The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1894-05-24
REvERrEs OF A SMOKER.

NE tEHfES OF "A SMOkEk.
While the pipe holds out to burn, q
thousand fanciss wait their turn, o
smoke. o holy smokel (and we apostro-
phise thee; not in idle, ribald slang, but
with loving reverence). Thou wreath'st
thy blue rings round the lips Of care. and
they complain no more. What gentle,
loving philosophy thou dost teach. How
pleasantly thou gridest our fancy by the
lastly flowing waters. through that land
where al exertion is forbidden, and mans
whole duty 10 but to enjoy himself.
Happy thought: This idea Of duty
strictly constitutional.) Methinks thy
name might have been something softer,
and more in keeping with thine own
sweet spirit, 0 Nicotine. There is much
in . name-in q word. What strange,
weird things words are. Not to be de-
spised, even the little ones. What do
they not express 10 Us Of the boarded
wisdom and experience of countless
years. Years made up Of moments, each
one Of which has Its tale behind It.
When we think Of words in this way how
instinct with life they seem. How much
they give us In how small = bulk. 1t
helps Us to realize what mere specks we
are. As in mass Of burning paper, when
the fame has gone, the sparks fit fussily
about, for an instant or two playing hide
and seek among its charred inequalities.
They are undying, compared with our
transitory appearance on the stage. And
yet what an aggregation OF experiences
can we not, each of US, read into word
Hopes and fears, JOYS and sorrows--
pregnant words all. Repeat the indi-
vidual letters, aud how much less than
nothing do they spell out. But try to
think Of very little Of all that they stand
for-Hope. Harkl away back to the
earliest appearance Of hope. Young Pan
dora opened the fatal box--"At once ten
thousand ills escape and naugbt is left
but hope"
Fair Dora! We pardon thee thy wo-
manly curiosity, for, lacking it, thou
would'st have been less than woman.
And yet do we wish that thou had'st
shut to the lid ere that ugly demon Hard
times got out. Present ills are ever
hardest to bear, and We feel well assured
thst Of all that misshapen crew not one
compared In unmitigated, unrelieved
hideousness with that same scurvy Hard
times. Happy thought: One Of greatest
pleasures In life TO abuse anything or
anybody one dislikes.) We remember
when first il was borne in on us that the
truth concerning this matter had been
lost sight of. We had heedlessly strsyed
into the den Of local editor, and, casting
our eyes on the wall, we saw an etching
done in sepia. II was the fair young
bride OF Epimethius. We recognized her
at once, and gave her blessing instead Of
cursing. There she knelt on the lid OF the
great oak box, onto which she had leaped,
prompt to retrieve her error. Her hands
grasped the edge OF the lid, her fairly
rounded young arms were straining 1t
downwards. Each curve of her Youthful
figure instinct with energy, and the
tense, splendidly determined expression
Of her face gave assurance that she would
succeed. Happy thought: II We had
only been there to collar the ills and
slam them back into the box. and y
We saw the truth of it in an instant,
but the artistic soul that had freed truth
from the superintendent rubbish OF
ages was that OF young girl, sister
Of the scissors wielder. The soulless
sceptic may scof at this, and, with mas
culine brutality, aver that Pandora was
frightened out Of her poor wits. That,
giving one wild scream, and covering her
sapphire eyes with her white fingers, she
fed the scene, while hope remained Of
her own accord, and was subsequently
ct great pains to find the wretched girl
and persuade her that things were not
hopeless after all. But the sceptic knows
not lovely, inconsistent woman. Scared
into helpless imbecility by an inoffensive
mouse twhen she herself alone is in dam
ger, and that danger exists but in her
imaginatien), let the danger be real and
threatening others as well as herself les
pecially II they be those she loves), and
how rapid, how unerring her intuition.
She does not think; thought is too slow.
In fash the whole position is before
her and she has OWNED the remedy.
And, having OWNED it, faster than flies
the levin bolt she leaps to the doing Of it,
and 1t is done. And then (lest display
Of intelligence and power 30 superior TO
mans might arouse in his dark breast
the jealousy to which he is 50 pitifully
prone) how sweetly and suddenly she re-
lapses into hysterical, appealing weak
ness. o womanl When most womanly
thou art most artful-unconsciously at
times il may well be. For generations Of
habitude have developed in thee that
wonderfully sympathetic combination OF
the physical and the psychical which
laughs TO scorn the understanding OF
man. Thou hast reached a plane on
which he may not not hope to walk with
thee.
But we are forgetting hope, bright-eyed
nope, who has never forgotten US, and. in
spite of every iniidelity, returns to bless
US with tenderness which passes that Of
woman and is all divine. Image Of the
eternal, how far back can we not follow
thee9 Away beyond the much-dowered
masterpiece Of Hephestus TO that dim
dawn when heaven and earth, emerging
from chaos, came together and earth's
first hope was fulfilled. What luminous