Disappointments and their uses

Papers by Allan Reid (1855 - 1933)

DISAPPOINTMENTS AND THEIR USES

8th December 1874 - Read to London Road Literary Association

Ask what is human life - the sage replies With disappointment lowering in his eyes A painful passage o'er a restless flood A vain pursuit of fugitive false good ___________________. ___________________. The poor, inured to drudgery and distress, Act without aim, think little, and feel less ___________________. ___________________. Riches are passed away from hand to hand, As fortune, vice, or folly may command; ___________________. ___________________. Business is labour, and man's weakness such, Pleasure is labour too, and tires as much. ___________________. ___________________. Youth lost in dissipation we deplore Through life's sad remnant, ________ (Cowper).

So spoke one of England's great poets. Such reflections as these are, at all times, well-calculated to give instruction. In a previous paper we told that in these days no one could put forward opinions without courting criticism of the most rigourous stamp. The story of Life is an old, old story. Little criticism, properly so-called, can therefore be looked for. What is most to be dreaded and alike pitied, is the puerile and dogmatic cavillings of which the present is so productive.

In such a town as this, the student of human nature has ample scope for observation. Let him walk along one of our thoroughfares and read the stories which the faces reveal. It will be found that, with comparatively few exceptions, men's hearts and habits can be read through their faces. If at all possible, let him start a conversation with some of the queerest characters that fall in his way and he will soon become acquainted with all the grotesque phases which human life may assume. He will become acquainted with the hopes and trials and the disappointments and successes of his fellow-men with the poverty of rich men compared with the poverty of the honest mechanic and is "nobility of nature's gentleman" compared with the nobility of the gentleman of the world.

I have already said that reflections on life are at all times profitable and it is with a desire that these words should be proved, if proof is necessary, that I intend to speak for a short time on disappointments and their uses.

The usual dictionary meaning of the word disappointment is "defeat or failure of expectation, hope, wish, desire or intention; failure of design or plan, miscarriage or frustration". I intend to abide by this definition for the present - but to come more directly to the subject. The existence of disappointment is, in itself, a proof that it is intended for some end or use: while the recognition of Providence, I consider, is equal to saying that it exists for man's benefit. It is but to return to the good old simile of the tree being tried by the wintry blasts. To withstand the storms of a life-time the tree thrusts out her roots and takes a stronger grasp of the earth; then she can with great safety defy the fiercest winds. It is the same with Man tried by disappointments. This trial brings all that is good or bad out of him. He either proves himself the victor or succumbs. Need I mention such names as Stephenson, Arkwright, Smith, Franklin, Miller and Wm and Robert Chambers. These are men, and only a few, who, after a severe and long-continued struggle, have triumphed over the adverse currents of circumstances. Do not their works rise from amidst a grand series of disappointments? Are not the histories of these men the histories of hopes frustrated, difficulties overcome: in some instances of persecution from their co-workers and of the reward of patience, perseverance and self-denial? Wm Smith, who has been called "the father of English Geology", although receiving a scanty education, yet guided by a keen observation, he was the first to classify the strata of the earth. He was sorely tried by misfortune ere the world received the fruit of many years survey of the rock formations of his country. The story of the boy who gave too much for his whistle is familiar to all - Hugh Miller was a mason. After struggling with difficulties he brought himself into notice by papers on various subjects; amongst others, some on Geology. The science of Geology does not owe him the same debt as it does Wm Smith. The name of Smith will always be coupled with that of Geology, not so however with Miller. Many good lessons might likewise be learned from the patience and perseverance of Wm and Robert Chambers. Through trials and difficulties, coming from within and without, these men maintained their ground. Their labours received a just reward. To these men we ought to be deeply grateful for the introduction of cheap, wholesome literature.

Disappointment may be said to be incumbent on men as imperfect beings; imperfect in these attributes which have perfection only in the Creator. It would indeed be a strange world in which Man had no difficulties to grapple with. The history of such a world could boast of no Alexander, no Alfred, no Wallace, no Tell, nor of such men as Bonaparte and Wellington. Much less could it glory in such names as Howard, Wilberforce, Nightingale and Livingstone. It would be a history of such a nature that a person might turn over the pages for the space of five minutes and find it a great disappointment. A life without difficulties and disappointments would be a life without aim or hope.

A great writer has said -

'Tis not in mortals to command success: We will do more - deserve it".

This is true. Success is not to be accomplished by shrinking from that which is our imperative duty. Some distinguished men of science have made bold to say, that, when in their researches they were assailed by difficulties on all sides, they were sure a discovery was at hand. Men who could so speak, proved in what school they had been educated. The master, a harsh one he may sometimes appear, was experience; and experience is the only thorough disciplinarian. They knew well that groanings in the hour of trial were of no avail. They knew full well too, that to faint in that hour was utter failure, and it may be ruin. With the many noble examples of success which the biographies of our greatest men set before us, need we fear to enter manfully into the conflict: remembering that "the battle is not always to the strong nor the race to the swift." Is there any excuse for our remaining merely uninterested spectator? In the present instance we might almost say that "to encounter and to overcome" are synonyms. Without trouble, no prize can be gained, without disappointment no success and without difficulties no glory.

Let us picture to ourselves two boys leaving school having resolved to ascend a mountain together. It is late in the afternoon ere they begin the ascent. The path is steep and rugged. To reach the highest summit they must cross mountain torrents, march through tangled weeds and wade through bogs. On, on, on they go. Darkness begins to fall, clouds glide swiftly over the sky and the wind moans and shrieks among the rocks. One proposes that they should retrace their steps and ascend some other day - a more auspicious day. The other however has determined to reach the highest peak at all hazards. His companion is disheartened, he lags behind and finally stumbles and rolls down the hill-side. Something stays him in his downward course and he regains his feet. His friend has seen him, indistinctly rise, and calls him upward. He answers in the negative, and turning, wends his way down into the valley; being soon lost to sight in the gathering gloom. The other casts one sorrowful glance to the place where he last saw his companion and then looks in the direction of the mountain-top. It is hidden from view by thick clouds. He is still resolved to prosecute his journey. The storm breaks out with great violence. He sees the lightning playing about the hill and hears the thunder's crash echoed from the rocks. Once or perhaps twice he is in danger of being crushed by great masses of stone which come rolling from above. He succeeds in getting out of the way. Sometimes creeping on hands and knees, and sometimes almost knee deep in mud, he goes on. When almost overcome he crawls under the shelter of a rock. He now thinks on the dangers he has passed, of his late companion, and of that other Companion, his Omnipresent Father. He prays to Him to guard over him and give him strength. The storm abates and he again presses on. As dawn breaks the clouds clear away, and, as he gains the summit the Sun, in all its glory, shines down upon him. Now it is that he can with pleasure, not unmixed perhaps with a little pride, look around and view everything as it really is. The past is forgotten in contemplation of the present and yet how many do we find who forget the present in contemplation of the past and future? These will never succeed. This the light in which we should regard human life.

An eminent living Theologian has remarked, with some significance, that "Man's life is one grand disappointment". In the foregoing I have endeavoured to verify such a conclusion. The battle of life is a hand to hand conflict. Men cannot cut down their enemies with one fell sweep of the sword. What ground they gain is gained inch by inch. If retreat is resolved on it should be made in the same manner, but by making such movements the enemy is encouraged to press forward, and often, too often, he seizes captive after captive at his will and carries them into a hopeless and inglorious bondage. Look, for a moment, at the fate of Byron. What says Macaulay of the case of this unfortunate man? "Tho' attachment of the multitude bears no small resemblance to those of the wanton enchantress in the Arabian Tales, who, when the forty days of her fondness were over, was not content with dismissing her lovers, but condemned them to expiate in loathsome shapes and under cruel penances, the crime of having once pleased her too well". Is not this true? Raised in one day to the highest pinnacle of public opinion, and as suddenly cast down with loathing. Little wonder then, that a man of such a temperament as Byron should prove himself unequal to these circumstances. Many a man of greater moral courage might have had his heart crushed in a similar situation.

The question now arises, what are the uses of these trials and disappointments to which Man is heir? The first grand purpose which they serve is to strengthen his moral character. They tend to expand his sympathy for his fellow-creatures, deepen his faith in, and increase his love for, his Creator. That we should find a man, who to use a commonplace expression, has "risen from the ranks", by dint of patient and persevering plodding, mingled with the exercise of self-denial: to find, I say, that such a man was selfish seems alike preposterous and unnatural. Rather would we expect to find him a friend to the friendless and a father to the orphan: and is not such an affirmation borne out by the biographies of such men?

As in the lives of men, so is it in the lives of communities and nations. This we learn from History: that which might be termed the biographies of nations. Cast a glance over the history of Britain and what do we learn? England was successively subjugated by the Romans, Saxons and Normans. These events were doubtless looked at, at the time, as national calamities and disappointments, still they have proved blessings. The English failed in Henry VI's reign, after repeated attempts by his predecessors, to conquer France. This is not to be regretted. Had they succeeded England would never have had an independent existence. Again, Charles I disappointed the Nation. He was always ready to make promises but never willing to fulfil them. He wished to be absolute; but his subjects would not be ruled by a despot. The people would allow an inch, if need be six, but the King would not be contented with less than an ell. As a matter of course the result was civil war. Even this sad page of history is not without its blessings. Numerous other instances might be cited but it is unnecessary. What is the history of the Jews but that of a downtrodden race? At the same time it is equally true that that people is undergoing a just, though severe punishment. Look too, at that of Christianity. In almost all ages, Christians have been the victims of cruel and inhuman persecutions. Many evils might, and doubtless would have arisen had the early Albigenses crushed the Church of Rome, instead of being crushed by it. Did the cause of Christianity suffer through persecution in our own country? Had the Covenanters renounced the faith of their fathers, the name of Christian would not now command the reverence it does. Blot from our history the page of that bloody struggle for religious liberty and what a blank remains! Cast it aside and Scottish History loses one of its grandest glories. Our feelings receive a greater shock when we walk over the fields of Bothwell Brig and Drumclog than they do when we turn to look at the bore-stone on the field of Bannockburn or the rugged precipices of Killiecrankie. Truly our forefathers passed through a fiery ordeal, but they bore all with meekness for their Master's sake, and have handed down to us, their children, a name always to be honoured and revered. They were, as the historian tell us, "hunted down like wild beasts, tortured till their bones were beaten flat, imprisoned by hundreds, hanged by scores, exposed at one time to the license of soldiers from England. Abandoned at another time to the mercy of bands of marauders from the Highlands, they still stood at bay in a mood so savage that the boldest and mightiest oppressor could not but dread the audacity of their despair. Many were their dangers, hardships and disappointments and many their persecutors, still it cannot be said that their causes suffered. If the persecutions only purged their ranks of the insincere, and this it most assuredly would do, it did a great deal.

As a nation advances in civilization she decreases in selfishness; that is to say she looks abroad over the world to see what people, less favoured than she, that can be benefitted by her. None act in this manner more heartily than those who have had the most chequered existence. Our own country stands first among the nations of the civilized world for her missions and philanthropy. These are familiar topics and therefore need not be enlarged on.

And now I draw to a close. Can I not say with great truth, that there is not one present though we are all in the morning of life, who has not had to cope with disappointments. He was a wise man who told us to take Time by the fore-lock. Having a humble trust in the Almighty and wielding the sword of strong determination we can fearlessly seize disappointments in the same fashion, drag them to the earth, and placing our heel upon their necks in triumph, we can exclaim from the heart, "Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory!".

Over the door of an ancient mansion it is said these words "Nasci, pati, mori" are written - "To be born, to suffer, and to die!". From these words we read a solemn, yet true lesson. They form we might say an epitome of human life. Man is born on the edge of a great battle-field, on entering which he cannot, without danger turn his back to the enemy. He need not gaze around for the seven-league boots and the sword of swiftness of the story book, even could he possess them they would be valueless, worse than valueless. No! He must be content with continual plodding and with the implements of war furnished him at the outset. He will find that the discipline of the battle-field of life is as rigourous as that which existed in the Spartan camps of ancient Greece.

And now I conclude, quoting an author whom I cannot name for which I crave your pardon, "Complain not. Look up, my wearied brother; see thy fellow-workmen there in God's eternity: surviving there, they alone surviving. To thee Heaven, though severe is kind, as a noble mother; as that Spartan mother, saying while she gave her son his shield "With it, my son, or upon it!" Thou too shalt return home, in honour to thy far-distant home, in honour doubt it not - if in the battle thou keep thy shield"

APPENDED NOTE TO SUBJECT "DISAPPOINTMENTS AND THEIR USES"

Further research done on the quotation used by Allan in his final paragraph shows that this is taken from Thomas Carlyle's "Past and Present".