Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1890-03-21

TO pass OH and give another generation
chance.
Beside that, II We were permitted to live
life over again, it would lie a stale and stupid
experience. The zest and spur and enthu-
Siasn Of life come from the fact that we have
never been along this road before, and every
thing is new and We are alert for what may
appear at the next turn of the road. Sup
pose YOU a man in md-lite or old age were.
with your present feelings and large attain
IuentS nut back into the thirtieS, or the
twenties or into the teens what a nuisance
you would I've 10 others and what an unhap-
piness tn yourself Your contemporaries
would not want you and you would not want
them. Things that IN your previous Journey
of life stirred your healthful ambltion, or
gave you pleasurable surprise or led YOU into
happy interrogation, would only call forth
from you disgusted "Oh. pshawr' You
would be hlase at thirty and "A miSanthrope
at forty and uncomfortable at fifty. The niUst
inane and stupid thing imaginable would be
q second journey OF life II is amusing to
hear people say would like 10 live my life
over again, If | could take my present eI-
perience and kuO .E!eige Of things hack with
me and begin under those improved auspices"
Why. what an unnteresting boy you would
be with your present. attanments IN ChildS
mind No one would want such boy around
the house: 4 philosopher at twenty, a Scien-
domestic nuisance all the time An oak
crowded into an acorn. a Rocky Mountain
eagle thrust back into the egg 81 ell from
which II was hatChed
Besides that, IL you took HE over again
you would have TO take It's deep sRdnesses
oyer az ain. M.uld you want tQ try again
the gr!efs AMI The heart breaks and tre be-
reavementS through which YOU have gomez
What mercy that We shall never be called
to suffer them again, We may have others
had enough but those old ones never again.
Would you want 10 go through ths process
OF losing your father again or your mother
again or your companion i'll life again or
your child again. II you were permitted
10 stop at tle sixueth milestone or the
htteih milestone or the fortieth mile
stone and retrace your steps to the
twentieth. your ex pnrience would be
somr'hIn ike mino one day last November
in Italy. ! walked through great city with a
friend anl two guides. and there were in all
the city only four perSDns and they were thoSs
If our o sn group We went up AMI down
the streets We entered the houses tho
museums, tho ter,E,sS, the theatres; We ex,
RmIncd tfe wonderful pictures on the walls
and the most exquisite mosaic on the floor
In the streets were the deep worn ruts OF
waGorS but not wagon in the city On
tho front Steps ot mansions tha word "We,-
come in Latin, but no human icing n
greet us This only bodies OF Rry Of
tae citizens that wa aaw were pe,rified
and III the museums at the gates. OF
the thi-ty-fvo Thousand people who
once lived in those homes and warshiped in
those temples and Clappec III those theatres,
not one left For eighteen hundred years
that city Of FomPeii hsd been buried before
modern exploration scooped out OF it the lava
OF Vesuvlus Well he who should be per
mitted 10 return on the pathway OF his
earthly life AMI live II over again would find
a. lonely and sad a pilgrimage. II would be
au exploration OF tho dead past. The old
school house, tho old church. the oil home,
the old play ground either gone or occupied
by others, and for You more depressing than
was our Pompean visit in November
Beside that, would you want to risk tho
temptations Of life over again? From the
fact that you are here conclude that though
in many respects your life may have been
unfortunate and unconscerltcd you have got
on 50 far tolerabiy well, il nothing more than
toleI able. AS for myself, though my life has
been far from being As cousecratod as
would like to have had it, | would not want
to try it over again, lest next time would do
worse. Why, just look at the temptations we
have all passed through and just look at the
multi, udes who have gone completely under.
Just call over the roll Of your school mah's
and college mates the clerks who were with
YOU IN the same store or bank or the opera
tIvec in the same factory with juSt rs good
prospects as you, who have come TO complete
mishap. Some young man that told you
that he was going to he a millionaire and
own the fastest trotters on WestcheSter turn
pike and retire by the tin,o he was thirty. five
years of age, you do not hear from for many
years. and know nothing about him until
some day he comes into your store and asks
for live cents to get mug OF beer. You tho
good mother of household and all your
children rising up to call you blessed, can re-
member when you were quito jealous of the
belle Of the village who was so transcendly
fair aud popular But while you have these
two honorable and queenly names OK wife aud
mother, she became poor waif Of tL9street,
and went into the blackneSs OF darkness for
ever, Live life over again? Why il many
OF those who are now respectable were
permitted to experiment. the next
journey would be demolition You
got through, AK Job says, by the skin of the
teeth. Next time you might not get through
at all. Satan would say: II know him now
better than did before, and have for fifty
years been studying his weaknesses, and l
will weave stronger web Of circumstances 10
catch him next time" And Satan would
concenter his forces on this one man, and the
last state OF that man would ba worse than
the first. My friends, our faces are Ia the
right direction. Better go forward than
backward, even II we had the choice. The
greatest disaster l can think of would
lie for you to return 10 Loyhood in 1890. Oh,
II life were a smooth Luzerne or Cayuga Lake,
/ would like to get into yacht and sail over
1t, not ouce, but twice-yea, a thousand
times. But life is an uncertain sea, and
some OF the ships crash on the icebergs of
cold indifference, and some take fire OF evil
passion. and some lose their bearings and run
Into the skerriea. and some are never heard