Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-05-20
IDEAL LIFE,
By LIZZIE HAYNES.

By LIZZIE HAYNES.
In all past ages and in every nation, the
ideal has existed, but it has not always been
the same: the standard has been high or
low in proportion to culture and civilization
And the ideal still exists. All around US
are voices calling US to pursue the ideal 1t
is to US what Polaris-the star
''Whose faithful beams conduct the wander
ing ship,
Throus b tue wide desert of the painless
deep"
was to the sailor before the mariners com
pass was invented. The wind and waves
tossed his bark to and fro, and he was not
able at all times to steer it in the proper di-
rection, but hal he lost sight of this star, or
ceased to be guided'by it, he never could
have obtained the desired haven.
We sometimes think that our ideal can
never be reached in practical life, and,
therefore, we content ourselves with an ap-
Proclamation to it.. The saddest experience
of our life is our failure TO attain it. We
are all conscious of the fact that we are not
what we might have been, and as We grow
oloer, this becomes deeper and more pain
full. Our accomplishments do not cores
pond with our opportunities, and We can
echo the words OF the poet:
'Oh bright ideals how ye shine,
Aloft in realms of air;
Ye pour your streams of light divine
Above our low despair.
I've climbed and climbed these weary
years,
To come your glories nigh:
Pm tired of climbing and in tears
Here on the earth l lie."
I,,k
fully reach our ideal, we should never lose
sight of 1t. 1t serves purpose in the for
nation of our characters similar to that of
the plummet in the erection of a building.
1he architect may not be able to build
wall perfectly perpendicular, bat if for this
reason he were to throw away his plummet,
and pile the brick up without anything to
guide him. he and his wall would soon fall
III a confused mass of chaos. So it is in
life. The ideal must be our aim whether
we reach it or not, else our life will prove
| sad failure, and end In hopeless ruin
| 1t is the embodiment of song, and the
garniture of sentiment; the tenent of faith,
and the establishment of fiction; the silent
tradition of the past, and the living talk of
| the present, that there was once a time
when the rose had no thorn, and the ser
| pent no sting; and the very object of ideal
life is to approximate this blissful state, but
how can this be accomplished?
Man has q three-fCld nature-physical
mental and moral; and it is only by the
| proper cultivation and development of this
| three-fold nature that we shall ever reach
the true ideal, and stand upon that plane
where our Creator intends we should.
The body is the instrument which the
mind uses, aud the grandest gifts of mind
ora rafIy olx 81,
healthy body to use and enjoy them.
The day has gone by when delicacy was
considered an element of beauty. Weak.
ness is timid and irresolute, while strength
speeds the race, wins the goal and rejoiees
In the victory. Physical beauty, brought
about by proper knowledge and observ-
ance of sanitary and hygienic laws. has a
charm that will always secure for it its share
of admiration.
In the lower conditions of life, the ideal
was purely physical. Muscular strength
and endurance were the qualities most ad.
mired and sought after. The poetry of an.
cient times is full of the glory which brute
force brought to its possessor.
In the higher stages of civilized life, if we
| would see this physical development in its
perfection, we have only to look ct the
ancient Greeks. In no other nation was il
more insisted upon than there, and it was
brought about, IN great measure, by the
Olympic games. These games were hello
every four years, and none were allowed tt
participate except young men of unblem
. ished reputation. The exercises consisted
largely of foet-races, and the contestant
would practice for quite while wit
weights, and cumbersome clothing attachet
to their per ons; but these were all lait
aside when the final effort was to be made
The race-path lay in a beautiful valley, an,
, | on each side were seats arranged for the &C
commodation of the immense multitude
, that assembled to witness these sports. Th
judges were seated at the goal, and tn
! victor was crowned with wreath of whit
laurels.
Imagine how every muscle must hav
been exerted as the eager contestants WEI
u cheered on By the shouts of friends an
: relatives, who watched with anxious gaze
see what would be the result.
Physical culture, carried to excess, tene
to lower the moral tone of man, but tn
ID wonderful people enthroned mind abo,
"a matter, and esteemed intellectual greatne
higher than physical grace.
The human mind is noble in itself, but
assumes a more elevated rank in proportio
l., as it is educated and expanded. It is tn
G The material creation must yield to Il
wasting hand of time Human institution
and works of art inherit human frailty II
70 body itself is not exempt from the pangs
n disease and death, but the mind is ind
" structible, and if it is cultivated it con
mands the respect and admiration of Il
world. 1t sees itself surrounded wi
n sources of the highest enjoyment. In eve
i walk it can draw instructions from nature
pages, and in every solitude retire with
itself and feast upon its own resources. B
to the uncultivated mind all nature is
sealed book. Such minds seem to
afflicted with kind of fatal paralysis whi'
prevents them from. inquiring into the me
J common phenomena of nature; they gro
in intellectual darkness thousand tim
: more dismal than the physical darkne
which covered Egypt in the time OF Nose
And whence this strange and lamentat
fact3 Simply the want of developed l
tAlleck { 49,
The educated mind Tsviews The psst y