The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-07-23
JOTTINGS BY THE WAY.
BY GAsKELL

People generally take pleasure il
listening to those recitals in which
noble deeds are told, wherein we SCI
the nearest approach to perfection
Of character, as attained by distin.
lguished individuals who have liveC
in times past. The desire arises Il
make our own those virtues we 81
much admire in them. Ever
though immeasurdblv Leneath then
in power to do and dare, yet we fee
an exhilerating longing to make the
effort, though calm reason may tel
us we will fail. And oftentimes the
desire leads to the effort being
made, and when the nObler and
deeper feelings are stirred in emula.
ton, it can but result in good. Per
lsevering effort is sure to gain a GER
tain reward, though that reward may
not be all hope had sought to win.
We often meet with persons we
love for their goodness, though they
are neither profound nor brilliant in
intellect. We become melloWed
and humanized, if we may
use the term, by the
association. The dry details of bust :
ness, the stern logic of events, the
wearylng cares of livelihood, the
heartburnings of ambitious musings,
each fade away before the gehiality
OF friendly intercourse, and renewed
vitality and strength follow the
relaxation. But the desire to he
come good, or great, dies out, the
steps are falteling and the "injustice
of fortune" is often accused for
what is the result of Supineness and
lack of continuity. Lack of con-
t1nued effort causes more failures,
than almost anything else, as no
difference the amount of labor ex-
pended, if spread over too great a
surface, it can result in but little
permanent improvement.
There is but seldom found al
human heart so wholly depraved, |
that no generous glow of emotion
is felt, whenever great and noble |
examples of herOiSm and magma
nlnity are spoken of. The meanest |
soul does not admire vile qualities
N others. 1t is in self. denial, IN
selfish abnegation, calm self-govern-
nent, and a contempt for danger,
Of death, in the path of duty.
that magnanimity and heroism
consist. Yet how diverse are the
ways in which that duty is inter
preted. Ideas Of duty are almost as
varied and changing as the shifting
scenes in a kaleidoscope. Hopes, |
desires, aspirations, determinations !
and labOrs are all colored by the |
medium through which they are
shown; yet the road travelled to |
win success is as varied as the dis
positions of the seekers. And who
is bold enough in this iconoclastic |
age to say he alone is right, and
others are in the darkness of ignor-
ance and error -? All roads were once
said to lead to Rome, and may not |
human ways-tO our eyes filmed, |
perhaps, by prejudice-seeminglyl
in the charitable bene- |
icence of heavenly intelligence, be |
made to eventually unite in one
nope, one aim and one salvation |
u the eternity before US?
Ii is truism few people are in
,liEed to dispute that men are
seldom willing to allow their con-
mpOraries the share of praise and
lonoI justly their due. 1t is seldom
hat the verdict placed on individual
anne in one age passed on a man Of
genius is conclusive and final for all
succeeding times; and the estimate
If his int, llectual laborS is often
reversed in a succeeding one. a
Shakespeare Was comparatively I'M
known to all but the
)lay-gOers of his day; and he
'eaped more reward for his labOrs as
III actor, though a poor one, than he
got for the copyright of his immor-
al plays. Milton received but ten
pounds for his Paradise Lost, but
literature in those days depended
more for support upon individual
patronage than upon the reading
public. Now, it is far better re-
Yarded. A master of the craft re-
,ieVes princely remuneration.
received $4,000 for his
poem Hanging of the Crane"-at
he rate Of twenty dollars a line, be-
ides regaining the copyright after
he lapse Of few months. Yet,
many who are now cannonized in
he memories of admiring posterity,
ked out a miserable existence on
ess than a labOrer's wages. They
,Ore while living the unmerited OBJ
Oquy which envious persecution
leaped upon them, not always with
'atience and forbearance. Others,
gain, now forgotten, were lifted up
nd borne along-they drifted with
he tide, buoyant with the popularity
f fashionable ignorance. But the
old, incisiYe criticism of posterity
as punctured the bubble Of their
anne and they now live but in the
1usty records Of the antiquarian.