The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1888-08-24
THE PAINS OF FEAR.

The Arch-Enemy of Truth, of Happiness
and of Success.
It would be an interesting bit ot
statistics, could it be drawn up, whicl,
should show many poor creatures have
lied of an epidemic and how many o.
fright. giving themselves the disease
through fear of taking it Is there no.
an Eastern apologize which tells how
the Angel of Pestilence was questioned
as to the ten thousand victims he haG
slain? And did he not answer: NAY.
Lord, ! took but thousand; the Ies'
were slain by my frIend Panic?'' How
many, too. have sunk into the deel
waters of the black river and beer
foated on to the ocean of eternity foJ
very paralysis of hope when the evi
hour was upon them and they had JUS
wetted their feet on the brink The,
could, and they would. have stepped
back to the solid shore; but they had
no courage to make the attempt, n,
energy to strike out to the land. The
waters closed over their bowed head
and they sobbed away their breath in
the very supineness of terror, the very
Iethargy of hopeless fear. Death is
! like every thing elsa foe to be
/ fought, a wild beast to be kept at bay.
| They who contend with the most spirit
t live the greater number of days. The
. will to live and the determination not
| to die make the most efficacious anti
dote against the poison of the ''lethal
Dart" The hopelessness of fear j.
| that poison itself. So is it with the
torment of fear during financial
crisis. There are men and women.
/ too, God bless them! who, when the
! wolf prowls round the house door, open
that door wide, issue boldly forth. and
do battle with the hungry beast OF
| poverty with any weapon that lie
handy. And these alway,
succeed in the long run. The pluck
that braves danger and the
energy that overcOmes difficulties ar,
the two pots of gold on which the rain
bow rests. But the hysterical despair
| which folds its hands and weep< whcr
a crash comes and the wolf hOwls neal
and ever nearer, which takes to bee
with the fever born of anxiety, with
the softened fiber, the paralyzed nerves
also borne of anxiety-what can yol
do with itp What can you say of it
Fear and Hope-there the,
stand, the two presiding de
tiles over mems minds, formid
able as Apollyon when he met
assaulted. and sought to de
stroy Christians; to the opUimist Feal
sinks into dusky shadow of non
terrifying aspect, while Hop
sings like lark and shines like a
star above his head. The pessimist
standing stock-still in his own past
sees naught but evil in every chang
| If public feeling or private custom tha
has taken place since Plancus wa
ais counsel; the optimist forget
himself and looks both be
fore and after, and before be
cause he looks after. He sees wher
humanity stands to-day, and where
stood when the paleolithic man chtppe'
his fints and learned to keep himsel
upright. He contrasts the times Of tn
great Pharaoh, when slaves were he'll
as machines. and not treated with s.
much humanity as we treat our beast
of burden, and says: ''The term ha
not been reached. What has been vii
be, and those dead selves ever lie a
stepping stones for higher things.
The pessimist gives up all as lost whel
society seeks to readiHst old condition