The Baltimore County union., 1883-02-03
FoR "THg uxioS."
THE PLEASURES OF HOPE.
M BESSIE ALLEN.

moments, liiting up from the abyss OF
despair and filling the mind with joy
ouS expectancy.
Hope belongs TO no particular age or
condition, but falls TO the lot Of every
one. II is inherited alike by the hum
blest peasant and by the noblest lord /;
and what grand inheritance it is An
inheritance which affords pleasure in
childhood, youth and old age. Eager
youth looks forward with delight to the
realization of cherished dreams and is
impellcd onward towards the goal By
the ever present Star Of Hope which
beams brightly upon him.
"Thus with delight, We linger, to survey
The promised joys Of lifes unmeasured way;
| Thus from aiar each dim discovered scene.
More pleasing seems than all the past has been;
And every form that fancy can repair
From dark oblivion glows divinsiy there
The pleasures Of hope may be said to
be closely allied to those Of the imagina-
tion; for are not many Of our grandest
hopes merely the creations Of fancy?-
The ideal is ever more beautiful than
the real, and our imaginations are very
prone to paint fair ideals which differ
widely from the realities.
| Who among us cannot look back TO
the time when ardent ambition for fame
or fortune filled the mind? When a
smile from the tickle goddess was suffi-
cient 10 throw US into ccstasies, or 4
frown to cause the heart to languish and
grow weary? When the present seem.
cd as naught compared to the future
the glorious future, gilded by magical
Hope till the very soul grew impatient
for taste of the joys portrayed9 Life
is full of dreams, and i, is not youth
alone that indulgcs in the pleasant pas
time for mankind is by nature more or
less visionary, and when youth gives
place to age, hope still remains; i,
never dies, but grows stronger year BY
year, encouraging and helping many
weary hearts by its blessed influence.
Many contend that the pleasures OF
memory have greater charms than those
of hope,-;hat reviewing the past, its
joys and sorrows. its pleasure and pain,
affords greater source Of enjoyment
than endeavoring TO lift the veil that
hides futurity, read the secrets which no
one may fathom and forming golden
visions OF the unknown.
But the past, whether comparatively
happy or otherwise, can never return,
and though musing memory, in review
ing it, be disposed to overlook the dis
NAL part and see only the beautiful, yet
there are scenes which never can be for
gotten, but are stamped on memory's
page as in letters of fire and appearing,
mar the beauty of the loveliest picture.
But hope has not these counteracting
influences it looks brightly and fear.
lessly into the future and in the distance,
sees only the beauty without the defor-
mity-''the rose without the thorn
and like one who catches a glimpse Of
4 remote mountain, fails to notice and
appreciate the beauty of the landscape
around him, for,
| "'Tis distance lends enehantment 20 the view,
And robes the mountain Ia iis azure hue"
Thus all through life, under all cir
cumstances we are sustained by hope
it never deserts, hut remains with us As
long as life lasts. From the earliest
ages it has been a prominent character
istic OF human nature and one OF the
greatest sources of delight. The wild
and unsophisticatcd savage, dreaming
of what to him would be future bliss,
worships the Great Spirit whom he ex.
poets to prepare the hunting grounds
for his race, forms bright visions of
their glory and in anticipation of this
future existence, has his bow and arrows
and anything else which he expects to
desire, buried with him.
But the grandest of all hopes, and the
one which will never deceive, but will
grow brighter and surer as the years roll
on, is that OF the Christian. What 4
blessed hope it is II is the knowledge
that there is future existence where all
sorrow and pain shall be excluded and
only the bright and beautiful remain,
where friends shall meet friends and all
dwell together in peace and unity. Our
earthly hopes are very bright, but they
fade into insignificance when contrast
ed with this great and glorious hope,
this hope that renews the weary and dis
appointed heart with fresh courage and
bids il look to the Beyond where there
shall be no more disappointmcnts-
where all shall find that their laboring
has not been in vain, but that the glory
OF this new home is greater than any
thing their imaginations were ever capa-
hlc of picturing. Then can any one
doubt the rapture which the possession
Of this hope affords? The blessed in
fuence il cxcrts in prosperity and in
adversely in childhood, youth and age
at all times and in all positions.
II is the beacon star Of our existence,
and il bercft of it what are we? We
are as beings without purpose-as pill.
grims without destination. The mere
. thought that We could deem life worth
. living without it causes us to exclain
with the poet:
30 lives there, Heaven! beneath thy dread ex
panse,
One hopeless, dark idoiater Of chance,
Content 90 feed, with pleasures unredned,
The iukewarm passions Of lowly mind;
Who. mouidering esrthward, 'reft Of every trust,
In joyous union welded 10 the dust.
Could all his parting energy dismiss,
And call this barren world sufficient bliss!'
Thus it is shown that our hopes ar,
not to terminate even when the present
existence does but We are to look for
ward to the unknown and mysterious
future and prepare for what will be oul
inevitable destiny,-a second life. AND
what dark despair would ill the mind
when contemplating all the mysteries o
nature, were il not for the sunlight o.
this evcr-present infucnce-our com
panion from the cradle to the grave
aTt.,nal honei When vonder spheres sublime