Semi-weekly south Kentuckian., 1888-08-21
SUICIDE

full blast. The epidemic of self-de-
struction is raging. The mania to
take ones life Is in the atmosphere
like an Infectious disease. Who can
discern the cause! Is there some
mysterious force that operates at
times to darken mems souls into dis
pair? Are swarms of suicidal ami
malculae blown through the atmos-
phere by some hateful east wind
at direful intervals? Whence
where, or from what does it come!
Life is largely as we make 1t, or
rather as we imagine it. Hope builds
her castles in the air, and if we fail
to climb the ladder of light up into
her rosy portals, we are ready to SIT
and mourn among the humble, but
not less beautiful, daisy-wreathed,
violet worshiped cots of earth and
imagine that "life is failure" The
tramp that roams the land, worse
than the foxes and the birds of the
air, is sadly discounted, but the birds
sing as sweet and the sun shines as
bright to him as to the pampered child
of luxury. The ennui of the one
strikes a balance with the wants ofthe
other. To be without bed and un-
certain about our meals, TO be Win
out friends and perfcrment, is better
than TO "ny to those ills we know
not of. 1t is better TO rest III
hay stack and cat at kitchen door
and find Entertainment in talking with
kind hearted strangers than to shut
our eyes in gloom upon the singing
brooks, the pictured skies, the bloom
ing meadows and the thousand forms
of Natures beauty that never 60
back on a man because, perchance, he
is poor or despised.
What if life is failure! Who
knows when it is success! J! Can
you lay your hand on single man
and say certainly "here is success r
Where is the injunction in sacred or
profane philosophy commanding men
to make life success, as success Is
commonly understood? Is man
success when he has made ten thous-
and dollars, or a million-where is the
limit? Is life failure because
perchance you do not own a
brown-stone front, or go TO Congress,
or get an appointment abroad-whcre
is the limit in this direction? DO
you know when you are a success
Can any man tell you, is there an
oracle anywhere you can consult and
get an answer?
The necessity is upon all humanity
"to live life as it is, not to daily with
Fancy for some utopian realm and
then mourn because ii is not reall-
ty. Every man must be a philoso-
pher more or less. He must be in-
prospective enough to know that the
same joys and sorrows, hopes and
fears, successes and disappointments
that are thrilling or saddening his
heart are doing the same with every
other mans heart, just as the same
clouds and sunshine are above us all,
and there is no escape. If communi-
ty should turn its back on man, he
can go to another and find recogni-
ton by good conduct. If he is poor,
he can find a joyful companionship
of poverty. This old earth cannot
concentrate enough misery on a man
to pay him for risking the ellis we
know not of"
If the suicide could realize that his
sorrow is a temporary gloom, his
hand would be stayed. If he could
realize that the world is ready to be
as kind as ever it was, he would walk
from under the shadow of his grief.
1t is these disappointed men, and
these gloom-stricken men, and these
men of despair to whom the Master
said "Come unto Me all ye that labor
and are heavy laden"-and that in
junction has come TO many despair
laden heart like an arrow of light
piercing it with joy and comfort.
These are the reflections which
should course through the minds of
those afflicted with this dread mania.
Let them throw off these morbid self
condelnnations and bitter imaginings
and be men brave enough to live life.