The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1889-01-09
IDEALS OF LIFE.

II was night in the land of the Rockies. ;
The sun had retired in full splendor in
the West, enveloping the lofty peaks in
n mist of rosy fire, and with some invis-
ible brush painting the opposite hills
with all the colors of an iris. Nature
seemed 10 be touched by the angel Of
repose. No sounds were heard, save
here and there few running streams
leaping DER the polished pebbles The
western hills clothed with snowy YES
ture caught the vermilion and gold of
the descending sun and made a vision
more transparent than crystal palace,
and more magnificent than the marble
mosque in the garden Of the Alhambra
/ looking down upon a stream and tremb-
ling in reflected glory. The shades
Of night chased away the golden sunset
vision, and the sea of fire became sea
of gloom.
On the banks of rapid stream, and al
most imbosomed in trees stood a little
cabin having rough exterior, but a
somewhat decorated interior, and AS the
moon trailed along the sea of blue bath
ing landscapes and valley with its sheen,
Irma sat by the open fire in a holy
reverie of thought, and pondered pen
sively and long over her unrealized
ideals. She cared naught for the icy
halls of pride, or the cold vapid devotees
of fashion. She was child of the
muses., and her nature exquisitely SEN
sitiye and attuned to the wondrous
melody Of love. She bloomed as an
exotic flower, for it was mystery to all
that such foliage and fragrance rose
from dust, and Aourished in the midst
of intellectual and moral sterility.
But as we often see some island of
green smiling in n sea of sands, because
of some hidden spring, so this soul was
blossoming island in sandy waste.
She had often seen some reckoning
angel in the far-off horizon in the form
Of an ideal to shape and mould her life.
But an ideal life, life upon the sunlit
hills beneath the emerald arch of spirit,
never crossed the minds OF her parents.
To them, education was unnecessary,
and the refnements and amenities OF
life decisions They were coarse, SEN
suous, corn-sating, pig-swilling people.
Athwart their higher natures had pass
ed cyclone like the passage of thun-
der storm over wreck strewn beach. IL
avarice blights the heart, deadens love,
and quenches the grander music of the
soul, then these were avaricious, hog
gish and lived in the muck and mud OF
the cellars of their nature. No beggary
is comparable to intellectual beggary,
no pauperism 80 dreadful as spiritual
pauperism. Men may live in mud-huts
and be able to see the stars at night
through the roof; the polish and the
paint may be absent.
Yet in the air above these, may be
hanging golden thoughts. and star-lit
ideals SURPRISING in the value the pomp
and glory of consultations, or men
may live in palaces amid wealth and
splendor, and have only vile and vi
cious thoughts. But in the midst of
unhappy environments, harsh, discord-
ant sounds, unpleasant memories, Irma
was buildings soul-house, enriching her
intellect, and improving her time.
Amid innumerable discouragements,
grinding and attrition, domestic INTEL
icities, she sought to find the royal path
of life, but at times almost despaired Of
finding it. She knew there was such
royal road to travel, she knew there was
an inner life of wealth of flower and
fruit, and that mind and soul combined,
dominating the sensuous had more than
tropic richness. But who could help
this struggling soul? She looked to
father and mother in vain? Their cold
clammy touches chilled her. She felt
sheeted with ice. They understood not
the cling and clasp of her vine-like ma
ture, and her heart-yearnings for sym
pathy. She was like an exquisite violet
blossoming under the lip of glacier.
Her high social aflinities we're often
wounded, her moral nerves shocked,
and ever and anon she groaned in spirit
and bemoaned her loneliness.
There are souls that seem to stand out
alone in the home circle. They inhale
the balsamic odor of another sphere.
They move among unseen princes.
They commune with the life-forces of the
universe. They shine with purest lus-
ter and bloom with rarest beauty. They
can hear sounds inalidible to the outer
ear, and see objects invisible to the out
vision. Every portion of the nature is
keyed and attuned to divine harmony.