The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1889-05-09
SYMPATHY AND LOVE.

ment in the development OF mutual
love, is a thought admirably ex-
pressed by Shakespeare in the speech
made before the Duke by Othello
where the Moor explained the witch
craft he had used to win BESIDE
mona's love.
He summed it all up in these
lines: '.She loved me for the dan
gers l had passed and I loved her
that she did pity them"
This was the bond of sympathy
that united the very different dis
positions of fierce Othello and gentle
Desdemona, and it is a similar bond
that unites all who love each other,
though it takes many different forms.
There must be harmony, not iden-
tity of likes and dislikes; an under
standing between the inner souls
akin to the harmony between the
musical notes that form a chord. 1t
is sympathy that brings about this
understanding and establishes har-
mony between natures as dissimilar
as those of Othello and Desdemona.
AS the strings of a musical instru-
ment alphabetically respond to one
note, but not to others, so men and
women often unaccountably find
themselves in harmony with one or
another person, though others awak-
en- in them no responsible sentiments.
There are some social relationships,
as those between parent and child
and between brothers and sisters, in
which there is duty imposed to
develop sympathy and love. The
feelings are not under complete con-
troll, and neither sympathy nor love
can be developed at will, but much
may be done to awaken both by the
course suggested in Othello's ex-
PLANTATION of his witchcraft. It be-
gan when Desdemona showed an in
terest in his tale "ef moving acci-
dents by flood and field" it was de-
veloped in both as she induced him
more and more to talk while she
alphabetically listened. 1t is worth
while to consider this process as a
means of winning the love of chil~
dren. We must take an interest in
their games, their hopes, their sor-
rows and disappointments, and en-
courage them to take an interest in
our own labors and the things that
interest us. With such a bond of
sympathy as this established, love
follows as if by witchcraft. It is
not necessary that men should think
alike to learn to love another, but it
is necessary that they should SYM
pathize with one another. They
need not sound the same notes, but
these must be in accord if they are
to be harmonious. Thus also the
relations of children to their elders
are governed by law of harmony
rather than by one of similitude be-
tween their tastes. But to develop
the loving relation there must be an
interest taken in the child nature,
and sympathy shown for the child's
desires and aspirations. A kind of
distant, dutiful love may be nourish-
ed between parent and child by the
mere relationship and as result of
custom, but for the development of
the passion as an active force dom
mating their lives there must BE-
active sympathy with every thought
and feeling. They may differ in
many ways, and especially in opin-
ion, but they must understand each
other fully and respond promptly to
the changing moods of each other.
1t is not enough that the child shall
honor his father and mother because
he is required to do SO, nor that the
parent shall watch over and care for
the child because it is his duty to do
so, nor that brothers and sisters shall
treat each other kindly because they
happen to find themselves in this re-
lationship. 1t is the duty of each
and all of them to cultivate and de-
velop that love which is the natural
outcome of such bonds of union.
Sympathy nourishes that feeling,
and while sympathy itself may not
be artifcially developed, its growth
may be promoted through an unself-
ish effort to interest ones self in the
desires and aspirations and deeds of
another. 1t was by no set plan of
conquest that Othello won Desde-
mona for his own. He was himself
enthralled by the sympathy that de-
veloped her love, and to each it was
an unconscious growth, having its
ORIGIN in the interest shown bv nes-