The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1882-01-04
SelfESteenl.

"A reasonable amount OF Self-Steem is
necessary to secure a mans success In
life; and there are few characters into
! which it does not enter to great extent.
We laugh at our neighbors, their foibles
and absurdites excite our amusement,
because we consider ourselves superior
to like weaknesses. Their troubles cause
us distress; but Is not even divine COM
passion a form of self-love, or rather,
self-pity? Do We not grieve for others
in proportion as we are able to put our
selves In their place, and picture what
we should feel under TIE same circum-
stances? The reciprocal regard for one
another's interests, the mutual esteem,
the exchange of kind Offices, which con-
stitute friendship, find their chief source
too, in self-love. If we have been in
clined to esteem any one ever so highly,
let it be but whispered In our ear that
that same person does not think much of
rs, and we Immediately fad out that
he is not nearly so charming as we had
imagined, and that his good opinion is
not, after all, worth having On the
other hand among our acquaintances
there may be an individual whom We con-
slider but weak minded and ignorant,
and think, in fact, quite beneath our
notice Wait a little; it comes to our
knowledge that this same creature whom
we have been despising, has an immense
admiration for Us. All our ideas change
directly, and we discover all his hidden
merits; he has at least powers of dis
elimination, and Is some judge of char
racter We like our neighbors much
more for the virtues they find III us than
for any we discover In them, whether we
choose to acknowledge it or not. But it
is perhaps in the passion of love that
the very alcohol of egotism is to be found;
lovers never weary of each others So
ciety so long as they can keep up the in
tensity of mutual admiration; their tete-
! G-tetes are always interesting, for they
perpetually talk about themselves, and
should their love be crossed, both would
probably rather that the loved one should
be miserable than Indifferent They are
completely ruled by the self that rules
the world A
Among the natural sounds Of obscure
origin with which mythology and sci
ence have been occupied are the rustllngs
and so-called voices which seem to come
from the air, sometimes from the bosom
of the earth, and which have been re-
marked upon In all ages. Autenrieth
refers them to the same class as the
noises like thunder or the firing of can
non, which the hearers often fail to
trace to an apparent cause. Sometimes
| they seem like the trampling of horses,
or the roll of drums, or the claRgor OF
! trrmpets at other times, like human
! voices. In the last case the sounds are
J those which are common to all mon, and
may be interpreted by each nearer as IN
his own language. To the Romans
| they spoke Latin, to the Greeks Greek,
TO the Scotch Highlsnders Gaelic.
| History has notices of these sounds; the
Bible descriptions attribute to them
religious significance They are re-
| ferred to when it is related that Samuel
heard the voice of Jehovah three times
| In the temple; when Habukkuk, pro-
nouncing the curse on Babylon, spoke
OF the stones crying out In the walls
| when the glad mountains and waves
are mentioned In the Psalms In tne 40
| count in John of the voice that cried out
! from heaven when Jesus went into Jeru-
salem, and the people wondered wheeler
/ il was thunder or an angel IL the Story
of the conversion of st. Paul. and IN
the account of the pouring cut of the
! Holy Spirit on the day OF Pentecost. The
profans history of antiquity also tells Of
voices from above, and ascribes to them
a supernatural significance and an infin-
ence over the hearts of men. Instances
in point are sounds of battle and the
clash of arms and the nelghing OF horses.
heard by night, according to Pausanias
ON the field of Marathon; the address
of the god Pan to the Athenian Ambas-
! sailors to Sparta, told OF by Herodotus,
and the voices heard by both armies
after the battle of the Romans with the
sons of Tarquin. The Germans have
myths of the din made by the war god
and his marching hosts, of the. Wild
huntsman, of strange cries and of the
4 barking of dogs heard in the air and
the French have stories not unlike them
! -E;rchdn0e.