The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1891-08-30
WHAT HE SAW.
Continuation Ntnth Pane.

But f1nally brave Harold rushes in fresh from
the hardships of camp life, as fair as a lily and
with hands as white and soft as q baby's.
Then the regulation stage embrace is per-
formed. After the first gushing hug is over
she pushes him of and holds him at arms
length and wonders IL it really is Harold. It
seems too good to be true. Finally she is re-
assured, or IL she entertains any doubts as to
his real identity, is thoroughly satisfied with
the substitute, and with a spasmodic Jerk
clasps him again to her bosom. Then they go
off the stage, hand i'm band, talking OF the
blissful, roseate future till they reach the
wings when they take up their bitter quarrel
at the exact point where they were inter
rupted by their respective cues.
Billy the immortal bard, wasn't so far from
the truth, after all, when he compared this old
world OF ours to huge stage and made the
inhabitants thereof the actors. We all lead at
least two lives, one for the audience aud one
Tor the privacy of the wings. There are
plenty of Harolds and Edenias who are con-
siderate, polite, and affectionate while In view
OF the audience, but the moment the wings of
home hide them they are surly, selfish aud
thoroughly disagreeable On the contrary the
william in public may be, in his home life,
a loving husband and an indulgent father
The noble hero before the audience becomes
the detestable sneak in private; the simple
chorus girl on the stage may be the verlest
heroine at home. The stage comedian may
be the home tragedian, and the public banker
the private pauper thus we act in public,
and lige in private.
By consulting my dairy find that our
second day in London was Friday, July 4.
With the exception of the Stars and Stripes
ho1sted over the American Legation Building,
the American Exchange, and few American
business houses, there is nothing to indicate
that this is our national holiday. Smith and
feel patriotic, but go sightseeing as usual.
July 4th, 1888, l was on the City OF Rome
bound for New York about four DAYS from
Liverpool. The majority of the passengers
We're Americans and Englishmen, the number
being about equal. The day was fine and the
Americans decided to celebrate the glorious
Fourth in an appropriate manner. We
couldn't expect the English gentlemen to
| JOIN us IN commemoratiDg day upon which
| we begged them to mind their own business
and gave notice that in the future we would
| run our affairs without their assistance: nor
| indeed were we at all sure that our exercises
| would not be positively offensive to them.
| Not wishing to be obnoxious, we instructed
| the orator we had selected for the occasion,
| to avoid all personal illusions and direct re-
marks.
! Our speaker was a large-iawed, mild-eyed,
| sandy-ha1red, Notwithstanding individual,
| and when he arose to deliver his oration he
seemed awkward and i'll at ease. He prefaced
| his remarks with few preliminary GESTURES
| such as toying with his stubborn whiskers,
| first standing on one foot and then on the
other, thoughtfully scratching his head,
| plunging his hands into his pockets, opening
ms mouth as II to begin several times, when
| finally he delivered himself of something like
| the following lucid and impersonal speech
! ''Gentlemen and ladies: AS L have been re-
quested TO say few words appropriate for this
occasion, | will therefore confine my re-
Fourth of July. We are told by a
| sublime writer that short is the race from
| the cradle to the grave, and this being true
existence must necessarily be brief. How
true it is, dear friends, that in the language of
| w da,,1f ,;,,sl,
| now able to quote his words, but, be this as
| 1t may, more enobling sentiment was never
uttered. Oh! my fellow citizens, when
think OF our glorious country, so full of
promise and withal SO young, say, when |
think OF the home of the brave and the land
OF the free, my thoughts instinctively turn to
America. In this connection might exclaim
with the poet, SIC semper tyrdnnis. What a
beautiful thought How full of hope 1t
| comes like thief in the night to lift UP the
fallen and to cheer the faint. But why should
we be sad Yes, my countrymen, why should
| we be sad? If we go through life enshrouded
in gloom, with hearts bowed down with grief
and never ray of sunshine to brighten ex-
attended by as much rejoicing as it other
wise might have been. Then let us
ever keep before us the precious thought
that in our happiest moments we are,
comparatively speaking, free from misery.
But while this is true we should not lose sight
of the equally potent fact that when misery is
present, happiness, alas, has too often taken
its departure. l heartily agree with the
Melancholy Dane when he aptly remarks
TO be, or not to be; that is the question, :
and this being true, there is no doubt in my
mind that the proper punctuation is the mark
OF interrogation. But why should / dwell
longer on a theme that, consider it in what
ever light we may, proves but one thing and
that being already proved it would only be re,
peating to prove it again. All as l recall my
old home with its dear associations, my pa
tient mother and Industrious father, my
brothers and sisters, the old well, the green
fields, the shady grove, and other familiar
scenes of my early life, my thoughts go back
unbidden to the days of my childhood. Their
let every one of us take fresh courage and
push onward and upward, and it WILL sooner
or later, be evident that we are advancing anC
ascending. Never put off till tomorrow wha
you can do to-day and you will then never de
fer till the future what might have been ac
complished in the present. If life is short i
is also brief and what is neglected in ou
earthly career will never be attended to dur
ing our mortal existence. So might 90 on
; but did i continue | would not cease. How
ever, If we are in the possession of perfec
health we also enjoy, be it said to our credit
an immunity from those mortal disorders tina
! so often prove fatal. On the other hand cal
we not say, forsooth, without fear of success
, full contradiction, that where organic dis
: | ease is present the normal physlologiea
, functions of the systems are more or less dis
, , turbed. But in these degenerate modern day
in which the almighty dollar is the main OF
ject in life we cannot but observe cases wher
the acquisition of riches seems to be the chic
aim of existence
VEha IN