Page 1 Advertisements Column 7

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3832, 9 April 1881, Page 1

$ripii tyMixt TWO AND TWO ARE FOUR. . ,Not what I am, am I, because I with To be that which I am j but what I am, I am, bepause of stern necessity. I neither willed it bo, nor.otherwise, To hare existenoe, and that in Ibis age Of disagreement with the ages past: My being's cause consulted not my will, Because I bad no will before I was • And since Ire been I've been as muoh a thing Of circumstances as before 1 was. I have a will, but ere that will can act, It must get impulse— must be acted on Have cause to act, or we would have a cause Without a cause : a thing impossible. I will, and do ; I wili, and do not do j Ido not will, and do not; and I do, Although I will it that I shall not do; I am not free to say, or dp, or think, That which I will—that which would please me most; When circumstances do not harmonise - With what I will, then I must bow msb***-----To circumstances; if it wpre not &6^ I'd be a king,,if I but willed to bt>. I have the will to hare a Creeps' wealth But ciioumeia ces will against my will, And I am poor ; I will, andJD, how much ! To have tbo tongue of Cicero, but ah! Those cruel circumstances keep me mute ; I will to wield a pen Shakesperian, But, fatal barrier, I lack the power. Not that which I believe, do 1 believe, Because I wish it to ; whate'er my faith, My will can have no power to alter it: I look upon the snow, it seemeth white; And if 1 have a cause to wish it black, Although I tear my hair, and gnash my teeth, And call on God for aid till heaven weeps, So long as on the curtain of mj eye 'Tis painted white, bo long my faith's unchanged ; But if it sbould appear thut it is black, Then though I wished it white, appoarancea Would bind me to believe what they'd dictate. If this appoaroth true, to me 'tis true ; "If that appeareth false, to me 'tis false; Not that I wish it either his or that, But that it seemeth so, so am I bound, Without alternative, so to believe. If all-the world believe that lam wrong, And if it Beem to me that I am right, lhen I believe I'm right, spito of the world j And it must seem to them that I am wrong, Or they'd believe with me : appearances Compel their faith, like ub it fashions mine, And each is right,' believing as it seems. There was an ago, in which one man stood up, And said the earth was spherical, not lat; And.all the world in arms against him rose, Accoßnting bis belief heretical; Yet he was right, or now the world is wrong j And that should teach us, thut although the . «rowd Agree today that such and such is such, It may no such a such be, after all. The bigotry that in thnt day had power To end with fire the minds that dared disturb Acknowledged creeds, still stalks the earth, as fierce And mercilsßs ; I knpwjt^£JbWpj"Oof )L ____ >— "Tpit~naving"lOßt-thß-prlvnege tb~burn7 It hell apportions for a soul like it inc. A thing might seem to me that which 'twas not ..•"■■• But I would still believe it what it seemed, And be deluded, but not willingly ; For if I knew it seemed not what it was, I would believe it other than-it seemed j But ere I could believe the seeming false, 'Twould have to eeeiri to me that it seemed so. . Then if my faith be right, no eulogy Is due to me, as 'tis compulsory ; And if, by any means, I saw 'tWdB wrong, " . That moment it would undergo a change. And if my faith be wrong, no threat ot hell, Though it might have t'e power to terrify, Could contribute one atom, having weight To turn the scale ; no bribe of heuyenly bliss, However much I yearned to " enter there," Could swerve me from what I might deem the truth, > For ere I deem at all, if. first must aeem. Our boasted facts are but apparent facts, For when I say, " I see," I may not see : Without iiffection of my retinae, No matter what might;p»ss bu/ord my eye, I would not see, and it might so occur, That when I say, " I see," it. would but be • Such aa affection ; w:,en I e»y, 'I hear," It m»y be a mistuke, and only be Vibration of my auditoiynfirvea; But if I think I see, I so believe— I muat, and so, 100, if I think I hear. I ust» my Ojes aud ears iv s ght and eotmd, And if all ejes uuJ ears Wt-re similar, So would Lhe eeeiog and the hearinjj he, If like conditions reigned ; but if ono nerve In eye and ear be different,, bo must The sight an sound be d.iFerently cuiiveved, Although the things themselves,observed and heard, Remain untouched, unchanged ; and though eaoh aense I have, agree in every single part With each, and every sense of some one elae — That is, though every nerve, along which lows The knowledge we receive of all we know, Be similar, if the receiving part. Be not the same, bur knowledge canuo't. be ; And if my knowledge of a given thing B9 diff'rent to another*, then my faith, In like proportion, must be d tfermit— la reason's ntimo, I nsk, ' Is this a crime? And where d.es it come in ? ' If 1 bu wrong, "l\s surely tiiy misfortune, not, my fauls. I lovo the good, the true, the boaa'iful; But wh .t seenn sj to me in i\ not to you ; \ I see not with your eyes, nor you with mine, So what migh: you attract might me repel, Aa in the magnet there are different poles, ** So, nalure's opposite there are in man, And if- I be condemned for pointing where It is my nature to, ao let it b«v. Oh! Mother Natu a, from whose womb I came, And at whose biva.'ts I su'.j!< th ■ iuiik of life, If thou coutdsi answer p«->i cr, aiy prayer would be— • Let me be like thee : ov.-r Natural." James Simp3on. - , Lotii "Wilmot in Court, That wonderful woman, Madame Lolti Wilmolt, created something akiu to a scene in the Supreme C^urt ou Weduesday. A case of rape was being beard, and all women and children were ordered to learo. Madame remained in the gallery, concealed by one of the arched spandriis of the roof. She was detected'by. the, Crown Prosecu or, and after some trouble was compelled to withdraw. We abridge Continued in Fourth Page.