The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-07-10

the attainment of the lost opportunitv
Not all the things which :" might hayyo
been'' are things of beauty and bleSs
ing. We dwell with melancholy mns
ings upon the bright things which wo
have failed to get, but we feel far too
little gratitude for the failure and snf inf
fering which God has averted from Ms
Indeed, the habit of coddlng 80.
called disappointlnents may SO GROW
upon us that we become utterly u4abls
to distinguish between the true and tho
false, and finally get into fretful and
sinful mood, because of failures which
on the one hand, were real BLESSINGS
or, on the other, had no actual basis in
fact. Especially is this true of the re.
Elections which come with ADVANCING
years, as one thinks upon that which he
is pleased to term 'lost YOUTH We
are too prone to forget that the youth.
full measure of success is an untrust-
worthy one. With all the experience
which comes with middle life, we will
insist on looking at some by-gone dis
appointments from the foolish stand.
point of callow ineXperience. We
throw the cloud of imagination over
possibilities whose greatness increas-
es as memory of their real nature di.
minishes. So one hears a well-to.do
merchant sadly repeating some extrav-
agant compliment elected by piece Of
school-boy defamation and intimate
that, if he had only been lawyer, the
mi65dfrd have been openf TO 4f mnln4iGS SSiQ
is thata worthy and ill-paid minister
occasionally permits himself to give a
saddened thought to the great fortune
he lost when he left the counting. room
and began his classical studies. The
same deceitful process of thought leads
the quiet wife, whose work at home
has been a noble and happy one, to
conjure up the ghosts of what she
might have been had she married the
long-haired youth who used to quote
Byron and Mrs. Hemans, and had she
followed him in the paths of literary
glory in which, to be sure, he never
walked himself, but to which her guid.
ance might have led him. There is no
need of multiplying examples, for few
are those persons who never find them
selves in frame of pensive meditation
over some silly compliment they re-
ceived when they were in their teens,
or some crazy ambition which they once
nursed in their unsettled brains
Certainly there is enough sadness in
the world, and in the happiest life,
without increasing it by any grief that
has no foundation outside of the imaei.
native faculty. If it is sin to give
place to prolonged lamentations over
real woes, it is more sinful to mourn
over those which are unreal. Musino
over " disappointments'' is downright
ingratitude to God. If people could
realize the essential wickedness of it..
they would not be so ready to give way
to it. For our mistakes and follies we
may well have goGly repentance, but
this is a very different thing from
brooding over disappointment. If we
have failed, let us amend our lives. II
things have not been what we would
have them, let us remember that Gods
hand leads us in failure and misfortune
as well as in success and JOY. Who
shall dare look back on his life and say
that it has not been led by One who
rules wisely. The ancient proverb that
tells us that we go up through diAicD1l
ties to the stars may. be read backward
for those who vex their souls with un.
grateful and wicked thoughts over i'm.
aginary disappointments. If we would
go proving around among the false
stars of fancy instead of real stars
reached by genuine endeavor. we may
be sure that we shall only fall back
among the thorns.--Pres6yterian Jour.
nal.