The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1878-04-10
..rrEa rno,r WILLIAM.
CENTRAL TkxAs, April l, 1878.

CENTRAL TExAs, April Is 1870
Fn,roRs CI.ARIoN-This seems TO De my
a., r., wire YOU a letter. IL is called An
Eo,l,s .lav. and. II it it is the day TOT an
81, 70 ,artarm. aIn almost certain that
my time has come.
+ i eiybt wears, this month, since be-
gan 70 write to YOU. My first letter was
immediately after Aleorn's Inauguration as
Governor. Money was plenty cotton as
hiyh. and the Radicals filled every office IN
YOUR State. and had a solid representation
in b til branches of Congress no"
changed? Few of u can mark our the
eonI Sc of the most common place ME- eng VT
wears in advance of US We weary out
selves to do so. aud our dreams are as proo-
able n. the events To succeed any given
riod of existence. Solon says, call N" man
banDv It'll be is dead. Herodo us says,
sin my day. | have seen great things he
come small and small things become great'
Mr.Jnnes talks very much in The same
way. and discourSes often upon the folly Oh
individual pride and personal assumptions
In late letter he observes: William
there is a luxury in misery there Is enJ "
ment I'm sorrow. Human conditions are
unstable, and misery aud sorrow must end'
10 be succeeded by either JOY or rest, and
the succession is more valuable by reason OF
past suffering. Prosperity and power, and
pleasure suggest their cOntraries. ana I'LL
the mind with fears, and poison life, other
wise furnished for happiness. Ii is not al
ways best, therefore, TO prosper and TO
laugh, to possess and to enjoy. Unbroken
day would not be tolerable. Night with its
still hours is necessity, and tears are no
less necessary than laughter.
The changes of the past decade are not
planned. One party may say 10! here. ana
another may say 10, there, but neither the
one nor the other did the work power
higher than man reach, and an influence
wider than the radius of mans arms have
been at work. The possibilities of day
are not written in any book. The events
of the future alone can develop them. In
divilual fortune is as speculative as public
change. a man may prosper for time by
hiding-by damming up the stream of his
good thoughts and benevolent impulses
by drying it up, and may draw his
checks AMI swear and swagger, and brow
beat and intimidate the poor, and sting and
go ID the unfortunate. Ignorance may in
trench itself behind money bags, and moral
deformity may conceal its turpitule with
gains, either i'll or we'll gotten. The laws
of equilibrium plant a thorn in the bed OF
the one who snirks over his bought promi
nence, and softly deposits, visions of rest
in The heart of the poor toiling woman.
The great laws and influences referred to,
do not accom- plIsh results by chance. The
man is wise who studies to know these laws
and to know himself Take any man of
your acquaintance, that loaned money at
heavy rates an tlourished in your earliest
recollection, and go to his grave and watch
for pious grief to come 10 molsten the cold
marble that glistens in the moonlight with
one tear and you will watch in vain. As
many spectres dance in ghOstly revelry
around the grave of this man, as he INDUCED
in evil passions, or denied to suffering hu-
mainly convenient relief; and those who
knew him best, speak most lightly of his
memory
Public changes and disasters seem to you
and TO most men great events, but they are
nothing. They are the plaintive notes of
the worlds great anthem-sounds produced
by striking certain low keys. Who can
wonder that we shall have trouble in the
times in our Immediate front: Sacred
things are trified with us though sanctity
was not. Men laugh and grow merry over
the declared intention of the Great God to
punish sin and humble human impudence
pride and effrontry; and legislative assem-
bles make merry over the facetious report
of Il committee that considers, In solemn
the government of the Father of
all 10
On the walls ola revellng kings palace were
written words that the king could not read,
but which he learned, when driven out of
doors to traverse the plain with wandering
cattle. These words were written when
the king was fiattered by his creatures, and
when lie felt, to the fulnesS, the power of his |
wealth.
These times, William, are but repetitions |
in the annals of history, presaging ch anges, |
not planned by men who live aud act. but !
fashioned aud made ready for birth by the
same power that upset the pride Of the |
Assyran monarch. There is nothing new
lnder the sun. Men smile at the operation |
If laws they believe to be chance, and refuse
heir veneration to power which they cam
not understand. So did the king. He was
DVerthrown. The power, at which men
augh, is the unseen force that unfods the
changes OF ten years are a sermon full of
essons to those who rely upon personal
prestige or public measures. Our fathers
where are they 2"
Mr.. Jones wrote much more. but l cannot
'enture to copy more. The times do seem
little out of joint aud since Mr.. Jones is
lear the sunset Of life, 1t may be wise for
very man to take his bearings and practice
modest stiffness and humility. If it is a
blessing to be poor and out of heart, [ am
mong the favored mOrtals.
had thought of trying to get an interest
n Bro. David Johnson's 1ish-trap since Col.
dnldrow is going to plant Salmon near Full
on, but my old neighbOr, Arano SAYS that
here is one mightier than Congress that
'lants fish, and | declined. Ii the salmon
hould run into my brothers trap, then
nay buy an interest and share the profits.
nave letter from Mr.. Jones on your
projected A. & NJ. College that NAV print.
WILLIAM.