Year: 1876

We have letters from correspondents at all
places of Summer resort, and all OF them have
the same sad burden. The grandeur or tie
sea, or the solemn mountains, the comfort OF
the ideal farm house, trOut-iiShlng, surf-bath-
ing all end in the one wrechCd Iamentati0n-
the mosquitoes. The long-continucd southerly
winds have bred and brought them up out OF
the swamps of the coast and inland rycr-bOt-
toms into towns and country Moth
ing but nor'-easter will drive them back.
Nature owns the only cure for them; art and
science may hold the lightnings in check, but
fhey can do nothing against mosquitoes. lhe
most noticeable point about them, too, is the
kind OF people who yield to them. 1t Is not
only the babes and sucklings of humanity the
foolish or ignorant, who lose temper, sell
control. and happiness before the buzz-z of this
least of all tolmenterS, but sensible practical
fellows statesmen, Young and old, Wise ana
unwise. There are certain class who can
bring tremendous force OF reSlS&ncc-phlloS-
ophy or Christianity-to bear against great
criefs, or Goods chartered Judgments" who
are completely put to the rOut by the petty
stings of mosquitoes and such inapprcciabie
annOyances. Natures cxccllences-mOney, COM
fort. wife or sweetheart beside them. the babe
on their knee, the consultations of rehglon-So
for nothing. They are deaf to everything but
the exasperating buzz of the miserable pest,
blind to all the beauty of the world and OF
art and only use their eyes to peer into the
darkness to find their insignificant tOrmentor.
When they go home from their holidays, they
have not "A word to say of any chances of
pleasure they have had but are eloquent on
their sleepess nights and tormented days.
One meets these martyrs by the dozen every
day, bitten and wrctrhed, and thinks them
ill-conditioned silly fellows, simply because
his mosquitoes are not those with resonant
wings which lily by night.


We have our own special gnattish foes,
however each of us. Our next-dOor neighbor
has her cook and chambermaid her husband
finds his stiligs in the ups aud downs of a
certain shaky stock Our friend the poet Is
tortured by every newspaper critic who thrusts
a poisoned nib into his self-conceit this mans
life is a weanmcss because OF the gnawlngS OF
a dyspeptic stomach that woman's gowns and
hats are q burden heavier to carry than Chris
tian's load of sin. These moral mosquitoes
hide themselves in no marsh or meadow they
abide with us night and day. We fix our
whole thought on them-whimper, gr0wl
about them the year round. What matters it
TO lis that sky and sea and earth unfold every
hour new and mighty pictures full of mystic
meaning for our reading; that the love OF wife
and child is near and full of healing; that
God who made Us and Christ who died for
us, wait for us with infinite patience to come
closer To themY Has not the cook burned the
beef again to-day9 Did not the new polOnaise
puckcr in the seams? Has not everybody
heard Mrs Jones's horrid cackle of scandal
about us 7 Life is miserable, the world fail
urc. Let the sun shine and the sky glow
and love and nature and Gods goodness run
their eternal courses as they will. We will
stay in the muddy marsh and fight the mos
quitoes.


Some practical gnat-tormented reader will
tell us that this thing is q matter of natural
temperament that just as some thn-skinned
people find the sting of the mosquito poison
while their tougher companions brush them
of unhurt. so there arc certain nervous or
CARNATIONS that worry and gIeve over petty
trials which man without philosophy or
Christian purpose, but who has happened to
inherit a phlegmatic or cheerful temper, would
not heed. There may be some truth in this,
hut it is no less true that we can fight down
in ourselves first the habit of complaining of
trhes, and then the wish to complain. The
surest cure is to so fiji the mind with worthy
thoughts that trifles cannot creep in, or should
they enter, will find themselves shamed by
their noble company. When mans blood is
pure mosquitoes sting Will not harm him,
ard when his soul is lifted to great aims in
this life, or the realities of the realm beyond,
he will not be likely to lament long over
tricky clerk or an ill-titting coat.