The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1884-11-13
Pessimism i'm Thought.

A well known American writer pub
lished book some years ago to sustain
a plea for sunshine in literature. He
held the view as we remember it. that
the bright. the stimulating, and the in
spring should be made. within the
limits of truth to furnish the dominant
note of the writer. An author has no
right, in other words. to magnify dark
ness and discOuragemenr. If he be-
lieves with Schopenhauer, that the
present world is the worst possible
world. or, with Leopard, that it is a
world of certain disappointment TO
happy issues, there is all the more reas-
on for making the best of a bad situa-
ton. and turning to good account such
mitigations of the human lot as offer
tht mselyes by the way. There is a
great deal OF literature. however. in
modern times that diScards this sensi-
BILE view, and makes the worst of
things.
We see this in Turgeneff most dis
tinctlv. perhaps. and he has elevated Il
fashion OF it almost in to cult. with
its school of adherentS and imitators.
1t has tinrturpd the work of Henry
James; it lies like deep shadow upon
the novels of i;porgc Elio:: and it even
tingeS with Il pathetic tenderness near
" all the poetry. and II large part of
the prose of Matthew Arnold. Arnold's
delight in Oberman sprang from his
active sympathy with this feeling; but
in both these writers. il is not unSuf-
fused with glimmer, at least, of faith.
There are those who SEQ. or think they
see, that this peSSimiStic tendency is Il
mere transitory phase of mental weari-
ncss-as it undoubtedly is-and who
think the pendulum, in time. will
swing the other way, -tnd bring with it
the note of JOY and hope. The human
mind has had to live longer. counting
time by depth of experiences, in the
last three centuries of human evolution
than in the thousand wears preceding
them. When it has had time for re-
Taxation it will return to its normal
health. For. certainly, whatever phil
osophy we take, life was not made for
despair or for folded hands. And what
We ask of the writer and artist is, to
tell us how we NAV make it serene and
happy.
Emerson's attitude here was special
" sanitive and tonic. Its contrast
even with Carlyle's in that respect.
shows greatly TO its advantage. No
one can read page of Emerson with
out being braced and uplifted by it.
What Plato and Homer were, he tells
us. we can be. What they thought we
may think. The doorways of all posSi-
bilities stand open wherever he points.
If he looks out to nature, he says. we
need not borrow inspiration of others;
we may also have our own. When he
sees the sky and landscape beckOning
to him in brightness. he eXclaimS:
.'Give me health and day. and | will
make the pomp of emperors ridicu-
lOus." The grandeur of our life"
he SAYS, ''exists in spite of us His
doctrine is that "a low. hopeless spirit
puts out the eyes," and that ''scepti-
cism is slow suicide In another place
he condemns the dyspeptic. and will
not have the fine morning AIR polluted
with his complaints. 1t is not possible
to escape evil; it is possible to see it
and to feel it without having it served
up for us as a daily delectatiOn. We
do not like the apotheosis of despair in
art. either. any more than we do in
| books. That man who said he would
not have Peale'S once famous Court
of Death hung up in his house for the
possession of the picture. and many
times its value besides. we always
| thought struck the kev-note concern
| ing art in its relations To dailS life.
No great deed is inspired by deSpOnd-
ency. In cheerfnlness lie the roots of
power and achievement. The health
fulness of amusement is born of the
power of joy. If it is a delusion to
build castles in the air. ii is one of the
delusions in which all healthy minds
indulge. The Alexanders and Napol-
| cons, the names which stand for sue
| cess and high endeavor-which attain
whatever there may be in an earthly
immortality-are men who have been
nourished by hope. No boaf which
does not appeal 20 the highest spring
of human action and possibility can
expect 20 live long or be remembered.
) 1t Is one of the sterling virtues of Scott 5
novels that they fall into the vein of
high spirit. and so communicate both
! youth and life.