Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1893-12-22
THE PAIN OF ANXIETY
THE BAT WINGS OF TROUBLES WHICH
COME IN THE QUIET NIGHT.

All who survive childhood feel the grip
of anxiety at some time and under some
form, for If man be not anxious from
care and business he will be anxious
about his pleasures and indulgences.
Anxiety is as searching as the east wind
it pierces into the marrow of our bones.
finds out weak spot, and chlls it only
to inflame it into fever-an intermittent
fever however. Intense anxiety is hardly
consistent with persistent i'll fortune
Resignation mild despair-comes to
the relief of the man constantly cast down
by i'll luck, and he ceases to kick against
the pricks. Hoping nothing, expecting
nothing, he fears little. The essence of
anxiety is feversh hope; its quintes
sence, IA sickening fear. The atmosphere
of anxiety is uncertainty its food, sus
pense. 1t carries keen chsel and carves
mems countenances into more wrinkles
than all tie greater passions put together,
while its acid bites into their minds, leav-
ing channels into which fear will run so
long as their lives last
Though man may be so fenced about
that for himself he need entertain no anx-
iety yet if he be of any magnanimity of
soul anxiety will creep into it for the 81 Ike
of others In vain does man try to f re.
cast the object of his doubt. While watch
ing the east, in all probability his dread
enemy will be stealing upon him from the
west. If he looks to the north, behold his
fear has found him out, creeping upon him
from the south, or he may teach cause
for anxiety to appear by dreading it, for
courage to overcome devourng fear of
the future is as necessary as putting on "A
bold front in the presence of wild beast.
This is one reason why it should be rs
much as possible repressed. Another and
stronger one why it should be zealously
guarded against is that it clouds and
dims the mind as fasting or i'll food sub
dues the body. And so we become open
to an infection, capable of i'll thoughts,
weak enough to entertain sick suspicious,
which would gain no admittance in
healthier state of being.
An anxious night-who has not passed
itP For anxieties, like bats, fly best by
night AS the twilight falls, how insid-
iously an anxiety fits into the mind,
scarcely troubling us at first; still it is
there. BY and by, as the cleaning deep
ems into darkness, the creature brushes
past our face and rouses us with start
to "a sense of its presence, filling us with
nameless dread. We coax ourselves into
doze only to be awakened to a con
seriousness that the vampire has settled
and is sucking our lifeblood. No more
sleep for us. We toss and tumble from
side to side the fitting bat wings of the
trouble and our signs the only sounds
disturbing the darkness. Now is the time
for an eXorcism. We try it, and listen
fearfully All is still Has the enemy de
parted? For 10 painting seconds we be-
lieve it has, till sudden sinking of the
heart-a sudden thrush of thoughts and
fears that kindle fears, ian indistinguish-
able throng warns us to put aside all
vain notions of reprieve, all hope of re-
lease for this one while. We have com
pared troubles to bats, and when bats
have once entered II room they are diff
cult of dislodgment, despite drivings to
and fro, beatings up and down; they
swoop silently and uninjured from wall
to wall, just managing to elude their pur
suer
An open window and light outside is
a better remedy than all the butfetings
within the house; so to open the window
of our mind and let our anxiety fit out
into the light of another mans under
standing, to tell our fearful anticipatons
to a friend is more likely to bring relief
than the battering of it up and down in
our dark and ruflled minds.
A man may he anxious by habit, or by
temperament, or, still oftener, by igno
rance, and all these things, like mist, by
confusing the outline of an object mag
Nifty it. When man has suffered anXi
city silently and, as the event proves,
needlessly, he draws II long breath and
dismisses it wholly from his mind He
was mistaken, that was all. But should
his anxiety have been aroused by another
needle,sly he feels himself at liberty to de
spise his representations henceforth-
without, however, suffering his opinion of
his own wisdom to be impaired by "A per
haps similar error of judgment. But then
no one but himself knew of his mistake,
and we live so much in what we think to
be other peoples opinion of us that what
they do not know is comparatively easy
for us to forget. Many nourish a secret
dread of naming fear lest whispered
word may bring it-like an avalanche,
unsettled by breath-down upon their
heads. Others, impatient of suspense,
unable to wait with steady nerves to pay
their debt in due season, hurry the toll
into the reluctant hand of the grim col
lector; of these are suicides 1t is not de
spair certainty - that unnerves man,
events inclining now this way and now
that, until the balance of the strained and
anxious mind is lost.
Yet it is exactly the mingling of hope
and fear that forms the most powerful
stimulant to energy and exertion of which
human nature is capable. Under its in
Guence men are goadad 10 excel them
selves. Nay more without it the joys OF
life would be robbed Of half their poign
ancy Who is it, think you, that relishes
the desire fulfilled like the man who has
experienced hope deferred? There is no
one object on which our mipAls are greatly
set from which all spice Of y Xiety can be
completely hanished The Indian shoot
ing the rapids in his frail canoe feels it,
and it adds Il thrill Of pleasure to his senst
of the audacity OF his venture. The states
man perorating to the house on n question
by which his cabinet is prepared to stand
or fall feels it running, tingling, through
his veins, adding fire to his imagination.
lending eloquence to his tongue. The gam
bier is so.enamored of its power to brace
up his relaxed and overstimulated nerves
that to its delirious enjoyment he will sac
ri1ce state and station, mankind s and his
I own Steem and think thp madness chem