Peace of Mind

Source: The Irish Penny Journal, Vol. 1, No. 32 (Feb. 6, 1841), p. 256
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30001280
Accessed: 04-02-2017 05:10 UTC

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 256 THE IRISH PENNY JOURNAL.
the acquisition of property than inByitsthempossession.
genius is preserved,Howand pretension
oftendiscarded.-
does the rich man, surrounded with Knickerbocker.
every luxury, look back
from the pinnacle which he has attained,
The boxes with fond
of the opera, regret,
splendid as they are, toand splendid
those days of humble but happy toil as thewhen
appearanceheof those
was in them is, do not breathe a spirit
struggling
of enjoyment.
up the steep ascent of fortune ! Make They are rather
industry, like theasick
then, wards of luxury
part
and idleness,
of fireside education. Teach it to your where people
children as of a
a certain
point class of
are condemned
duty; render it familiar to them by to perform
practice. the quarantine
Personalof fashion for the evening.-
exer-
Hazlitt.
tion and ready activity are natural to some children, and these
DEcEIVERS.-We
hardly need any stimulus to the performance of areduties
born to requir-
deceive or to be deceived.
In one
ing bodily exertion. There are others who of these
haveclasses
an weindolence,
must be numbered; but our self-
a reluctance to move, either uniformrespector periodical,
is dependent upon ourin their
selection. The practice of de-
ceptionchildren
very constitution. If neglected, these generally secureswill its grow
own punishment;
up for callous
in the habit of omitting many duties,
indeedor mustof performing
be that only of its ignominy I
mind which is insensible
those which are agreeable. It is indispensable
But he who has been that such
duped should
is conscious, even in the very
be trained to patient exertion, habituated
moment that to the performance
he detects the imposition, of his proud superiority
of every duty in the right time and to
theone right
who can stoop
way, to even
the adoption
though of so foul and sorry a
course. The
it may require self-denial and onerous reallyA
toil. good and high-minded,
person who therefore, are
cannot compel himself, from a mere seldomsense of by
provoked duty, to over-
the discovery of deception; though the
come a slothful reluctance to do what
cunningis anddisagreeable,
artful resent it, as ais but
humiliating triumph ob-
tained
half educated, and carries about him a over them in their that
weakness own vocations.
is likely
to prove fatal to his success in life. Suchis a
WIr.-Wit theperson may
lightning of actreason the sun-
the mind,
vigorously by fits and starts as he shine, may andbe occasionally
reflection the moonlight; urged
for as the bright orb of
by impulse; but the good begun will often
night owes itsremain unfinished,
lustre to the sun, so does reflection owe its ex-
and, from subsequent negligence, will istenceresult
to reason. in final disaster.
The only safe way is to found industry PREMATURE upon principle,
WisDoM.-The andwisdom of youth
premature
establish it by habit. While, therefore, resembles the I would
forced inculcate
fruit of our not-houses; it.looks like th
industry, I would remark that it natural may production,
be carried but hastonot excess.
its flavour or raciness.
Every virtue has its bordering vice. Poon.-A The extreme of courage
term of reproach in England, and of pity i
touches upon the precincts of rashness, most other countries.
and a step beyond the
proper limit of industry brings you PoETs into AND theASTRONOMERS.-Poets
dreary regions of
view nature as a book
avarice.--Breside Education, by S. inG. Goodrich,
which an Ameri-
they read a language unknown to common minds, as
can Author. astronomers regard the heavens, and therein discover objects
THE SAsnATH.-Nature always seemed to me to " keep
that escape the vulgar ken.
Sabbath" in the wilderness. I used to fancy that the wildPEACE OF MIND.-*Though peace of mind does not con-
birds were more quiet on that day, sitting on the branches
stitute happiness, happiness cannot exist without it; our
with their heads under their wings, smoothing their plumage,
serenity being the result of our own exertions, while our hap.
or looking quietly about them, and sometimes venturingpiness
a is dependent on others: hence the reason why it:is so
faint warble, scarcely above a whisper. And I have seenrare;
a for, on how few can we count ? Our wisdom, there-
large wolfish animal stand for hours upon a dry log, on the fore, is best shown in cultivating all that leads to the preser-
bank of the river, contemplating the stream, or gazing intovation of this negative blessing, which, while we possess it
the air; once or twice, perhaps, starting suddenly a few paces,
will prevent us from ever becoming wholly wretched.
but then halting as if he had given up the idea; and his tail
all the while hanging listlessly down, as if indicating that no
enterprise could be undertaken on that day. Just like the ANSWER TO THE ENIGMA IN No. 17.
merchant who may be seen in the city, on a bright Sunday Mr Teague, the enigma you sent me, my honey,
morning, in clean shirt collar, and with hands thrust into his Must mean, I conjecture, a round bit o' money ;
pockets, loitering slowly down the street, or standing in rumi- But what it can be, is a regular stopper,
nating attitude at the corner, pondering carefully every step Unless it's a coinage from some kind of copper;
of the morrow's tangled path, or perhaps calculating the Though your Dean of St Patrick's did not like the stus,
amount of time lost in Sundays, by the whole world, taken For this very fair reason-'twas not big enough.
individually and collectively from Moses's day to the present So here goes a guess-and, in truth, to be plain,
time; but on the whole, enduring the Sabbath with Christian
It's a good honest Penny your honour will mane.
resignation. Ah, Geordy, full oft have they tried to disgrace,
CRITICS.--It is a little singular that the mass should attach With buffets and blows, thy right royal old face:
much importance to the small opinions of every-day critics.
Let them hammer away till they're all in a pet,
Because a man happens to have the facilities of publishing his
For real solid worth thou'rt the best of the set.
views and opinions to the world, though he be the veriest
blockhead on earth, his verdict is often of more than ordinary E'en O'Connell must own, though he don't like the mint,
That thou art the cream of his flourishing rint !
weight among men. Indeed, a Johnson could not influence
some men by his verbal opinion, to the extent that an ignora- As for gold, it flies off like the chaff or the stubble,
mus can influence them through "press and types." The Leaving little behind but vexation and trouble.
" dignity of print" has a strange effect. Although it is but And that mealy-fac'd silver, experience of old
one man who speaks, and he may have one hundred opponents Says is only too apt to take wings after gold-
who may argue successfully against him, yet they will all fail In fact, I ne'er found, from the mohur to piastre,
with the public. But let either of them publish the same That one kind or other went slower or faster ;
opinion, and the ore, which was rich and weighty, becomes Do just as you like, it seems a thing plann'd,
refined. Common critics, moreover, are always ready to find That one of those vagrants shall ne'er be on hand.
imperfections, for thus will the public be made acquainted with We well know what wonders a Penny can do,
their penetration. In fact, many of them seem to think that What instruction and comfort a mite will bestow.
to criticize is to find fault; "else (they reason) where is the The stores of the world, its rust and its lumber,
necessity of criticism ?" It is said that any fool can fire a Come brighten'd and polish'd m each penny number,
house. So can any man criticize a book; but very few can The wellspring of knowledge is open to all-
build the one or write the other. Many of the vinegar-critics The Penny has spread it through cottage and hall.
of the day who haunt the shores of literature, would utterly So now, my friend Teague, let the great have the gunea,
fail in penninag even the preface to a respectable book. It is a You and I'll be contint if we've always a PrNmm.
recorded and well-known fact that many of our standard
works were rejected for the want of a publisher, owing to the
Printed
of theand published every Saturday by Gurns and CAsxaON, at the Office
unfavourable opinion of stolid rule-and-figure critics ; but when General Advertiser, No. 6, Church Lane, College Green, Dublin.-
they came before the people, who, judging from the impulses Agents :-R. GROOMBRIDGE, Panyer Alley, Paternoster Row, London;
of the heart, are never wrong, how soon was their verdict SItmIS and DINHAM, Exchange Street, Manchester; C. DAVIES, North
John Street, Liverpool; J. DRAKE, Birmingham; SLOCoMBE &r SlM~as,
reversed! The PEOPLE are the only true tribunal. They Leeds; FRASER and CRAWFORD, George Street, Etdinburgh; and
aeparate, with the hand of a refiner, the dross from the gold, DAvIV RoBERTsoN Trongate, Glasgow,

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