Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1895-02-05
A PLACE FOR REST.
Bill Arp Says He Has Found Il Down
In Florida.
He 10 Making the Most OF II. foo-Bili Il
Rsveiing In Rest Up to HIS Neck-A
Party Goes Fishing, Bat
Catches No klsh.
The pious poet wrote.


Rest for the weary soul?"
The happy-hearted Tom Moore wrote:
Sweet vale Of Avoca-how calm could I
rest
In thy bosom of shades with the friends
l love best"
Everybody wants rest--rest from care
snd apprehension-rest from pain or over
Pope says:
All the joys Of sense
Lie In three words-health. peace and
competence"
1t looks like we all hare q natural right
to these, and 1t Is our fault IL we do not
possess and enjoy them. If a inan is pru-
dent he will have health. If he is kind
hearted he viii have peace. If he is fru-
gal and industrious he will have a coDpe-
tence. There are many things that war
against these virtues. A man may in
herit disease or fall in the way of pcsti-
lence. Quarrelsome nabors may destroy
his peace. Thieves or robbers or fire may
take away his competence, but these are
exceptions. The rule is still the same.
In the great majority of cases the man
rho il not happy has himself to blame. If
1t were not so We would have more pity for
the unfortunate. Unconsciously we har-
Dor the belief that they brought misery
upon themselves and 90 we say il they
danced they must pay the fiddler. l was
talking to sn old friend from Baltimore
about this and we both agreed that the
most universal cause of misery was ILL
assorted marriages. Ny friend has trav-
eled in Europe for many years and has
been a close observer of the manners and
customs and domestic life of different
nations, and says that wherever the
mating of young people is done by the
parents the unions are more happy than
when they mate themselves. Among the
peasantry of Germany and France it is
universal for the parents to make the
match and they do it SO judiciously that
IN nine cases out Of ten Ii results in
domestic happiness. In no other country
did he find such filial respect and obedi-
enee and such kind. considerate regard
between husband and wife. The do
mestic life of the French and the German
peasartry n perfectly beautiful, said he
How is 1t In this country! OF 100 mar
tiagcs, how many may be called na2py,
congenial and well advised? Look
arsGnd among your readers and count.
How many runaways, how many di-
vorees, how many grass widows, how
man. srisides. how many drunken or un.
faithful husbands, how many opium eat
ing wives, how many who would separate
if it were not for the children or for fear
of talk or scandal? When you trim
them all down to real happy marriages
1t will be like the cynical old preacher
who said that "out of every hundred
members of :he church fifty joined on a
boom or to please their parents or the
preacher; twenty-five Joined to advance
their worldly interests-the remainder
Joined out of conscientious conviction,
but of the whole hundred not more than
fifteen are Jealous, consistent working
members. This is about the average
of every Christian church in this country
and this 10 per cent preserves the church
and saves it from disintegration, just like
ten righteous men would have saved Sod
ON. They keep alive its charities and
move its missionary work and set their
light upon a hill and so establish good
government and extend civilization. This
15 per cent of processing Christians are
nevertheless the hope of sinful world"
just so there are, perhaps, not more
than Is per cent. Of real happy mar
riages, but there are enough to illumi-
nate the married state and set 1t up be-
fore mankind as -he highest deal Of
human happiness.
And so Bob and I ruminate and ex-
patiate and speculate on human happi-
ness just like We had an idea of reform
ing mankind and making everybody hap
py. We would if we could, but We can't;
young people will continae to be fools and
marry in haste and repent at leisure.
Robert McCay is my old college mate.
II sfa a.
with us here and it amuses the young
people to see him and get close together
on the veranda and with our feet on the
ballusters and our pipes in our mouths
talk and talk and smile and talk agaiE
We have already been over our college
days with their hallowed memories. We
have lamented the dead and counted the
living on our fingers. Robert is brother
of our old Professor Charles McCay. He
and his wife recently returned from their
travels and like the hunted hare have
gotten back to their old haunts and are
seeking their old-time friends. 1t is an
instructive pleasure to hear them tell Of
Berlin and Leipsic and Strassburg and
Florence and Rome-imperial Rome
where the best people of all civilized ma
tions congregate. 1t Is the Mecca of all
Christendom. 1t Is studying ancient and
modern history without a book to listen
to them and tell of ruins and paintings,
and sculpture and the manners and Gus
toms of the people. We have a happy
family. All of its members came here
to rest-to renew their vital fooees and
to escape the hard winters Of the Pied
mont region. The northern blizxards, like
the comet, still switch their icy tails
around this way. No more freezes have
visited us, but fire is comfortable at morn
and night. lly wife and and Mr.. and
Mrs. McCay are the patriarchs-the bal
ance wheel of the household. The young
folks want to run away with the wagon
sometimes, and we have to hold them
down. Mrs. Henry Grady is here with
her children, and she holds the fort
quietly between the old folks and the
young. She is . smart, graceful woman
and noble mother. Then there is Mrs.
Hill, niece of "ou1 Ben," tired, over
worked teacher In the public schools Of
Atlanta. She came here for rest, and it
has renewed her youth. / wish that all
the tired female teachers could spend
their winter vacations here. The men
have built their retreat on Cumberland
island, but the women have none. There
are no class of people in the State who
have % much responsibility upon them
IS the female teacher, and no class that
are 30 faithful to the trust. Then We
have an invalid maiden from Virginia
the liveliest and loveliest Of all our fam
lily. 1t would take. u whole college of
1ocfors to fall when or vrhoro MI. Anr;