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About The Banner and Baptist. (Atlanta, Ga.) 186?-186? | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 1862)
BY HORNADY & ELLS. VOL. 11l @lu' glWMif flU(l DEVOTED TO LITERATURE AND RELIGION, Is published every Saturday, at Atlanta, Georgia, at the subscription price of throe dollars per year. HORN ADA & ELLS, Editors and Proprietors. H. C. Hornady] [.James N. E11&- I'oace with Mav Lope no present pleasure mar, Much less my patience here prevent, But be from me forever far The brute’s beatitude, content! While Heav’n, unweary, waits to bless, How foolish is the man and vain, Whose low ambition looks to less Than that which none shall e’er attain ! These Scriptures have my heart enlarged: “Be holy,” and the wondrous word : “ With folly God his angels charged, And none is holy but the Lord; ” And, that interpreting by this, I learn, with absolute desire, To scorn the lap of every bliss Which does not nurse me for a higher. Yet, having seen the frantic moU Of base life link’d with thoughts that tower, And felt how humbling the recoil Of hearts aspiring past their power, I, knowing that the realm of God Is nigh me, even in the heart, Will take no eagle flights abroad, Lest peace, a startled dove, depart. 4 Esther Thorne. I>Y M. E. TABTIIER THORNE knew little of the Jj gayety and freedom of ch id hood.—- She was the only daughter of a family of five children, but, instead of being on that account more petted than she Otherwise would have been, it only seemed to make her more the slave of her bustling mother, and noisy, tyrannical brothers. Had there been two girls, their united wills would have made a stand to resist the encroach ments made on t heir rights by their selfish and unthinking relatives; but poor Esther toiled and suffered alone. Her father was a stern man, who seldom noticed his chil dren except to command them; and altho’ Esther loved him tenderly, yet her fear of him caused her almost to shrink from his presence. Her mother was a busy house wife, entirely occupied with providing for the temporal wants of her family. This world satisfied her, and after she had ac complished what she called a good day s work, she knew no unsatisfied want, such as a mind unfed hr ugs its possessor. The only talent slie valued was the talent for labor; and she mourned unceasingly over Esther’s strong taste for reading, as*she was convinced it would only render her worthless if persevered in. W hat could such a woman know of the quiet yet intel lectual Esther, whose love for reading seem ed ever unsatisfied ? Mrs Thorne, altho' .she ha I great pride in her boisterous sons, and a certain maternal feeling for Esther, yot never seemed to think she needed rest or play, and was constantly hurrying her from one task to another, from morning till night. With an active, eager, and naturally firm mind, forced into such uncongenial ways, serious evils followed to Esther’s disposi tion. So strong had been the hand of pa rental authority over her, that her native traits of character had never shown them selves. She had a will strong even to stub bornness ; it. had never yet been roused to activity, but 4 it caused her by degrees to neglect, her tasks, if not closely watched, and steal away to indulge herself in her favor ite occupation. The ehidings of her moth er. too, at her persistence in whar she called Esther’s idle ways, came at last to be sul lenly taken as a matter of course. As Esther had few lawks of her own, she h >crowed, and read indiscriminately every thing that could be found in her circle of acquaintance; and among these there were, unfortunately, many romances of the old • and us ! Voter was too young L< see the absurdity of many of these tales of tie lion, she drank them all in as truth. She began by admiring the heroines, but ended by making herself one, and by the aid of j’uney placing herself in their positions. Her natural reserve and lack of intimate friends of her own age strengthened this tendency ** much, that she soon acquired the habit of living in a world of her own that she created in her own thoughts. In this world no otseever chided her, and there was no labor; all was made up of just such ove and kindness as her heart yearned for. ATLANTA, GEORGIA, OCTOBER 4, 1862. Gradually her thoughts took one form.— She Was some day to meet, and that in no ordinary manner, the hero of her dreams, who was to know her as she fancied she knew herself, and who would at once re move her from her uncongenial home to one of bis own, where in the sunshine of his affections her chilled heart would ex pand, and life henceforth would be one long day of happiness. Then she was to have leisure to cultivate her taste for study, and when the temptations to wrong-doing were removed, she was to be so good ! This hero, Esther ever thought of as one far exceeding in beauty and excellence any person she had ever seen; and she never once thought of the improbability of such a person, if he even existed, fancying such a shy, homely person as her-elf. It made such an agreeable variety in her toilsome way of life to build these air castles while doing the dally work she so much detested, that Either never paused to question wheth er it were a profitable kind of employment jr not. Thus passed year after year of Esther’s life until she attained the age of fifteen, when a ehimge took place in her circum stances. Her mother suddenly died, and a sister of Mr. T. came to preside over the household; who, being a woman of intelli gence, at once understood enough of Es ther’s mind to sympathize with her, and it was through her influence that Mr. Thorne was induced to send her away to school.— Here her zeal and perseverance were such, that she soon stood among the best pupils, and she found herself quite unexpectedly the object of both admiration and envy; and if some egotism mingled with the nat ural pride she felt at her progress, what wonder w r as it 1 But the neglects of hei early ) ears, that Esther had so keenly (id!, had left too deep an impression on her sensitive nature to be easily erased ; and Esther, though very much liked, still had no intimate friend, and remained plain and unattractive. Knowing herself to be gifted in mind, she gradually came to despise the little arts of dress that would have rendered her plainness less con spicuous. Her lack of knowledge of the world also caused her to think herself bet ter than those, who had fewer gifts of the mind. Her hab tof living in dreamland had become lived. She was satisfied that no common husband could make her hap py ; and as years passed on after her return home, and she saw one after another of her young acquaintances marry and seem con tented and happy, Esther smiled with con tempt at their commonplace ideas of life. But at last Esther loved, and, as many another woman has done before, she invest ed the object of her choice with all the qualities her ideal lover possessed. What she wished to see in him, with the self deception of inexperienced love, she saw. — To uninterested observers, John Fielding was merely a sensible, good man, but by in) means brilliant, and who despised ro mance or rather sentiment with all his heart, lie was quite elated at bis success in winning the fastidious Miss Thorne; and if he differed from her frankly-expressed thoughts of what married life should be, he did not think it necessary to tell her so; and so Esther married, firmly believing that she could now rest in the love her strong heart desired. But, alas for Est her, she had fixed her hopes on an unstable foundation. Her complete isolation in her earty years from those of her own age had not taught her how nearly alike are the feelings of every w oman’s heart. She thought herself alone in her longing for a more perfect union of sentiment than is usually found in married life, nor did she know how many a woman j must see t he gilded visions of girlhood fade | away, and stern reality fillup the picture. | | Her observation of the world, after she ; reached the years of womanhood, bad failed to correct her falsely conceived ideas of life, and consequently, after a few months, when Esther began to find that her husband was merely an ordinary mortal, and prized her as much for her housekeeping qualities as for her gifts of mind—that he loved his own will better than he did hers, and did not anticipate what would give her pleas ure, as he did iu the days of ks wooing, her heart sunk back in dark disappoint ment, and she almost forgot the worth of his real man} qualities, and ceased to prize l “his banner over” us is “love.” as she should, his genuine affection, because his actions did not shadow it forth as her exacting disposition required. When she found that she had not known him wholly from the first, she charged him with the deception she had practised-on herself. • Had Mr. Fielding died after Esther had learned to love him, and before4ier4deas had been rudely swept sway, she would have mourned for him faithfully ail her life; but she could not see him as he really was, and adapt herself to the change. To those who do not know how much a wo man’s life is of the affections, this story will have no meaning, for outwardly Es_ ther had every thing to make her happy a home of comfort and taste, and a has band who supplied her wants cheerfully, as far as he knew them, but who had not the gift to understand a woman as morbidly sensitive as Esther. If he had known all the circumstances which had conspired to form and strength en her habits of thought, he might have reasoned herjnto a healthier tone of mind ; but he looked at things at. an entirely dif ferent stand-point" from Esther’s. llis bu siness cares engrossed his mind, and, happy himself, he could not see why Esther was not so too; he did not trouble himself about the matter at ali, but went his way indifferent to what he called Esther’s fan cies, while she returned to her old habits of reserve, thinking herself the most misera b!e of women. Although she had now plenty of books and leisure to pursue her favorite studies, she vvas too sick at heart to take pleasure in them. If Esther’s trouble was fanciful, it was at least founded upon the natural feeling of every woman’s heart to be loved and cherished. Thus passed away several years, spent by Esther in sullenly struggling with her discontent, and not even could the children that came to her chase away the dark cloud from her mind. But all truly noble minds have a self righting power which will sooner or later develope; and Esther was too good and true to remain ever# prey to evil thoughts. She began to see at last,that the world wa-' better as it was than it w ould be if every person could live for his or her own selfish happiness. She began to have a solid re spect for her husband, that he could make himself an honorable name among men, in stead of being satisfied with living on the smiles of the woman he loved, as she had once wished. She began to feel that she had a work to do herself, and, if her early neglect and its consequences had unfitted her to fill her station properly, that she must now make herself competent for it.— By degrees the labor required of her iu su perintendirig her household, which she had I from the first performed because slie de spised slackness, assumed a dignity in her eyes. Esther felt anew spirit animate her, she resolved valiantly to throw off the mor bid state of mind w hieh had so long op pressed her; to strangle any heartaches she might feel for lack of being appreciated, and to find in doing her duty her highest pleasure. The struggle it had cost her to reach this point had been very severe, hut when she han reached it she felt that-he had gained a victory. Esther had just begun to find what great aids self-knowledge and self reliance are to tranquility, w hen another change came, but not to her. Tier husband, who had always been a prosperous business man, met with several heavy losses, some of them partieu larly aggravating, being the result of mis placed confidence in professed friends No man, however firm he may be, no matter how much he may profess to the contrary, is above the want of $\ mpalhy at times, —and how natural and manlike it was in Mr. Fielding to turn to Esther for comfort in his troubles, confident of her being ready to give it, as if he had not turned a deaf car to her whenever he had chosen. And Esther, true wife that she was, did not fail him, but soothed him to the best of her ability ; and, as he had the utmost con fidence in her discretion, it was a great re lief to nis feeling- to rehearse to her his sources of irritation. But there was one thing about Esther, that he now began to perceive for the first time, that quite dis concerted him. Although she studied his wishes in every respect as usual, and sym pathised with him whenever he opened his heart to her, yet she seemed to take his confidence and friendliness as coolly as if it were no longer necessary to her enjoy ment. Now that it was gone, he missed and yearned for the old passionate warmth with which she used to gieet him. The thought of her becoming indifferent to him he had once deemed impossible ; but now, as he watched her day by day and saw that her calm manner was real, not assumed out of resentment, his heart felt many a pang keener than it had ever known before.— In truth, Esther had lavished her affection on him with such prodigality that the foun tain of her heart was dry, and though her mind was active as ever, feeling seemed dead. If ever it should revive again de pended on whether her husband should take the right means or not. Happily for them both, Mr. Fielding was a man of warm heart as well as good sense, whose knowledge of women vvas an unde veloped sense, as yet. 11 is misunder standing of Esther had not been so much a wilful disregard of her feelings as an ignor ance of the workings of a sensitive heart.— Now that he was tried, he found himself as weak as he had once thought her. But he did not stop to mourn over what he feared | to be the loss of her love; earnestly yet tenderly he strove to win it back. He no longer thought it a stain on his manhood to manifest his feelings by little kindly acts, and he found to his astonishment that wo men prize, these small attentions more than they do important benefits. With all his care and tenderness, it took him a long time to win Esther from her indifference, but when he did, he prized her love as his most precious treasure. ft was true and generous affection*' that, grew out of the wreck of their former sel fish regard for each other. Gradually they grew to be more alike in their tastes; Mr. Fielding lost some of his worldliness, and came to lake pleasure in Esther’s intellect ual pursuits, and Esther learned, not only to love more w isely, but to set a proper value on the homely virtue of industry, \ Now, in the enjoyment of the first sub" I stantial happiness she has ever known, Es j ther looks back on the past w ith a thought-1 ful eye, and strives so to understand and i educate her own daughters that they may , avoid her mistakes. What are you Looking For f — A man w\as angry with his wife, either because she talked too much, or for some reason or other? and resolved not to speak to her for a long-—long time. He kept his reso lution for a few days very strict!} . O.ie evening he is lying in bed, and wishes to sleep ; he draws his nightcap over his ears, and his wife may say what she will—he hears nothing of it. The w ife then takes a candle, and carries it to every nook and corner of the room ; she removes stools and chairs and tables, and looks carefully be find them. The husband sits up in bed, and gazes inquiringly at her movements; he thinks that the din must have an end at last. But he is mistaken. His wife keeps on looking and searching. The husband loses patience and cries, “ What are you looking for?” “For your tongue,” she answers; “and now' that 1 have found it, tell me why you are angry.” Hereupon they became gi>od friends again. True for Once —A traveller announces as a fact (and though be w a ‘traveller’ we believe him), that he once in his life beheld people “minding their own busi ness!” This remarkable occurrence hap pened at sea, the passengers being “too sick” to attend to each other’s concerns. - ♦ " How to bk vn Early Kiser. —Jump out of bed-the moment you hear the knock at the door. The man who hesitates when called is lost. The mind should he made up in a minute, for early rising is one of those subjects that admit of no turning over. —r 'MV-- -# '• * Fitness of T minus.’— -Mr. P.’s little daughter cam* 1 running to her aunt one day, saving, “Aunt Kate, little Mattie has swallowed a button! ” Seeing her terror, her aunt calmly replied, “ Well, what good will that do her?” Said the child very seriously, “Not any good, a- I see, unless she swallows a button-hole ! " TERMS —Three tCollars a-year. Epigram on Prayer. Prayer highest soars when she most prostrate lies, And when she supplicates slie storms theskk s. Thus to gain heaven may seem an easy task, For what can be more easy than to ask ? Yet oft we do by sad experience find, That, clogged with-earth, *-ine prayers aie left behind. And some like chart' blown off by every wind. To kueel is easy, to pronounce not hard, Then why are some petitioners dehan’d ? Hear what an ancient oracle declared : Some sing their prayers, and some their prayers. say, He’s' an Elias, who his prayers can pray. remember, when next you repair To church or closet, this memoir of prayer. [Written for ihe Banner .and Baptist] Ancient Gems, K e-set to suit Mod ern Fashions. ii. “Drunkenness is the work *t the devil. “A drunkard is a dead living man; a volun tary demon; a ruin without excuse; and the common disgrace of mankind. “ A drunkard is disagreeable to his friends, laughed at by his enemies, despised by his slaves, joyless to his wife, odious to all, and more disgusting than the very beasts.” [Chrysostom, vol. ii: 8, 9, 590. The nature of drunkenness and the habit of the drunkard have not changed. With the knowledge of both, it is not surprising that lloly Writ declares that no “drunk ard shall inherit the kingdom of God.”— But. ft is a fact w'ell calculated to bring shame upon the friends of free institutions, that drunkenness has been so prevalent in America as to cause it to be said that the people of the old United States were “ a nation of drunkards.” Mortifying and melancholy is the fact that in the disrupt ion of the Union a full share of the guilt and disgrace of drunkenness attaches both to D , . j federate States. It has been reported that a distinguished general of our army has s-akl, “ If the Con federate States are overthrown the epitaph should be, Died of whiskey." In the or ganization of the army, volunteers have elected drunken captains, majors and col jonels; and the government has appointed land promoted drunken generals, knowing ! them to be drunken. Drunken surgeons, quartermasters and commissaries have been appointed; and drunken congressmen and governors have been elected by the people. And yet life, liberty, and all that is dear to men is entrusted to these officers!— And now proposals are published by the Confederate authorities for twenty-five thousand barrels of whiskey to be delivered in the state of Georgia for the use of the army. What use thfc army has for a mil lion of gallons of w hiskey, 1 do not know. But, judging of the future by w hat we have heard in the past, there is reason to fear that much of th£ whiskey which is manu factured ostensibly for the use of the sick soldier will be misused to satisfy the appe tite of drunken officials. Will the govern ment take care that officers shall not get drunk on what is obtained for the welfare of the soldiers? Hope might be entertain ed if Congress had not tabled Gov. Smith’s resolution to cashier officers who should get drunk. As matters stand there is much more ground for apprehension than hope. It is said that Lee, Beauregard, Bragg, Jackson and Hill are as brilliant examples of sobriety as of valor and military skill. Let the commanders of inferior grade em ulate the virtue of their great leaders, and we may have an army of sober as well as brave soldiers. And these soldiers, if their lives are spared, will be the citizens who are to give character to the nation whose independence their courage shall achieve. Me robs University, Se|>t., Is6.\ N. M. C. - • *4 Beaitifcl Inscription. —A little girl, about five years old, died some time since, of malignant scarlet fever. After the dis ease had taken complete possession of her, so that it was difficult to determine wheth er* she recognised those who were about her, her mother asked her if she knew r who wa> taking care of her? The dying child looked up with a smile, the expressiveness of which can not be described, and said, “ God hikes cure of me." This expression was transferred to, the slab that marks the resting-place of the lit tle sleeper; and no words could more sim ply express the sublime idea of immortality. NO. 46.
