Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1883-04-10
For the SPECTATOR.
REVIEW OF LIFE.

For the SPECTATOR.
REVIEW OF LIFE.
aust as the twig is bent, the trees inclined"
There are distinct periods in the Life
of every one when the glimmering past
rushes unbiddenly to the unyielding
bar of impartial memory and eagerly
clamors for minute Review. Be the
history long or short, brilliant or cloud
ed, each separate day furnishes its own
peculiar and dissimilar phases. which
unerringly distinguish and indeliDly
mark each page of the immortal diary.
All these complex features, when COM
bined, comprise twisted chain of deli
cate links, which closely binds the en-
tire life-drama into one inseparable and
indestructible compendium. II the re-
cord, which we often thoughtlessly
compile, was to be examined only in
time, and that by erring humans. then
all its manifest defects, its conspicuous
blots and blurs, would matter but little,
for as there is no chain, however mas
sive, without its weak and plant
strands, so, also, there is no Life, how
ever prudent, devoid OF its errors and
failures. Tradition furnishes US thou
sands of instances and Piles by
which we might largely profit. but they
will not suffice for us, as our own indi-
vidual lives are apundantly full of mean
thoughts, harsh rebuffs, and direful
faults, which surely not only need, but
openly demand, proper and immediate
correction. Minute observation and
practical experience readily declare that
there is no other era in ones existence
when one is so signaiiy changeable,
and alike when plete Review is so
enthusiastically necessary az in the ten
der years OF needless youth. The evil
dent susceptibility of youth makes the
inborn propensity tn commit trausgres-
sions more potent, and alike delegates
q more imperative adherence TO the
heaven enjoined duty. We willingly
concede that youth ia prone to wander,
u depression aud to fault; but the
prompt correction of either when it is
discerned, purges the furnished nature
of all the damnatory contingencies of
acquired guilt, and fills it TO repIetion
with the noble. beautiful and true
The meandering road old age shall
feebly traverse is fully designated in
early youth. Thus, If u direct line of
ennobling rectitude and unblemished
morality is carefully traced and assidu-
ously trod, the creditable way will be
enticingly paved with respect, love and
honor, and it's ultimate termination will
be heaven, with all its attending per-
feotioDs and blissful glories. If, upon
the contrary, an'insatiable desire to lib
orally patroniZe each vice and wistfully
laugh at all indecencies be inetilled and
constantly followed, its ever changing
course will be Ihiekly studded with lac.
Grating thorns, akin to misery, degra-
dation and ruin, and the final reward
will be the allied tortures and remorse
of burning perdition- Either of these
results is the crownirg elimination of
every Life. Good is sublime, evil is de-
structible.
The entertaining biographies of all
good aud great men unquestionably and
conclusively prove that youth is the
broad foundation upon which all after
Life is reared, and that the principle,
inculcated, incentives cultivated, and
actions accomplished in early days. are
those which guide and control one to
the very verge of the yawning grave,
and forever fixes his changeless destiny
Ia an endless eternity. If neglect is
left to go unchecked in youth, it con-
tinues to secretly terminate, rapidly
grow and largely expand until eventu-
aiJy that individual Life is nothing but
q putrid macs of gnaTled and knotted
corruption. Hence, the advocated ne
oessity of constantly reviewing Life to
positively ascertain upon which avenue
we have gone the farthest, and what
are our governing aspirations and ma
tured plans. After two. score years of
earnest struggling and fierce battling
with real Life, one of the most eminent
sages of the world penned these proven.
bal words-wOrds which contain vol
nF 1ad II
SIS the twig is bent, the trees inclined"
He scanned and scrutinized the past
and obviously realized that the concep
tiGns Of youth unalterably govern the
close of old age, and in the midst of his
profound ponderings conceived that
succinct admonitiou and declared the
result of his Investigations that they
might prove beneficial to the genera
tions then unborn.
Every youth should have lofty con-
ceDtion of the perfect man imbued in
him from his earliest infancy, SO that as
he grows older he may gradually rise to
bis high standard of moral excellence
and religious worth by daily initiating
his prescribed ways. Despite the gar
nished theory advanced and maintained
by many, Life is not q shallow farce
not ludicrous play which is heralded
by glazing bulletins and promptly per-
formed to crafty the idle amusement
of delighted audience, but grand
and imperishable reality, with all its
duties, possibilities, and results-an
existence instituted and ordained by
God Himself to fulfill its accorded pur-
poses, and the ultimate MULTIPLICATION
of His eternal praises. Many tena-
eiously maintain the idea that in after
years it will matter but little what our
Life was in youth; whether we per-
formed our designed and assigned rou-
tine or not; thus they appease con-
science and Danish trouble. There new.
eT was an assumption more false or
conclusion more Injurious; for upon
the smallest requirement of to-day may
hinge their entire Life-time-an action
or decision which will shape and mould
their destiny for happiness or sorrow
in this heeting Life. reward or punish
ment in that which is swiftly coming.
Our thoughts, as we'll as our actions,
should be strictly guarded /; for thoughts,
like grains Of quick~growth seed, sink
deep into the empty receptacles of the
fertile mind, there to expand and Undue
the person with gentle goodness, if fos.
tered and cultivated, or, if neglected
and unnourished, to enshroud the man
with contemplate ignorance and blight