Owingsville outlook. [volume] (Owingsville, Ky.) 1879-192?, 1898-07-21

VI. IL
you would not want them. Things
that in your previous journey of life
stirred your hcalthful ambition or
gave YOU rlcasurahle surprise, or led
you into happy Interrogation, would
only call forth from you a disguised
'Oh, pShaw." You would bc bias, M
80, and a misanthrope at 40. and
uncomfortable ut 30. The most inanc
and stupid thing IMAGINABLE would
oc second journey of life. Ii is
amusing To hear people say: Il would
like To- live my life over again, If
could take my present experience and
knowledge of things back with me and
begin under those improved auspices :"
Why. what an uuintcrcsting boy YOU
would he with your present attain
ments IN a child'S mind. No one would
want such IA boy around the hou,e--a
philosopher at 20, scientist at IL an
hrchacolngist at 10 aud domestic
nuisance all the time An oak
crowded into an acorn. A Rocky
mountain eagle thrust back into the
egg she'll from which it was matched.
BESIDES that, if you took life over
again you would have to take its deep
sadncsscs over again. Would You want
To try again the griefs and the heart.
breaks AMI the bercavemcnts through
which y'u have gone? What a mercy
| that we shall never he called to suffer
them again! We may have others bad
enough, but those old ones never
again. Would YOU want to go through
the process of losing your father
again. of your mother again,
or your companion in life again,
or Your child again? Ii YOU were
| permitted tn stop at the sixtieth mile
stone, or the tfticth milestone, or the
fortieth milestone. and rctracc Your
| steps to the twentieth, your expcri-
ence would he something like mine.
one November day in Italy. walked
through great city with friend and
two guides and there were in all the
city only four persons, and they were
those of our own group We went
up and down the streets; we en-
tered the houses, the museums.
the temples. the theatcrS We en-
amined the wonderful pictures on the
wall, and the most exquisite mosaic
on the floor. In the streets were the
| deep-worn rut> of wagons. but not a
wagon in the city. On the front steps
of mansions the word welcome" in
Latin, but no human being To greet
Us. The only bodies of any of the
citizens that we saw were petr ii I'd
| and in the museum at the gates. OF
the $4,000 people who once lived
in those homes and worshipei in
those temples and clappcd in those
| thcatcrs. not one left, For /. 500 years
that city of Pompeii had been buried
before modern exploration scooped
out of it the lava of Ncsuvius Well
he who should he permitted To return
on the pathwa- OF his earthly life and
live it over "a ain would find rs lonely
and sad a pilgrimage. 1t would be an
exploration of the dead rast. The old
schoolhou>c, the old church, the old
home, the old playground, either gone
or occupied by others, and for YOU
more depressing THAI was our Pompe-
iian visit that November day
| Besides that, would you want TO risk
the temptations of life over again?
From the fact that you are here con-
clude that, though in many respects
your life may have been unfortunate
and unconsecrated, you have got on So
far tolerably we'll, if nothing more
than tolerablc. AS for myself, though
my life has been far from being as
consecrated to God As l would like to
have had it, l would not want to try
it over again, lest next time l would
| do worse
| Why, just look at the temptations
we have all passed through, and just
look ut the multitudes who have gone
Tr.ompie teiy under! just call over the
roll of your schoolmates and college
mates, the clerks who were with you
in the same store or bank, or the oper-
atives in the same factory, with just
as good prospects as you, who have
come to complete mishap. Some young
man that told ycu that lie was
going to be millionaire and
own the fastest rotters on the
turnpike, and retro by the time he
was S5 years of age, You do not hear
from him for many years, and know
nothing about him until some day he
comes into your store and asks for five
cents to get mug of beer.
You, the good mother of a house
hold, and all your children rising up
to call you blessed, can rem, Der
when you were quite jealous of the
belle of the village, who was so trans
cendently fair and popular. But while
you have these two honorable and
| queenly names of wife AMI mother
she became poor wafe of the street,
and went into the blackness of
darkness forever. Live life over
again? Why, if many of those who
are respectable were permitted to en-
pertinent the next journey would be
demolition. You get through. as job
says, by the skin of your teeth. Next
time you might not get through at all
Satan would say: Il know him now
better than did before, and have for
80 years been studying his weaknesses,
and l will weave a stronger web of CIR
cumstances to catch him next time =
And Satan would concentrate hi forces
on this one man, and the last state OF
I tehieat-pan would be worse than the
first NY frierds, our faces are in
the right direction. Better 20 for
ward than backward, even # we had
the choice. The greatest disaster |
can think of would be for you to re-
turn to bovhood in 1898. On, if life
were a smooth Luzerne or Cavuga lake
| would like to get into yacht and
sail over it. not once, but twiee-yea,
a thousand times. But life is an un-
certain sea, and some of the ships
crash on the icebcrgs of cold indiffer-
ence. and some take fire of evil pas
sions, and some lose their bearings
and run into the Goodwin sands, and
some are never heard of. Surely on
such treacherous sea as that one
voyage is enough.
Besides all this, do you know, il you
could have your wish and live life over
again. 1t would put you so much far.
Their from reunion with your friends in
Heaven? II you are in the noon OF
life, or the evening of life, you are not
very far from the golden gate at which
you are to meet your transported and
emparadised loved ones You are now,
let us say, 20 years, or 10 years, or one
year off from celestial conjunction.
Now, suppose you went back in your