bury
the Past. Look forward only to the Future, and there you will find
objects worthy of your ambition, and if you will pursue them, they
will serve to eradicate from your mind the harrowing scene you have
just passed through. Believe me, Alfred," he continued, "it will never
do to pass your days in vain regrets at what is passed and vanished.
It serves to irritate and keep open the wounds in our lives, while it
never soothes the afflicted, nor gives us a moment of peace. Let the
present and future alone occupy your thoughts. They will give you food
for reflection, sufficient to bury all former unhappiness, and to
entail upon you a return of that earthly joy you once possessed."

"Your remarks are correct in theory, my friend," replied Alfred, "but
they cannot be put into practice. Sooner can the Mississippi river be
drained of its waters than the inexorable Past be obliterated from the
mind of man. It must ever remain in his memory, and though at times it
may lie dormant, the slightest event will be all that is necessary to
awake it into life. The cares of the present may deprive it of active
participation in the mind; anxiety for the future may prevent the mind
of man from actively recurring to it, but it still remains indelibly
imprinted on the memory, and though a century of years should pass,
and the changes of Time render the Present opposite to the Past, the
latter can never be forgotten. Think not that coming years can render
me oblivious to my present affliction. They may make dull the agony I
now feel, and perchance I will then wear as bright a smile as I did in
years ago, but the remembrance of my wife and child will never be
blunted; no, nor shall a shade cross over my heart, and dim the
affection I had for them, while living, and for their memory now that
they are in the grave."

Alfred was right. The words of Harry were a theory which sounds well
enough for advice, but which can never be placed into practice. The
Past! who can forget it? The Present, with its load of cares; with its
hours of happiness and prosperity; with its doubts and anxieties, is
not sufficiently powerful to extinguish remembrance of the Past. The
Future, to which we all look for the accomplishment of our
designs--the achievement of our ambitious purposes--cannot remove the
Past. Both combined are unequal to the task, and the daily life of man
proves it so.

The Past! what a train of thought does it suggest! Aye, the Past, with
i