The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1895-07-26
PATIENCE.
BY LADY COOK, NEE TENNESSEE c.
CLAFLIN.

degree than man, and this has been
one OF her compensations for long ages
OF servitude. 1t was necessary to her
to endure or die, and she has learnt
to endure. Yet in the face of all the
difficulties and trials which beset us
through life, the wrongs and injuries,
the diseases and disappointments
which are incidental to all, patience
is essential to every one, irrespective
of sex. We admire courage always,
but seldom admire passive fortitude.
But courage may be mere animal
instinct, and usually is, whereas
patience is high intellectual quality,
and is the fruit Of reason or religion.
Chaucer wrote in his "Persones Tale"
The Philosophers sayth that patience
is the virtue that suffereth debonairly
all the outrages of adversitee, and
every wicked word" What armour,
then, can be SO effectual against the
disasters of Fate as this God like gift
of enduring calmly2
The fretful, fussy individual is con.
temptible to others and misery to
himself. Whenever a woman is desti-
tute of this most womanly quality of
quiet endurance, nature or education
has robbed her of a distinguishing
virtue of her sex, and she becomes
one of those sour and querulous
creatures that are able to drive any
man from house and home unless he
has the patience of Job. Its cultiva-
ton, therefore, is of primary i'm
portance, and should begin at the
earliest stage of life. But when we
see how young infants are permitted
by the indulgence of foolish mothers
to defy them and their nurses, to
struggle and scream and kick in parox.
ysms of passion whenever they are
thwarted, and habitually disobey as
they become older, we need not
wonder that with such training they
should grow up without selfcOntrol
and be subject to criminal outbursts.
So long as parents neglect their duties
to their offspring, SO long will wretch
edness and vice roll on, and many a
man whose evil passions control him
would be tempted, if he knew all, to
curse the irrational fondness of the
mother who bore him.
The origin of our word denotes its
meaning; Patiens," suffering, or
learning, that is to say, calmly. We
have lost the old English verb "to
patient" which was in vogue down to
Shakespeare's time. "Patient your
self, Madam" says Titus Andronicus.
Ours is a sterling, solid word, which
has sustained its signihcation for ages,
and has seen good service in the life
of humanity. The martyrs for phi
losophy and religion, to say nothing
OF others, gave notable examples of
Its meaning when they cheerfully
endured all the agonies that tyrannous
intolerance could inhict upon them.
"The virtue of the best Pagans," says
Lecky in History of European
Morals" "was perhaps of as high an
order as that of the best Christians"
And the patience of Pagan philoso.
pliers under persecution was no way
inferior to that of the followers of the
Cross. Both have proved thousands
of times over how sublimely men and
women can suffer and die when sus-
tanned by this noblest of virtues.
" Pound the body of Anaxarchus for
thou dost not pound his SOUL" was
said to the tyrant of Cyprus by the
philosopher when brayed alive in a
stone mortar with iron hammers to
satisfy a mean revenge. "Follow
God" was one Of the most frequently
repeated of Platonic maxims. "A
God (what God know not dwells in
every good man." said Epictetus. And
Marcus Aurelius adds, "Offer to the
God that is in thee a manly being. a
citizen, soldier at his post, ready to
depart from life as soon as the trumpet
sounds" Another teaching of the
Stoics was "the duty Of the most abso-
lutte and unquestioning submission to
the DEGREES Of Providence" "To
weep, to groan, is to rebel" said
Seneca. "To fear, to grieve, to be
angry, is to be deserter," said Au
relius. Remember wrote Epicteus,
himself cripple, /" that you are but
an actor, acting whatever part the
Master has ordained. If he wishes
you to represent poor man, do so
heartily; If a cripple, or a magistrate,
or private man, in each case act
your part with honour. God does
not keep good man in prosperity.
He tries, He strengthens him, He
prepares him for Himself" When
Anaxagoras, the preceptor of Socrates,
Pericles, Euripides, and many other
famous pupils, was condemned to
death because Of scientific research,
he rldiculed the sentence, and said it
had long been pronounced upon him
by Nature. He refused to have his
corpse borne to his country, for said
he, "the road that leads TO the other
nF tl.a