St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1884-12-27
UNHAPPY MEN.
a Glass of Persons who Plant Thorns and
Thistles Along the Pathway of Life.

Class of Persons who Plant TlOrns and
ThisfIes Along the Pathway of Life.
There is a class of mankind-and by
no means small one-which are
termed unhappy men. To them the
world, with all its pleasant things,
friends, social comforts and domestic
entertainments; this world, so full of all
that is beautiful, the blue skies above,
the green fields around, what is it to
them but constant source of misery
and disquietude, never-failing theme
of complaint and dissatisfaction. This
unhappy disposition may be traced to
various causes; in some persons to a
temperament naturally gloomy and
Responding, in others to accidents,
misfortune, disappointed ambition or
religious fanaticism.
Some men are habitually unhappy,
while others are only so occasionally:
the former, at all times and places,
wear the same dolorous countenance;
they cast chill into the very atmos-
phere around them, like the chill at
MONDAY when the sun is In an eclipse;
their conversation is tinged. with mel
ancholy and moroseness, and if it has
not the effect to make others as
wretched as themselves, it at least pre-
vents them from being happy while in
their presence. Such men are icebergs
floating about in society, cold, isolated,
a terror wherever they come, rcpulsive
and repulsed. They may be seen at
the corners of the streets. Waylaying
their acquaintance. as they pass by on
business or pleasure, to remind them
of the vanity and vexations of the
world, the uncertainty of riches, the
precariousness of life, and of all those
various subjects for sober reflection
well calculated to occupy the thoughts
on proper occasions. but which serve
only to offend and disgust when thus
obtruded upon the attention. But
these men never take into considera-
ton the times and occasions when they
shall pour forth their lugubrations, but,
like sinister crows, are always boding
some evil.
Next are those who are subject to
occasional fits of unhappiness. With
some persons these are periodical; one
viii be affected with melancholy in the
spring, and another in autumn; one is
a prey to the blues in one kind of
weather, and another in different
kind. Such is the connection between
body and mind that the causes of this
species of unhappiness may be traced
either to some disorder of the former,
which acts upon the latter, as dys-
khn otn aoh 20 l1TrS fol
lowed by similar affection of the head,
or to some peculiar sensibility Of the
one, by which external objects easily
excite or depress the other. Such men
are, indeed, to be commiserated, for
who can doubt that their unhappiness
is partial hypochondria, oyer which
they have no control disease of the
mind, more acute while it lasts than the
severest bodily painsp Nature may, in
some instances, be the author of this
kind of unhappiness, but it is oftener
produced by education and luxury. 1t
is not the farmer and the mechanic who |
are the subjects of this hypochondria;
their happy countenances tell differ
ent tale. 1t is the student, whose sed-
entary life dooms him to this calamity, |
or the yoluptuary, who, by his midnight |
carousals, entails upon himself and
children the miseries of broken con-
stitution.
Others. again, are made unhappy by
outward circumstances-by misfor-
tunes in business, disappointment of
their plans or the bereavement of their
friends. This species of unhappiness,
when temporary and under proper re.
straint, is what all who consider the in
trinity of human nature will respect
and approve; but when carried to an
excess; when it is suffered
to embitter the whole after-life of him
who experiences it, it becomes both
improper and injurious. Itisimproper,
because there is no reason why we
should forever mourn the loss of friends
or property; the voice of reason and
nature forbid it; it is Injurious, because
we can not by our grief repair our. losses,
but rather diminish the chances of doing
so. There is no spectacle more painful
Than the man who is the victim Of I'M
from every slight misfortune
be meets with in his business. He lit
orally makes troubles for himself he
plants fhorns and thistles along his
through life, and frets out
both body and soul by rubbing against
hem. Boston Budget.
Abraham Jones. who died recently