Year: 1875

dren, in whom the ihdelible trace of some


early disappointment is that one name is


never mentioned, one set of associations
tentirely put aside. He is good fellow


a cheerful fellow too; he has taken up the


fragments of his life and made the very


best of them Yet sometimes you feel


that the life would have been more COM
lplete, the character more nobly developed,
if the man had had his hearts desire and


married his first love.


Which nobody does, they ayAcertainly


almost nobody; yet the world wags on


and everybody seems satisfied, at least in
public; nay, possibly in private too, for
time has such infinite power for healing
or hiding. There is nothing harder than
a lava stream grown cold.


Those of us who have reached middle
age without dropping-who would ever
drop?-thc ties Of our youth move about
encircled by dozens of such secret his
tories, forgotten by the outside world
half forgotten perhaps, by the very actors
therein-with whom we, the spectators,
had once such deep sympathy. Now we
sometimes turn and look at face which
we remember as a young face, alive with
all the passion of youth, and we marvel
to see how commonplace it has grown
reddening cozily over good dinner. or
sharp and eager over business greed :;
worn and wrinklcd with nursery cares, or
sweetly smiling in a grand drawing-roon,
ready to play its
! petty part


With little hoard of maXims preaching
down daughters heart:


sort of gathering up Of fragments which
those who are weak enough or strong
enough still to believe IN love will think
far worse than any scattering,


The young will not believe us when we
| tell them that their broken hearts may be
mcnded-ought to be, since life is too
precious a thing to be wasted over any one
woman, or man either. 1t is given us to
be made the most of, and this whether we
ourselves are happy or miserable. The
misery will not last; the happiness will,
| if only in remembrance. No pure Joy,
however fleeting, contains any real bit
terness, even when it is gone by.


But time only will teach this. AT first
there is nothing so overwhelming as the
despair of youth, which sees neither be-
fore it nor behind; refuses to be laughed
ont of, Or preached out of, its cherished
woe, which it deems amatter Of conscience
to believe eternal.


1t will not be eternal; but best not to say
so to the sufferer Best to attempt neither
argument nor consolation, only substitu-
ton. Hard work, close study, sudden
plunge into the serious business of life,
that the victim may find the world con
tains other things besides love, is the
wisest course to be suggested by those
long suffering, much abused beings, par
ents and guardians. Love is the best
thing-few deny that; but life contains
many supplementary blessings too; hon
orablc ambition, leading to a success
well earned and well used, to say moth
ing of that calm strength which comes
into a young mans heast when he has
fought with and conquered fate by first
conquering himself, the most fatal fate
of all.


Commonplace preaching this. Every
body has heard it. Strange how seldom
anybody thinks of acting upon it! In the
temporary madness of disappointment
poor fellow will go and wreck his whole
future, and when afterward he would fain
build up new life, alas! there is no ma
terial left to build with.


Therefore it is the duty of those older
and wiser, who, perhaps, themselves have
waded through the black river and landed
safe on the opposite shore, to show him
that it is not as deep as it seems and that
it has an opposite shore. He may swim
through with the aid of a stout heart and
an honest spect-self respect, not
selfishness-for the most selfish creature
alive is young man in love, except
toward the young woman he happens to
lesson of life-bitter but wholesome-is
taught to a young man by a love disap-
pointment.


Not so with women, they being in this
matter passive not active agents. So few
girls are "in love" nowadays, so many
setupon merely getting married, that con-
fess to secret respect for any heart which
has in it the capacity of being broken"
Not that it does break unless the victim is
too feeble physically to fight against her
mental suffering; but the anguish is sore
at the time There is no cure for it ex
oept one, suggested by a little girl l
know, who, with the innocent passion of
six and half adorcd certain "beautiful
Charlie' of nineteen. Some one suggested
that Charlie would marry and cease
to care for her "Then should be so un-
happy" sighed the sad little voice. "What
if he married wife he was very fond of,
and who made him quite happy-would
you be unhappy then? "No," was the
answer, given after slight pause, which
showed this conclusion was not come to
without thought-"no, | would love his
wife, that's ALL"


The poor little maid had jumped by in
stinct, womanly instinct, to the true secret
of faithful love-the love which desires,
above all, the good of the beloved, and
therefore learns to be brave enough to
look at happiness through another's eyes,


This is the only way by which any girl
can take up the fragments of a lost or un-
requited affection; by teaching herself,
not to forget it-that is impossible-but to
rise above i. until the sting is taken out
of her sorrow and it becomes gradually
transformed from slow poison into a bit
ter but wholesome food.


Besides, though the suggestion may
seem far below the attention Of poetical
people, there are such things as fathers
and mothers, brothers and sisters, and
other not undeserving relations, to whom
1.-THE of the affection wasted upon some
possibly only half-deserving young man
would be a priceless boon. And so long
as the world endures there will always be
abundance of helpless, sick and sorrowful
people calling on the sorrow-stricken one
for aid, and ready to pay her back for all
she condescends to give with that grateful
affection which heals q wounded heart
better than anything work.


Work! work. work! That is the grand
panacea for sorrow, and, mercifully, there
is no end of work to he done In this world,
if anybody will do it. Few households
are so perfect in their happy selfcontain