The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1886-10-30
ooNcERNlNo GRIEF.
Great and Small Sorrows In Their various
and Peculiar Manifestations.

Great and Small Sorrows In Their various
and Peculiar Manifestations.
crief ought to be private, at least so
much as Il may be mastered to that end,
like love, which is not to be paraded
but reserved, and, when uncovered Mt
all, only in some sanctuary. Indeed,
grief is part Of loves experience, and
why, then, to be paraded more than
loves joysp Nay, but to be modestly
draped Nevertheless, grief is more to
be allowed in public than the uncover
ing of raptnres of affection. And this
by common consent; for the most deli
cate minded, who would hide a caress
under curtains, will not rebuke tears
harshly. It is understood that the one
may be restrained If there be right
sense 10 do it, but the other not always
For kiss or an intent look, or other
signs of love, may be locked resoluteIy,
but tears rush too quickly for command.
But some signs of grief are deliberate
and then offensive; among which l
could count the wearing OF mourning
clothes, which every way are bad, for
they reinforce what time should as
suage, and hem the heart in the marble
courts of death, when it should retreat
inward to the dwelling-room of men,
ory; also, they make our woe an in
trudcr on social cheerfulness-
a black spot on the bright colors of COM
pany. But chiefly, mourning vesture is
bad as an ostentation, for it courts no.
tice of u nder privacy, and blazons on
the body what should be hidden in the
heart. Grief often shows itself in way
sadder than the grief, because tho gr.ef
is little and the show large. which is
debasement. Nay. by observation at
funerals, often have been persuaded
that the manner of grieving was set by
convention, and the amount thereof as
signed, and the mourners but servtors
of the fashion. For have seen plainly
many things done because they were ex-
pected, and even lest the neighbors
should suspect lack of due grief
which, indeed, is rightly to be suspect
ed In such case. for. as johnson says,
that whenever there is real misery there
is no recourse to the mention of it, SO
wherever sorrow is very sincere there 8
mo anx city to have credit for it. Also
this cant or flourish of grief leaps to
tvicw. like compressed ball, rebound
ling, in quick transitions often TO be met.
(which shock sincere heart; for though
the natural rebound of the heart is to be
praised, quietness and righteous cheer
ifulncss arc enough. but hilarty verges
to proclamation; yet after many cries
and abundant tears, much Grape and
flowers and words, have beheld the
funeral baked meats set FORTH and all
the company seated with mirth which.
though it had strong wings to rise with,
had but heavy and unclean body to my
thinking.
! Is grief or joy the more poignantP
Both will Kill, rs many instances show;
but Joy destroys in one way only, grief
in two ways. For both kill suddenly in
the same manner, which is by shock.
But whereas Joy, if it kills at all, must
kill suddenly, for in itself it is strength
ening md gives elasticity to life, grief
not only kills suddenly by shock, but
also slowly may wear out the life; for it
depresses vitality. Grief is the more
poignant. we may conclude, because the
signs OF it less easily are controlled.
self to pa II as to pleasure, whether bod
lily or mental; for pleasures mingle and
succeed each other, and no one of them
can continue very long without blunt
ing the sense to it; but a rment is
more like to stand alone, and the ache
is no anodync for itself, until. by sheer
fatigue. We sleep.
Little gr efs tif indeed small annoy
ances. disappo ntments and the like,
should be called by this name, which has
a ccrta n holiness in it) enforce them.
selves on us more than little pleasures
do; for we treat joys as we do wonders.
St Gregory says: 1.-The normal mani
festations of nature. which are full of
marvels, deeper than we can investi-
gate, have become cheap from custom
in the eyes of men. Hence it comes to
pass that dead man raised to life would
cause all men to spr ng up in astonish-
ment, yet every hour one that had no
being ;s born and no man wonders;
though it IS plain to all without doubt
that it Is greater thing for that to be
created which was without being than
for that which had being to be re-
stored" So it is with our pleasures;
being mult' pl cd and repeated daily,
it is the same rs il they occurred not at
all. For rs the body or soul grows
blunt to any one OF them if too long
continued, so we become insonsible to
all of them together by the constancy Of
the bene ts. Perhaps among five hum
dred men who walk home at night two
or three will look at the sky piorsly;
but it no stars having ever been. they
were TO burst forth suddenly as now
they shine every night, the multitude
would fall on their knees. This shows
two things: l. That pleasures must OK
ceed tho pains in number, for as pains
must enforce themselves, if they were
moro, or oven as many. we should be
unhappy continually. 2. That it is not
wise or we'll to lose benefits in the wide
showers of them, so as to miss the
sounds of the drops thereof; for thereby
we lose a vast deal OF life, as he loses
flavor who takes delicious draught at
swallow, and tastes no more Of it
than the first contact with the tongue.
Both joy and grief are expressed by
tears; by laughter also. though the
laughter of pain has dreadful ring in
it, while tears look the same, however
shed. Why do these two signs belong
in common to joy and griefp This I
can not tell. Yet observe that great
joys and great griefs verge on each 9TH
or, or even lap. The keenest joys have
margins of pain, anxiety, dread; the
keencst grief an attendant of satisfac-
tlon in tho feeling which SO can be ag-
grleved, as have observed in lovers;
for the woe of loss or tho pain of separ-
alton must rest on the JOY of love.