The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-03-12
lone THOUGRTS

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Present Eaeli1eoA q ths Past
Some Excellent Advice.
New York Post: when you have
done the best your circumstances al-
low. ana acted according to what you
thought was your duty, you have moth
ing to do with unfortunate results"
This was the fxed and cheerful opinion
OF wise woman who had q fun share
Of disapolntmsnt to contend against Ia
her vigorous and often troubled life. It
had most encouraging eject upon her
husband and her household. and totally
banished from the family life those
splrit-killIng hours Of depressing retro
spectlon. in which men and women sit
with folded hands and wish they had
left something undons. or regret that
they have not done what was omitted.
Her cheerful voice always met her
husbands protestatlons Of regret for his
steps taken too hastily, or under obsti-
nately maintaIned deiuslons. with the
tone of encouragement Of an advancing
general at Is done now, dear let US
set to work to make the best Of It and
see II we can md our way out" Her
pleasant eyes always saw soma hilltop
in the distance on which the sunshine
fingered. AND she pressed forward with
a strong heart.
We are all too prone to mako sure
that our own or our neighbour mis-
takes have caused our Ills, when very
often there Is little real relation be-
tween cause and effect, and the evil
would have cropped up as surely in an
other atmosphere as in the one we have
made by choice. This is especially 50
in regard to our children. Their short
comlngs or evil tendencies we lay to the
school we chose for them, the compan-
lonshlps we allowed: the habit we had
not noticed has become hxed; the blunt
ed sense Of higher morality ID dulled.
and we had not realized that exasgera-
ton had increased to untruth, and the
endeavor to compass an end had fos-
tered deception.
We often encounter sad-eyed
mother who, while seeking advice for
some disappointing son, will tell, with
deep distress, that 1t was because he
learned evil In places where she had
chosen to put him, and self-accukaion
and a quenchless regret made her voice
pitifully tremulous. Yet had the same
child remained at her knee through all
his developing years and never felt the
friction Of schoolboy influence. nine
chances out of ten he would have turn
ed out exactly as dead to the obllga-
lions of moneyed responsibility.
The greatest care and study Of the
''best possible" often lands a family in
a home unsulted to its needs; the world
outside its walls Is not one that en-
courages mental OF physical health and
growth, the Interior arrangement prove
inadequate and beget expense. "n we
had only stayed where we were; II we
could only recall this false stepi" Alasl
false steps of this sort are not easily
retraced, and It is the waste Of every
vital force to roll the error and its re-
suits perpetually in the dust Of our dis
appointed way until 1t becomes to US a
sort Of monster Of iniquity.
Let us assume at once that, not find
Ing what we hoped, the times We
spend in looking for what is not there
Is purely wasted, as far as the first OBJ
tect Is concerned, and Is, besides, only
fruitful in engenderiug ill-tempers and
family gloom. Rather let every energy
arouse 10 discover the good which must
be latent in the situation, and to create
for ourselves what our surroundings do
not give us.
Very young married people are per-
haps the most likely to lay traps for
themselves by unwise choice Of a home.
"Such fine large house and so cheap"
While the young husband is delving
away at ''precedents" In his ONCE, or
rushing about In the furry Of an active
market, the girl-wife gaZes out over
wlntry fields and muddy roads, Wishing
that the vacant halls and wide and Sc
lent rooms could be narrowed into q
space in which she could not feel so
desperately alone. II thought you
liked your house so much?" ITO look
at, oh, yes; but to spend your days in
alone-don't speak Of the desolRteness
Of It! Bog and / were always togeth-
er when we chose It. never thought
what 1t would be to spend ten hours a
day in those big rooms, with no one to
speak to. My apartment now, IN town,
Is SO small that Bob says that there Is
not room enough for his overcoat, but
It Is perfectly delightful to me-" In
one variation or another, the uncon-
querable often meets the unschooled
housewife, even Of ripper years, and
there Is nothing to be done but to make
our plans OF life ut the groove in which
they must run and take unto ourselves
n new way to live. To look out OF the
windows Of our discomfort for that
which can never come is to deprive life |
OF its last chance Of happy develop
ment.
But there Is a deeper. sterner phase
OF regret which comes to many q Wo-
mans and to many a mans heart, the |
indulgence in which Is death to en-
deavor and a slow and sure destruc- |
ton Of usefulness and character. The
gay girl who pllghted her troth much
after the fashion in which she accepted |
a partner for a dance; the deeper |
hearted woman who finds she has loved |
what her own fancy created, and has
mistaken a fair white robe for pure
heart and q gracious manner for a |
noble nature, these and their congenerB |
stand face to face with terrible catas-
trophies, which threaten their own
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