Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-11-27
ABOUT GOING WEST.


EDITOR CHRONICLE: How many
of US, when we meet with misfor-
tune, are rather disposed to give
way than to bear up against it?
How many of US curse what we call
our luck and some even indulge
in further profanity; but how fool
ish Will our cursing or fretting
restore our losses E? or will our sink
ing beneath the weight of misfor-
tune call forth tears of sympathy
from d cold, calculating, interested
world? He is little Versed in the
ways of the world who thinks so.
Mankind is ever disposed to press
down him who is sinking. 1t is
human nature. We are all strug-
Cling to accomplish some object,
and the more we keep beneath US
the better our prospect. One is
rarely assisted, unless his energy Of
character is forcing him ahead
against accommodating circumstan-
ces, or unless he is so situated as not
to require it.
In either case, then, self-interest
prompts assistance, and in the latter
you will have it forced upon you.
This idea / have often seen illus
trated, when seated on the margin
of a little stream, watching the fish
endeavOring to get up its rapids.
The larger ones ever chase away
the smaller, to make room for them
selves.
We curse our luck, and even call
down the vengeance of heaven upon
ourselves. Yes, when rarely is
there an exception, if we analyze
our loss, it may be traced to some
imprudence Of our own. Action is
the soul Of everything. If we meet
with d loss, regret is idle, and the
sooner we go to work the sooner it
is repaired.
| do not mean to advance the
idea that it is necessary to move
whenever one meets with misfor-
tune Nothing is more absurd and
no country can give a more fOrcible
Illustration of the truth of my re-
mark than the "far west" Thous-
ands of young men, of worth, of
character, and of family, have flood
ed the west to better their fortunes.
They came here with anticipations
of immediate success; and there are
so many engaged in the same enter
prise that disappointment to some
must be the inevitable consequence.
And these disappointed ones gen.
orally spend their time either BROOD
ng over happy days gone by, or
fall into the prevalent customs of
our country, drinking and gaming;
then sicken and die away under the
whitening influence of blighted
hopes. Often have L seen one who
may, by the coruscations of his
genius, have shone conspicuous i'm
the circle from which he came in
some far-oH land, and whose parents
are yet shaping out "Oh, such bright
hopes Of future greatness" Often
do they sink into dependency here,
lamenting the loss of that society to
which they have been accustomed.
These remarks are intended only
to apply to the more unsettled por-
tiOns Of the "far west" where, from
the transitory nature of its inhabit-
ants, and from the fact that they
are made ups of representatives from
every region between the two cir
cles, it is impossible that talent can
be as much respected or as highly
appreciated as il is in a more settled
society. A frontier country is no
place for a man of mOdesty, of re-
finement or Of delicacy; and it must
ever be that in a society so cOnsti-
tuted success is as often the result OF
accident as of merit.
The star west" spreads before US
every variety of climate and soil.
One would be more disposed to look
upon it all as a creation of fancy
than as possessing an actual exist
ence; and here innumerahle ami
mails roam and play their sportive
tricks.
The west presents much variety.
Some or our cities, in beauty and in