The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1889-11-02
INSPIRATION OF HOPE.
True Enjoyment of Life Consists in Gems
erous EmpIoYment of Time.

True Enjoyment of Life Consists in Gen-
erOus Employment of Time.
1t may be said that hope is tina
courage of youth, while resignation is
the philosophy of age. But though it
is true that time is destined sooner or
later to foreclose its mortgage on our
most magnificent air castles, we seldom
permit ourselves to believe that there
are no reprisals in store for us. Ger
tainly, it is better so; for otherwise the
mainsprings of endeavor and enterprise
would be broken, and there would be
an end to progress. There are. prob
ably, not many men who are as happy
as they expect to be-, but this expecta-
ton cheers us all along the road, though
we may be travelling only from one dis
appointment to another, and he who
never doses hope is never altogether
miserable. These things are true. we
say, of the race as well as OF the indi-
vidual. The world has always dreamed
of perfection. It's habit is to regard
its condition at any time as temporary
and provisional. Its golden age is
always just ahead. For a long time
it hoped to find the secret of happi-
ness by some surprise of nature, and
with a child's heart it went in search
of the treasure at the end of the rain
bow. Meanwhile. it has made some
actual advance. 1t has not yet invented
a perpetual motion machine, but it
has unquestionably made a great many
improvements in machinery. 1t has
net discovered the philosophers stone;
but it has unearthed vast deal
of gold and silver, and it has learned
that iron is, after all, the most
precious of the metals. 1t has not
found anywhere a fountain of youth,
or compounded the elixir of life; but
it has made very valuable additions
to its nlateriG medica, develop ID
science Of sanitation, and elaborated
rational system of hygiene. The
world, as a whole, is healthier and
more comfortable than it used to be.
On the other hand, philosophy has not
kept pace with practical science.
There was once q hope that perfect
system of philosophy would some time
be evolved. Men hoped to think out
true theory Of life and faultless sys-
tenn Of government. They sought to
demonstrate by logical processes the
Immortality of the soul, and to solve
the problem Of the origin of evil But
philosophy. though it is still fascinating.
has never answered its own questions.
System has followed system, and specu-
lation after speculation has been aban-
doned in the dark until the world has at
| last lost faith in mere metaphysics. Year
after year the old earth rolls around
its orbit. grinding out the lives of men,
while the Sphinx remains silent and
inscrutable in the illimitable desert OF
human ignorance. The mrItitudes
who have wandered there have left no
record but Il bewildering maze of con-
fused footsteps. But the world endures
these failures without losing heart 1t
hopes on and ever, refusing to accept
death as the last word of destiny to
man. Science has its limitations,
philosophy moves nowhither, and
craftsmanship is baf1led in the hour
of its seeming triumph; but the world
has no room for despair. There is
more pessimism on paper than in the
human heart. Good men and true are
every where at work under the in
SEPARATION of faith and hope. School
houses, hospitals, asylums, homes for
the homeless. churches, multiply con-
tinually. Hope inspires activity, and
action is the solvent of doubt. He is
| to blame who does not know more than
he can prove, 1t is possible, at least,
to know that the true enjoyment of life
consists in the generous employment
of time. "Do the duty" said one sage,
that lies nearest to you" Sit not and
question, stand and act.-N. o. Plea
| VINE