Sharp County record., 1890-05-22

the laCL Iudb We EdfN ~ VS.
this road before, and every thing Is new
and we are alert for what may appear d.
the next turn of theroad. Suppose you
a man in mid-life OF old age, were WIN
vour present feelings and large attain
ments, put back into the tnlrt.ea'
or the twenties. or into the teens, VIVA.
q nuisance you would be to others, ana
what an unhappincss to yourself your
cotemporarics would not want you anu
Won would not want them. Thing' that
in YOUR previous journey of life stirred
vour healthful ambition, or gave you
Measurable surprise, or led you INTO
bannv interrogation, would only call
forth from you disguised "Oh, psha|'
You would be blase at thirty and mis-
anthrope at forty AMI unendur&5le 40
eftv, The most insane and stupid thing
jraciuablo would be a second journey
Of lie 1t is amusing 10 hear people
say: r, ..,
Il would like to live my life over
acain if I could take my present expert
once and knowledge of things back WLth
me and begin under those improved
auspices
WHY. what an uninteresting boy you
would be with your present attalnmenI5
in = cbild's mind. No one would want
such bov around the house; \ PM
losopher at twenty,a scientist at iltteen'
an arcbmolocist at ten, and domestic
nuisance all the time. An oak crowded
into an acorn. A Rocky mountain eagie
thrust back into the egg-sheH from
which he was Matched.
Besides that, if you took life over
again, you would have to take It's o'eP
sadnesses over again, Would you Wah'
to try again the crief5 and the heart
breaks and the bercayements through
which you have gone? What mercy
that we shall never be called to Suier
them acain. We may have others bad
enough, but those old ones never AGAIN
Would you want to 60 through the proc
ess of losing your father again, or your
mother again, or your companion III llIo
again, Or your child again? ltyou were
permitted to stop at the sixtlcth mile
stone. or the fiftieth milestone, or the
forticth milestone, and retrace your
steps to the twentieth, your experience
would be something like mine one day
last November in Italy. l walked
through great city with friend ana
two guides, and there were in all the
city only four persons, and they were
those of our own group. We went up .
and down the Streets we ent2reu VI7
houses the museums, the temples .Hg
theater3. We examined the wondeTLuL
nictures on the walls and the most eX-
auigita mosaics on the floor. In the
qtreets were the deep-WOrn ruJS oI
wagons. but not a wagon in the city Un
the front steps Of mansions the Wora
"Welcome," in Latin, but no human De-
ing to greet US. The only bones OF any
Ct the citizens that we saw were petrl-
fed and in the museum at the gates.
OF the thirty-fve thousand people who
once lived in those homes ard Worshlped
in those temples and clapped in thlA
iheaters not one left! For eigf -
bnrIJod years that City Of Pompeif Sd
been buried before modern exploration
scooped out of it the lava of Vesuvius.
Well, he who should be permitted to re-
turn on the pathway Of his early lie
and live it over again would find as
lonely and sad a pilgrimage. 1t would
be an exploration Of the dead past
The old school-house, the old church
the old home, the old playground either
zone Or occupied by others, and for you
more depressing than was our Pom
peiian visit in November.
Beside that, would you want to FISK
The temptations of life over again?
From the fact that You are here con-
,lude that though in many respects your
ife may have been unfortunate ana Un-
,onsccrated you have got on so 1ar toI-
,rablv we'll, if nothing more than toier-
.bIe, As for myself, though my Hfe
las been far from being as conSecrateu
q 7 would like to have had it. l would
rot want to try it over again, lest next
iroe would do worse. Why, just look
# the foundations we have all passed
brouub. and Just look at tho multltudes
who have gone completely under. just
all over the roll Of your school-mateS
md college-mates, the clerks VINO were
with YOU in the same store or BANK or
he opcratives in the same factory
with lust as good prospects as you, VINO
,ovo come to complete mishap Some
,or,c man that told you he was going
to he a millionaire and own the fastest
trotters on Westchester turnpike, and re-
tiro bv the time he was thirty-fiye years
of oco. YOU do not hear from for many
wears. and know nothing about him
until some day he comes into your store
and asks for five cents to get a mug Of
beer. You, the good mother OF house.
hold, and all your children rising up to
call YOU blessed, can remember when
YOU we're quito jealous Of the belle OF
the village, who was so transcendently
fair and popular. But while you have
these two honorable and queenly names
of wife and mother, she became a poor
waif of the street and went into the
blac|Incss of darkness forever.
Live lie over again? Why, If many
of those who are now respectable were
permitted to experiment, the next jour