Year: 1860

Gratitude.


There is no emotion of tho heart which


pays such sweet and lasting happiness as
the exercise of gratitude. Often in life w
are weariod and depressed in spirit, and fol
time the world looks dull and leaden t.


US; but when nature can scarcely support


the despondency that affects US, and tn,
last feather seems about to be placed or


the load We carry, crushing US under it,
inexorable weight, we suddenly meet a


poor creature, deprived of limb or reason,
sick, in distress, either from imprudencc OF
accident borne down with Affections t


which ours are but mole hills, and at once


we yield to that grateful monitor, which
pours into the heart Of the humblest o


Gods children the balm of thankfulness
that our condition is far preferable.
Some writer has said that, our first sen.
sation on seeing the distress of others is q
sort Of "Glad of it!" But we do not
think SO meanly Of human nature 1t is
bad enough we know, but it is not so ut.
terly abandoned to icyness of heart
When house is burnt or neighbor killed,
We think, "Thank Heaven! it is not who
is suffering this loss or this torture."-
Throughout all the tolls of life, this senti.
ment comes to our relief, and it is exceed
ingly consoling. We have seen the kind
est hearted persons in the world suffering
mental or physical prostration, who would
rally, under the stimulant of bad news of
others, and devoutly bless the Giver of all
good that it was not their fate to be so ter.
ribly afflicted.


Even an Editor has many things to BE-
grateful for. His life is one of toll and
anxiety. His readings are not of that
pleasureable sort which he enjoys who
reads for mere amusement. His writings
are usually weighed carefully that he may
do no one injustice, and that he may con-
tribute to the general sum of human happi.
ness. We speak, of course, of that class
of editors to whom Malignity is not daily
food, and for whom the abuse of private
character is not afeast-such hyena- like ami
mails have been badly educated, or roughly
handled in life, and despairing of ever
making reputation Of their own, they
derive pleasure, suited to their natures,
from the mis- construction of the motives of
others, and the attribution of baseness to
all whom their unfortunate hearts teach
them to envy.


These pitiablc wretches, in respectable
society, are like the damned would be if
admitted to the grandeur and purity of
Elysium; they see in their social sur
round'ngs so %qsh %9 tG sregroafh NJ them mo&&a5 &&a5
hearts, that the reverse of gratitude is ne
cessarily the animating principle with them,
and hence no one, however irreproachable,
can escape the venom which their fangs
weekly or daily eject. True, the intended
poison is harmless, when the nature of the
animal is exposed and the antidote of In
difference is applied. Community soon
measures the reptile, and places it in its
proper class, to be spoken Of only with the
loathing which all creatures of that char
acter naturally excite.


But this article has far outrun our in
tended space, and we must drop the inter-
esting theme. We, too, have our seasons
Of gratitude; times when the heart swells
up with thankfulness. A residence of sew
eral years in the State of Iowa, engaged in
business which has required the express
sion Of opinions, on almost every conceiva-
bic subject, often in conflict on private and
political topics with our readers-has earned
us SO little ill-will that we rarely have occa-
sion to notice its exhibition. When there
is yelp behind us, it is so bitterly per.
sonal and notoriously false that no credit is
attached to it anywhere, and VIC are ena.
bled to say, as Uncle Toby did to the fly,
"Go, poor devil, there is room enough in
the world for me and thee p