will glide away by-and'
by, and noon will come with its hot midday
sun, whitening the grasses and drinking up
the dew drops, and here we will turn in life
and go down the other side until at length
we come to the night time, when the
flowers have folded their petals, the sunlight
grown strangely dim and the little songsters
of the woods hushed forever, and when this
night time comes-this last hour of life-can
we look back from it to the norrow's we
have passed over, and realize that we have
not halted on life's journey, but have ad-
vanced onward each day, or will we recall
them merely as dreams of fancy only rs vis'
ions of romantic folly