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is due to the liberality of an old lady
who bequeathed a large amount to
be used in this expenditure. The
pigeons were not disturbed except by
a woolly dog that ran through the
flock and, for a moment, made a flut
ter. Somebody ought to provide for
him and his manners.
This was quite enough for one
morning. Lunch over, and an hour’s
rest, we sallied out again, this time
without a guide. It was not long
before wo found that wo were not as
smart in the topography of Venice
as we had expected. In tho midst of
the bewilderment, a cap with a broad
band of gold lace, suddenly started
off from a young man’s head, leaving
a most beaming smile a foot below.
We had seen the young man the af
ternoon before at the Depot, and his
politeness and pretty fair English
bad done us good service. In a few
moments, he had us at our destina
tion, the famous Rialto, the principal
bridge of the city. If the bridge was
npt as fine as we expected, the view
ofjthe great canal and the buildings
toWering from its aides, was exceed
ingly striking. This ‘ Grand Canal,'
which is the main thoroughfare of
Venice varies from 100 to 180 feet,
and is intersected by 14G smaller ca
nals, all of which present a scene
more or lesß busy and characteristic
of this city alone. By means of the
gondolas, you mpve frqra tp,
Jpoint'For business or pleasure. But
do not conclude that these 72 Islands
•on which the “ Queen of the Adriat
ic” is erfthroned, have no streets.—
Very small streets, however, many
■of them are—a few feet wide—most
of them narrow alleys. I saw no
carriages—no horses—not even a
donkey.
At night, we saw the piazza by
iamp light. The great Bquare was
very brilliant and gayer than by day.
Every body seemed to foe out enjoy
ing the scene j some few were in
masks ; but all were orderly and po
Hite. So far as I could observe, street
behavior here as in the other Euro
pean eities I have visited, is very ad
irfiirable. At no time, have I witness
ed any thing offensive or annoying.
Tho pest of the beggars in Italy is
your only worry in public.
Thus passed the day and a part of
the evening. How novel the
rienee wur, how totally unlike our
modes of life, you can easily imagine.
One who has been accustomed to
American cities, and who as be walks
the streets by night, is every where
reminded of homes that m their quis
■etude shelter the affections of the bu
man heart, while they protect the
religious sentiments, has other feel
ings here when he sees the eager de
light in out-of-door life and its unsat
isfying exeitoments. This Italy of
the 19th century is doubtless under-,
going a change- Palpable enough
THE QEORGIA COLLEGIAN. /
are the signs of awakening life, nor
can any careful observer fail to be
struck by the evidences of energy,
skill and intellect which in harmony
with the spirit of the age, are evinc
ing their presence over this beautiful
land. Yet, if this people had our
homes, and felt their power as we
feel it, what anew soul it would
breathe into their civilization !
Such were the thoughts that arose
in my mind when I sat down to night
to write you. I have written in
weariness and pain, but with a plea
sure in communing with you that is
a full compensation.
Very truly yours,
And’w A. Lipscomb.
Philosophy of Marriage; the True
Theory,
Dear Collegian :
After ruminating on the subject
for some months past, I have come to
the conclusion that any man is a he
ro that can marry. 1 have only con
sidered the subject abstractly, but it
has troubled me vastly. So ireflec
ted that if I should write to you, I
would get it off my mind. I have
only one request to make, viz: con
sidering the long standing of our
friendship, and the great importance
I attach to your counsels, I beg that
if you detect any errors in these ob
servations, you will just mark them,
sp t-foat 1 may stxi them when th#fva
per comqs out. The whole subject, I
apprehend, is compacted into the fol
lowing proposition : In the primary
cause of the original unity of man
and woman, is contained the secon
darv cause of their symbolical unity
on earth, with the germ of their in
evitable happiness or misery. It has
long since been demonstrated that
men and women are complements of
each other; in other words, glorious
segments of circling souls. We have
all had an existence antedating this
life. This is proved from the fact
that Solomon says, “ there is nothing
new under the sun ;” therefore all
souls existed from eternity. I con
clude then that men and women lived
somewhere before this life; and be
cause I have already said they are
the complements of each other, they
existed in the very closest unity. As
this existence was only one of spirit,
we can easily conceive of perfect
unity. Another incontrovertible
proof of this spiritual dualism, is the
fact that the Brahmins made some of
their idols double faced.
Marriage, being a simplo thing,
cannot be defined. I can only cir
cumnavigate around it. Marriage
then, in this life, is a prophetic thing,
looking both backward and forward.
In Geology it belongs to the Lepido
dendra. Marriage is anion, some
times strong, sometimes weak. To
explain ; if men and women marry
as Providence intended—that is, as
they were united before this life, then
the union will he very strong and
everlasting; otherwise it will belike
the constitution of the Germanic
Confederation, easily broken when
ever either party desire it, which, it
is needless to observe, will transpire
very often.
What shall I say of their inevita
ble happiness or misery? If they
find their counterparts or comple
ments, they will inevitably be happy ;
otherwise miserable. By comple
ments, we must not understand that
one should be ordinary, the other ex
traordinary. The mind of tho one.
as a whole, must be equal to that of
the other; though there must be dif
ference in degree of the different ele
ments. For a brilliant woman to
marry a dull blockhead, will never
do in any case; because it would be
a violation of the first rule of com
pound addition. A great imaginary
difficulty presents itself at this point,
viz: how are men always to find
their counterparts ? It may be that
I am here and my ex partner in Eu
rope, or probably in China. But
Providence never created an end to
be reached, without creating the
means of reaching it. The great
trouble is, that they may come to
false conclusion. As Des Cartes says,
the judgment may overstep tho un
derstanding, whence comes all error.
in IHmot of eurtj ri.wi -j
riages. The advantages are both
theoretical and practical. Theoreti
cal : after tho mental economy is suf
ficiently organized to perceive with
clearness, conclude with precision,
and act with promptness, the sooner
you marry the better, because tbo
past is more vivid, the future is clear
er, and the mind acts from a prear
ranged inspiration, or if you like the
expression better, from unerring in
tuition. It has been said by one of
humanity’s greatest heroes, a hen
pecked husband, that nine-tenths of
the happiness of married life comes
from those cases where marriage is
the result of first impressions. His
was a family affair; and these con
ventional arrangements are always
unfortunate. There are also practi
cal advantages. Men ought to mar
ry at eighteen. How many an aim
less life, how many a reckless life,
how many a sinful life, how many a
life of crime and misery, would give
place to lives of purpose, thoughtful
ness, parity, virtue and happiness, if
men would only marry at eighteen !
If a man waits till ho is twenty-five
or thirty, the probabilities are that
he will wait forever, and in nine
cases out of ton. he will be as utterly
worthless as the fossils of a soap bub
ble. If it were not entirely too per
sonal, 1 would advise all young men
both in England and America, by all
means to marry at eighteen.
To go on or to stop, that’s the
question. But it’s growing la'te. I
speak to eternity, of which I grow a
portion. It is time to stop; but
whether it is better to go on, or to
stop, let the gods decide.
Very truly yours,
In Crescent Friendship.
Jlachdnacu.
ftSflJjiS.
Trifles are not what they Seem.
Is this vast world of matter anil
thought, of cause and effect, of blind
force and moral relations, one indivi
sible and complete whole? or is it
composed of elements of small things
uniting to produce great ones, hold
ing to each other inherent primor
dial relations ?
If it be a complete whole, existing
and operating merely as a machine,
kept in motion by an occult wheel
work, then man is the subject of an
evorlasting fate—deprived of the
power of choice. But if tho latter
hypothesis bo true, that it is compos
ed of parts, which hold to each other
certain relations, then we have arriv
ed at the principle of causation, and
we find that nothing was created but
with a specific design ; and that there
is no spring, however hidden, that
does not subserve some important
purpose towards tho harmonious
working of tho whole machinery. To
soar So high as to take in the entire
field of being at a single view, and to
perceive the fitness, and enjoy the full
ness of the harmony between cause
and effect in nature is given neither
to man nor angels. The feebleness
an i limitation of our faculties repress
longings for such knowledge as pre
sumptious, and forbid such flights as
impracticable. Could man, however,
perceive the true relation between
cause and effect, he would see that
there are many things operating upon
his character and destiny, which, by
the generality of men, art; hardly
deemed worthy of a passing thought,
still less of having ascribed to them,
the mighty consequences which they
involve.
We are accustomed, both from
ture and from habit, to look with the
eye of delight and respect, upon
those objects and events which daz
zle with their glare and splendor. —
Nothing presents to the world’s eye
anything of attractiveness, only as
it is viewed, through a bright medi
um. Hence tho less glaring, but in
trinsically more beautiful objects are
unnoticed, save by tho few who are
sufficiently refined to perceive and
appreciate the soft halo which such
objects throw around them.
This indifference is owing not so
much to the character of the object
nr event, as to the structure and cul
ture ol tho mind of the observer.—
Thus hew widely different are the