Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1882-08-24
The Best Side.

4
body has an ugly side; some people have
several ugly sides. There are those so
amiable or so well trained, or so self
contained that they rarely show jagged
ness on any side. But these are rare.
The ideal gentleman never forgets what
is due to himself, never forgets what is
due to others. So of the ideal lady. We
do sometimes find these ideal person
ages in real life, but rarely. Ordinary
people make up, or try to, for coarseness
in the kitchen by refinement In the par
lor, and are more courteous to their bet
ters than is due, that they may atone for
scant courtesy to their interiors, or those
they deem such. There are very few
natures so purged, 80 disciplined,so chast-
ened by religion or any other force, that
upon greater or less provocation the un-
hallowed passion within them will not
glare forth from their eyes, crimson in
their cheeks, tremble in their limbs,
quiver in their voices or gnaw silently
at their vitals. For within US all slum-.
Der or lie in ambush waiting favorable
opportunity to spring forth, at least ten
deadly sins forbidden in the Decalogue.
However perfectly one may seem out
wardly to conform to the requirements
of high morality and lofty virtue, where
lives the human being but daily needs to
utter the petition, LEAD us not into
temptation. but deliver US from evil"
but needs to smite upon his breast and
exclaim, "Ged be merciful to me, a sim
ner?"
Alike beneath the polished exterior of
conventional courtesy and the rough sx-
terror of "no manners at all" is the cease
less conflict of passion, interest, duty,
ambition, conscience, waging; in my la
dy's elegant bOodoir, and in the attic de-
voted to meLial servants. The conflict
is one, though in different parts of the
field; one under velvet and calice, under
broadcloth and jeans. a..
No appetite or passion of the human
mind or body is in itself wrong. Every
one was planted there by the beniicent
Creator for the good of the possessor,
and, rightly INDUCED and exercised, re-;
suits in good. But without the posi-
bility of vice there could be no virtue.
The greatest men that have lived have
been men of large appetites and passions,
who have brought them under control,
who have harnessed them to the chariot
of reason, subjugated them to the
yoke, made them obedient to check
and rein. We have inspired authority
for the fact that even the Spotless One
was tempted in all points as we are"
1t is not strange that hearts burning
with hate, iniamed with resentment,
torn by conflicting passion or wearied by
sorrow, by ill-health, by baffied hopes
and disappointed expectations, should
sometimes unconsciously or carelessly
permit the gaze of the passer-by. With
such hearts we are coming into more or
less contact all the time, and how to
make that contact kindly and helpful is
a question always important to the low
er of his kind. We may exaggerate the
woes of others by our bearing and man.
ner, or we may soothe, restrain, heal the
wounded heart. We are all our broth
er's keeper" whether we accept the
trust or not. If we reject it, we too may
hear the voice of his blood crying to God
from the ground.
The mother is contin ually called on to
come into most intimate contact with
the various members Of her household,
to compose disputes, to harmonize con-
flicting interests, to soothe perturbed
spirits, to help them that have lost con-
troll Of themselves to regain 1t, to help
those who have never gained control of
themselves to acquire it, to subdue the
refractory, to guide the unruly, to disci-
pline the disobedient, to distil from all
the various complex elements threwn
into her crucible that divine essence we
call Home. She, and she only, who Sc.
dulously from principle and by habit,
cultivates that which is noblest and best
in herself can cali out that which Is no
blest and best In those around her. On
ly by repressiug and overcoming that in
herself which is evil can she compel and
secure the repression and restraint of
that which is evil in those under her
guardian care. She Is the mirror In