Nevada County picayune., 1890-05-21
BY MINNIE ROBINSON.

of the things which you have seen.
 Life is series of changes; its pleasures and it's hopes arc inter mingled with it's disappointments and its fears. Contrast seems to be the principle upon which it is based. There is virtue and there is wee there is love and there is hatred ; there is pleasure and there is disap- pointment. All is concentrated in q life intense.'
 In the great drama of life there are many parts, but for every one there is an actor. There are williams and there are heroes; there are frank, open-hearted creatures and there are mean, underlying beings. But it takes them all-they are in the play. We see old age walking hand in hand with youth, the wicked travelling life's journey in compan- ionship with the good, the wise teach ing the ignorant, the rich feeding the poor, the strong helping the weak and little children teaching old men how to be good.
 And then there are voices strange ly different to be heard. Upon the one hand comes the low, faint cry of the distressed as they lay upon fevered couches, and with a turn we can hear the merry laugh of the light-hearted as they play upon the lawn. We hear the frets and com plants of the down-hearted as they mingle with the cheers and kind words of people who have heart enough to live.
 And sometimes we see dwelling amid the cess-pools of sin and crime, where wickedness turks, the pure, holy spirit of some human being, who, because of circumstances having placed barrier to it's ever ascend ing to that level where it belongs, must live amid these unpleasant sur roundings.
 And then nature has her phases as well as life its contrasts. The sun is never so bright or the sky so blue as when we can but catch glimpses of them through the crevices in the clouds, after long, dreary rain.
 And the moods of the ocean furnish us such numerous changes that one almost sees in them an emblem of human life. One day we watch a peaceful spirit upon the waters, and the next we are attracted by the angry pillows as they dash upon the shore. And oh, how often can we remember when some slight insult would cause the peace that rested upon us to be broken, and there come a fury that would arouse all the emo- tions of our nature into resentment. But would ocean be the same old ocean if forever upon it's bosom it bore a sweet submission? And could we lay claim to full develop ment without these experiences In deed, it is but natural that a nature should seek development in all its characteristics, and no one is so per fectly constituted as not to be sub feet to life's contrasts.
 Within the narrow bounds of our own selves there are such various changes that to know them we must endure the labor of investigation by experience. We must suffer if we would gain wisdom, and we must learn to endure failures if we would succeed.
 Sometimes we are so powerful It seems that all our efforts are accom- plishments and all our endeavors succeed: but how often do we feel our weakness and cry out for help We have experienced times when the heart was overilowed with joy, when the world seemed bright and all life beautiful, and there would we'll up within us feeling of happl- ness too great for our power of con cealment; and we have suffered the change to time when our thirsty souls have drank the dregs of life, and suffered thepangs of distressed spirit. We have been censured for doing right, and have received com mendation for doing wrong. We have had our brows decked with hon. ors, and have seen them torn from our head to be given to others. We have seen the sun of prosperity dawn gloriously upon a morn when every thing seemed right, and have seen it set at night behind great clouds ol despair.
 Yet, in all these contrasts there are more of the bright colors than the dark. more of the commcndable thar the ugly traits of life, We may have some dark colors, when aillictlon distress and dispair hold us, bu when the accomplishments of life ar' over they only add to the beauty ano olorv of an existence which withou them would have no cause for re ioicing, no purpose for rest liner how beautiful will seem those natures that have lifted their souls above th' things of this earth, and, like the lily of the pond, paid its best tribute t' heaven by rising from out the mudd, ,-biah if hal nasspu