The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1880-07-01
The FrOnt-Door and Side-DOor.

is on the street. Some keep it alway
, open; some it latched ; some, locked
g some bolted;-with a chain that vii
! let you peep in, but not get in; ant
some nail it up, so that nothing cal
pass its threshold. This front doc
leads into a passage which opens int,
an ante room, and this into the interi
or apartments. The side-d0Or opens
at once into the sacred chambers.
There is almost always at least one
key to this side-door. This Is carried
/ years hidden in Il mothers bosom
Fathers, brothers, sisters. and friends
often, but by no means so universally
have duplicates of it. The wedding,
ring conveys a right to one alas il
none is given with it!
If nature or accident has put one OF
these keys into the hands of a person
who has the tOrturing instinct, l can
only sOlemnly pronounce the words
that Justice utters over its doomed vic
tim,-The Lord have mercy on your
soul! You will probably go mad with
in reasonable time, or, if you are a
man run off and die with your head on
curb stone, in Melbourne ar San
Francisco,-Or, if you are woman,
quarrel and break your heart or turn
into pale, jOinted petrifaction that
moves about as if it were alive, or
play some real life-tragedy or other
Be very careful to whom you trust
one of these keys of the side door
The fact of possessing one renders
those even who are dear to yon very
terrible at times. You can keep the
| world out from your tront:door, or re-
ceive visitors only when you are ready
for them; but those Of your own flesh
and blood, or of certain grades of
intimacy, can come in at the side-door,
if they will, at any hour and in any
mood. Some Of them have ascale of
your whole nervous system, and ean
play all the gamut of your sensibili-
ties in semitones, s,-tOuching the naked
nerve-pulps as a pianist strikes the
keys of his instrument. | am satisfied
that there are as great masters Of this
nerve-playing as NieuXtemps or Thai
berg in their lines Of performance.
Married life is the school in which the
most accomplished artists in this de-
partment are found. A delicate wo-
man is the best instrument; she has
such a magnificent compass Of sensi-
bilities From the deep inward moan
which follows pressure on the great
nerves Of right, to the sharp cry as
the filaments Of taste are struck with
a crashing sweep, Is range which no
other instrument possesses. A few
exercises ON it daily at home fit a man
wonderfully for his habituaI labors,
and refresh him immensely as he re-
turns from them. No stranger can
get a great many notes of torture out
of human soul; it takes one that
knows it welP-parent, child brother,
sister, intimate. Be very careful TO
whom you give your siee-door key;
too many have them already.
You remember the old story of the
tender-hearted man, who placed a
frozen viper in his bosom, was stung
by it when it became thawed? If We
take a coldblooded creature into our
bosom, better that it should. sting us
and we should die than that its chill
warm it we never can ! have seen
faces of women that were fair to look
upon, vet one could see that the icicles
were forming round these Momen's
hearts. knew what freezing image
lay on the white breasts beneath the
laces!
A very simple intellectual mechan-
1z,,, ,,,c,s.a,-, tho V,oo-,as4+;oz e f-1o,I
ship, and even of the most intimate
relations Of life. If watch tells us
the hour and minute, we can be CON
tent to carry it about with lis for life
time, though it has no secondhand
and is not Il repeater, nor a musical
watch,-thOugh it is not enameled nor
ieweled in short, though it has lit
tie beyond the wheels required for a
trustworthy instrument, added to Il
! good face and a pair of useful hands.
| The more wheels there are in watch
or brain, the more trouble they are
/ to take care of. The movements of
exaltatiOn which belong to genius are
egotistic by their very nature. A
calm, clear mind, not subject to the
spasms and crises which are so often
met with in creative or intensely per-
ceptive natures, is the best basis for
love or friendship.-Observe, / am
talking about minds. l won't say the
more intellect, the less capacity for
loving; for that would do wrong to
the understanding and reason but,
on the other hand, that the brain
oftens runs away with the hearts best
blood, which gives the world Il few
pages Of wisdom or sentiment or poe
try, instead of making one other
heart happy, have no questions.
If ones intimate in love or friend
ship cannot or does not share all ones
intellectual tastes or pursuits, that is a
small matter. Intellectual cOmpan-
ions can be found easily in men and
books After all, if we think of it,
most of the worlds loves and friend
ships have been between people that
could not read nor spell.
But to radiaate the heat of the affec-
tiOns into a clod, which absorbs all
that is poured into 1t, but never warns
E beneath the sunshine Of smiles or the
pressure Of hand Or,-this IS the great
martyrdom of sensitive beings, s,-most
of all in that perpetual auto da f
where young womanhOod Is the sacri,
fice,-Oliver Wendell Holmes, IN The
Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table.
Total abstinence is positively safe,
while moderate drinking is unsafe.
Were all the drunkards removed from
/ the ,s.nrld and nnn,ln,-l te drin king sill