The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1881-07-16
For tho CARBON ADVOCATE.
STOPPING TO CONQUER,

The duties Of life are more than lite IT.
self. TO live comprehends far more than
the mere eating, drinking and sleeping Of
every day existence. Gifted as man is,
with an active, inquiring mind, endowed
with intellectual and moral powers; with
heart sensitive and alive to pleasure and
sorrow; with an immortal soul and after
destinyj the ends and aims Of his existence
should certainly be as lofty as the Skies
and far above the little plans and schemes
Of life and enjoyment. Human nature has
been the same in all ages Generation after
generation has felt as we now feel, and thei-
lives were as active as our own. Through
out this wide dominion of nature all are
happy, all in their nature save only man;
he alone is stranger to absolute content.
The aspirations of this life are proof that
man is less contented here below than the
brute. History is philosophy teaching by
examples. 1t presents to the magic mirror
on which, by looking at the past, we may
discern the future. Scanning its pictures
we learn of those who lived prior to us,
who had launched out into the wide world,
s,me with the idea o! seeking fortune, 9TH
ers inspired with the love of fame, and
eager to sway the sceptre over mankind,
and some TO achieve great and nobler deeds.
But how many climbed the steep and rug
ged chill of fame," and reached the sum-
nit without one stain of reproach, without
some blemish upon their character Few
Few they are who haYe reached that height,
and can look forward with rapturous antic-
ipation "to the never-laling glory attained
only in the presence of the Most High"
Many proud and robust youth has gone
forth from his paternal roof bearing the
"banner of strange devise-Excelsior,
with a flush of exutation he treads upon
the base; days, months and years rapidly
glide by, time has changed his grey locks to
silver; his departure is near at hand, and
be has made but little progress in the as.
cent; and as he casts longing eve up the
steep and rugged hill, and sees the far DIS
tant shining goal, the object Of his life long
aspirations, signing he gives it up in de-
spar and filings away main ambition. 1t
is true that many haye won fame and emf
nence. We read and glory in their noble
achievements; they have successfully bat
tied the storms of adversity; we are eagerly
anticipating their criterion, when sudden
cloud envelopes them and they are heard OF
no more. 1t reminds us of the brilliant
rays of fine mid-summer's evening. As
were, the whole heavens are ablaze, which
suddenly fades away in the western hori-
zon. They were within grasp Of tho goal,
but in the eleyenth hour, STOPPING to con-
quer, fell. Whatever may be the temporary
applause Of men, or the expressions, it may
be asserted, without fear of contradiction
that no true and permanent fame can be
founded, except in labors which promote
the happiness of mankind.
"E'en though scorns malignant glances
Prove him poorest If his clan,
He is the nobler who advances
Freedom and the cause of man."
Honorable and noble conquest consists mot
in the ambition for subduing men into
slaves, but the holy ambition of eleyating
them into peers, not for usurping principali-
ties or kingdoms, nor merely for gathering
renown as it were, star by star, to be woven
into a glittering robe for his person or Ia
making a crown of glory for his head; but
to expand his own soul in grander proper.
tions, to give it angelic and archangelic lofti-
ness OF statute,an to fill it perpetualy with
that song of joy which even the morning
stars could not but sing, when they beheld
the splendor of the God, head reflected from
the new creation. Life is n continued bat
tie in which defeat is suffered more than
victory is won, the young and ambitious are
inspired with the idea that to conquer, they
have but to reach out their hand and pluck
the fruit, that, like the apples of Hepincdes
Is only to be gained alter the highest cndur-
ance and the most patient perseverance.
They caluminate their good qualities, in
order that they may sink and rise in esti-
nation of the world. They bow down be-
fore the shrine of idols and grovel in the
dust. They would sacrifice the characters
of their dearest friends. Yea, even hurl the
Almighty God Himself from His high
throne, if it would tend 10 their own eleya-
ton. 1t is right that man should
strive 10 rise and ennoble himself, but the
path of a true conqueror lies not over wound
| cd apA AoI,n r,oilltnps ovar he n,I.,
flying heaps of his fellow creatures, over
ravaged fields, smoking ruins.pllaged cities
His steps leave not behind foot prints of be-
reaved friendships and despairing love. lie
has only conquered that which has lived
true to the noblest capacities of his being
and in obedience to the highest law of his
nature. II is by far nobler "to take arms
against sea of trouble than to suffer the
slings and arrows of outrageous fortune"
Nations may cherish the memory of those
who led hundreds Of thousands of mighty
cohorts over far distant desert lands, through
fields of carnage, where ne'er before the
| lights of civilization had sh0ne of those
who clothed the world in sackcloth and
ashes, and wept because there were no more
lands to conquer they may still even rever-
enee their poems OF departed glory, songs oi
chiyalry and triumphs in war. Egypt still
lulls in the lost art by which her Rhodian
monster obelisk rose. The relics Of the past
"The shatterd column ofthe crumbled arches
| BY moss and ivy growing green and fast
Hurled into fragments by the tempest blast, y
still fo1dly elings TO the memory of the
remnants of those once mighty Greeks and
Romans. But to him who standeth on the
"apex of earthly glory" and with uplifted
hands can say, have conquered, l have
withstood all powers of the universe which
would sever me from the cause Of freedt n
and right. l have always reposed an un.
faltering trust in God in the darkest hour
and was eyer ready to be offered up on tb,
altar of my country and Of mankind. Tt
such let all nations unite in paying homage
Illustrious man Let learning aud genius
and power unite in raising thy temples
When we speak Of earthly glory thou stand