The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1888-07-19

Judging from the countenance, was the
who sat at the apple stand knit
ting. I believe real happiness oftener
looks out of the window of an humble
home than through the opera glass Of the
gilded box of theater.
I find Nero growing on a throne. I
find Paul singing in a dungeon. l find
King Ahab going to bed at noon through
while near by is Naboth con-
tented in the possession of vineyard.
Haman, prime minister of Persia, frets
himself almost to death because a poor
Jew will not tip his hat; and Ahithophel,
one of the greatest lawyers of Bible times,
through fear of dying, hangs himself.
The wealthiest man, forty years ago. in
New York, when congratulated over his
large estate, replied: ''Ah! you don't
know how much trouble have in taking
care of it." Byron declared in his last
hours that he had never seen
more than twelve happy days in
all his life. l do not believe he
had seen twelve minutes of thorough
satisfaction. Napoleon l said: 81 turn
with disgust from the cowardice and
selfishness of man. hold life a horror;
death is repose. What have suffered
the last twenty days is beyond human
comprehension" While, on the other
hand, to show how one may be happy
under the most disadvantageous circum-
stances, just after the Ocean Monarch
had been wrecked in the English chan
mel, steamer was cruising along in the
darkness, when the captain heard song,
a sweet song, coming over the water,
and he bore down toward that voice, and
found it was Christian woman on
plank of the wrecked steamer, singing to
the tune of St. Martin's:
Jesus, lover of my soul,
Let me to thy bosom fly,
While the pillows near me roll
While the tempest still is high.
The heart right toward God and man,
we are happy. The heart wrong toward
God and man, we are unhappy.
Another reason why we should come
to this spirit inculcated in the text is the
fact that all the differences of earthly
condition are transitory. The houses
you build, the land you culture, the
places in which you barter, are soon to
90 into other hands. However hard you
may have it now, if you are a Christian
the scene will soon end. Pain, trial, per-
secution never knock at the door of the
grave. A coffin made out of pine boards
is just as good a resting place as one
made out of silver mounted mahogany
or rosewood. Go down among the
resting places of the dead, and
you will find that though people
there had great difference of
worldly circumstances, now they are all
alike unconscious. The hand that greeted
the senator, and the president, and the
king is still as the hand that hardened on
the mechanics hammer or the manu-
facturer's wheel. 1t does not make any
difference now, whether there is a plain
stone above them from which the trav-
eler pulls aside the weeds to read the
name, or tall shaft springing into the
heavens as though to tell their virtue to
the skies.
In that silent land there are no titles
for great men, and there are no rumb-
hngs of chariot wheels, and there is never
heard the foot of the dance. The
Egyptian guano which is thrown on the
fields in the east for the enrichment of
the soil, is the dust raked out from the
sepulchers of kings and lords and mighty
.nen. o the chagrin of those men if they
had ever known that in the after ages OF
the world they would have been called
Egyptian guano.
OF how much worth now is the crown
of Caesar? Who bids for it2 Who cares
now anything about the Amphictyonio
council or the laws of Lycurgus? Who
trembles now because Xerxes crossed the
Hellespont on bridge of boats? Who
fears because Nebuchadnezzar thunders
at the gates of Jerusalem? Who cares
now whether or not Cleopatra marries
Antony? Who crouches before Ferdi.
nand, or Boniface, or Alaric? Can Crom-
well dissolve the English parliament now
Is William, prince of Orange, king Of
the Netherlands? No, no! However
much Elizabeth may love the Russian
crown, she must pass it TO Peter, anC
Paul, and Paul to Alexander, and Alex
ander to Nicholas. Leopold put the Ger
man scepter into the hand of Joseph, anG
Philip comes down off the Spanish
throne to let Ferdinand go ON. House
of Aragon, house of Hapsburg, house ot
Stuart, house of Bourbon, quarreline
about everything else, but agreeing il
this: ''The fashion of this worlt
passeth away" But have all these dig
nitaries gone? Can they not be callet
back? I have been in assemblages wher,
I have heard the roll called, and man.
distinguished men have answered. If
ebo,.1l coll tho roll foJau Of Coma IF fhnc,
mighty ones who have gone, wonder i
they would not answer. / will call tn
roll I will call the roll of the king
first: Alfred the Great! William tn
Conqueror! Frederick II! Louis XVI
No answer. I will call the roll of tn
poets: Robert Southey! Thomas Camp
bell! John Keats! George Crabbe! Rober
Burns! No answer. / call the roll o
artists: Michael Angelo! Paul Veronese
William Turner! Christopher Wren! n
answer. Eyes closed. Ears deaf. Lip
silent. Hands palsied. Scepter, pencil
| pen, sword, put down forever. VIII,
should we struggle for such baubles?
Another reason why we should cultur
this spirit of cheerfulness is the fact tha
God knows what is best for his creatures
You know what is best for your child
He thinks you are not as liberal wit
him as you ought to be. He criticise
your discipline, but you look over th
whole field, and you, loving that child
do what in your deliberate judgment
best for him. Now, God is the best G
fathers. Sometimes his children thin
that he is hard on them, and that he
not as liberal with them as he might be
But children do not know as much as
father. can tell you why you are nc
largely affluent, and why you have nc
been grandly successful. 1t is becaus
you cannot stand the temptation.
your path had been smooth, you woul
have depended upon your own surefoo
edness; but God roughened that path, E
you have to take hold of his hand.
the weather had been mild, you woul
have loitered along the water course
but at the first howl of the storm yo