Alexandria Gazette

THE GAZETTE.

WEDNESDAY MORNING, OCT'R. 21, 1857.

OTHER PEOPLE'S TROUBLES.

Among the Mephistophelian maxims of Rochefoucauld. is one which has, unfortunately, too much truth, as the world goes.- It is easy to support the troubles of other people.

We refer to the expression that it is always easy to endure the sufferings of other people.

From the rush and roar and terror in New York, one would suppose that our neighbors had actually never seen or heard of anything of the kind, though we here have been, of late, under a rolling-mill pressure of the most stupendous description. Alas! it is always so easy to endure the sufferings of one's neighbors.

Fortunately the same feeling does not always prevail among individuals. Our city has of late abounded with instances of noble and feeling hearts, who, with few losses of their own to grieve them, have gone boldly forth and showed that they could not easily support the misfortunes of others: shown it by warm sympathy, deep emotion, and by practical aid. No history will ever be written of the noble deeds of this crisis; no book will record the heroic sacrifices which friend has made for friend: but could they all be chronicled in detail, it would be shown that the era of brave hearts and kind deeds is not over, and that the world, heartless as it is supposed to be, is still inspired as ever with unselfish magnanimous spirit.

The times would be dismal indeed were the misfortunes of others entirely supportable by those who are themselves unhurt.- Fancy it carried out, and we should at once see the death-blow given to credit, confidence, and that active business life on whose revival depends the whole hope of our prosperity. In fact the great truth cannot be too rapidly or earnestly promulgated, that it is on individual effort and on personal exertions that most of the good time which is to come must depend, and not by idly resting and waiting for times to mend themselves.- There is scarcely a person in the community who cannot do something toward this; it only requires some warm interest in the welfare of others and a little practical action. Pay all your debts promptly, aid at home or wherever you can in small economies, do not at such a season set the example of extravagance in anything, and still do not refrain from healthy and liberal expenditure for anything that can conduce to real comfort or intellectual pleasure. One single atom of example in these matters will do more towards restoring confidence and prosperity than all the idle declamation in the world.

And the whole drift of the matter simply is, that in a period of general suffering like this, we should all strive not to bear the misfortunes of our friends with equanimity, but, on the contrary, to sympathize with them, earnestly, tenderly, and with all the practical energy that in us lies.- Phil. Bulletin.

Planche, the critic, who died recently in Paris, was a true specimen of a Frenchman. He slept in a garret and lived at a cafe. He took his coffee and prepared his critique at the same time, pocketing the stray lumps of sugar afterwards, according to the national custom. He frequented an "estaminet" a smoking room, near the Hotel de Ville, and there amid the noise and confusion of loquacious customers, he wrote his reviews. He was held in great respect by literary men, and his place on the Revue des Deux Mondes will be filled with difficulty. Beranger was so much pleased with an article that he wrote upon some of his poems, that he expressed himself in a letter of thanks as quite elated by such a favorable opinion. Always distrustful of himself, he observed that he could now wake up his own esteem, by referring to the excellent article, model of reasonable criticism and good style which "his dear Planche" had written about him and his songs. Planche was always poor, quarrelled with fat Jules Janin and got into various difficulties. He died in a hospital and his bitterest enemy read his funeral service. The last moments of his life were characterized by a singular delirium. He believed himself at the court of Louis XIV conversing with that monarch, and enjoying the company of Moliere, Bossuet, Fenelon, Madame de Sevigne and others, and he died happy in their society. Planche was a true Bohemian. He was poor says a Paris letter, even to the clothes on his back. His twenty-five years of active labor had only produced him a yearly rent of some two thousand francs. (four hundred dollars.)- And yet he was the first critic of France, and constantly employed. To show the influence of the Revue des Deux Mondes, not a critic ventured to speak a word on the works of the late art exhibition in Paris until Planche had taken the lead. Even such men as Theophile Gautier, Paul St. Victor, and others, waited for his opinion before venturing their own.- In his manner he was eccentric and absent. In his dress he was slovenly and negligent, and it was only by a ruse that his publisher could make him appear decent. While he slept new clothes were carried stealthily into his room and suspended on the chair in place of his old ones. Planche, who was always distracted, never noticed the change unless it was pointed out to him by a friend. His career seems to have been similar to that of the late Gerard de Nerval. Struggling against poverty one day and rolling in wealth another. Their ends were different, however. for poor De Nerval hung himself from a window sill to escape an insupportable indigence.