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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1880)
THE WEST SHORE. March, 1880. 8o CONTRASTS. No shadow could oomfl were It not for the gun, And the night would be night no more! If the golden ray of the gladaome day Had not gladdened the earth Uiforo. Were It not for the wlndi and the piercing cold, Tl. ! ' ulj Llilt aliblloreu hM0 Nor the outoaet hla cheery blaze; Ho the gloomy cloudi that enwrap the earth But give to enjoyment a brighter birth When It cornea to the golden daya. weary uand gi For the He t dee ever limit! emiHiaii'l k'". Aa they break with a munnur of dull conitnand On the ehlnglcd reach of the ahlnlng sand; And the calm, were It not for the rlelng ga'o, Would lie dull aa the aound of a twice told Ule; While the echoee of aoundlng Joy Aoqulre new aweetneaa frofh aonnw'a song, And the notes that a mlaalon of wln prolong To an anthem without alloy. Then murmur not at the hurahur lot That aaddena the weary heart: For the tunbeama form a ralnnow arch From the teara that often aUrt, And the yeara may not forever fill A cup that la brimmed with eoemltig III, Though Itaoonteule bitter blend: While the life that elretchea far away Hue aunaat tinta In ita twilight gray, And flowen at Ita farther end. THE VAI.UK OK A (1001) CHARACTER, Character li that aaseinblage of moral quali tioa that an inwrought into the very warp ami woof of one's nature and life, while reputation ii a garment that publio opinion enrobes one in, whether he likei the atyle of it or not. Char acter ia the product of our own agoncy. Reputa tion ia the estimation ia which wo are held by thoae with whom we aaaociate. Now, ono of the chief advantages of a good character oomoa from the fact that a man'i roputation largely reflect" it Men do not generally Iniliovo thia. They think they can posioM ono kind of char acter and quite another kind of reputation. That they oan hide, for initance, a foul, leprous heart under the garb of a polito and attractive manner i that thoy oan be crookod and pervorso in their Intentions and yet pass fur very good and propor people; that they can form a reputa tion for purity and virtue, when their imagina tion is "a sour mud swamp," as Carlyle would ley, where all kinds of ugly, loathsome dosires and reptilo thoughts hatch, orawl, hiss aud sting ; that, in short, they cau pass for liuo looking, solid trees, when thoy aro deoayod and hollow from the top to the bottom. Never was there a greater delusion. No such masquoroding of oharacter ever was long suooeaafully played, nor ever oan bo. There nevor waa a man that lived live years in a community that was not generally appraised at all he was worth. A bad character pass itself off as a good one I Aa wall might a foul atenoh try aud paas itself otT as a grateful perfume. A bad character will statu through all rosewood amiabilities and mahogainiod manners, and show the vulgar wood. No one ever did or oould "steal the livery of heaven to serve the devil in," but what it was soon discovered that the garment did not fit him or he did not know how to wear it naturally. Reputation then ia the shadow of character, and the shadow oannot long imose upon anyone unless it is the reflection of real and substantial worthiness. And then, a good moral character ia one that will always redeem bad reputation. It will sometimes happen that man will sat a bad reputation when thev do not deserve it. There are few men who have driven their plana of business and ambition over the rough ways ol the world aud not got a little ajuashed with mud. One glance at the stage horses and the driver and you can tell the con dition of the roads. So men will bear the marks of the hard struggles t hey have had to encounter on their way to place and power. To some ex tent this is unavoidable. There is your stern, positive man, who possesses the pluck, and grit, and independence to hurl unpalatable facta and disagreeable truths through the subterfuges and duplicities of political platforms, tho bigotry of the church aud tiiu tinseled suams of society. Think you he will have an easy time of it! Whv. the whole kennel of pruderies, cheats and frauds will begin to bark and bite. Men will 80 delilicratcly to work to crush him under some cad-fall of destruction and lies. The reader is very lucky, who, in the world of labor, skill and invention has never met a rival that has tried to drive over him bv main strength, and, failing in that, has sought to ruin him by placing somo obstruction upon his track. Who has never felt the lash of a scurrilous tongue? Who has never lia,l In. lmut mofivfa iiiiaikicntnalv scrutinized ? Hut you may settle it as a rulo that no man's reputation can ever bo seriously hurt for a great length of time so lung as his character is sound ami good. A locomotive may run over it, but it will be aa lithe and supple the next day as if nothing had happened, Rut if the character is had the slightest jar may dash bis reputation into a thousand atoms. A man who is enshrined in the conscious purity of his desires, the recti tude of his acts and intentions, can never be badly wounded. Keen-edged lies aud calumnies may mako the blood fly from his reputation, ami people who do not know his worth may think he will soon bleed to death, and marvel to see how quickly the wound heals. His char acter is healthy. A good character never can be seriously hurt, No man was ever hopelessly wrecked on the social breakers but who de served to bo. A good character can swim the oceau in a storm, while a bad character, water logged and barnacled, would sink in the still waters of a harbor. Pacific States Watchman. TiiKouv of Lifk. The lato Prof. Faraday, adopted the theory that the natural age of man is 1U0 years. The duration of life he bolioved to bd measured by the tuno o growth. In the cu'iul the union takes place at eight, the horse it live, in the lion at four, in the dog at two, in ne rabbit at one. 1 he natural termination is live removes from theso several points. Man being 20 years in growing lives 5 timcB 20 years that is, US); the camel is eight years in grow ing, and lives 40 years; and so with other ani mals. Tho man who does not die of sickness lives everywhere from 80 to 100 years. The professor divides life into equal halves growth and decline and these into infancy, youth, vir ility and ago. Infancy extends to the twentieth year, youth to tho liftieth, because it is in this period tho tissues become linn, virility from 50 to 75, during which the organism remains com plete, and at 75 old age commences to last a longer or shorter time as the diminution of re served forces is hastened or retarded. Tiik Use ok tiik lticuiT Hanii. The superior traiuing of the right hand in tho affairs of life is the heritage of ages. I hen arc many opera tioim which require the use of hut one hand I and it aooms but natural that in process of time that one should have taken the lead in their performance, and the tendency has Iwen trans mitted. Children gcnerslly show a disposition to use the right hand more than the left. We agree with you that we should be able to use both hands with equal facility. Some men do appear to be ambidexterous. There are ana. tomists who claim that the left hemisphere of me main ne a controlling inline ncc in mental life, and for that reason the right side of the body is more exercised than the left It ia tme that one hemisphere is more exercised than the other, and it is usually the left which dominates, oui uow are essential to completeness and har mony of mental operations. A victim of domestic infelicity, who is in the habit of dreaming, should never go to sleep in church. A oougregation near Quincy waa some what startled last Sabbath when a venerable member excitedly yelled: "Here, now I dron t v. . -i : n ..i i ,ii 1 Minn onu.et, uiu noinnn . MONEY FOR CHILDREN. It is right that children should have their own pocket money a certain allowance over which they should have complete control; but :f PAn n.m whit thev arovnd W aim II tncy can earn wnat tney spenu ny somo em ployment brought forward for the purpose, so much the better. It is the misfortune of chil dren brought up by rich parents that they have no sort of conception of the value of money. Its want does not teach them foresight, sagacity, forbearance, self-denial The child has a piece of money, and his only idea is to spend it promptly, but if he had earned that money he would - not be in such a hurry to rid himself of it. There is no difficulty, with the exercise of a little t nought in mining employment lor chil dren; a bed in the garden, cleaning shoes, carry ing the man to the postom.ee, taking care of a younger brother or sister, going over the books T i til i i xi 1 il 1 1 in tne uorary, cleaning iiiem ana puning mem back in order. Any thoughtful mother will easily invent a stock of things which may be kept for the children to do to earn trifles, without unduly compelling them to make attempts be yond the reach of inadequate perseverance; for children are not naturally long-winded, and find it hard to carry on a consecutive purpose the whole week. The practice would save a world of trouble in the house. Nervous, active children, dying for want of something to do, are tumultuouB, break the furniture, and get whipped or not, as the oase may be, merely be cause they have such a fund of vital foroe which s left undirected. Ihen the possession of money gives the boy a certain independence which he values from the brat. It he wishes to go to a picnio, the means are within his grasp. A child should also have enough money to buy the toys required by the change of games at the various seasons. There are no absolute rules to determine either amount or method; the prin ciple is: Teach the child to learn by experience the value of money. Make it oost him some thing, Waverly Magazine. Dr. Holmes and the Press. No one under stands the great value of newspapers more thoroughly than the thinking man. The news paper is a necessity. No man can afford to raise his children without a good paper to serve as a referenoe, and to give information aa to current events. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes reads the papers religiously. He said, a long time ago : "We must have something to eat and the papers to read. Kvcry thing else we can give up. If we are nob, we can lay down our carriages, stay away from Newport or Sara toga, and adjourn the trip to Europe sine die. If we live in a small way, there are at least new dresses and bonnet and everyday luxuries that we can dispense with. Only bread and the newspaper we must have, whatever else we do without. The time may come when even the cheap publio print shall be a burden our means cannot support, and we can only listen in the square, that was once the market-place, to the voices of those who proclaim defeat or victory (this was written during the war). Then there will be only our daily food left When we have nothing to read and nothing to eat, it will be a favorable moment to offer a compro mise. At the present we have all that nature absolutely demands we cau live on bread and the newspaper." Infinite toil would not enable yon to sweep away a mist; but by ascending a little yon may often look over it altogether. So it is with our moral improvement; we wrestle fiercely with a yioious habit which oould have no hold upon us if we ascended into a higher moral atmosphere. Arthur Ilelpt. " Why am I made a sandwich ? " said young Snobson plaintively, as a lady sat down either side of him in the horse car. " Because we ore better bred than you are," said one of the dam sels sweetly.