The Grenada gazette., 1889-02-21
DO HEARTS EVER BREAK?
Acute Miseries Often Memorlzed
into Chronic Grief.
Ambition or Even Duty May Assuage and
Indeed Quite Heal the Wounds OF
the Sighted Lover-The Wor.
ship of Realities.

Since Washington Irving wrote his
story of ''The Broken Heart" no one
else has ventured to write one bearing
similar title. We have grown more
cynical and literal. 1t has been shown
that anatomically speaking, hearts do
not break-at least, they very seldom
do-and we refuse to accept the
phrase in its metaphorical implica-
tion. Probably no burlesque was ever
more enjoyed than "Camille; or the
Cracked Heart" It's enormous ab-
surdity was indorsed as just satire
upon the facility with which that Or
gan was assumed to be shattered. At
very long intervals We read in the
newspapers of a heart that has liter
ally burst from excess of anguish in
the person whose life blood it pro-
peeled. Such physiological phenom-
enon is sure to awaken interest at Il
period which worships reality so much
that when Joshua Whitcomb in the
"Old Homestead, washes his face
with actual water from bona
tide pump, the audience breaks
into rapturous applause. But in
hearts that metaphorically break there
is little belief. The world is apt to
turn up its nose at them and say it is a
pity they had nothing better to do,
The world believes in being amused
when it is not at work; and there is no
amusement in discovering that here and
there human being is so worried and
stricken with life's bewilderment as no
longer to be capable of holding up
against it bravely.
There are good many strong and
coarsely healthy natures, incapable Of
feeling pleasure or pain with extreme
intensity, who take the ground that
nothing is worth that abandonment of
sorrow which leaves mind or body too
weak for battle, Take, for instance,
one of the deepest of all griefs, the
treachery, perfidy and ingratitude of
one whom we have long and profound.
edly loved, in whom we believed more
completely than in ourselves; for whom
we would have laid down, if necessary,
almost all that the world esteems good.
Whence is the compensation to come
that shall be balm to the wounded
spirit, cause it to feel any thing like the
happiness which once is felt, and pre-
sent to the imagination aught where
with memory will not interfere by call
ing back the presence that has so Won
tonly departed? What is the secret
which explains the fact that we still
cling, perhaps through years, perhaps
through a lifetime, to tendcrest recol-
lections of those who have repaid love
with insolence, devotion with inditfer-
ence, generosity with seltishness, mag
nanimity with meanness? Is such
tenacity weaknessp Then it is a weak
ness in which some OF the best women
excel and some of the best men are
proficient. is it explicable on the as
sumption that those who are as faith
less as they are fascinating have an in
defectible charm Of temperament and
manner which is the rarest possession
OF the most invincible virtue? Do the
false and the treacherous bind us by
a spell which honor might be glad to
own? Does Lothario remain potent,
even to those he has abandoned, be-
cause his magnetism is sweeter, finer,
subtler than Chevalier Bayard's?
Then again, do hearts really break?
always in the metaphysical meaning.
Is the shock ever so violent and per-
manent that life loses forever after a
considerable portion of the comfort
and happiness it formerly hado Does
not the deceived friend, when the
frenzy of the first twenty -four hours Is
over, soon recover from his disillusion
and not only conduct his business as
though nothing important had hap
pened, but eat with undiminished ap-
petite and sleep dreamlessly and we'll?
Does Werther, even If he abstains from
suicide, always live on with heart
which simply performs its muscular
duty in a manner more or less i'm
paired, to be sure, but which never
more beats to passion, because passion
can never more be feltP Are there not
Camilles who forget their Armands as
they conquer their consumption and
settle down into unremorseful and
demi-respectable middle agep Do i'm
measurable disappointments always
make existence desertp Is there not
such thing as forgetfulness Of
acute miseries instead Of men,
orizing them into chronic griefsP
Does not the expectant treatment often
cure the most bruised and bleeding
soul--expectancy that still looks for
happiness, both in this world and the
.,,,.iI tn novunp Ia thAnA no trlAH