The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1882-10-10
WEEKLY BAZOO.
SEDALIA, Mo-.
Is IT TRUE ?


Seated in his plainly furnished room
on the island of st. Helena. or walking
with slow step along its rocky cliffs.
ut whose feet the angry waves dashed
with fury as impetuous and stormy
as his own life had been. the great
Napoleon BoDaparte unused over that
saying, which has become historic be-
cause he uttered it, 81 am the child II
destiny"
No doubt he felt that he had been
cruelty and wantonly betrayed by
"Destiny" in the closing months OF his
wondrous career, that he had gone
down amid the clash and carnage, the
heat and toll of a majestic struggle.
because the star Of his life had set
against him and he had been played
false by that Power, whatever it was,
upon which he freely drew Cor strength
and guidance amid the dazzling tri.
umphs of a career unparalleled in the
annals of history. "The child of des.
ting" became, at last. the vanquished
warrior, and under the black cloud of
a Waterloo defeat, he became the
guarded prisoner of his conquerors.
1t is not Of this "grand, gloomy and
peculiar" man, we write specially to-
day. But of those who never gave
out kingdoms as child losses pebbles
into the ocean. Napoleon said his
fate was The fckleness of fortune, not
the result of his weakness nor the Sc
querce of his folly.
So say thousands of others who go
down before the flag of their enemies
and sit at the close Of life vanquished
and in prison, their only companion
Meditation and their only occupation
bitter retrospection.
How hitter that retrospect may be,
as the past, like panorama, flashes
before them with more of darkness
than of light, rome but they know.
How sad must be their reflections We
may, in some degree, out Of our own
experience, divine, but not all of its
low means reach our ears. 1t is
sorrow secret and hidden, and for that
reason the more CALLING and oppres-
sive.
But there is something drearier
about these vanquished ones. It is
that they moan because fate has been
against them and they have been the
buffeted children of hard cir cum
stances which they could not resist.
They went down because they could
not help it. Poor, weak. silly, NOR
tails! How they slur the ma
jesty of will and insult the
dignity of mind 1t is not written in
the book if destiny that any man shall
60 down to complete wreck and ruin,
if he but bravely fight for a better
rounding up of his life.
We grant that there are, to GER
tain extent. conditions and circum-
stances which touch each life and give
it bent and direction. The child looks
at father and mother and patterns after
them in some degree Associations
leave their impress, and give color to
the truth of the saying, that ga man
is known by the company he keeps
Often does the black cloud Of adversi-
ty overshadow a mans way and shut
out every CLEAN Of hope and avenue
of escape. Friends prove tickle, the
wheel turns backward, disasters, like
wild sweeping cyclones, hurl their fury
upon him and the waves rise up to en-
gulf him.
But need these things crush his
or break his lance so that no
more he shall do them battle? 1t is
not 90 written. He who falters then
e lost; he who doubts his power to
coaouer is doomed. There il no one
. blame but himself if he fail igno-