Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1878-01-04
Selerted Misfellanp
GOOD INTENTIONS.

The beginning Of the New year is
favorable time for retrospective anu n
Prospective thought, and the individual,
man or woman, must be superficial in
deed who at the close Of one era and the
beginning Of another, marked by SO
much that is interesting in the way of
events, domestic and social, docs not
take in review circumstances and actions
which have influenced their lives. and
resolve, in SO far as mental constitution
will permit them, to exercise moral and
intellectual functions, to guard the future
from the mistakes and errors of the past.
He'll has been popularity and mis-
chievously said to be paved with good
intention" but if this were true, it
must be true Of heaven also. Intention
must precede every good act and if we
do not always fulfill our best intentions,
it is still better to have them, to be
stimulated by them, to be stirred to en-
deavor or regret, than not to be moved
or influenced at all.
'Tis better to have loved and lost.
than never to have loved, says the poet,
and so of good intention, it is better than
bard brutality or cynical Indifference !;
the heart or mind capable of intention
may be stimulated to action.
A great help to good intention is a
definite purpose to act upon. Probably
the principal reason why our good re-
solves so often 60 astray. and finally lost
sight Of altogether, is because they have
no distinct aim or object. We senti-
mentalize little over our own short
comings, indulge in good deal Of self
pity, and determine in geneal way to
turn over new leaf, or take NEW
departure, Pas the modern phrase goes.
But we have not decided in what d.
rection our endeavor is to be made, or
the precise shape it is to assume. for
it seems somehow absurd to make
a resolution about some small thing
which is or ought to be o mere
matter of course---it would be q waste
of power-we feel that our resolution
would gain in force, as well as in glory
BY having an object of sufficient impor-
lance to work upon. So for want of the
purpose the resolve comes TO naught, and
in our ignorance we permit our bark TO
drift. because no land of great promise
is in sight, and we neglect the many
inlets near by, where, in sunshine and
shadow, flowers grow, and not only rest
and content, but trucst satisfaction and
pleasure may be found.
Relinquishing the great object which
SO rarely looms up before us all at once,
If at all, or precisely where and how we
expect to find it, let us see to what every
day uses We may put the good intentions,
with which we will begin the New Year
Knowing that the human capacity has
its limits, and that it is much greater for
intention than fulfllment, we will not
expect or try TO do too much but 6rst
undergo little self examination TO see
where we stand, and then bend our en-
ergies toward the work that it seems
most desirable 10 accomplish.
II has been said, and the young be-
lieve that the world lies all before US
whore TO choose, but this is rarely true
OF any individual. man or woman, and
il is very doubtful IL il would conduce TO
happiness il it were. The first and
most necessary l,son to learn is our
limitations. and that what VIC desire to
do is not always what we can do we'll, or
can do at all. II seems at first sight as |
though each individual person standing
complete. aud to 4 certain extent alone |
--isolated from the rest Of the world
could, IL endowed with ordinary facul- |
ties, select from the habitable globe the
place and circumstances which are 10 !
surround and influence bis life. But
every one who has lived a few years
knows that this is not possible thcy
know that the ties Of birth. Of family. Of
kindred, Of position, and circumstances,
bold thlm az oi'sely and securely 10 a
certain ~. and n routine which. ar
ranged % toe 6fst place by others, after
war1 becomes babitual. as II they we're
eonEnel BY ropes and chains.