{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_38022/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_38022","id":"gutenberg_38022","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38022","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Social problems","United States -- Social conditions -- 1865-1918"],"text":"Produced by Roberta Staehlin, David Garcia, Martin Pettit\nand the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at\nhttp://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images\ngenerously made available by The Internet Archive/American\nLibraries.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNATURE AND CULTURE\n\nBY\n\nHARVEY RICE\n\nSECOND EDITION\n\nBOSTON 1890\n\nLEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS\n10 MILK ST. NEXT \"THE OLD SOUTH MEETING HOUSE\"\n\nCHARLES T. DILLINGHAM\nNEW YORK 718 AND 720 BROADWAY\n\n\n_Copyright, 1889_,\nBY HARVEY RICE.\n\nUniversity Press:\nJOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE.\n\n\n\n\nNOTE.\n\n\nThe first edition of \"Nature and Culture\" was published in 1875. The\ndegree of favor with which the book was received has induced the author\nto publish a second edition, in which he has made a few changes and\nadditions of such a character as to render the work, he trusts, still\nworthier of acceptance.\n\nCLEVELAND, OHIO,\nAugust 20, 1889.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n                                  PAGE\nNATURE AND HER LESSONS              11\n\nEDUCATION OF THE MASSES             53\n\nWOMAN AND HER SPHERE                93\n\nAIM HIGH                           139\n\nAMERICA AND HER FUTURE             163\n\nCAREER OF REV. JOSEPH BADGER       197\n\nMISSION MONUMENT                   225\n\n\n\n\nNATURE AND HER LESSONS.\n\nNATURE AND CULTURE.\n\n\n\n\nNATURE AND HER LESSONS.\n\n\nNature declares herself in her works. What exists beyond her domain, if\nanything, becomes necessarily a matter of faith or imagination; and yet\nthe origin of the material universe presents a problem which neither the\nvagaries of the ancients nor the speculations of the moderns have been\nable to solve in a satisfactory manner.\n\nIn modern methods of logic, we reason from cause to effect, from the\nknown to the unknown; but in attempting to penetrate the region of the\nunknown, we are often left without a reliable guide. Analogy may aid,\nbut cannot assure us. The powers of the human mind, if not infinite, may\nadmit of infinite culture. What is supposed to be \"unknowable\" may\ntherefore become known. However this may be, there is no divine\ninjunction which prescribes a limit to human possibilities.\n\nWhatever we may think or believe, the volume of Nature contains nothing\nbut truth; it is a divine record which is as inexhaustible in its wealth\nof knowledge as it is conclusive in its logic. Men of science, in\nattempting to read this unerring record, have advanced many plausible\ntheories in relation to the processes by which the earth acquired its\nembodiment, and took its place among the golden orbs of heaven.\n\nThere are reasons for believing that matter has always existed in some\nform or other, and that it is infinite in extent as well as in duration.\nNor need we hesitate to infer, from the knowledge we have of the various\nforms in which matter exists, that what is true of the earth in its\nprocesses of development is equally true of every other planet.\n\nWhether the earth in its origin was a fragment thrown off from some\nexploded planet which had filled the measure of its destiny, or whether\nit arose from the gradual accretion of elementary substances diffused in\ninfinite space, are questions which cannot be satisfactorily answered.\nEither method is not only plausible, but consistent with the known laws\nand operations of Nature.\n\nIt seems quite probable that those erratic bodies known as comets are\nbut incipient planets, which continue, as they revolve in their\nmystical flight, to accumulate gaseous matter until they have acquired\nand condensed a sufficient amount to become orbs, or worlds; when, by\nthe influence of physical forces, they take their places in some one or\nother of the existing planetary systems. It is thus perhaps that the law\nof development constructs a world with as much ease as it constructs a\ngrain of sand; nor can we doubt that the processes of aggregation and\ndissolution are made reciprocal in their relations, and perpetual in\ntheir action.\n\nIn a philosophical sense, \"life\" and \"death\" are but conventional terms,\nmeaning nothing more than a change of matter from one form of existence\nto another. Whatever changes may take place, matter can neither be\nincreased nor diminished. Infinite space, being an immateriality, could\nnever have been created and cannot therefore be limited or annihilated.\nIn all probability it still is, and always has been, filled with the\nelements of matter,--too subtile, perhaps, to be perceived, yet destined\nin the course of eternal ages to be wrought and re-wrought into infinite\nvarieties of corporeal existences, mineral, vegetal, and animal, ever\nprogressing from the imperfect to the perfect. Thus Nature teaches us\nthe lesson that in perfection dwells the central Life, the quickening\npower of the universe.\n\nIn accordance with this view, we may regard every particle of matter in\nthe universe as the germ of a world. And yet what are called original\nelements may be such, or may not. Supposed monads, or simple unities, if\nthey exist at all, may be capable of analysis by the application of\nphysical agencies or forces as yet unknown to science. Though science\nhas disclosed much that is wonderful in the mechanism of Nature, there\nstill lies before us an infinite unknown. Whether ultimately the human\nmind will become so enlarged and extended in its powers as to comprehend\nthe infinite, admits of no positive assurance; yet in the unrevealed\ndesign of the great future, such may be the result.\n\nIt is only in modern times that science has taken the advanced step, and\nled philosophy into the beautiful avenues of Nature, where, amid the\ninfinite, she gazes at the universe, listens to the music of the\nspheres, and beholds the golden wealth of the infinite displayed on\nevery side. It is thus that philosophy has become inspired with a desire\nto account for everything, and finds that Nature has written her own\nhistory in the hills and in the rocks, in the depths of the sea, and in\nthe stars of heaven, leaving nothing for man to do except to read the\nrecord, and accept its truthful teachings. In fact, the material\nuniverse may be regarded as an outspoken revelation of the infinite.\n\nThe elementary substances which compose the earth and its atmosphere are\nessentially the same, and are not numerous, so far as ascertained. The\nleading vital principle is oxygen, which constitutes at least one half\nof all known matter. The earth's crust is estimated to be about fifty\nmiles thick. This estimate is based on the fact that in penetrating the\nearth, the heat uniformly increases at a rate which would fuse all\nmineral substances at that depth.\n\nHence, the interior of the earth is believed to be a region of molten\nsubstances, fiery billows that roll impatient of restraint, and escape\nhere and there in the form of volcanic eruptions. Volcanoes are,\ntherefore, but the outposts of gigantic central forces, and earthquakes\nbut the spasmodic trials of their strength. It would seem, go where we\nwill, that \"fiery billows\" literally roll beneath our feet. What\nNature's ultimate designs are, it is impossible to predict. But it is\npretty certain that her internal fires are working out some mystical\nproblem. A scientific German has recently ascertained that the surface\nof the earth is gradually becoming hotter, and that in five hundred\nmillions of years it will attain to such a degree of heat as to destroy\nhuman life. And yet there are other scientists equally wise, perhaps,\nwho assert that the earth's crust is gradually cooling and contracting,\nand therefore radiating less heat, the final result of which will be the\ndestruction of all life and a return of the glacial period.\n\nGeological science, as well as revelation, impresses us with the belief\nthat in the beginning \"the earth was without form, and void,\"--a chaos\nof atoms which were gathered, comet-like, from infinite space, and made\nto revolve in a globular mass by physical forces, until it became, by\nthe condensation of its vapory atmosphere, submerged in a flood of dark\nand interminable waters. In consequence of the action of the waters on\nmineral substances, vast deposits of sediment accumulated, which, with\nthe aid of pressure and chemical heat, gradually hardened into rocks,\nstrata upon strata, like solid masonry, and varying in thickness from\nthe fraction of a mile to thirty miles or more. Nature seems to have\nadopted this method of construction as a prerequisite to the severance\nof the land from the waters. In effecting this object, the explosive\nforces, long confined in the earth's interior, are supposed to have\nburst asunder the walls of their prison-house, suddenly upheaving\ncontinents and mountains from the depths of a dismal and shoreless\nocean. It was then that the \"dry land\" made its first appearance, and\nwas baptized in the pure sunlight of heaven.\n\nThe virgin soil of the earth, when thus exposed to the genial influence\nof the sun, soon produced vegetal life, and vegetal life animal\nlife,--the one the food of the other. Thus Nature ever provides for her\nguests in advance of their reception. Yet in her formative processes she\n\"makes haste slowly,\" though she may sometimes leap to conclusions. Her\nwork never ceases. A million of years is to her as one day, and one day\nas a million of years. Hence everything has its age, and is lost in the\nages. Of this fact we have reliable evidence in the strata of the rocks,\nand in the limited field of our own observation. There can be no doubt\nthe earth has been many times baptized in fire and water, and its crust\nbroken into fragments and thrown into strange angles and relations.\nThese grand upheavals have occurred at dates vastly remote from each\nother, and are recognized by science as great geological periods.\n\nThe Ages of Nature, so far as relates to the earth, may be classed\nbriefly as: the primary, or reign of fishes; the secondary, or reign of\nreptiles; the tertiary, or reign of mammals; and the modern, or reign of\nman. Each of these ages constitutes a grand chapter in the earth's\nhistory, which is easily read and understood by the masters of\ngeological science. The same agencies which were employed in\nconstructing the earth's crust are still employed in reconstructing it.\nIn fact, the work of creation is still going on as in the beginning, if\nbeginning there ever was in Nature's material processes. We see this\nillustrated in the changes which are produced on the earth's surface in\nour own time by the action of the rain, the wind, the frost, the flood,\nthe glacier, the volcano, and the earthquake.\n\nIt is by these agencies that the hills and the mountains are graded\ndown, and the _detritus_ deposited in the valleys and in the sea; thus\nare valleys enriched and broadened, vast plains and deltas created, and\ncontinents enlarged. When the present hills and mountains have been\nreduced to plains, and the fertility of the soil exhausted, it is quite\nprobable that another grand upheaval of the earth's foundations will\noccur,--the birth-power by which new hills and mountains are lifted up,\nand continents changed to ocean-beds, and ocean-beds to continents. It\nis these mighty changes and exchanges that prepare the way, and fit the\nearth for the production of higher orders of plants and animals, and\nperhaps a higher order of man.\n\nIn the course of unknown ages, Nature has enriched and extended the\nvalley of the Nile hundreds of miles into the sea, by transporting\nthither the pulverized wealth of the Abyssinian mountains. Thus\nfertilized, Egypt has for many thousands of years sustained a dense\npopulation. Very justly has she been called not only the cradle of\nmankind, but the granary of the world. In like manner, the Ganges\ntransports from the interior of India a sufficient amount of sediment\nannually to cover a township five miles square to the depth of ten feet,\nand by this means has extended the land hundreds of miles into the\nocean. The Hoang-Ho, a river of China, by its deposits of alluvium in\nthe sea has added an entire province to that country, comprising an area\nof ninety-six thousand square miles. Indeed, all rivers are tributaries\nto the sea, and all seas tributaries to the rivers. This exchange is\neffected mainly by the rains and the snows, the exhalations and the\nwaterspouts. The clouds are but common carriers; this commerce is\ntherefore a matter of mutual interest, and grows out of the positive\nnecessities of sea and land. Though the elements appear to move in\nconflict, they really move in perfect harmony, and bring order out of\nseeming confusion.\n\nIn executing a gigantic work, no river has excelled the Mississippi.\nThis \"Father of Waters\" has distinctly indicated in the record of his\ncareer the prehistorical age of the world, and the equally prehistorical\nadvent of man. In his \"march to the sea\" he has left enduring landmarks,\nand with his battle-axe notched centuries long lost in the mighty past.\nThe land which this majestic river has formed, by depositing sediment in\nthe Gulf of Mexico, comprises an area of thirty thousand square miles.\nThis deposit or delta has a depth exceeding one thousand feet; and the\nperiod required for its accumulation has been estimated by Mr. Lyell,\nthe renowned geologist, at one hundred thousand years.\n\nThis estimate only embraces the deposits since the river ran in its\npresent channel. The bluffs along the river rise in many places two\nhundred and fifty feet, and contain shells, with the remains of the\nmastodon, elephant, tapir, megalonyx, and other huge animals. It is\nevident that these bluffs must have belonged to an ancient plain or\nvalley long anterior to the present level. In several sections of the\nvalley as it now exists, excavations have been made deeper than the Gulf\nof Mexico, and successive growths of cypress-timber found, to the number\nof four or five distinct growths, the lowest lying at the depth of six\nhundred feet. Some of these trees are ten feet in diameter, and have\nfrom five to six thousand annual rings of growth.\n\nAs the valley of the river from age to age grew in elevation by\ndeposits of sediment, a new growth of cypress was produced, and is now\nsupervened by the live-oak plain, so called, which has had an existence,\nas estimated by the annual rings of the oaks, of fourteen thousand\nyears.\n\nIn excavating for gas-works at New Orleans, a human skull was found\nbeneath the roots of a cypress belonging to the fourth-forest level, in\na good state of preservation, while the other bones of the skeleton\ncrumbled to dust on exposure to the air. The type of the cranium was\nthat of the aboriginal American. Now, if we take the period required to\nform the live-oak level, and add it to the time required to produce the\nnext three subterranean growths of cypress, which overlie the fourth\ngrowth, in which the cranium was found, it clearly proves that the human\nrace existed in the great valley of the Mississippi more than\nfifty-seven thousand years ago.\n\nNot only in the valley of the Mississippi have fossil remains of man and\nanimals been discovered at depths and in formations that prove their\nremote antiquity, but in many other parts of the world. Not many years\nago, a human skull was found in Brazil, embedded in a sandstone rock\novergrown with lofty trees. There is still preserved, in the museum at\nQuebec, a human skull which was excavated from the solid schist-rock on\nwhich the citadel now stands. Human skeletons have also been found in\nthe island of Guadeloupe, embedded in a rock said to be as hard as the\nfinest statuary marble. Even so recently as the year 1868, while sinking\na well at the Antelope station, on the Union Pacific Railroad, the\nworkmen penetrated a rock six feet thick, and at eighty feet below the\nrock discovered a human skeleton in such a state of preservation as to\nbe readily recognized as such.\n\nIn another instance it is said that a human skull was discovered in\nCalaveras County, Cal., at the bottom of a shaft which had been sunk one\nhundred and thirty feet below the surface. It was found deposited in a\nbed of gravel with other organic remains, and beneath the eighth\ndistinct geological layer of earth and gravel, where it must have lain,\naccording to the estimate of Professor Whitney, the geologist, for a\nperiod of at least one hundred thousand years. This remote antiquity of\nman is also confirmed by discoveries in every part of the world of the\nfossil remains of domestic animals as well as of man, including\nimplements of human invention, such as flint arrow-heads, stone axes,\nwar-weapons, cooking-utensils, in localities which preclude the idea of\ntheir belonging to an age that has a written history.\n\nIt is not unfrequent that fossil remains of human bones and of animals\nare found embedded in the coral-reef limestone of Florida. In fact, says\nProfessor Agassiz, the whole peninsula of Florida has been formed by\nsuccessive growths of coral reefs and shells; he estimates the formation\nof the southern half of the peninsula as occupying a period of one\nhundred and thirty-five thousand years. The sea contains ingredients\nwhich feed innumerable animalcula, especially the polypes, or\ncoral-builders, which have the power of secreting calcareous matter.\nThese myriads of noiseless architects are ever busy in building for\nthemselves fairy temples in the depths of the ocean, of the most\ndelicate and beautiful workmanship, and in erecting pyramids and\nislands, and in extending continents.\n\nIn the mean time there are other agencies of a very different character\ncontinually at work, modifying the earth's surface, and preparing it for\nsustaining a still higher order of vegetal and animal life. As a result\nof these agencies, especially the volcanic, it often happens that\nserious calamities befall the human family. In the course of a century,\nnot less than two thousand volcanic eruptions occur on the globe, equal\nto twenty a year, or one every eighteen days. The whole number of\nvolcanoes known to be active at the present time exceeds three hundred;\nand doubtless many times that number have long since become extinct.\n\nIn Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, there are extensive tracts or\nbelts of country which are volcanic in their character; and especially\nis this true of the entire American-Pacific coast, and the ocean-bed\nadjoining it. Often have long lines of this coast been elevated or\ndepressed many feet, as if the whole continent were afloat, and tossing\nlike a ship on a stormy sea. Neither in the past, nor in the present,\nhas the earth seemed to rest on a sure foundation. Even in apparent\nsecurity there is no positive safety.\n\nNature must and will exercise her sterner as well as her milder powers.\nIn achieving gigantic works, she employs gigantic powers. Her forces are\nher own; and when she directs them to execute her mandates, she is\npromptly obeyed. She models and remodels the earth's exterior and\ninterior at pleasure, but never without a beneficent design. Earthquakes\nbreak up the earth's crust. Internal fires melt it. Exploding gases lift\nit. Gravitation moulds it. The atmosphere cools it. The sun and the rain\nclothe it with verdure; and flowers crown it with beauty. In this way\nthe earth's surface seems to have been prepared for the advent of man,\nand its interior supplied with coal-fields and reservoirs of oil and gas\nfor his use.\n\nThough Nature has made for man ample provision, she requires him not\nonly to help himself, but to take care of himself. Nor does she give him\nformal notice to keep out of harm's way when she wishes to break up the\nearth's crust and re-cast it, but proceeds at once. She may sink or\nelevate a continent at a blow, or she may do it by slow degrees.\n\nThe earliest writers give us accounts of terrific earthquakes.\nThucydides alludes to volcanic eruptions which occurred five hundred\nyears before the Christian era. In the vicinity of volcanic mountains,\nit has happened that city after city, in the course of ages, has been\nengulfed, one upon another, in molten lava, or cinders, leaving no\nrecord behind them of their unhappy fate. Herculaneum lies buried a\nhundred feet deep beneath the modern city of Portici; and beneath\nHerculaneum, a city still more ancient has been discovered, whose name\nand history are entirely unknown. How many other cities lie buried at\nthe foot of the old fire-crowned monarch of Italy, no one can tell; but\ndoubtless there are several of them. What induced people to occupy a\nlocality so perilous, it is difficult to say, unless it was the\nsuperior fertility of a volcanic soil.\n\nNo part of the world is exempt from sudden calamities of a similar\ncharacter. The earthquake experienced by the city of Antioch in Syria,\nin the year 626, destroyed two hundred and fifty thousand people. The\ngreat eruption of Mount Etna, in 1669, overflowed fourteen towns,\ncontaining from three to four thousand inhabitants each. The stream of\nlava which issued from the mountain was half a mile wide and forty feet\ndeep, and swept everything before it, until lost in the sea. The\nearthquake at Lisbon, in 1775, killed sixty thousand persons in six\nminutes; the shock was felt in Switzerland, in Scotland, in\nMassachusetts, and on the shore of Lake Ontario. In 1783, a large river\nin Iceland was sunk into the earth by volcanic action, and entirely\nobliterated. In 1792, an earthquake in the island of Java sunk a tract\nof land fifteen miles long and six miles wide, carrying down with it\nforty small villages. In our own country and in our own neighborhood, in\n1811, several islands in the Mississippi River, near New Madrid, were\nsunk by an earthquake, and the course of the river driven back eighteen\nmiles, causing it to overflow the adjacent lands; about half the county\nof New Madrid, as well as the village, was submerged. Several new lakes\nwere created, one of which was sixty miles long and several miles wide.\nThe earth's surface rose in undulations like the billows of the sea, and\nwith terrific utterances, opened yawning chasms, from which vast columns\nof sand and water, and a substance resembling coke, were thrown out. The\nwhole face of the country in that region was materially changed. And,\nwhat is a little singular, one of the lakes thus created by the\nearthquake extended to the river at a point nearly opposite the famous\nIsland No. 10, thus affording a natural canal by which the Union forces\nin the late civil war approached and took the island.\n\nIt is not improbable that the entire chain of our great northwestern\nlakes, from Ontario to Superior, were created by the volcanic collapse\nof a mountain range that once occupied the same localities. Of this fact\nthere are plausible, if not irresistible, evidences to be seen in the\nvolcanic character of the rocks at various points along the entire\ncoast. Nor can it be very well doubted that subsequent volcanic action\nhas elevated much of the coast into several corresponding ridges, from\none to two miles apart, which distinctly mark the successive boundaries\nof these inland seas.\n\nNature removes mountains, or creates them, at pleasure. She also makes\nand unmakes lakes and rivers, to say nothing of oceans and continents.\nIn California, and doubtless in other parts of the world, there are as\nmany dead as living rivers. The miners of California have already\ndiscovered the old channels of a dozen or more dead rivers, as they call\nthem, encased and sealed up in the very heart of the mountain ranges,\nand extending in some instances hundreds of miles in the general\ndirection of the ranges, and leaping from mountain to mountain at a\ncommon level or grade. These ancient channels are filled with sand,\ngravel, and small bowlders, evidently worn and polished by long\nattrition. Some of the channels are a mile wide, or more, and from ten\nto one hundred feet deep. In the angles or eddies, the sands are found\nto be exceedingly rich in gold, sometimes yielding fifty dollars or more\nto the cubic yard. It is estimated that over five hundred millions of\ndollars have already been taken from the sands of these dead rivers, and\nthat they are now yielding at least ten millions a year. It is evident\nthat these dead rivers must have been living rivers long before the\nvolcanic era arrived, which elevated the ancient valleys into mountain\nranges, and depressed the ancient mountain ranges into valleys.\n\nIn the South-American earthquake of August, 1868, thirty thousand lives\nwere lost, several cities entirely obliterated, and three hundred\nmillions of dollars' worth of property destroyed. A tidal wave, more\nthan forty feet deep, swept over the land and deposited, high and dry,\nand beyond recovery, several first-class ships; the effect of this\nearthquake was felt along the coast for a distance of six to seven\nthousand miles. In October of the same year, the city of San Francisco\nwas visited by an earthquake, which shattered many buildings, and\ndestroyed several lives. It is supposed that this was but a prolongation\nof the South-American earthquake.\n\nIn some parts of California and South America, thunder and lightning\nseldom occur, while earthquakes are frequent; in regions like these,\nearthquakes would seem to be a substitute for thunder and lightning. In\nall probability both are but electrical phenomena, differing only in the\nfact that the one is an earthquake, the other a skyquake. It is in\nplains and valleys that earthquakes prove the most destructive.\nDoubtless the solid material composing the mountain ranges affords a\nbetter conductor of electricity than the alluvial soil of the plains and\nthe valleys; hence, while the one serves as a lightning-rod, the other\nbecomes the battleground of conflicting elements. It may be that\nelectrical forces are generated in the earth's interior, as well as in\nthe atmosphere, and that the earthquake is but the shock produced by the\nrestoration of an equilibrium. The earth and the atmosphere are\nessentially the same in their elements, and are ever contributing of\ntheir substance to the requisitions of each other.\n\nWhen physical science shall be so far advanced as to explain the true\ncauses of the earthquake, if it does not make man \"master of the\nsituation,\" it will doubtless place in his hands the power of avoiding,\nto some extent at least, the calamities which now so often befall life\nand property.\n\nThere can be no doubt that the earth is a physical necessity not yet\nfully developed; only about one-fourth part of its surface is land, the\nremainder water. Nearly three times more land lies north of the equator\nthan south of it. Why this should be so, is not quite clear. In the\ncourse of the earth's future development, however, it is not improbable\nthat additional continents and islands will appear, and the waters\nsubside into narrower and deeper channels, thus giving to man, and to\nland-life generally, a wider domain. And yet the present seas were not\nmade in vain, but have always abounded with plant-life and animal-life,\nthough of an inferior order as compared with land-life. Life in itself\nis infinite, and appears in infinite varieties both on land and in the\nsea. Whether man needs more land for his use and future development, is\ndifficult to say. At any rate, everything that exists has its mutual\nrelations, and adapts itself to the ultimate aim of Nature,--the\nperfection of man.\n\nIn the Western Hemisphere, the mountains take the general direction of\nnorth and south; in the Eastern, the general direction of east and west.\nIn the one hemisphere, the ranges essentially accord with the lines of\nlongitude; in the other, with the lines of latitude. These mountain\nranges are but continental watersheds, from which flows the elemental\nwealth that enriches the plains and the valleys. The rivers and their\ntributaries are the commercial agents. The rain and the frost are the\nminers whose labors will never cease until the mountains are levelled.\nThe mountains also attract and guide the storms and modify their force,\ncondense the mists, the raindrop, and the dewdrop, and thus aid in\nrefreshing the valleys in connection with the heat of the sunbeams. In\nthis way the seasons, as well as the elements of the soil, are so\nmodified and vitalized as to give to man seedtime and harvest, and\nneedful food to every \"living and creeping thing.\"\n\nIn addition to the world of life that is visible, there is a world of\nlife that is invisible,--a microscopic realm of animalcula, which \"live\nand move and have their being\" in every element of life, and in every\nlife, and yet are so minute as to be imperceptible to the naked eye.\nThese invisibles, or infusoria, abound everywhere and in everything.\nThey pervade the sea, the land, the air. They swarm in every drop of\nwater, and revel in every morsel of food. We can neither eat nor drink\nwithout infringing on their domain and consigning myriads of them,\nperhaps, to an unprovoked destruction. They are almost as various in\ngrade, size, and shape, as they are numerous. Some are hideous, while\nothers are comely. They feed on each other, the superior on the\ninferior, and are ever struggling for life and for the mastery. They\nengage in the \"battle of life\" to sustain life, and hold to the doctrine\nthat \"to the victors belong the spoils.\" It is an ascertained fact that\na speck of potato-rot, the size of a pin-head, contains hundreds of\nthese little ferocious animals, fighting and devouring each other\nwithout mercy and without cessation.\n\nWhat seems still more surprising is that they probably have a perfect\norganization,--heart, lungs, stomach, circulation of blood, and are\nendowed, perhaps, with all the five senses. Infinite numbers of them, it\nis supposed, exist in so minute a form that no microscope, however\ngreat its power, can detect them. Nor need we doubt that even these\nliving invisibles are beset with parasites vastly minuter than\nthemselves, which feed and breed on their surfaces. In the very\nblood-circulation of the minutest, it is not improbable that other\ninfusoria, still more minute, swim and prey upon each other. The uses\nfor which this invisible world of life were created, though doubtless\nfor a wise purpose, cannot be comprehended. Yet it is evident that every\nliving thing, however minute, has a destiny of some sort, ever\nprogressing, it may be, from a lower to a higher sphere,--from the\nmaterial to the spiritual, from the finite to the infinite.\n\n\n     \"All are but parts of one stupendous whole,\n     Whose body Nature is, and God the soul.\"\n\n\nThe atmosphere, supposed to extend sixty miles in height, surrounds the\nearth like an invisible ocean, and gives to it almost entirely its\nlife-material. In fact, the atmosphere is the great reservoir of the\nvital elements, from which is derived the principal part, if not all,\nthe material, solid or liquid, which enters into the composition of both\nplant and animal, whether it be a blade of grass, a leaf, or a tree; an\ninsect, a fish, or a man. It is true, however, that animal-life is more\ndirectly the outgrowth of plant-life; and yet the vital forces of both\nare derived from the air, and return to the air by solar agencies. It is\nquite certain that all matter, as seen embodied in various forms,\nconsists entirely of certain gases condensed or solidified by chemical\nlaws. The atmosphere itself, and probably infinite space, are filled\nwith matter in the gaseous form, or in some unknown form, destined to be\ncondensed, dissolved, and recondensed in a series of changes as\ncontinuous as the infinite ages.\n\nIn this sense, not only the earth, but every other planet, contains\nwithin itself the seeds of its own dissolution. Yet matter, whatever its\nform, is still indestructible, and will forever retain its vital forces.\nIt would seem that life is the soul of matter, and that electricity is\nthe soul of life,--immaterial, it may be, and if so, then immortal.\nWhere the material ends, or where the spiritual begins, it is impossible\nto say. We know that we are endowed with the five senses at birth. We\nalso know that they are the media through which we receive all the\nimpressions and perceptions of our environment; it is from their report\nthat we learn what is agreeable or disagreeable to our physical needs.\nWe choose the agreeable, and reject the disagreeable. Here reason\nbegins, and pronounces judgment. Memory records facts and conclusions.\nThe physical and the mental grow in strength from infancy to manhood;\nthey are a living unit. The one is real, and the other ideal. Of spirit\nor soul we know nothing, nor can we prove their existence, unless we\naccept the proofs as furnished by revelation. It is certain, however,\nthat our moral character survives us and continues to have an influence\nin the world for good or for evil \"according to the deeds done in the\nbody.\" This fact is something which we can comprehend as constituting\nthe ideal of our spiritual existence. Nor need we doubt that in\ndischarging our duties to our fellow-men, we discharge our duties to\nGod.\n\nEverywhere about us, and especially in atmospheric phenomena, we see an\nepitome of Nature's processes and marvellous formative power. Not a\nsnowflake falls to the ground that does not bring with it a\ncrystallization of the most beautiful specimens of artistic embroidery,\nfar excelling the finest needle-work ever wrought by woman's hand. The\nsame is true of the silver frostwork traced on the window-pane by the\ndelicate touch of invisible fingers. In truth, every gem that glitters\nin the mine, every flower of the field, and every star in the sky, is\nbut a crystallized expression of the beautiful, blended with a silent\nlove that is pure and heartfelt, as if akin to us. In reality they are\nour kindred, and we are their kindred.\n\nNature seems to delight in creating the wonderful as well as the\nbeautiful, and often combines both in the same exhibition. Hence she\nentertains us occasionally with a magnificent display of fireworks,\nknown as Northern Lights; or with an apparent shower of falling stars;\nor with the sudden descent of an aerolite, all ablaze, as if dropped\nfrom the fiery forge of the sun; or with a brilliant comet, which with\nits long and glittering trail sweeps in ladylike style the star-dust\nfrom the pavement of the sky. These singular occurrences, though\nsometimes regarded as ominous, are but a part of Nature's systematic\noperations. They cannot with any foundation in truth be attributed to\naccident; for it is impossible that accidents should happen in the\nworkshops of Nature, or in the administration of her government.\n\nHow the various meteors are actually formed, or whence they come, is a\nmystery which has induced much speculation among scientific men. Some\nsay they are volcanic fragments thrown from the moon, or from some\ndistant planet, or perhaps from a crater of the sun; while others, with\nmore reason, suppose that they are generated in space, or in the earth's\natmosphere, and are nothing more than condensed gases which constitute\nthe elements of solid matter, and which become in some instances so\nhardened by chemical action as to assume the solidity of stone or iron.\n\nAnd hence it often happens that the latter class of these erratic\nstrangers fall from the sky to the earth with a terrific explosion. In\nancient times their appearance was regarded as portentous of national or\nindividual calamities. The Chinese have records of meteoric showers, and\nthe fall of aerolites, which occurred more than six hundred and forty\nyears before the Christian era. The Greeks and Romans observed and\nrecorded similar phenomena. Between the years 903 and 1833, not less\nthan nineteen periodical star-showers have been recorded. The regular\nperiod of their occurrence is once in every thirty-three years, or\nthereabout, and usually about the middle of November. But what are\ncalled sporadic meteors, or shooting-stars, are of frequent occurrence,\nand may be seen almost every evening in the year.\n\nThe most brilliant meteoric shower on record is that of 1833, when\nmeteors fell at the rate of two hundred and forty thousand per hour,\ncreating the impression that all the stars of heaven had been unsphered,\nand were falling like a sheet of fire to the earth, and threatening a\nuniversal conflagration. Occurring as it did at midnight, and\ncontinuing for two or more hours, thousands of people, who witnessed the\nscene with fear and trembling, supposed the day of judgment had come. In\njust thirty-three years after this, Nov. 14, 1866, occurred another\nperiodical shower of a similar character, which, though less brilliant,\nwas seen on a more extended scale in Europe than in the United States.\nWhy this apparent storm of fire should occur every thirty-three years,\nis a mystery which science has not yet been able to explain. It may be a\npart of the machinery of our planetary system, and is perhaps as regular\nin its revolutions as the planets; or it may be a method of dissipating\nan over-accumulation in the earth's atmosphere, or in infinite space, of\ninflammable gaseous matter, which thus ignites spontaneously, and\npresents to the eye the appearance of burning sparks flying off, as it\nwere, from the broad anvil and ponderous sledge employed in the great\nworkshop of Nature. Be this as it may, meteoric showers, so far as\nknown, have always proved harmless in their results.\n\nBut the aerolite assumes a more formidable character. In outline it is a\nglobular mass heated to intensity, and in its approach comes with a\nhissing sound, and usually explodes in the atmosphere or when it strikes\nthe earth. Its fragments show that it is a solid body, composed mostly\nof a ferruginous material. The illumination it creates in its passage\nthrough the atmosphere is sometimes seen at the distance of five or six\nhundred miles. Erratic masses of this kind have been known to fall in\nall ages and in all countries, and are of frequent occurrence.\n\nSo recent as the year 1867, an aerolite of large dimensions fell in\nTennessee, penetrating a hillside of rocky formation to the depth of\ntwenty feet. It was seen at a great distance, and came hissing on its\nway like a planet on fire, and when it struck the earth, produced a\nshock like that of an earthquake. So intensely heated was it, that for\nthree days after it fell it generated and sent up from the moist earth a\ndense column of steam, which rose and floated away like a cloud in the\nsky. When excavated, its mass was found to be composed principally of\niron, and measured seven feet from apex to base, and ten feet in\ncircumference. Fragments of it have been preserved, and may be seen at\nWashington, and in several collections of minerals belonging to\nscientific individuals. But where did it come from? Did it come from the\nsun, the moon, the earth, or from some exploded planet? or was it\ngenerated in the atmosphere? Though the question has not been\nsatisfactorily answered, there are plausible reasons for believing that\naerolites, and meteors generally, are the spontaneous production of\natmospherical agencies. Physical forces are at work all over the earth,\ncharging the atmosphere with the identical materials that compose the\nmeteoric stone, or aerolite. Volcanoes emit their gases, and hurl with\nterrific force burning fragments of rock into the depths of the sky. The\ntornado, or land-spout, takes up in its grasp sand, with other solid\nmaterial, and rotates it with such violence as to produce fusion of the\nmass, giving it a globular form and hurling it to an invisible height,\nand then leaving it to gravitate brilliantly and rapidly until it\nreaches the earth. This theory is confirmed by many facts, and\nespecially by the occurrence of a land-spout near the village of\nOssonval in France, where, on the 6th of July, 1822, some broken clouds,\ncoming from different directions, and collecting over the sandy plain,\nformed a single cloud, which covered the heavens, when an elongated\nnether portion of it descended, presenting its vortex downward, and\nhaving its base in the cloud. It then became violent in its revolutions,\nand being driven by the wind, overturned buildings, uprooted trees,\ntwirling them in the air with liberal quantities of sand and water,\nwhich it had scooped up in its course, when from its centre, amid\nsulphurous vapors, globes of fire were seen to issue, as if projected\nfrom an engine of terrific power, attended with a sound like that of\nheavy cannon discharged in the distance. Throughout its entire course it\nleft the fearful traces of its devastation. The globes of fire which\nwere projected from its centre, it may well be supposed, possessed all\nthe characteristics of veritable aerolites, and were thus manufactured\nby electrical heat and fusion out of the earth-material lifted from the\nplain.\n\nNot long since, there fell near Romney, Ind., an aerolite in a liquid,\nor molten state, which flew into fragments the moment it struck the\nearth's surface. The spot where it fell was deeply indented and\nscorched; and the material of which it was composed was found scattered\nabout in the vicinity, having the appearance of cinders, yet moulded\ninto the form of small spherical bodies varying in size from a buckshot\nto that of a cannon-ball. It is somewhat remarkable that in subjecting\nfractured portions of the cinders to intense heat, no perceptible odor\nwas emitted, neither was the color nor weight changed. The fact that\nthese cinders descended in spherical bodies would seem to indicate that\nthe parent mass approached the earth in a state of fusion, projecting\nfrom its surface, as it revolved, detached fragments, which, taking a\nrotatory impulse, became its attendant satellites in accordance with\nplanetary laws.\n\nAmong many other aerolites that have fallen in different parts of our\ncountry, one of considerable magnitude was seen to fall near Concord,\nMuskingum County, Ohio, on the 1st of May, 1860; it approached the earth\nwith a brilliancy as vivid as the sun, and exploded when it struck.\nSeveral fragments of it were excavated while quite hot, one of which,\nweighing eleven pounds, has been deposited in the Historical Rooms at\nCleveland. It is composed of ferruginous matter, and seems almost as\nheavy as pure iron.\n\nIt is impossible for us to comprehend, from the standpoint we occupy in\nthis life, our real relations either to the past or to the present, much\nless to the future. Earth has her manifold wonders, yet they are but few\nwhen compared with the infinite wonders of the heavens. Vast as our\nsolar system truly is, it may still be regarded as but a chandelier\nsuspended in the entrance-hall of Nature's great temple. When we\nconsider that infinite space has neither centre nor circumference, and\nthat it is filled with stars, and that every star is a world inhabited\nlike our own, and that there are still infinite numbers of stars whose\nlight, though travelling at the rate of one hundred and eighty-five\nthousand miles a second ever since the dawn of creation, has not yet\nreached the earth, we are lost,--lost in wonder and amazement, lost in\nthought, still wanting a thought broad enough and strong enough to grasp\nthe infinite. Who is there that would not, if he could, explore the\nuntrodden yet brilliant domains of infinite space,--the garden of God,\never blossoming with golden flowers,--and thus acquire for himself\ndivine wisdom? If we would become as gods, and walk with God, we must\nlearn to partake the food, and drink the beverage, of the gods.\n\nIn physical science there is much that has a direct influence on the\ngrowth and vigor of moral science. In fact, Nature does much more for\nthe welfare and education of man than he does for himself. The mountains\nelevate his thoughts, and teach him moral sublimity. The vast ocean,\napparently shoreless, suggests to him the idea of eternity and a future\nlife. The earthquake, the hurricane, and the lightning inspire him with\na belief in the existence of a supreme Power, a divine Governor of the\nuniverse. Thus impressed with a sense of his own weakness and\ndependence, man naturally implores protection, and trusts in the\nbeneficence and in the clemency of the great Invisible. Hence his faith,\nhis hope, his aspirations. In this way was laid the primitive\nfoundation of his creed and religious tendencies. And yet his weakest\npassion would seem to be his strongest,--a desire not only to perpetuate\nhimself beyond this life, but to acquire superhuman power. It is for\nthis that he struggles, erects altars, and solicits aid from visionary\nas well as from divine sources.\n\nWhether the perfection of mankind be the end and aim of Nature, need not\nbe questioned. It is evident that she regards man as a favorite, and for\nthis reason solicits him to accept the lessons of wisdom which are ever\nfalling from her lips. In the plenitude of her love she attempts to lead\nhim upward into a broader and a holier sphere. If man was able to trace\nhis descent and ascertain his origin, do you think he would find it in\nthe ape, as Darwin affirms, or in the dust of the earth? Revelation\nreplies, In the dust; and a sound philosophy confirms the fact.\n\nNature never stultifies herself, nor does she develop a new species of\nanimal or plant from an existing species, but doubtless encourages\n\"natural selection\" in the line of each distinct species, and by so\ndoing promotes progress in her grand scheme of attaining perfection; nor\ncan it be doubted that from new conditions a new species may appear. In\nfact, every living thing is born of its appropriate conditions, and\nwill continue to propagate its kind so long as its appropriate\nconditions exist. When conditions change, results change. In this way a\nnew species of plant or animal may be, and perhaps often is, generated.\nThe process is simply one of change in the relation of the requisite\nlife-elements,--a process which results from the unceasing operation of\na great natural law. In Nature there is nothing constant but change.\n\nLife, in all its varieties, whether vegetal or animal, has a rudimental\norigin, traceable perhaps to a minute egg, cell, or spore, call it what\nyou will, from which is evolved in due time a perfect plant or animal.\nBut if asked whence is derived the egg, cell, or spore, we can only\nreply that they have their origin in certain primitive life-elements,\nwhich are brought into contact in a way so subtile as to elude the\ninvestigations of science. This life-law, whatever it may be, acts in\nreference to kind, and produces its kind. Nearly all forms of life have\nresemblances; and though we accept the doctrine of evolution, it does\nnot follow that man was developed from an ape, or the bird from a\nflying-fish.\n\nEverything that lives, whether plant or animal, has its leading\ncharacteristics. Nearly all plants, as well as animals, evince a degree\nof intelligence in their choice of nutriment and in their methods of\nobtaining it. Some plants, like animals, shrink at the touch; while\nothers have the power of locomotion. Some seek the sunlight; while\nothers prefer the shade. Some imprison and appropriate insects as food;\nwhile others extend themselves in this or that direction in search of\nfavorite companionship. It is doubtless true that plants, as well as\nanimals, however low their grade, have sensation, perhaps consciousness,\nand if so, a ray of reason. It would seem that mind is but an outgrowth\nof matter, and that every living thing has a degree of intelligence.\nIndeed, every particle of matter, organic or inorganic, has motive\npower, and is therefore endowed with a living principle, however\nsluggish or inert it may appear. An intelligent vitality seems to\npervade the entire material of the universe. Hence it has been said with\nsome degree of plausibility that \"matter thinks.\" However this may be,\nit is certain that its motive power acts in reference to adapting means\nto ends, and is therefore controlled by reason,--a reason that is\ninfinitely superior to human reason. In other words, all matter is the\nsubject of law. The one is manifestly the condition of the other. The\nlaw cannot exist without the matter, nor can the matter exist without\nthe law. Both are therefore co-existent, and doubtless co-eternal.\n\nNature is ever active in working \"wonders in the heavens and in the\nearth.\" Her domain includes both. In the beam of every star she sends us\na messenger revealing the fact that the stars are constructed of the\nsame materials as the earth. In like manner we have assurance that the\nsame is true of the nebulous masses, which seem to float, like\ncontinents, in infinite space, awaiting the slow processes which are\ndestined to mould them into golden orbs. And thus from the depths of the\ninfinite comes world after world, system after system, ever sweeping\nonward in the \"eternal dances of the sky,\" until lost in the infinite.\nAnd thus it is that the work of creation has neither beginning nor\nending, but is ever progressing in its subtile methods of combining,\ndissolving, and recombining the entire matter of the universe.\nEverything, whether orb or atom, moves in a circle, because there is a\ndivinity that stirs within it.\n\nPhilosophize as we may, it is certain that we are surrounded by the\ninfinite, and are of the infinite. All that is terrestrial in us, all\nindividualities, are evanescent, passing from one form into another.\nNothing remains identical. Yet in her experiments, Nature never fails\nof success. In dissolving pearls, she creates others of higher value;\nin extinguishing stars, she lights up others of greater brilliancy and\nmagnitude. And yet nothing becomes extinct; elements never die. Every\nplant and every animal is but the fruitage of the inherent life that\npervades the material world.\n\nIn some form or other we always have existed and always will exist. It\nhas been well said that man in his nature is \"half dust and half deity.\"\nHis life does not begin with his birth, nor does it end with his death;\nhe is immortal. And so is everything, whether animate or inanimate,\nimmortal. Even death survives itself. Nor is there a particle of matter\nin the universe that has not lived and breathed; nor is there a drop of\nwater in the ocean that has not slaked the thirst of some living thing.\nEvery star that glitters in the fathomless depths of space swarms with\nlife, and every life achieves its aim. In a word, everything is\ninfinite, and subserves an infinite purpose. We need neither go nor come\nto reach heaven. It is here; it is everywhere,--not a place, but a\nstate. It is only the moral atmosphere of our social and individual life\nthat requires purification,--a work that must begin in the head and in\nthe heart in order to be effective. When this purification has been\nachieved, then with our earth-life will come moral elevation, and with\nmoral elevation, harmony with heaven. The God of Nature is the God in\nNature, who not only reveals himself in her lessons, but takes us by the\nhand, and with the love and patience of a parent leads us onward and\nupward--\n\n\n     \"Along the line of limitless desires.\"\n\n\n\n\nEDUCATION OF THE MASSES.\n\n\nIt is the welfare of society, rather than that of the individual, which\nis sought to be promoted by a system of popular education. Every part of\nthe social fabric should be fitted to its place, and go into place like\nthe materials in Solomon's temple, without the sound of the hammer; yet\na refined civilization cannot be attained without first securing a\nliberal mental culture of the masses.\n\nNature, as if inspired by a divine instinct, is ever engaged in refining\nher materials. The laws by which she works are as applicable to mind as\nto matter. In man we see both mind and matter combined,--two natures,\nthe intellectual and the physical. But in order to learn what we are and\nwhat we should be, we must first understand the relations in which we\nare placed. In attempting to do this, we must study man as well as\nNature, and advance step by step, if we would achieve the highest\nattainments of which we are capable.\n\nHe only is a man in the true sense whose mental, moral, and physical\ncapacities have been fully developed. To be \"twenty-one years of age\nand six feet high\" does not of itself constitute a man. He must attain\nto something more than this,--he must have the head and the heart and\nthe soul of a man. He must appreciate the true character of his\nposition, and have the moral courage to discharge his duties,--in short,\nhe must live for others as well as for himself, act from generous\nimpulses, and in all he does, yield to \"the divinity that stirs within\nhim,\" if he would comprehend the import of his godlike destiny.\n\nThe highway to knowledge, though rugged, is equally free and open to\nall. Whoever will, may enter the temple of Nature, interrogate her face\nto face, unlock her treasures, appropriate her wealth, and subject her\nsubtle agencies to human service. This the nineteenth century has\nalready done to a considerable extent. Thus far it has been a bold\ncentury, and has taken many bold steps. It has \"knocked holes through\nthe blind walls\" of the last ten centuries, and exposed to daylight the\n\"moles and the bats\" of antiquity; and still it demands more light. Such\nis the spirit of the age,--a demand for naked truth in all its beautiful\nproportions. Never, until this nineteenth century, have the masses\nreally discovered their mission,--the great fact that they were created\nto think as well as work, and to govern as well as be governed. And yet\nthe world may be regarded as still in its infancy; nor has the human\nmind, as compared with its possibilities, emerged from its cradle, or\neven thrown off its swaddling garments.\n\nThough capable of sublime achievements, man at birth is not only one of\nthe most helpless, but one of the most ignorant, specimens of animal\nexistence. It is said by physiologists that an infant can neither smile\nnor shed a tear until forty days old. In his infancy the world to him is\nbut a panorama of strange objects. In due time, however, he discovers\nthat he has everything to learn, and needs to learn everything before he\ncan comprehend himself or wield the power which Heaven has assigned him.\n\nThe degree of culture required to render man what he should be--godlike\nin his character--admits of no compromise with ignorance, superstition,\nor sectarianism, but on the contrary, involves the necessity of\nestablishing and sustaining such an educational system as will be\nadapted to the needs of the masses, and work in accordance with the laws\nof matter and of mind.\n\nIt is to the masses that our country must look for her best material,\nand for her future intellectual giants. In every age of the world more\nor less great men have been produced. At a time when most needed, our\nown country produced a Washington, a Jefferson, and a Franklin, who\ndistinguished themselves and the age in which they lived,--the age which\ngave birth to human rights. At a later period appeared a Jackson, a\nClay, and a Webster,--the defenders of the Constitution and of the\nUnion,--who have left behind them a brilliant record; but\nnotwithstanding their conservative efforts, there came a spirit of\nreform, sowing dragon-teeth, which soon sprang to life and filled the\nland with armed heroes, who bravely met in deadly conflict and decided\nforever the great question of human freedom; and consequently we now\nhave, instead of a few, a great many men of world-wide renown, who have\nmade for themselves and for their country a proud history.\n\nIn order to preserve our liberties we must have men of large hearts and\nwise heads,--men who can wear the armor of giants because they are\ngiants. In short, we must recognize the great fact that every child in\nthe land has a God-given right to an education,--a right which no parent\nshould be allowed to sell for \"a mess of pottage.\" Our national\nwatchword should be \"Education;\" and the system should be so\nconstructed as to reach all classes of youth by methods not only\nefficient but attractive.\n\nIt will be said by some, perhaps, that it is quite impossible to educate\nthe masses in the higher branches of learning, unless they be withdrawn\nfrom the indispensable labors of the field and the workshop, and thus be\ncompelled to neglect the industrial pursuits on which they must depend\nfor their physical comforts,--bread, raiment, and shelter. However\nplausible this objection may seem, it certainly does not afford a\nsufficient reason why the facilities of acquiring a good education\nshould not be equally extended to all classes.\n\nManual labor and a high degree of intelligence are by no means\nincompatible, but on the contrary, must be associated, in order to\nachieve great or brilliant results. It is true, however, that the\nphysical wants of man must first be supplied before you can proceed\nsuccessfully with the cultivation of his intellectual powers. The fact\nis every day exemplified that bread is much easier gained by an\nintelligent than by an ignorant laborer. Whatever faith may do, it is\ncertain that science and labor must be combined if we would either\ntunnel or \"remove mountains;\" and though native talent may have been\ndistributed with more liberality to some than to others, all are under\nthe highest obligations to improve such as they have, whether it be one\ntalent or twenty talents.\n\nThe farmer, the mechanic, the merchant, and even the busy housewife,\nhave more or less leisure hours,--long winter evenings, holidays, and\nsabbath days, amounting to nearly half a lifetime,--which might with\ngreat profit be employed in the acquisition of useful knowledge through\nthe medium of choice books and interchange of thought. Indeed, almost\nevery one who has received a common-school education may so improve the\nfragments of time which fall in his way as to acquire in the course of\nan ordinary lifetime a pretty thorough acquaintance with the sciences,\nand with general literature.\n\nThough our leisure hours may seem too few to be worth improving, yet it\nis by saving pennies that we accumulate wealth. Surprising as it may\nseem, there are within the allotted age of man ten years of sabbaths\nwhen taken in the aggregate,--ample time, one would suppose, for\nperfecting, in a good degree at least, his intellectual and moral\nculture. If mankind were as orthodox in their actions as they profess to\nbe in their creeds, the moral regeneration of the world would soon be\naccomplished. One of the most formidable barriers in the way of human\nadvancement is the faith we have derived, not from revelation, but from\nthe blind interpretation of it. A true theology and a sound philosophy\ncan never come in conflict. In this enlightened age, it is absurd to\nexpect that Science will confine her inquiries within the circumference\nof a circle, or so modify her annunciations of truth as to coincide with\nthe mystical traditions which have been handed down to us from a remote\nantiquity.\n\nAs an encouragement to the friends of popular education, the fact should\nnot be overlooked that the masses have been to a great extent relieved\nfrom the necessity of constant toil by the introduction of modern\nmachinery. In fact, genius has conquered time, and given time to the\nmasses. It has broken the fetters that bound them, and thus afforded\nthem leisure for self-culture, social intercourse, and the investigation\nof truth.\n\nIt is the magic power of genius which has given life and brain to\nmachinery, and which compels it to perform the hard work of the factory,\nof the workshop, of the farm, and of the household. In almost every\ndepartment of industry, machinery does the hard work. It spins and\nweaves and knits. It saws and planes and wields the hammer. It reaps and\nmows and thrashes. It churns and washes and plies the needle. In fact,\nit does nearly everything else for us, except to breathe, eat, and\ndigest our food. It was the inventive genius of our Northern people--the\nlegitimate outgrowth of our common-school system--that produced, at the\nmoment when wanted, iron-clads, monster cannon, and Greek fire, and in\nthe sequel, saved the Union, and overawed the powers of Europe. It was\nthese warlike inventions which secured us the elements of a lasting\npeace, and the respect of the civilized world.\n\nIt may be truly said that we now live longer in ten years than our\nancestors did in twenty, and accomplish twenty times as much. Still it\nis not possible for any one man to know and do everything. Men of genius\nare specialties, seldom or never universalities. Hence, a diversity of\ntalent naturally dictates a division of labor. And yet American genius,\nif not universal, must be acknowledged eminently inventive and\npractical. The Americans have made, we may venture to assert, more\nvaluable discoveries in the last half century than all the world\nbesides. The reason why this is so may be attributed to the operation of\na physical law, in connection with the effect of a liberal system of\npopular education. The Americans are a mixed race, made up of all\nnations, and have been improved and elevated as a race by transfusion of\nblood, which has resulted in producing increased activity of brain,\nwith new modes of thought and new exhibitions of intellectual power.\n\nBut notwithstanding this peculiarity of character, there still remains,\nas it seems to me, one great and glaring error in the prevailing system\nof American education. This error consists in our neglecting to develop\nmore fully the physical man, through the instrumentalities of systematic\nlabor combined with systematic study. In many of the German States, if\nnot in all, the plan of educating youth is much more sensible and\nphilosophical than in this country. There they combine daily labor with\ndaily study; and the result is that the youth of Germany acquire vigor\nof body and vigor of mind at the same time. From youth to manhood they\nare taught to regard labor as honorable, and they feel that it is so.\nHence the Germans are characterized as a race by the possession of an\niron constitution, and by a mental energy which enables them to meet the\nstern realities of life not only with fortitude, but with a spirit that\nnever yields to adversity. No country has ever produced a more athletic\nor a more enduring race than Germany; nor has any country produced finer\nscholars in every branch of human learning, especially in philosophy and\nin classical literature.\n\nBut in this country it may be difficult, perhaps impracticable, to\nestablish an educational system of this character, to any considerable\nextent, for the reason that we are for the most part an agricultural\npeople, who do not concentrate in hamlets, like the peasantry of Europe,\nbut prefer to occupy many acres and to distribute ourselves over a vast\nexpanse of territory,--and what is more, have a way of our own in all we\ndo. The truth is, Young America does not like work. He prefers fine\nclothes and fast horses, and apes the man before he is a man. And yet he\nassumes to know everything, and to do everything,--except work. These\npeculiarities in the character of Young America seem to have been\ngenerated by the spirit of our free institutions. Whether too much\nfreedom or too little freedom is the greater evil, presents a grave\nquestion. Whatever may be the cause, it is evident that we as a people\nare degenerating into a nation of speculators.\n\nAlmost every man nowadays seeks to acquire wealth by some grand\nspeculation,--by some other means than by the honest \"sweat of his\nbrow.\" Even mental acquisitions are often sought as a means of\nspeculation,--as a means of living without work; and hence we see the\nlearned professions crowded to overflowing. Go into the main streets of\nour cities and villages, and you will see the fronts of nearly all the\nbuildings on either side of the way shingled over with the signs of\nlawyers and doctors, who in the estimation of the populace lead lives of\nlittle work and great dignity. Doubtless a foreigner, with such an\nexhibition before his eyes, would think us a nation of lawyers and\ndoctors, living on the misfortunes of each other; nor would his\nconclusion be very wide of the mark.\n\nNor can it be doubted that there are thousands in the clerical\nprofession who, if they do not subsist on each other, subsist in a\n\"mysterious way\" on salaries entirely inadequate to their support. It\nwould seem that the supply of professional men in this country exceeds\nthe demand. For this there may be no remedy. Yet a step in the right\ndirection should be taken by advancing the standard of professional\nattainments so as to exclude mediocrity and shallow pretence from\nregistration on the \"roll of honor.\" Wide as the world is, it has no\nroom for idlers or pretenders.\n\nThis over-supply of professional men not only indicates a false estimate\nof what really constitutes a true manhood, but clearly proves that in\nAmerican education and in American public sentiment there are prevalent\nerrors which are inconsistent with the welfare of man and the democratic\ncharacter of our institutions. These errors can be corrected only\nthrough the influence of a well-directed course of popular education;\nbut nothing is more difficult than the correction of popular errors. It\nis a task the reformer often attempts, but seldom accomplishes. In most\ncases it must be a work of time, perhaps of ages. In every school there\nshould be a regular system of physical as well as mental exercises\nestablished. Health and strength of body are pre-requisites to health\nand strength of mind.\n\nIn most of our colleges and boarding-schools the physical development of\nthe pupil receives but little attention; and consequently he is\nenfeebled in body if not in mind, and is then sent out into the world to\nendure its hardships without the physical ability to take care of\nhimself. All this is radically wrong, and calls loudly for reform. An\nexclusive culture of the mental powers can never produce a strong man or\nwoman. This fact is painfully illustrated in all our large towns and\ncities. The kind of education, therefore, which attempts to refine our\nyoung men and young ladies by giving them an artificial nature too\ndelicate to endure soiled hands will never do. The coarse as well as the\nfine work of practical life must be done by somebody. Though some may be\ntoo proud, none are too good to work, however elevated may be their\nsocial position. There is really nothing in our daily routine of\nduty--in the coarse work of the world--from which an enlightened mind\nshould shrink.\n\nIt is to be hoped the time will soon come when all our public schools,\ncolleges, and universities will have their workshops and gardens,\naffording the necessary facilities for instructing our youth, male and\nfemale, in some industrial art or trade, as well as in books, and thus\ngive them a relish for labor, and the physical ability to endure it.\n\nIf such a method were adopted, the women of our country would soon\nbecome practically fitted to compete with the men in many, if not all,\nthe channels of a business life. If it be true that the women have been\ndeprived of their rights, it is certainly not the fault of the men, but\na fault of education,--a radical error which should be remedied. If\nparents will not apply the remedy in the early education of their\ndaughters, then there is no relief. Let a course of education make it as\nfashionable for a woman to pursue some industrial art or trade as it is\nto be a lily that neither \"toils nor spins,\" and you would soon see\nAmerican women not only capable of taking care of themselves, but more\ngenerally solicited than they now are to assume the endearing cares of\ntheir appropriate sphere.\n\nThe true mission of woman is divine. To her belongs the post of\nhonor,--that of a wife and mother,--a position which she prefers to\noccupy when yielding to the impulses of her nature. In educating her,\ntherefore, this great fact should be kept in view. There is no knowledge\nshe needs more than a correct knowledge of human character. This she can\nonly acquire by coming in contact with the world as it is, in childhood\nas well as in womanhood; in the public school as well as in the social\ncircle. The old puritanic idea that the sexes must be schooled\nseparately in order to secure them from exposure to moral dangers, seems\nto me not only erroneous, but absurd. The public school, when made up of\nboth sexes, is in fact an epitome of the world, where its good and its\nevil are seen, and where the child should be taught to accept the good\nand reject the evil under the guidance of correct moral principles. It\nis in a pure home influence, however, that a primary education should\nbegin. Indeed, mothers must take the initiatory step in giving to\nyouthful impulse the right direction.\n\n\n     \"Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined.\"\n\n\nBut in order to appreciate the full import of their duties and\nresponsibilities, mothers themselves must first be properly educated.\nWhere, then, is this all-important work to be commenced? Where can it\nbe commenced, except in our common schools? It is in the common schools\nonly that the masses can be educated. It is to the common schools only\nthat we can look for the proper education of the future fathers and\nmothers of the land, and for the correction of popular errors. It is to\nthis class of schools, more than to any other, that we must look for our\nfuture patriots and scholars, statesmen and philosophers, and last, not\nleast, for our future school-teachers.\n\nThe mission of a school-teacher is truly a mission of divine import. It\nis the school-teacher who moulds the youthful mind, and converts it into\na casket of gems; it is the school-teacher who gives direction to\nbudding thought, and awakens in the soul of youth the slumbering fires\nof genius,--in short, it is the school-teacher who lays the broad\nfoundations of the Republic, and hews the pillars that sustain our civil\nand religious institutions. The school-teacher should therefore possess\nthe qualifications of a master-builder, be able to plan his work, and\nexecute it with tact, taste, and judgment. He should not only govern\nhimself, but should be able to govern his pupils without seeming to\ngovern. In a word, he should be a model character, and regard his\nprofession as one of honor, and honor his profession by elevating it to\nthe dignity of a learned profession. He should remember that he is\nplaced in a position which gives him a vast influence,--an influence\nbroad as the ocean of time; an influence which should be pure in its\ncharacter, and as refreshing to the growth of the inner life as the dews\nof heaven to the unfolding flowers.\n\nThere is no means, perhaps, more efficient in promoting the success of a\nprofessional teacher than the instruction to be derived from institutes,\nor normal schools, in which the art of teaching is made a specialty.\nThis class of schools should be made a part of our school system. At\nleast every Congressional district, if not every county, should have its\nnormal school. It is only in this way that our public schools can be\nsupplied with accomplished teachers, and be made worthy of being called\nthe \"people's colleges.\"\n\nBut the truth is, the masses are not as yet more than half awake to\ntheir real interests. In the cause of popular education the wonder is\nthat educators have done so much, and legislators so little. The true\neducator is a philanthropist. He sees and feels that public sentiment\nneeds to be enlightened and liberalized before it will yield its\nsanction to such a system of public schools as ought to be established.\n\nIn perfecting our present system, we need a National Bureau of\nEducation, authorized to act as a central power in directing, if not in\ncontrolling, the general educational interests of the entire country. A\ndepartment of this kind, it is believed, would give efficiency and\nequality to all public schools, and thus greatly elevate their general\ncharacter. And with this view Congress should be required by the\nConstitution, not only to establish, but support in each of the States\nat least one national college; and these colleges should constitute a\nnational university, in which the crowning studies should be natural\nscience, military science, and the science of government.\n\nIt is doubtless true that educators have already become a power in the\nland. Of this fact they seem to be aware, and the danger is that their\ninfluence may be subordinated to the uses of political aspirants. Every\neducator has a right, of course, to express his own individual opinions;\nbut he certainly has not the right to employ educational\ninstrumentalities to promote the interests of a selfish partisanship,\neither in State or Church. Whenever it is attempted to sow \"tares\" of\nthis kind among the wheat, it is to be hoped that an indignant public\nsentiment will eradicate them with an unsparing hand.\n\nIt is always pleasant to recall our early schooldays, with their many\ndelightful and refreshing memories, which still linger about the old\nschool-house where we received our elementary education,--the dear old\nschool-house by the wayside, with its noisy group, its sunny spots, and\nits hours of fun and frolic, and especially its birchen sceptre, which\nso often taught us the \"doctrine of passive obedience.\" It is\nunquestionably true that every school-house, to some extent at least,\nreflects its character in the character of its pupils. Hence we should\nnot only look to the character of our schools, but should build our\nschool-houses in a neat, if not imposing style; for they, though silent,\nare eloquent teachers, whose influence should create such impressions as\nwill tend to refine the tastes and elevate the aspirations of the\nyouthful mind.\n\nBut no system of education which is contracted, or revolves in a circle,\ncan fully meet the exigencies of the mind, or satisfy the demands of the\nage. In most American colleges, as well as in the universities of\nEurope, a definite course of study is prescribed and made a fixed\nfact,--a kind of Procrustean bed on which every lad is either stretched\nor abridged to fit; and this is done, as scholastics tell us, for the\npurpose of disciplining the mind. No two persons were ever created to\nthink, act, or look alike in every respect; nor can an educational\nsystem be prescribed by square and compass which will be alike adapted\nto all minds. In my humble judgment, those studies best discipline the\nmind which tend most to enlarge and liberalize it, and which are\nessentially concordant with its native powers and capacities. The course\nof education, therefore, which will best develop the peculiar genius,\ntalent, or marked preference of the pupil, should be adopted so far as\npracticable. If a young man, for instance, exhibits a native talent or\ntaste for music, painting, mechanics, law, medicine, theology,\nagriculture, or commerce, his education should take the direction\nindicated. If this plan were pursued in all our colleges and other\nschools of a high order, we should soon see, instead of here and there a\nstar, a galaxy of brilliant men and women in the sky of our national\nrenown, whose excellence in their several specialties would challenge\nthe admiration of mankind.\n\nThe truth is, our modern colleges are not modern enough. They look to\nthe ancients for wisdom, instead of seeking it from Nature and the\nrevelations of modern science. In a word, the dead languages are studied\ntoo much; the living, too little. Next to mathematics, the natural\nsciences should take the preference. No man is thoroughly educated who\nis not thoroughly instructed in these sciences, especially in chemistry\nand geology. Every farmer should be familiar with agricultural\nchemistry, and be able to apply its principles. It is the utility, the\npractical good to be derived from an education, that gives to it value\nand solidity.\n\nIt is practical, not fanciful knowledge, which the masses need. In order\nto secure their elevation and social equality, every State in the Union\nshould be required to maintain an efficient system of common schools, in\nwhich all instruction should be given in the English language, and the\nschools made accessible to all classes of youth, and be \"good enough for\nthe richest, and cheap enough for the poorest.\" In order to effect this,\nthe system should recognize the theory as an equitable principle, that\nthe property of the State is bound to educate the youth of the State.\nThis principle is certainly a just one, since the man of property,\nthough he have no children, is as much benefited by its application as\nthe man who has children but no property, for the reason that the\nsecurity of property, as well as the rights of persons and the stability\nof the Republic, must ever depend on the degree of intelligence\npossessed by the people.\n\nIn fact, each State should be regarded as one great school-district,\nand all its resident youth as the children of the State, for whose\ncommon education every citizen having taxable property is bound to\ncontribute his proportionate share. In this way every child can be\neducated, and elevated to the social position of a true manhood; and it\nis only in this way that a work of such magnitude can be accomplished.\nIn every point of view it is much wiser to educate than to punish, much\nwiser to build school-houses than prisons, much wiser to sustain school\nlibraries than billiard-tables.\n\nIt is a matter of congratulation, however, that there is now much more\nconfidence placed in the theory of common schools than in former years.\nIn most of the States prejudice has yielded to enlightened sentiment,\nand the \"people's colleges\" have come to be regarded as the most useful\nand influential institutions in the land. All should be done that can be\nto render these schools pleasant and attractive. The school-house should\nbe built not only in good taste, but its surroundings should be made as\ncheerful and inviting as possible by planting about it ornamental trees,\nshrubs, and flowers. Its interior walls should be enriched with\nappropriate maps and charts, historical paintings, and portraits of\nrenowned men and women. In addition to this, every school should be\nsupplied with an ample apparatus, embracing specimen weights and\nmeasures, mathematical figures in wood, together with globes and a\nplanetarium,--not omitting a cabinet of the leading minerals, metals,\nand coins. Their uses and characteristics should be explained and\nillustrated by the teacher in a simple style of language, and in the\npresence of the entire school, at least once or twice a week.\n\nFamiliar exercises of this kind would deeply interest the pupils, and\nimpart to their minds a degree of valuable knowledge which they would\nnot be likely to obtain in any other way, and which might awaken,\nperhaps, some unconscious genius, who would in after-life so develop his\npowers as to advance the interests of science, and take his place among\nher proudest masters. In nearly every instance our truly great men have\narisen from an obscure origin.\n\nThe time has already arrived, I am inclined to think, when there should\nbe added to the usual course of studies pursued in our colleges,\nacademies, and high schools, a systematic training in military science\nand discipline, as a means not only of physical culture, but as an easy\nmethod of fitting our young men to become practical soldiers and\ndefenders of the Republic. We as a people, in consequence of the late\nCivil War in which we have been involved, are evidently undergoing a\ntransition, which has already had the effect to change in a good degree\nour national traits of character. If we would have invincible men, we\nmust, like the ancient Greeks, accustom our sons to hardships and manly\nexercises, give them muscle as well as mind, teach them to love and\ndefend their country, and if need be, to die for it,--die on the\nbattle-field,--\n\n\n     \"Where gory sabres rise and fall\n     Like shoots of flame on midnight's pall!\"\n\n\nThe attempt which we are making in our public schools to educate our\nchildren in the shortest possible time is a grave error. We ought rather\nto \"make haste slowly,\" if we would do the work well. A work of this\ncharacter is one which requires patience and perseverance. There is no\nshort way to knowledge, no patent right that can produce it to order. It\ncan only be obtained by study, persevering study, aided by the patient\nefforts of competent teachers. It is all-important therefore that we\nshould furnish our children with such elementary books as are best\nadapted to their capacities and needs, and with such teachers as are\nqualified to teach them lessons contained not only inside of books but\noutside of books,--lessons which abound everywhere, both in the natural\nand in the moral world. We should also furnish them with school\nlibraries composed of standard works, and including the best current\nliterature of the day. A library of this character should be established\nin every school-district, and be made accessible to every citizen. In\nthis way, and only in this way, can the masses be supplied with the\nmental food which they so much need, and which is indispensable to their\nmoral and intellectual elevation. No matter what the cost, public\nlibraries always pay a liberal dividend in the shape of mental and moral\npower, if not in dollars and cents. No matter what dangers may threaten\nour free institutions, depend upon it, a reading people will take care\nof themselves.\n\nThe ancients built temples for their gods; we build school-houses for\nour children. This one fact exhibits perhaps more clearly than any other\nthe distinctive character which marks the career of ancient and modern\ncivilization, and indicates the great change which has been wrought in\nthe course of ages by the law of progress. We may justly regard our\nnumerous school-houses and churches as the mirrors not only of moral\ncharacter, but as the safeguards of the Republic.\n\nIn the pursuit of knowledge, it is quite absurd to suppose that all\nhigh attainment in art, in literature, and in science, must of necessity\nbe confined to the \"learned professions,\" as they are called by way of\npre-eminence. It does not matter what a man professes to know, but the\nquestion is, what does he know, compared with what he might know? There\nshould never be such a monopoly allowed to exist as a monopoly of\nknowledge. The learned professions have nothing in them sacred, no\nforbidden fruit,--nothing more than what everybody may know who chooses;\nnor can there be any good reason why every employment in the various\ndepartments of human industry--every trade, every mechanic art--should\nnot be regarded as a learned profession, and be made a learned\nprofession, in which brains as well as hands should co-operate in\nachieving success and in solving new problems.\n\nThere is food for thought in every human pursuit. In order to be\nsuccessful, in order to achieve high aims, the laboring man must not\nonly think, but be capable of thinking profoundly. Indeed, every man may\nlive like a philosopher, and be a philosopher, if he will. But no man\ncan be a true philosopher who is not both a practical worker and a\npractical thinker. There is nothing the world needs more than workers\nand thinkers to make it a paradise. The masses are workers, and if\neducated, would become thinkers. It is only once or twice in a century,\nit is said, that \"God lets loose upon the earth a great thinker.\" Of the\npast, this may be true, but not of the present. We have scores of men\nnow living who are greater thinkers than Plato, Newton, or Franklin,\nbecause modern science has introduced them into broader fields of\nthought. The chemists, geologists, inventors, and discoverers of the\npresent day have never been excelled as profound thinkers. Ours is\nliterally an age of philosophers.\n\nTruth, though eternal, is never stationary; nor will the law of progress\never reach a standpoint. There is always something to be done, some\nvacuum to be filled. It is said by philosophers that Nature abhors a\nvacuum. I do not doubt it, especially if it be a vacuum in the human\nhead. It is pretty certain that the youthful head, if not filled with\nsense at the proper time, will soon be filled with nonsense. Neither\nerrors of the head nor errors of the heart can be easily eradicated,\nwhen once implanted. The moral nature of the child may be moulded at\nwill; but the cherished opinions of age can seldom, if ever, be either\nreversed or essentially modified. In the great battle of life our\nsuccess as individuals must depend on the kind of armor in which we are\nclad, and the kind of weapons with which we are supplied. For effective\nservice there is nothing which can be brought into the field so\nformidable or so irresistible as the artillery of logic. Intellect is\nalways sure of becoming the ultimate victor. We read of giants in the\nchronicles of the early ages,--physical giants, who could overthrow the\npillars of the proudest temples, and bear off mountains upon their\nshoulders; yet of what value to the world were their marvellous\nexploits, if really true, compared with the achievements of those\nintellectual giants who have appeared at different epochs, and taught\nmankind the most useful lessons in the arts, in the sciences, and in\nphilosophy? And here let me say to the young aspirant for worldly honors\nthat if he would achieve high aims, he must not only aim high, but have\nfaith in himself as well as in a Divine Providence. Indeed, every man,\nhowever humble, may become great in his vocation, if he will; yet no man\ncan become truly great who is not truly good.\n\nSo far as human perfection can be defined, it consists in the purity and\nsublimity of moral action,--a perfection which may be approached, if not\nreached, by all who are so disposed. How truly has it been said that we\nare never too old or too wise to learn! Nor is any man so ignorant but\nhe may teach a philosopher something.\n\nNo matter how conservative we may be in our creeds and opinions, the\nworld will continue to move onward; nor can it stand still if it would.\nThe time is at hand when errors in creed, as well as in education, to\nwhich we cling, will not only be exposed, but exploded. However hopeless\nthe condition of the masses may seem, they are already demanding more\nlight and only await an opportunity to proclaim their emancipation from\nmental thraldom.\n\nThe statistics relating to the numbers of mankind, and to the frail\ntenure of human life, convey lessons which ought not to be disregarded\nin the estimate we make of what man can do to elevate himself. Strange\nas it may seem, it is a fact pretty well ascertained that the entire\npopulation of the globe neither increases nor diminishes, but remains\nessentially the same. And yet the population of the earth is continually\nundergoing changes from the operation of local causes, increasing here\nand diminishing there, as the ages advance. The law involved seems based\non the principle of a just compensation for all diminution. In other\nwords, the earth has a limited capacity, and like a cup when filled, can\nhold no more, yet always remains full.\n\nWhen we consider the fact that one fourth of mankind die before\nreaching seven years of age; one half before reaching seventeen years;\nand that sixty persons die every minute,--we are struck with\nastonishment, and are naturally led to inquire into the reasons. The\ncauses which abridge life may for the most part be attributed to popular\nignorance, or disregard of physical law,--either in ancestor, parent, or\nchild. Nothing can be truer than the fact that the \"sins of the fathers\nare visited upon their children unto the third and fourth generation,\"\nand even to indefinite generations. It is indeed a fearful inheritance,\nwhen life comes to us tainted with constitutional disease. For this\nthere seems to be no remedy, except in the adoption of such a popular\nsystem of education as will diffuse a practical knowledge of the laws of\nhealth.\n\nIt may be safely asserted that many people, especially in America, where\nfood is abundant and the style of living luxurious, \"dig their own\ngraves with their teeth.\" Americans, as we all know, are disposed to\nlive fast, and of course die prematurely. In short, we are a sanguine,\nimpatient people; have morbid appetites, crave rich viands, seek wealth\nand office, and care for little else. In our successes we commit\nexcesses. In the pure elixir of life we infuse drops of poison. Yet\nNature proffers us the gift of long life, and waits our acceptance with\na patient spirit. Though extreme longevity may not be desirable, yet\nmany more than now do, might attain to the dignity of centenarians, if\nthey would but live in obedience to physical law.\n\nIn the elements of his physical nature, man is truly \"of the earth\nearthy.\" Chemists say that a man of ordinary size is composed of forty\npounds solid matter and five buckets of water, all of which may be\nconverted into gas. However this may be, man is a delicate piece of\nmechanism, a combination of divine inventions. For example, his eye is a\ntelescope, which penetrates the mysteries of the stars; his ear is a\ndrum, which repeats every sound in nature; his heart a timepiece, which\nmarks, with measured beat, the fleeting moments of his life; his vocal\norgans a harp with a thousand strings, which is capable of uttering the\ndivinest music.\n\nAnd yet man in his moral nature, though created but \"a little lower than\nthe angels,\" is a profound puzzle. He advances many theories, questions\neven divine truth, yet believes in absurdities. Nor need we marvel at\nthis, perhaps, when we recall the fact that mankind speak more than\nthree thousand different languages, and profess more than one thousand\ndifferent religions.\n\nWhether regarded as a common brotherhood, or as composed of distinct\nraces, it is evident that the human family have made rapid advancement\nin the amelioration of their condition during the last century, through\nthe instrumentalities of a world-wide commercial intercourse, and the\nconsequent diffusion of nobler incentives to action. Yet of the one\nthousand millions that compose the great family of man, more than six\nhundred millions are still groping their way in the darkness of a moral\nmidnight, awaiting the advent of the school-master and the promulgation\nof a purer and holier faith. Even in Christian countries, especially in\nthe South-American States, and in many parts of Europe, the masses are\nalmost universally illiterate and superstitious, and have so long been\naccustomed to oppression that they have become quite indifferent, if not\ninsensible, to their natural rights; nor dare they, if they would,\nassert their manhood.\n\nIn Italy, the land of art and of beauty, the proportion of those who can\nread is from twenty to thirty in a hundred, while among the inhabitants\nwithin a circle of thirty miles around Rome, there is not one in a\nhundred, it is said, who can read. Not only in these countries, but in\nmore than half the globe, the masses submit to oppression, because it is\nthe policy of their oppressors to hold them, spell-bound, in ignorance.\nIf they are ever elevated to the social and political rank which the God\nof Nature designed them to occupy, it must be done by the school-master,\narmed with his text-books and sustained by the efforts of an enlightened\nChristian philanthropy. For this ultimate object God works, and man\nshould work.\n\nThere can be no doubt but natural scenery, as well as climate, exercises\na decided influence in the formation of national character. Whether we\nadvert to Palestine, Switzerland, or New England, it is easy to discover\nthat the mountains of these countries have by their silent eloquence\ninspired the masses of the people, not only with reverence, but with a\nlove of freedom. In the sublimity of the cloud-capped mountains, they\nseem to recognize a divine presence which has taught them to look\nskyward, and to feel that they are destined to ascend in the scale of\nexistence; while in low and level countries, especially on the plains of\nRussia and Asia, the inhabitants take horizontal views of things, and\nconsequently submit to oppression, and never dare, like mountain-bred\nmen, to break their fetters or question the decrees of fate.\n\nThe ancient Hebrews, as everybody knows, were not only brave in warfare,\nbut were distinguished above all other nations as a reverential and\nGod-fearing people. Their form of government was essentially theocratic.\nIn the earthquake they recognized the footsteps of God; in the solemn\nthunder they heard his voice; in the lightning's flash they saw an\nexpression of his anger; in the rainbow they beheld a token of his\npromise,--in a word, they were a peculiar people, who have, in the\nrecord of their experiences, transmitted to mankind a sacred\ninheritance.\n\nSwitzerland is emphatically a land of mountains and of heroes. Almost\nevery hill and vale within her borders has its consecrated spots and its\nsanctified memories. In the recesses of her mountains the love of\nfreedom ever burns with a pure and a holy flame, because it is a love\nwhich was born of the mountains.\n\nIn New England it is equally apparent that the silent grandeur of her\nmountains contributes to inspire her inhabitants with lofty sentiments,\nand with a love of civil and religious liberty,--a love which can never\nbe subjected to the reign of oppression, nor be misdirected in its\naction, except by its own enthusiasm.\n\nIt often happens that the inhabitants who occupy distinct portions of a\ncommon country differ as widely in their sentiments as in their manners\nand customs. Especially is this true of the United States, where it is\neasy to distinguish the Eastern, Western, and Southern people from each\nother. It may be natural causes, or it may be local interests, that have\ncreated these differences, and marked the people of each region with\nthose peculiar personal traits which give them character.\n\nThe New Englanders are generally characterized as sedate, formal, and\npuritanical, guessing at everything, yet pretty shrewd at guessing. They\npossess genius, are prolific in inventions, and scrupulous in matters of\nfaith. In discussing theological questions, they split hairs; in making\na bargain, they conclude to split the difference. In all things they are\nquick to see advantages, and apt to take advantages. In whatever they\nundertake, they look ahead and go ahead. In every sixpence which falls\nwithin their grasp, they recognize an element of power which \"leads on\nto fortune;\" and when they have acquired a fortune, they are pretty sure\nto keep it. And, as Halleck the poet says,--\n\n\n     \"They love their land because it is their own,\n       And scorn to give aught other reason why;\n     Would shake hands with a king upon his throne,\n       And think it kindness to his majesty;\n     A stubborn race, fearing and nattering none.\n       Such are they nurtured, such they live and die,\n     All but a few apostates, who are meddling\n       With merchandise, pounds, shillings, pence, and peddling!\"\n\n\nIn the Western States, where Nature educates men on a liberal scale by\ngiving them broad rivers, broad lakes, and broad prairies, we find a\npeople characterized by broad and liberal views of things,\nlarge-heartedness, frank manners, generous sympathies; a philanthropy\nwhich regards all mankind as a brotherhood, and a public sentiment which\nrebukes intolerance. In truth, Western men despise \"little things\" and\ndevise \"liberal things,\" and would sooner sacrifice their lives than\nyield obedience to the mandates of either political or ecclesiastical\noppression.\n\nIn the Southern States Nature has not as yet effected much in the\nexercise of her educational influences. In whatever she has attempted in\nthis direction she seems to have been overruled by circumstances,--by\nthe difference in races, and by the prejudices of caste. Though the\nSouth has produced intellectual men of a high order, she has contributed\ncomparatively but little either to science or to standard literature.\nYet it must be conceded that the South has always been justly\ndistinguished for her hospitality, cordiality, and chivalric spirit.\n\nWhatever human institutions may achieve, it is certain that Nature in\nthe manifest wisdom of her works contributes largely to the education of\nall classes of men in all countries. In her great school, even the\nuncivilized man not unfrequently becomes a profound philosopher. The\ncoinage of her mint has the true ring in it and passes current\neverywhere. Her light is the light of the world, yet the masses are too\nblind, or rather too ignorant, to see it. Without intending the least\ndisrespect to the one thousand different theologies which distract\nmankind, it may be asserted that the Book of Nature is in itself a\ndivine revelation, which has been divided by her own hand into chapter\nand verse, and may be read in the alphabet of the flowers, in the rocks\nof the hills, and in the stars. In its language it is not only\nbeautiful, but every word is suggestive; in its doctrines it is pure and\ntruthful; in its wide range of thought it treats principally of life,\nand of the conditions of life, and assures us that the silent process of\ncreation--of eternal change--still goes on, now as ever; and that every\nparticle of matter in the universe is constantly active, achieving\nsomething.\n\nIn a philosophical sense, there is nothing dead that does not live.\nMatter combines, dissolves, and re-combines. New forms of life and new\nconditions of life appear and disappear. The very dust under our feet\nhas lived and breathed, and will live again. Nature waits to be\ngracious, and is ever ready to reveal her mysteries as fast as man can\ncomprehend them. And though she speaks with a silent lip, she invites\nall to share her bounties. Her wealth is infinite.\n\nIn every star, in every flower, in every blade of grass, in every grain\nof sand, in everything visible and invisible, there is life, light, and\nbeauty. In everything there is power. We cannot look at a grain of sand,\ninsignificant as it may seem, without seeing in its composition the\nmaterial which enables us to read the golden record of the heavens. In\nthe falling raindrop, when converted into steam, we recognize the\nexistence of a power which has revolutionized the world. In the kiss of\nthe sunbeam we discover a magical influence which tints the flower,\ngives color to everything in Nature, and by its impress presents us with\nan exact and lifelike transcript of ourselves and of our friends. In the\nlightning's flash we have a language in which we can converse with our\nfriends throughout the civilized world, at any moment we please.\n\nWhen we consider what has been achieved in the way of scientific\ndiscovery during the last half-century, who can tell what may not be\nachieved in the next century, in the next ten centuries,--when the great\nmysteries of Nature shall be more fully revealed, and when new\nsciences, now unknown, shall disclose new principles, new forces, and\nstill subtler agencies?\n\nIn her desire to advance human knowledge, Nature invokes\ninterpreters--unborn interpreters--who, though far away in the distance,\nwill yet come, and when they do come, will interpret in accordance with\ntruth the mystical language in which her undiscovered secrets are\nwritten, and thus extend the empire of thought until it becomes\ninfinite,--an empire in which man, still rising in the scale of\nintelligence, will acquire divine powers, and assume the dignity of a\nperfect manhood.\n\n\n\n\nWOMAN AND HER SPHERE.\n\n\nWoman, like a flower, sprang to life in a garden of flowers,--sprang\nfrom the side of her lord, and took her place at his side, as a meet\ncompanion to share his earth-life, his joys, and his sorrows.\n\nThe Greeks believed that the gods collected everything that is beautiful\nin Nature, out of which they formed the first woman, and having crowned\nher brow with sunshine, intrusted her with the irresistible power of\nfascination.\n\nIt is certainly not less pleasant than natural to believe that woman was\nmade of a more refined material than man; and it is doubtless true that\nevery sincere worshipper of the beautiful delights to regard the \"angel\nof his dreams\" not only as an incarnation of all that is lovable, but as\na divine spirituality,--a vision from a brighter and holier sphere.\n\nAn old writer remarks that in order to make an entirely beautiful woman,\nit would be necessary to take the head from Greece, the bust from\nAustria, the feet from Hindostan, the shoulders from Italy, the walk\nfrom Spain, and the complexion from England. At that rate she would be a\nmosaic in her composition; and the man who married her might well be\nsaid to have \"taken up a collection.\"\n\nHowever mystical may be the origin of woman, it is certain that we\nshould look to the moral beauty of her life, rather than to her personal\ncharms, in estimating the true value of her character. In her nature\nwoman is a loyalist,--loyal to man and loyal to God. In all ages of the\nworld, in all countries and under all circumstances, she has ever been\ndistinguished for her patience, her fortitude, and her forbearance, as\nwell as for those still higher and diviner attributes, her love and her\ndevotion.\n\nEndowed with charms which give her the power of conquest, woman ever\ndelights in making conquests; and though she may sometimes \"stoop to\nconquer,\" she never fails to elevate the conquered. With the smile of\nlove resting on her brow, she aims to fulfil her mission by scattering\nflowers along the pathway of life, and inspiring the sterner sex with\nreverence for her virtues and for the angelhood of her nature.\n\nThe true woman exhibits a true womanhood in all she does, in all she\nsays,--in her heart-life and in her world-life. Her love, once bestowed\non him who is worthy of it, increases with her years and becomes as\nenduring as her life,--\n\n\n     \"In death, a deathless flame.\"\n\n\nNot only in the sincerity of her love, but in all her sympathies, in her\nquick sense of duty, and in her devotion to all that is good, right, and\njust, she discloses without being conscious of it the divinity of her\ncharacter.\n\nIt is in sacred history that we find the earliest record of woman's\nvirtues, acquirements, and achievements. It is there that we read of\nwomen who were not only distinguished for their exalted piety and\nexemplary habits of life, but who often excelled even the great men of\nrenown in sagacity of purpose and in the exercise of sceptred power. It\nis in sacred history that we have the earliest account of the social and\ndomestic relations of the human family, the most prominent of which is\nthe institution of marriage.\n\nThe first marriage of which we have any account took place in a garden,\nwithout the usual preliminaries and ceremonies which have marked its\nsolemnization in subsequent periods of the world's history; yet we must\nbelieve that it was the most august and sublime wedding that ever\noccurred. The witnesses of the ceremony were none other than the angels\nof God. Nature presented her choicest flowers, and the birds of\nParadise sang the bridal hymn, while earth and sky rejoiced in the\nconsummation of the \"first match made in heaven.\"\n\nIt may be presumed, perhaps, that all matches are made in heaven; yet\nsomehow or other, sad mistakes occur when least expected. Even our first\nparents, though placed in a garden of innocence, encountered a serpent\nin their pathway. It need not seem very strange, therefore, that \"the\ncourse of true love never did run smooth.\" Yet there are but few who\nwould not concur with Tennyson in thinking--\n\n\n     \"'Tis better to have loved and lost,\n     Than never to have loved at all.\"\n\n\nIn affairs of the heart there is no such thing as accounting for the\nfreaks of fancy, or the choice of dissimilar tastes. Singular as it may\nbe, most people admire contrasts. In other words, like prefers unlike;\nthe tall prefer the short; the beautiful the unbeautiful; and the\nperverse the reverse. In this way Nature makes up her counterparts with\na view to assimilate her materials and bring harmony out of discord. It\nis from accords and discords that we judge of music and determine its\ndegree of excellence. In wedded life even discords have their uses,\nsince a family jar now and then is often attended with the happiest\nresults, by bringing into timely exercise a higher degree of mutual\nforbearance, and inspiring the heart with a purer, sincerer, and diviner\nappreciation of the \"silken tie.\"\n\nThere is no topic, perhaps, of deeper interest to a woman than that of\nwedlock. It is an event, when it does occur, which brightens or blasts\nforever her fondest hopes and her purest affections. The matrimonial\nquestion is therefore the great question of a woman's life. In deciding\nit, she takes a risk which determines the future of her heart-life. When\nthe motive is stamped with the imperial seal of Heaven, it is certain\nthe heart will recognize it as genuine, and trust in it. The language of\nlove speaks for itself, sometimes in mysteries, sometimes in\nrevelations. It is a telegraphic language which every woman understands,\nthough written in hieroglyphics. Hence the preliminaries to wedlock,\nusually called courtships, are as various in their methods as the whims\nof the parties. In many parts of the world these methods are as amusing\nas they are singular.\n\nIn royal families matrimonial alliances are controlled by State policy,\nand the negotiations conducted through the agencies of ministerial\nconfidants. In some Oriental countries, parents contract their sons and\ndaughters in marriage while yet in their infancy, nor allow the parties\nan interview until of marriageable age, when the wedding ceremonies are\nperformed, and the happy pair unveiled to behold each other for the\nfirst time. At such a moment \"a penny for their thoughts\" would be cheap\nenough. The philosophy of this absurd custom seems to be based on the\nclassical idea that \"love is blind.\" This may be true; yet blind though\nit be, the heart will always have its preference, and contrive some way\nor other to express it.\n\nIn some of the Molucca Islands, when a young man is too bashful to speak\nhis love, he seizes the first opportunity that offers of sitting near\nthe object of his affection, and tying his garments to hers. If she\nallows him to finish the knot, and neither cuts nor loosens it, she\ntruly gives her consent to the marriage. If she merely loosens it, he is\nat liberty to try his luck again at a more propitious moment; but if she\ncuts the knot, there is an end of hope.\n\nIn Lapland it is death to marry a girl without the consent of her\nfriends. When a young man proposes marriage, the friends of both parties\nmeet to witness a race between them. The girl is allowed, at starting,\nthe advantage of a third part of the race; if her lover does not\novertake her, it is a penal offence for him ever to renew his offers of\nmarriage. If the damsel favors his suit, she may run fast at first, to\ntry his affection; but she will be sure to linger before she comes to\nthe end of the race. In this way all marriages are made in accordance\nwith inclination; and this is the probable reason of so much domestic\ncontentment in that country.\n\nIn ancient times marriageable women were the subjects of bargain and\nsale, and were more generally obtained by purchase than courtship. The\nprices paid in some instances seem incredible, if not extortionate. Of\ncourse, \"pearls of great price\" were not to be had for the mere asking.\nJacob purchased his wife, Rachel, at a cost of fourteen years hard\nlabor.\n\nThe Babylonians, who were a practical people, gathered their\nmarriageable daughters once a year from every district of their country,\nand sold them at auction to bachelors, who purchased them for wives,\nwhile the magistrates presided at the sales. The sums of money thus\nreceived for the beautiful girls were appropriated as dowries for the\nbenefit of the less beautiful. Of course rich bachelors paid liberal\nprices for their choice, while poor bachelors, in accepting the less\nbeautiful, generally obtained the best wives, with the addition of a\nhandsome sum of money. In this way all parties were accommodated who\naspired to matrimonial felicity.\n\nBut in these modern times most of our young men, instead of purchasing\ntheir wives, prefer to sell themselves at the highest price the market\naffords. Fortune-hunting is therefore regarded as legitimate. In the\nmind of a fast young man wealth has a magical influence, which is sure\nto invest the possessor, if a marriageable young lady, however\nunattractive, with irresistible charms. If his preliminary inquiry--Is\nshe rich?--be answered in the affirmative, the siege commences at once.\nArt is so practised as to conceal art, and create, if possible, a\nfavorable impression. An introduction is sought and obtained. Interview\nfollows interview in quick succession. The declaration is made; the\ndiamond ring presented and graciously accepted; consent obtained, and\nthe happy day set. Rumor reports an eligible match in high life, and the\nfashionable world is on tiptoe with expectation.\n\nBut instead of its being an \"affair of the heart,\" it is really a very\ndifferent affair,--nothing but a hasty transaction in fancy stocks. And\nif the officiating clergyman were to employ an appropriate formula of\nwords in celebrating the nuptials, he would address the parties thus:--\n\n\"Romeo, wilt thou have this delicate constitution, this bundle of silks\nand satins, this crock of gold, for thy wedded wife?\"--\"I will.\"\n\"Juliet, wilt thou have this false pretence, this profligate in\nbroadcloth, this unpaid tailor's bill, for thy wedded husband?\"--\"I\nwill.\"\n\nThe happy pair are then pronounced man and wife. And what is the result?\nA brief career of dissipation, a splendid misery, a reduction to\npoverty, domestic dissension, separation, and finally a divorce. But how\ndifferent is the result when an honest man, actuated by pure motives,\nmarries a sincere woman, whose only wealth consists in her love and in\nher practical good sense!\n\nIt is man who degrades woman, not woman who degrades man. Asiatic\nmonarchs have ever regarded woman, not as a companion, but as a toy, a\npicture, a luxury of the palace; while men of common rank throughout\nAsia and in many parts of Europe treat her as a slave, a drudge, a\n\"hewer of wood and a drawer of water,\" and make it her duty to wait,\ninstead of being waited on; to attend, instead of being attended. Out of\nthis sordid idea of woman's destiny has grown in all probability the\ncustom of regarding her as property. Influenced by this idea, there are\nstill some persons to be found among the lower classes, even in our own\ncountry, who do not hesitate to sell, buy, or exchange their wives for a\nmaterial consideration. Some of our American forefathers, in the early\nsettlement of Jamestown, purchased their wives from England, and paid\nin tobacco, at the rate of one hundred and fifty pounds each, and\nthought it a fair transaction. Perhaps this is the reason why ladies are\nso generally disgusted with the use of the \"Virginia weed.\"\n\nBut the doctrine that woman was created the inferior of man, though\nvenerable for its antiquity, is not less fallacious than venerable. It\nis simply an assertion which does not appear to be sustained by\nhistorical facts. It is true that woman is called in Scripture the\n\"weaker vessel;\" weaker in physical strength she may be, but it does not\nfollow that she is weaker in mind, wit, judgment, shrewdness, tact, or\nmoral power.\n\nThe sterner sex need not flatter themselves, therefore, that superiority\nof muscle necessarily implies superiority of mind. History sufficiently\ndiscloses the fact that woman has often proved herself not only a match,\nbut an over-match, for man, in wielding the sceptre, the sword, and the\npen, to say nothing of the tongue. Illustrations of this great fact,\nlike coruscations of light, sparkle along the darkened track of the\nages, and abound in the living present.\n\nBut in looking into the broad expanse of the historical past, we cannot\nattempt to do more than glance here and there at a particular star,\nwhose undiminished lustre has given it a name and a fame, not only\nglorious, but immortal. As in all ages there have been representative\nmen, so in all ages there have been representative women, who crowned\nthe age in which they lived with honor, and gave tone to its sentiment\nand character.\n\nIn the career of Semiramis, who lived about two thousand years before\nthe Christian era, we have a crystallization of those subtle attributes\nof female character, which are not less remarkable for their diversity\nthan extensive in their power and influence. It will be remembered that\nshe was the reputed child of a goddess, a foundling exposed in a desert,\nfed for a year by doves, discovered by a shepherd, and adopted by him as\nhis own daughter. When grown to womanhood, she married the governor of\nNineveh, and assisted him in the siege and conquest of Bactria. The\nwisdom and tact which she manifested in this enterprise, and especially\nher personal beauty, attracted the attention of the King of Assyria, who\nmysteriously relieved her of her husband, obtained her hand in wedlock,\nresigned to her his crown, and declared her queen and sole empress of\nAssyria. The aspirations of Semiramis became at once unbounded; and\nfearing her royal consort might repent the hasty step he had taken, she\nabruptly extinguished his life, and soon succeeded in distinguishing her\nown. She levelled mountains, filled up valleys, built aqueducts,\ncommanded armies, conquered neighboring nations, penetrated into Arabia\nand Ethiopia, amassed vast treasures, founded many cities, and wherever\nshe appeared, spread terror and consternation. Under her auspices and by\nmeans of her wealth, Babylon, the capital of her empire, became the most\nrenowned and magnificent city in the world. Her might was invincible;\nher right she regarded as co-extensive with her power. Her prompt action\nwas the secret of her success.\n\nWhen she was informed, on one occasion, that Babylon had revolted, she\nleft her toilet half made, put herself at the head of an armed force,\nand instantly quelled the revolt. She was a woman of strong passions and\nof strong mind, and, what is now very uncommon, of strong nerves. And\nyet her peerless beauty and the fascination of her manners appear to\nhave been as irresistible as the sway of her sceptre. The fatality of\nher personal charms, her inordinate love of power, and the evils which\narise from the indulgence of vain aspirations, indicate the lessons\nwhich are taught by her career. In the twenty-fifth year of her reign,\nher life was suddenly terminated by the violent hand of her own son.\nAfter death she was transformed, as it was believed, into a dove, under\nthe symbol of which she received divine honors throughout Assyria.\n\nIt would seem that literary women were not less known in ancient times\nthan at the present day. Sappho took her place in the galaxy of literary\nfame six hundred years before Christ. So sublime, and yet so sweet, were\nher lyric strains that the Greeks pronounced her the tenth Muse.\nLonginus cites from her writings specimens of the sublime, and extols\nher genius as unrivalled. Beneficent as talented, she instituted an\nacademy of music for young maidens, wrote nine books of lyric verse, and\nmany other compositions of great merit. But of all her writings,\nhowever, only one or two of her odes have survived. Her fate was an\nunhappy one. She became violently enamoured of a young man of Mitylene,\nwho was so ungallant as not to reciprocate her attachment; and being\nreduced to a state of hopeless despair, she precipitated herself into\nthe sea from the steep cliff of Leucate, ever since called the \"Lover's\nLeap.\"\n\nIn this connection we ought not to omit the name of Aspasia, who, at a\nperiod two centuries later than Sappho, emerged like a star in a\ndarkened sky and charmed the age in which she lived with the\nfascinations of her rhetoric. She was not less stately and queen-like in\nher person than accomplished in her manners. It is said of her, that\nshe possessed rhetorical powers which were unequalled by the public\norators of her time; she was as learned as eloquent. Plato says she was\nthe instructress of Socrates. She also instructed Pericles in the arts\nof oratory, and afterwards married him. He was largely indebted to her\nfor his finish of education and elegance of manners, for which he was so\nmuch distinguished.\n\nSo charming were Aspasia's conversational powers that the Athenians\nsought every opportunity to introduce their wives into her presence,\nthat they might learn from her the art of employing an elegant diction.\nOn one occasion when the Athenian army had been disheartened, she\nappeared in the public assembly of the people and pronounced an oration,\nwhich so thrilled their breasts as to inspire new hopes, and induce them\nto rally and redeem their cause.\n\nAmong female sovereigns but few have evinced more tact or talent in an\nemergency than Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra. She was a native of Syria, a\ndescendant of Ptolemy; married Odenatus, a Saracen, and after his death\nsucceeded to the throne, about the year of our Lord 267. She had been\nhighly educated, wrote and spoke many different languages, had studied\nthe beauties of Homer and Plato under the tuition of Longinus, and was\nnot less renowned for her beauty, melody of voice, and elegance of\nmanners, than for her heroic deeds. In the five years of her reign she\nconducted many warlike expeditions, extended her empire, compelling\nCappadocia, Bithynia, and Egypt to recognize her authority, and\nacknowledge her \"Queen of the East,\"--a favorite title which she had\nassumed. Her power had now become so extended as to alarm the Roman\ngovernment for their own safety, who sent Aurelian with a formidable\narmy to subjugate and reduce her empire to a province. Zenobia, after\nbeing defeated in two severe battles, retired with her forces to\nPalmyra, her capital, fortified it, and resolved never to surrender.\nAurelian invested the city with his entire army, and in the course of\nthe siege was severely wounded by an arrow, and being thus disabled, the\nprogress of the siege was so far retarded as to give the citizens of\nRome occasion to utter against him bitter invectives, and to question\nthe character of the \"arrow\" that had pierced him. In other words, they\naccused him of complicity. In his letter of self-justification to the\nsenate, he says, \"The Roman people speak with contempt of the war I am\nwaging against a woman. They are ignorant of the character and the power\nof Zenobia. It is impossible to enumerate her warlike preparations of\nstones and arrows, and every species of missile weapons. The walls of\nthe city are strongly guarded, and artificial fires are thrown from her\nmilitary engines. The fear of punishment has armed her with desperate\ncourage. Still I trust in the gods for a favorable result.\"\n\nIn this letter the stern and proud Roman general frankly admits the\nmight of woman. Feeling humiliated and almost despairing of success, he\nnow attempted to procure a surrender of the city by negotiation, and\noffered the most liberal advantages to the queen. In her reply she said\nto him, \"It is not by negotiation, but by arms, that the submission you\nrequire of me can be obtained.\" This laconic reply was certainly worthy\nof a heroine and a queen. Yet after a protracted and desperate defence,\nand finding that her allies, instead of coming to her relief as they\npromised, had accepted bribes from the enemy to remain at a distance,\nshe saw that all was lost, and mounting her fleetest dromedary, sought\nto escape into Persia, but was overtaken on the banks of the Euphrates\nand captured. When brought into the presence of her conqueror, and asked\nhow she dared resist the power of Rome, she replied, \"Because I\nrecognize Aurelian alone as my sovereign.\"\n\nZenobia was sent to Rome to grace the triumph of Aurelian. She entered\nthe city on foot, preceded by her own chariot, with which she had\ndesigned, in the event of having won the victory, to make her grand\nentry into Rome as the triumphant \"Queen of the East.\" But the fortunes\nof war subverted her ambitious scheme, and subjected her to the\nmortification of gracing a Roman triumph; yet for this indignity she\nfelt that she was somewhat compensated in knowing that her appearance in\nRome would create a sensation. In the grand procession she followed her\nchariot, so laden with jewels and chains of gold as to require the\nsupport of a slave to prevent her from fainting beneath the weight.\n\nAfter enjoying the satisfaction of a triumph, Aurelian treated his\nbeautiful captive with kind consideration, and provided for her a\ndelightful residence on the banks of the Tiber, where she passed the\nremainder of her days, honored by all as a matron of rare virtue and\naccomplishments. She lived to educate her daughters, and to see them\ncontract noble alliances. Her descendants were ranked among the first\ncitizens of Rome, and did not become extinct until after the fifth\ncentury.\n\nNear the commencement of the fifteenth century there appeared in France\na brilliant meteor,--a youthful maiden, whose development of character\nwas as mystical as it was heroic. Joan of Arc was born of obscure\nparents, in an obscure village on the borders of Lorraine, and was bred\nin a school of simplicity. She possessed beauty, united with an amiable\ntemper and generous sympathies. In her religious faith she was sincere,\neven angelic. Her love of country was ardent and irrepressible. Finding\nher country-men distracted by a bitter partisan feeling, she identified\nherself with the patriots, and desired to secure the coronation of\nPrince Charles, as the only means, in her belief, of restoring the\nauthority of the legitimate government. The reigning king had become\nhopelessly demented, and anarchy prevailed in almost every part of his\ndominions.\n\nThe rival houses of Orleans and Burgundy were contending for the\nsupremacy, and had entered upon a career of murder and massacre, instead\nof adopting a regular system of warfare. Both parties invoked the aid of\nthe English, who interfered in behalf of Burgundy; but instead of\naffording relief, their interference only imposed still weightier\ncalamities on the country. At this crisis a prophecy became current\namong the people, that a virgin would appear and rid France of her\nenemies. This prophecy reached the ear of Joan of Arc, and inspired her\nwith the belief that she was the chosen one of Heaven to accomplish the\nwork.\n\nIn confirmation of this belief, she heard mysterious voices which came\nto her in her dreams, and which she regarded as divine communications,\ndirecting her to enter upon her great mission. On conferring with her\nparents in relation to the matter, they advised her to abandon her mad\nscheme, and desired her to marry and remain with them in her native\nvillage; but she declined, insisting that the current\nprediction--\"France shall be saved by a virgin\"--alluded to her. The\nEnglish army had already besieged Orleans, and all hope of saving the\ncity seemed lost. Her friends, regarding her as endowed with\nsupernatural powers, provided her with a war-horse and a military\ncostume, and sent her with an escort to the court of Prince Charles,\nwhom she had never seen, but whose cause she had espoused.\n\nHe received her with distrust, though he desired her proffered\nassistance. In order to avoid being charged with having faith in\nsorcery, he handed her over to a commission of ecclesiastics, to\nascertain whether she was inspired of Heaven, or instigated by an evil\nspirit. Among other tests, the ecclesiastics desired her to perform\nmiracles. She replied, \"Bring me to Orleans, and you shall witness a\nmiracle; the siege shall be raised, and Prince Charles shall be crowned\nking at Rheims.\" They approved her project, and she received the rank\nof a military commander.\n\nShe then demanded a mysterious sword which she averred had been\nconcealed by a hero of the olden time within the walls of an ancient\nchurch. On search being made, the sword was found and delivered to her.\nIn a short time, with this mysterious sword in hand, she appeared at the\nhead of an enthusiastic army, within sight of the besieged city of\nOrleans. The English army was astonished at the novel apparition. She\nadvanced, and demanded a surrender of the city, but was indignantly\nrefused; yet the citizens of Orleans were elate with joy at the prospect\nof relief. Joan boldly assaulted the outposts, and carried them. The\nbesieged citizens, who had escaped outside the walls, now rallied under\nher banner, and swelled the ranks of her army. Fort after fort was\ncaptured. The English fought with desperation. Joan, cheering on her\nbrave forces, and calling on them to follow, seized a scaling-ladder,\nand ascended the enemy's breastworks, when she was pierced with an arrow\nin the shoulder, and fell into the fosse. Her undaunted followers\nrescued her, when she, seeing her banner in danger, though faint and\nbleeding, rushed forward, seized and bore it off in triumph. The English\narmy, amazed at this, and believing her more than human, became\npanic-stricken, and retreated in confusion. In their flight they lost\ntheir commander and many of their bravest men. Thus, in one week after\nher arrival at Orleans, she compelled the English to abandon the siege.\nIn truth, she had performed a miracle, as her country-men believed, and\nas she had promised the ecclesiastics she would do. For this brilliant\nachievement she acquired the title, \"Maid of Orleans.\"\n\nIn addition to this, she subsequently fought several severe battles with\nthe English and defeated them. Even the sight of her approaching banner\noften terrified the enemy into a surrender. In less than three months\nfrom the commencement of her career, she saw Prince Charles crowned king\nat Rheims. In gratitude for her pre-eminent and timely services in his\ncause, Charles issued his royal edict ennobling her and her family. Not\nlong after this, the opposing faction of King Charles captured the Maid\nof Orleans, as she was now called, and imprisoned her in a strong\nfortress. She attempted to escape by leaping the walls, but was secured\nand transferred to the custody of the English. The University of Paris,\nat the instance of dominant ecclesiastics, demanded her trial on the\ncharge of sorcery and the assumption of divine powers. The judges,\nintolerant as the priests, condemned her to be burned at the stake. Her\nfriends were overawed, and failed to interfere in her behalf. The only\ncondition in her sentence was recantation and the acknowledgment of the\nsupremacy of the Church. In view of so terrific a death, she recanted;\nbut hearing the mysterious voices of her former dreams upbraid her, she\nre-asserted her faith in her divine mission, was again seized at the\ninstance of the priesthood, and the cruel sentence of death at the stake\ncarried into execution.\n\nNever did a sadder fate overtake an innocent, patriotic, and\nnoble-hearted woman. Her only crime was her love for her country, and\nher contempt for ecclesiastical assumption. Her purity of life was never\nquestioned. It was said of her that she never allowed a profane word to\nbe uttered in her presence. Her religion was a religion of the heart,\ntoo exalted for the times in which she lived. So sincere was the belief\nof the populace in her sanctity that many persons made pilgrimages from\nevery part of the empire to touch her garments, believing that if they\ncould be allowed the privilege, they would be especially blest, both in\nthis life and in the life to come.\n\nThere was no woman of the sixteenth century, perhaps, who was more\nconspicuous or more talented than Elizabeth, Queen of England. Highly\neducated in the ancient and modern languages, as well as in philosophy,\nshe embraced at an early age the Protestant faith, and in consequence of\nthe religious jealousies of the times, encountered great opposition in\nher advent to the throne, and while yet in her girlhood, suffered a long\nimprisonment in the Tower by order of her sister Mary, who was at that\ntime the reigning queen. But events which transpired in 1558 resulted in\nthe elevation of Elizabeth to the throne, at the age of twenty-five. So\nfearful were the Catholics of her influence in matters of faith that\nthey sent to her a distinguished ecclesiastic, who demanded from her a\ndeclaration of her religious creed. To this intrusive demand she, being\nan adept at rhyming, replied, impromptu,--\n\n\n     \"Christ was the Word that spake it;\n     He took the bread and brake it;\n     And what that Word did make it,\n     That I believe and take it.\"\n\n\nSo frank and faultless was this avowal that it confounded the artful\npriest, who, feeling rebuked, went away as wise as he came, if not a\nlittle wiser.\n\nIn her personal appearance Elizabeth was stately and majestic, but by no\nmeans remarkable for her beauty, or amiableness of temper. Her good\njudgment and discrimination enabled her to call to her aid wise men for\nministers and counsellors. She patronized talent and intellect. It was\nduring her reign that Spenser, Shakespeare, Raleigh, Bacon, and other\neminent characters flourished, giving to her times and to literature the\ndistinction of the \"Elizabethan age.\" The leading events of her reign\namply attest her capacity to grapple with emergencies in sustaining her\nprerogatives and in maintaining the defiant attitude of England. She\nloved money as well as power, and though penurious, wielded her power\nwith decision, crushed domestic rebellion at a blow, removed her fears\nof Mary, Queen of Scots, by consigning her to the block, defied the\npower of Spain, and with the timely assistance of a providential\nwhirlwind, sank the Spanish Armada in the depths of the sea.\n\nThough unattractive, her charms induced sundry propositions of marriage,\nparticularly from the King of Sweden, from the King of Spain, and from a\nyoung prince of France, twenty-five years younger than herself. For this\nyoung prince, it is said, she entertained a sincere attachment, and went\nso far as to place publicly on his finger a costly ring, as a pledge of\ntheir union, but being taken soon afterwards by some strange\nwhimsicality, dismissed him, and thus gave him leisure to reflect on the\nvanity of human aspirations. Yet, like most artful women, she delighted\nin flirtations, and always retained in her retinue a few special\nfavorites, among whom were the Earls of Leicester and of Essex. On these\nmen she bestowed official positions of high rank, and evidently desired\nto make great men of them; but Leicester proved to be deficient in\nbrains, and Essex turned traitor, and was finally executed.\n\nWhen advised to marry by her counsellors, she replied that she could not\nindulge such a thought for a moment, for she had resolved that the\ninscription on her tombstone should be:\n\n\n     \"Here lies a queen who lived and died a virgin.\"\n\n\nIn her seventieth year she died of grief, it is said, for having signed\nthe death-warrant of Essex, for whom she entertained a sincere yet\n\"untold love.\"\n\nThe events of her reign wrought great changes in the destinies of\nnations. By her firm adherence to the Protestant faith, she contributed\nmuch towards enlarging and strengthening the foundations of civil and\nreligious liberty. She succeeded by her wisdom and diplomacy in\ncircumventing the subtle machinations of rival powers. In few words, it\nmay be said of her that she was a noble specimen of _manly womanhood_.\n\nCatherine I., Empress of Russia, was born of obscure parents, near the\nclose of the seventeenth century. In girlhood she was known by the name\nof Martha, until she embraced the Greek religion, when her name was\nchanged to Catherine. Her father died when she was but three years old,\nand left her to the care of an invalid mother in reduced circumstances.\nWhen old enough to be useful, Catherine devoted her services to the care\nand support of her mother, and in attaining to womanhood, grew to be\nexceedingly beautiful. Her mother had instructed her in the rudiments of\na common education, which she afterwards perfected under the tuition of\na neighboring clergyman. Among other accomplishments, Catherine acquired\na knowledge of music and dancing, and soon became as attractive for her\nelegance of manners as she was celebrated for her beauty.\n\nIn 1701, she married a Swedish dragoon, and immediately accompanied him\nto the military post assigned him in the war which had just broken out\nbetween Sweden and Russia. In a battle which soon followed, she was\ntaken prisoner by the Russians. Her personal charms soon attracted the\nattention of Peter the Great. What became of her husband is not known,\nbut may be imagined. At any rate, the emperor succeeded in winning her\naffections, acknowledged her as his wife, and placed the imperial\ndiadem on her head and the sceptre in her hand. She soon proved herself\nto be a woman of wonderful tact, shrewdness, and judgment, and obtained\nan unbounded influence over her husband. In fact, her advice controlled\nhis action; and in following it, he acquired the enviable and lasting\ntitle of \"Peter the Great.\" Like her, thousands of women have made their\nhusbands great men, and often out of very indifferent materials.\n\nAfter Peter's death, Catherine was proclaimed empress and autocrat of\nall the Russias. Her reign, though short, was brilliant. Her frailties,\nif she had any, were few, and ought to be attributed to the character of\nher favorites rather than to herself. She died at the early age of\nforty-two, after a brief reign of a little less than two years as sole\nempress. Her native endowments constituted her brightest\njewels,--modesty, simplicity, and beauty; it was these angelic gifts\nwhich elevated her from the obscurity of rural life to the throne of a\ngreat empire.\n\nHere let us turn from the Old World to the New, and look into the\nparlor, instead of the palace, for specimens of true womanhood. It is in\nthe private walks of life, in the domestic and social circles, that we\nmust look if we would contemplate the character of woman in its purest\nand proudest development. It is in her daily exhibition of heart, soul,\nsympathy, generosity, and devotion that woman attains to perfection and\ncrowns herself with a diadem. Everywhere in this great Republic are\nthousands of women whose excellence of character challenges our\nadmiration. Among those who have passed into the better life, and whose\nnames are recorded on the tablet of every American heart, is Martha\nWashington.\n\nIn her character we have the character of an accomplished American lady.\nFew, if any, have ever excelled her. When the war of the Revolution\ncommenced, she accompanied her husband, who had just been appointed\ncommander-in-chief of the American armies, to the military lines about\nBoston, and witnessed the siege and evacuation of that city. She was\never the guardian spirit of the general, and aided him materially in his\nmilitary career by her wise counsels and timely attentions. While he\nreasoned logically and deliberately, she came to logical conclusions\ninstantly, without seeming to reason,--a faculty of logic which\ncharacterizes almost every woman.\n\nIn her figure, Martha was slight; in her manners, easy and graceful; in\nher temper, mild yet cheerful; in her conversation, calm yet\nfascinating; in her looks beautiful, especially in her youthful days.\nSo universally admired and respected was she, that everybody spoke of\nher as \"Lady Washington.\"\n\nShe did the honors of the presidential mansion with polished ease,\ndignity, and grace. Her connubial life with Washington was not less\nexemplary than it was happy. His regard for her was as profound as her\ndevotion to him was sincere. So solicitous was she for preserving his\ngood name and fame that immediately after his death, she destroyed all\nthe domestic letters which he had addressed to her, for fear they might\nsome day be published, and be found to contain some word or expression\nof a political nature which might be construed to his prejudice.\n\nFaithful as a wife, as a friend, and as a Christian, she proved herself\na model woman. She survived her husband but two years, and died at the\nage of seventy. In life she occupied a position which queens might envy,\nand in death bequeathed a memory which will be cherished in a nation's\nheart, when the proud monuments of kings and queens have crumbled into\ndust and been forgotten.\n\nIf it could be done without making invidious distinctions, it would be\nno less delightful than instructive to refer specifically to the names\nand deeds of many other American women who have graced the age in which\nthey lived, and added lustre to the annals of our Republic. But we must\ncontent ourselves by alluding to them in general terms; and in doing\nthis, we must admit the fact that the noble deeds and exalted virtues of\nwoman occupy a much less space in the world's history than they ought.\n\nIt is sufficiently evident to everybody that women, in all the relations\nof life, exhibit a keener appreciation of right and wrong than men.\nHence they are usually the first to approve what is right, and the last\nto concur in what is wrong. It was this devotion to principle which\ninduced American women in the days of the Revolution to submit to the\nseverest trials and deprivations, while they encouraged their sons,\nhusbands, and brothers to go forth to the battle-field in defence of\ntheir country. In proof of their patriotism, these noble women, with\ntheir own hands and with cheerful hearts, spun, wove, knit, and baked\nfor the brave and suffering soldiers, and even made an offering of their\njewels on the altar of liberty, and rather than see the enemy enriched\nby traffic and unjust revenues, complacently approved the policy which\ncast rich cargoes of their favorite beverage into the depths of the sea.\n\nIt was the same spirit, the same patriotism, which inspired the women of\nour own times on a still broader scale, in the late struggle of the\nNorth to crush the rebellion of the South and sustain in all its purity,\nits honor, and its glory, the dear old flag of the Union. This great\nwork has been done manfully and nobly, and at immense sacrifices of\ntreasure and of blood; but it could not have been done without the aid\nand encouragement of woman. It was woman who held the key and unlocked\nthe hearts of twenty millions of people, and induced them, by her\npleading appeals, to pour out their noble charities, as from floodgates,\nto supply the urgent needs of the largest and bravest army the world\never beheld. It was woman whose delicate hand nursed the sick, the\nwounded, and the dying soldier, and whose sympathies and prayers soothed\nand cheered his departing spirit.\n\nIn the sanitary commission, in the Christian commission, woman was the\nmaster-spirit, the angel of mercy, the music of whose hovering wings\nanimated the weary march of our gallant volunteers, and inspired their\nsouls with invincible courage. It is woman who weaves the only wreath of\nhonor which a true-hearted hero desires to wear on his brow, and the\nonly one worthy of his highest aspirations. It is an indisputable fact\nthat the power, the patriotism, and the influence of woman constitute\nthe great moral elements of our Republic, and of our civil and\nreligious institutions.\n\nIt is the educated and accomplished women of our country who have\nrefined the men as well as the youth of the land, and given tone to\npublic sentiment. It is this class of women who have purified our\nliterature, and moulded it to harmonize with the pure principles of a\nChristian philosophy. In the fine arts, and even in the abstruse\nsciences, women have excelled as well as men. In the catalogue of\ndistinguished authors there are to be found, both in this country and in\nEurope, nearly as many women as men. From the facts which we have\nalready adduced, it is evident enough that woman, in the exercise of\nintellectual, if not political power, is fully the equal of man; while\nin tact and shrewdness she is generally his superior. According to the\nold but truthful saying, it is impossible for a man to outwit a shrewd\nwoman; and instead of asking, What can a woman do? we should ask, What\nis there a woman cannot do?\n\nWhenever women are left to take care of themselves in the world, as\nthousands are, they should not only have the right, but it is their\nduty, to engage in any of the industrial pursuits for which they are\nfitted. The principal difference between man and woman is physical\nstrength; and for this reason the lighter employments should be\nassigned to women. In whatever employment men are out of place, women\nshould take their place; especially in retailing fancy goods, in\nbook-keeping, in telegraphing, in type-setting, in school-teaching, and\nin many other like employments; nor need they be excluded from the\nlearned professions. In fact, we already have lady clergymen and lady\nphysicians; and some think the character of the Bar would be much\nelevated by the admission of lady lawyers. We cannot doubt that\nunmarried ladies, if admitted, would excel in prosecuting suits\ncommenced by \"attachment,\" but in other cases their success is not\nassured, if we may judge from the following incident: A lady lawyer of\npresidential aspirations, in conducting a suit before the late Judge\nCartter in the district court at Washington, was opposed by an eminent\nlawyer of the other sex, who raised a vexed legal question which had not\nbeen \"dreamed of in the philosophy\" of the lady lawyer, and which so\nperplexed her that she, in the midst of her embarrassment, appealed to\nthe judge for advice as to the course she had better pursue. The judge,\nwho hesitated somewhat in his utterances, replied, \"I think you had\n_bet-bet-better_ employ a lawyer.\"\n\nIf women choose to compete with men in any of the learned professions,\nor in any other pursuit, and are fitted to achieve success, there is\nnothing in the way to prevent them; yet it does not follow that they can\ntake the places of men in everything, especially in those employments\nwhich require masculine strength and great physical endurance. Nor does\nit follow that women who pay taxes should therefore have the right of\nsuffrage. The fact that they hold property does not change their\n_status_, nor does it confer political rights.\n\nThe right of suffrage is a political right and not a natural right. The\nexercise of this political right carries with it the law-making power,\nthe duty of protecting persons and property, and consequently of\nmaintaining and defending the government. They who make the government\nare therefore bound to defend it. Nature never intended that women\nshould become soldiers and face the cannon's mouth in the battle-field;\nnor did she give them strength to construct railroads, tunnel mountains,\nbuild war-ships, or man them. Yet women, prompted by affection or\nromantic sentiment, have been known to become soldiers in disguise, and\nperhaps have fought bravely in the battle-field. But this, of itself,\nproves nothing; it is merely an exception to a general rule, or in other\nwords, an eccentricity of character. In all ages of the world, as we\nhave shown, the mere force of circumstances has occasionally unsphered\nwoman and placed her in unnatural situations, in which she has sometimes\nachieved a brilliant success,--on the throne and off the throne, in\npeace and in war, in political life and in social life. Yet in stepping\nout of her sphere, whatever may be her success, every true woman feels\nthat she \"o'ersteps the modesty of nature.\"\n\nWhen woman glides into her natural position,--that of a wife,--it is\nthen only that she occupies her appropriate sphere, and exhibits in its\nmost attractive form the loveliness of her character. Marriage is an\ninstitution as essential to the stability and harmony of the social\nsystem as gravity is to the order and preservation of the planetary\nsystem. In the domestic circle the devoted wife becomes the centre of\nattraction, the \"angel of the household.\" Her world is her home; her\naltar, the hearthstone. In her daily ministrations she makes herself\nangelic by making home a heaven, and every one happy who may come within\nthe \"charmed circle\" of her kind cares and generous sympathies. In fact,\nthere is no place like home, \"sweet home,\" when on its sacred altar\nburns the blended incense of harmonious souls,--\n\n\n     \"Two souls with but a single thought;\n     Two hearts that beat as one.\"\n\n\nIt is certain that man and woman were never created to live independent\nof each other. They are but counterparts, and therefore incomplete until\nunited in wedlock. Hence they who prefer single blessedness are justly\nchargeable with the \"sin of omission,\" if not the \"unpardonable sin.\" It\nis difficult to estimate the fearful responsibilities of those\nfossilized bachelors who persist in sewing on their own buttons and in\nmending their own stockings. Yet these selfish gentlemen frankly admit\nthat there may have been such a thing as \"true love\" in the olden times,\nbut now, they say, the idea has become obsolete; and if a bachelor were\nto ask a young lady to share his lot, she would immediately want to know\nhow large the \"lot\" is and what is its value. In further justification\nthey quote Socrates, who, being asked whether it were better for a man\nto marry or live single, replied, \"Let him do either and he will repent\nit.\" But this is not argument, nor is it always true, even in a sordid\nmarriage, as appears in the following instance: Not long since, in New\nYork, a bachelor of twenty-two married a rich maiden of fifty-five, who\ndied within a month after the nuptials and left him a half-million of\ndollars. He says he has never \"repented\" the marriage.\n\nThe age in which we live is one of experiment and of novel theories,\nboth in religion and in politics. In modern spiritualism we have\nentranced women, who give us reports from the dead. In modern crusades\nwe have devout women, who visit tippling-houses and convert them into\nsanctuaries of prayer. In politics we have mismated and unmated women,\nwho hold conventions, clamor for the ballot, and advocate the doctrine\nof \"natural selection.\"\n\nIt is true that every marriageable woman has a natural right to select,\nif not elect, a husband; and this she may and ought to do, not by\nballot, but by the influence of her charms and her virtues. If all\nmarriageable men and women were but crystallized into happy families,\nearth would soon become a paradise. Yet if this were done, we doubt not\nthere would still remain some \"strong-minded\" women, who would get up a\nconvention to reform paradise. The truth is, the women will do pretty\nmuch as they please, and the best way is to let them.\n\nYet all must admit that a woman of refinement is not only a ruling\nspirit, but \"a power behind the throne greater than the power on the\nthrone.\" Her rights are therefore within her own grasp. Among these she\nhas the right, and to her belongs the responsible duty, of educating her\nchildren in first principles, and in those sanctified lessons which\nhave been revealed to man from heaven. It is the mother's precepts\nwhich constitute the permanent foundation of the child's future\ncharacter. Hence no woman is really competent to discharge the\nresponsible duties of a mother as she ought, unless she has first been\nproperly educated. There can be no object more deserving of\ncommiseration, perhaps, than a mother who is surrounded by a family of\nyoung children, and yet is so ignorant as to be unable to instruct them\nin the rudiments of a common-school education and in the fundamental\nprinciples of a Christian life. The character of every child, it may be\nassumed, is essentially formed at seven years of age. The mother of\nWashington knew this, and felt it, and in the education of her son,\ntaught him at an early age the leading truths of Christianity. She took\nthe Bible for her guide, and taught him to take the Bible for his guide.\nHis subsequent career proves that he adhered to the instructions of his\nmother. When he came to pay her a visit, at the close of the war, after\nan absence of seven long years, she received him with the overflowing\nheart of a mother, as her dutiful son, and thought of him only as a\ndutiful son, never uttering a word in reference to the honors he had won\nas a military chieftain.\n\nSoon after this, General Lafayette, wishing to make the acquaintance of\nthe mother of Washington before returning to France, called at her\nresidence in Virginia, and introduced himself. He found her at work in\nthe garden, clad in a homespun dress, and her gray head covered with a\nplain straw hat. She saluted him kindly, and calmly remarked, \"Ah,\nMarquis, you see an old woman; but come, I can make you welcome in my\npoor dwelling without the parade of changing my dress.\" In the course of\nconversation Lafayette complimented her as the mother of a son who had\nachieved the independence of his country, and acquired lasting honors\nfor himself. The old lady, without the least manifestation of gratified\npride, simply responded, \"I am not surprised at what George has done,\nfor he was always a very good boy.\" What a noble response, in its moral\ngrandeur, was this! Certain it is that such a mother was worthy of such\na son. A monument, plain, yet expressive in its design, has been erected\nat Fredericksburg to her memory. It bears this simple, yet sublime\ninscription:\n\n\n     \"Mary, the Mother of Washington.\"\n\n\nThe extent of woman's moral power can only be limited by the extent of\nher capacities. In every circle, whether domestic, social, or political,\nthe accomplished woman is a central power--_imperium in imperio_; and\nthough she may not directly exercise the right of suffrage, yet her\ninfluence and her counsels, even an expression of her wish, enable her\nto control the political, as well as the social, destinies of men and of\nnations. It is in this way that she may \"have her way.\" It was the\naccomplished wife of Mr. Monroe who made him President of the United\nStates. She was the first to propose his name as a candidate. Her\ninfluence with members of Congress induced them to concur in advocating\nhis election; he was elected. His administration, as we all know, was\ndistinguished as \"the era of good feeling.\"\n\nThe prevalent idea that women need less education than men is a gross\nerror, worthy of heathendom perhaps, but entirely unworthy of\nChristendom. Let women be as generally and as liberally educated as men,\nand, my word for it, the question of woman's rights would soon settle\nitself. The right of women to be thus educated cannot be doubted,\nbecause it is a divine right, and because God has made woman the\nmaternal teacher of mankind, and the chief corner-stone of the social\nfabric. Yet she should be educated with reference to her proper sphere\nas woman,--a sphere which is higher than that of man in the economy of\nNature. Her capacities for industrial pursuits, such as are consistent\nwith her physical abilities, should be developed so that she may be\nqualified to provide for herself, and to sustain herself in life's\nbattle, if need be, without the aid of a \"companion in arms.\"\n\nNevertheless, marriage is one of Heaven's irrevocable laws. It is, in\nfact, the great law of all animal-life, and even of plant-life. Nowhere\nin Nature is there a single instance in which this law is not obeyed, in\ndue time, except in the case of mankind. Why is this? It certainly would\nnot be so if it were not for some grand defect in our social\nsystem,--some false notions acquired by education, which are peculiar to\nour civilization, and which induce apostasy to truth and natural\njustice. Man was created to be the protector of woman, and woman to be\nthe helpmeet of man. Each therefore has an appropriate sphere; and the\nobligations of each are mutual, growing out of their mutual interest and\ndependence. The sphere of the one is just as important as the sphere of\nthe other. Neither can live, nor ought to live, without the aid, the\nlove, and the sympathy of the other. Whether so disposed or not, neither\ncan commit an infraction of the other's rights, without violating a law\nof Nature.\n\nWhatever may be the evils of our present social or political system, it\nis evident that the right of suffrage, if extended to woman, could not\nafford a remedy, but on the contrary, would tend to weaken, rather than\nstrengthen, mutual interests, by creating unwomanly aspirations and\ndomestic dissensions, thus sundering the ties of love and affection\nwhich naturally exist between the sexes. In a word, it would be opening\nPandora's box, and letting escape the imps of social and political\ndiscord, and finally result in universal misrule, if not in positive\nanarchy.\n\nModesty and delicacy are the crowning characteristics of a true woman.\nShe naturally shrinks from the storms of political strife. Give her the\nright of suffrage,--a boon no sensible woman desires; place her in\noffice, in the halls of legislation, in the Presidential chair; enrobe\nher with the judicial ermine, or make her the executive officer of a\ncriminal tribunal,--and how could she assume the tender relations of a\nmother, and at the same time officiate in any of these high places of\npublic trust, in which the sternest and most inflexible duties are often\nrequired to be performed?\n\nIt is not possible, however, that the erratic comets, whose trailing\nlight occasionally flashes athwart our political sky, will ever acquire\nsufficient momentum to jostle the \"fixed stars\" out of place, because\nthere is a fixed law of Nature which preserves them in place. There is\nalso a law of Nature which makes man not only the protector, but the\nworshipper, of woman,--a worship which is as instinctively paid as\nreciprocated, and which is by no means inconsistent with the worship of\nGod, but in truth is a part of it. It is this kind of worship--this\nnatural and holy impulse of the heart--which constitutes the basis of\nman's rights and of woman's rights, and should harmonize all their\nrelations in life.\n\nWe see the instinctive exhibition of man's reverence for women almost\nevery day of our lives, and often in a way that proves how ridiculous\nare modern theories in regard to woman's rights, when brought to the\ntest in practical life. Not long since, in one of our cities where a\nwoman's rights convention was in session, a strong-minded female\ndelegate entered a street railway car, when an old gentleman arose to\ngive her his seat, but at that moment, suspecting her to be a delegate,\nasked, \"Be you one of these women's righters?\"--\"I am.\" \"You believe a\nwoman should have all the rights of a man?\"--\"Yes, I do.\" \"Then stand up\nand enjoy them like a man.\" And stand up she did,--the old gentleman\ncoolly resuming his seat, to the great amusement of the other\npassengers.\n\nWhatever maybe the pretensions of agitators, it is certain that no\nwoman of refined culture, or of proper self-respect, will attempt to\nstep outside of her appropriate sphere. This she cannot do if she would,\nwithout doing violence to the sensibilities of her nature. When true to\nherself, woman, like the lily-of-the-valley, prefers the valley, where\nshe can display her native loveliness in comparative retirement, secure\nfrom the inclemencies of a frowning sky; while man, born with a more\nrugged nature, prefers, like the sturdy oak, to climb the hills and the\nmountains, where he delights to breast the assaults of storm and\ntempest, and to fling the shadow of his stately form over the valley, as\nif to protect the ethereal beauty of the lily from the too ardent gaze\nof the sun. And, though a solitary flower may sometimes be seen climbing\nthe mountain height, it is only the modest lily-of-the-valley--the true\nwoman--whose cheering smile man aspires to share, and whose purity of\ncharacter calls into exercise his reverent admiration.\n\n\n     \"Honored be woman! she beams on the sight,\n     Graceful and fair as an angel of light;\n     Scatters around her, wherever she strays,\n     Hoses of bliss on our thorn-covered ways;\n     Roses of paradise, sent from above,\n     To be gathered and twined in a garland of love!\"\n\n\n\n\nAIM HIGH.\n\n\nIn addressing you as a graduating class, permit me to suggest for your\nconsideration a few thoughts on the importance of regarding self-culture\nnot only as a duty, but as the only means of elevating and ennobling\nyour aspirations in life.\n\nThough you have completed your academical course with a degree of\nsuccess which does you credit, you should remember that the great work\nof education still lies before you, and that the formation of your\ncharacters and the shaping of your destinies are committed to your own\nhands. And here let me assure you that it is little rather than great\nthings which mark the character of a true gentleman. In fact, there is\nbut one way in which a refined education can be acquired, and that is,\n\"little by little.\"\n\nIt is thus from day to day, from year to year, from everybody, and from\neverything, that you may learn, if you will, something new, something\nuseful; and though you care not to do it, yet you will, in spite of\nyourselves, learn something, good or evil, just as you may choose to\napply it.\n\nYou certainly have the power to choose between good and evil,--in other\nwords, to achieve the loftiest aims. Yet in directing your aspirations,\nyou must adapt means to ends; collect your materials and refine them,\nand in refining them give them the brilliancy of costly jewels,--jewels\nwhich you can wear with becoming grace and dignity wherever you may go,\nand at all times and under all circumstances.\n\nThe acquisition of a mere book-knowledge, however desirable, will avail\nyou but little, unless you acquire at the same time correct habits and\nprinciples, united with refinement of manners. The world will be likely\nto take your personal appearance, your style of dress and address, as\nthe true index of your character, and whether deceived at first view or\nnot, will finally estimate you at your true value. In perfecting your\neducation, it is not to be expected that you are to master every branch\nof human learning, but rather that you are to make your life a life of\nthought, of study, of observation, of strife to excel in all that is\ngood, and in doing good.\n\nIn attempting to achieve great things in the world, you must not\noverlook little things,--little attentions, little civilities due to\nothers with whom you may come in contact; for your claims to\nconsideration will be estimated by the character of your conduct in\nsocial life. There are certain conventionalities recognized in good\nsociety which you must respect, and to which you must conform, if you\nwould be well received. Your manners and habits are therefore of vital\nimportance as elements of character.\n\nIt has been truly said that man is a \"bundle of habits.\" It may be said\nwith equal truth that our own worst enemies are \"bad habits.\" We all\nknow that bad habits fasten themselves upon us, as it were, by stealth;\nand though we may not perceive the influence which they exert over us,\nyet other persons perceive it, remark it, and judge us accordingly. The\nformation of correct habits in early life is comparatively easy, while\nthe correction of bad habits, when once formed, is always difficult,\nespecially in more advanced years. In a word, if you would become model\ncharacters, you must discard all bad habits, all odd habits, all that is\nungracious or ungraceful in word, deed, or manner, and make it the\nleading rule of your life to observe the proprieties of life in all\nplaces and under all circumstances. In order to achieve all this, it is\nindispensable that you should study yourselves, watch yourselves,\ncriticise yourselves, and know yourselves as others know you. The value\nof self-examination has been forcibly as well as beautifully expressed\nin a single stanza by Robert Burns,--\n\n\n     \"O wad some power the giftie gie us\n     To see oursel's as ithers see us!\n     It wad frae monie a blunder free us,\n                  An' foolish notion:\n     What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us,\n                  An' ev'n devotion!\"\n\n\nIt is true that in relation to the laws of etiquette many books have\nbeen written, which are in fact more read than observed, and which are\nmore perplexing than practical. No lady or gentleman was ever made truly\npolite, truly agreeable, truly amiable, by a strict observance of\nartificial rules. Something more is needed; something must be done. It\nis in the heart, in the exercise of all the moral and Christian virtues,\nthat true politeness has its foundation. True politeness is never\nselfish, never ostentatious, but always overflowing with kindness,\nalways angelic in its attributes. In word and deed, it is always\nconsiderate, delicate, and graceful; yet in its ministrations it always\npreserves its own self-respect, while it manifests its sincere respect\nfor all that is good and for all that is meritorious.\n\nHeaven has imposed on us the duty of acquiring all the knowledge we can.\nIn discharge of this heaven-born duty, we should begin at once the\ngreat work of self-culture,--a work never to be discontinued. He who\nwould build a spacious and a lofty temple, a fit dwelling-place for\ndivinity, must first lay the foundations broad and deep,--not in sand,\nbut on a rock; and then, though storm and tempest beat against it, it\ncannot fall, because it is founded on a rock.\n\nBut in adopting a system of self-culture, too much care cannot be\nbestowed on the cultivation of your manners, your attitudes, your style\nof conversation, and your expression of sentiment. In regard to manners,\nit is impossible to prescribe exact rules. The best models for you to\ncopy are to be found in the manners of the model men and women of our\ncountry who give tone to society. At any rate, be governed by good sense\nand by the dictates of nature, so modified by art as to conceal art. To\ndisguise art is the perfection of art. In this lies the secret power of\nangelic charms,--the charm of polished womanhood and manhood.\n\nIn your social intercourse employ a pure and unambitious style of\ndiction, and be careful to maintain a quiet and unobtrusive deportment;\nand above all things avoid singularities and eccentricities, nor attempt\nto attract attention for the sake of gratifying an overweening vanity.\nAnd while you manifest a due respect for others, be careful to maintain\nyour own self-respect. Never indulge in exhibiting violence of temper;\nbut on all occasions control your feelings and expressions, though\nprovocations arise which justly excite your indignation.\n\nIf you would attain to the highest possible standard of social\nrefinement and moral virtue, you must rely on yourselves, must look into\nthe mirror of your own hearts and behold your own defects, and then\nproceed at once to apply the appropriate remedies. To do this\neffectively may cost you much labor, yet the task will be found\ncomparatively easy when you have resolved to execute it.\n\nIt is not only your privilege, but your duty, to acquire knowledge from\nevery source, as the bee gathers honey from every flower. Collect and\ncompare facts; for in every fact, whether great or small, there lies hid\na lesson of wisdom,--a logic which is not only irresistible, but divine.\nTheories are of but little value unless attested by facts. All mere\ntheories are alike worthless, whether they relate to the physical or\nmoral world. \"Prove all things, and hold fast that which is good.\" No\nbetter rule than this, for your guidance through life, ever was or ever\ncan be given. Facts, though \"stubborn things,\" are never falsehoods. You\nmay therefore regard facts as truth, as the kind of mental food you\nshould acquire, digest, and convert into nutriment, and thus grow strong\nand wise, until you have realized the great fact that \"man was created\nbut a little lower than the angels.\"\n\nFor the purpose of self-culture, in its highest sense, an ordinary\nlifetime seems quite too short, though prolonged to threescore years and\nten. The value of time cannot be overestimated. If we would but consider\nhow many precious moments we fritter away and lose in an unprofitable\nmanner, we should see that it is the want of a due regard for the value\nof time, rather than a want of time, of which we should complain. It is\nnot, therefore, the fault of a Divine Providence that we have not time\nenough to perfect ourselves in the arts of a refined civilization, and\nin the realization of the highest enjoyment of which our nature is\ncapable. Whatever else you may lose, never lose a moment of time which\ncan be profitably employed. A moment of time once lost can never be\nregained. Insignificant as a moment may seem, your destiny may depend on\nthe improvement you may make of it, on the deed or thought it may\nprompt. Life, though long, is made up of moments, and terminates in a\nmoment; and all true knowledge is founded in truth.\n\nIf you would prolong your lives, and enjoy health and happiness\naccompanied with vigor of mind, study the laws of health and obey them.\nMake yourselves thoroughly acquainted with yourselves, by becoming\nacquainted with the physiology of the human system, and by living in\ncompliance with the requisitions of its principles. Nature is the best\nphysician you can employ, whatever may be your malady; but in order to\nbe healed by her prescriptions, you must apply to her in time, and adopt\nthe uniform and temperate habits of life which her laws require.\n\nIt is said that Nature has her favorites. This may be true. It would\nseem that some persons are born poets, some philosophers, some fiddlers,\nsome one thing, and some another. It may be said that such persons are\nspecialists, born to accomplish a special purpose. They doubtless\nsubserve the interests of mankind as models, or standards of merit, in\ntheir respective specialties; yet to be born a genius is not in itself a\nmatter of merit, but it is the good one does in the world which creates\nmerit and crowns life with honors.\n\nNearly all of our truly great men are men of self-culture, who have\nacquired brains by the slow process of a lifelong industry in the\npursuit of knowledge. This class of men are not only much more numerous\nthan born geniuses, but much more useful. They have a wider range of\nintellect and wield a wider influence. They are men who read, think, and\ndigest what they read. In their choice of books they select standard\nauthors. They are not book-worms, devouring everything that is\npublished; nor are they literary dyspeptics, who feed on sentimentalism\nand French cookery, but hale, hearty men, who prefer common-sense and\nroast beef,--caring more for the quality of their food than for the\nquantity.\n\nThe world in which we live is a beautiful world. He who made it\npronounced it good, and designed it for the residence of the good. It is\nin itself a paradise for all who choose to make it a paradise. In a\nphysical sense, it is not only a beautiful world, but a great storehouse\nfull of knowledge, full of wisdom, full of facts,--a record of the past\nand of the future, written by a divine hand. In short, it is the great\nBook of Life--of Revelation--in every word of which we may find an\noutspoken thought,--\n\n\n     \"Tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,\n     Sermons in stones, and good in everything.\"\n\n\nIn estimating your life-work, you should feel that yours is a high\ndestiny, and that much is expected of you. If you would succeed in the\nworld, you must have faith in yourselves as well as in a Divine\nProvidence, and act upon the principle that \"God helps those who help\nthemselves.\" Wherever you go, make yourselves as acceptable and as\nagreeable to all with whom you come in contact as possible. If you would\nbe preferred, prefer others; and if you would be beloved, scatter\nflowers by the wayside of life, but never plant thorns, and in all you\ndo and say, unite modesty with simplicity and sincerity.\n\nThere can be no true manhood or womanhood that does not rest on\ncharacter, in the highest sense of the term. In fact, it is the\ncharacter we bear that defines our social position. The formation of\ncharacter is a work of our own, and requires the exercise of all the\nbetter and higher powers of our nature. On character depends not only\nour usefulness in life, but our individual happiness. Character is the\nengraved mark, or sign, by which every individual is known, and\nindicates the essential traits of his moral composition, the qualities\nof his head and heart, as displayed in his aspirations and in the work\nof his life. Character is more enduring than reputation. God respects\ncharacter; man respects reputation. The one is as lasting as eternity;\nthe other as evanescent as the bubble that glitters in the sunshine for\na moment, and then disappears forever.\n\nIn forming a true character, such an one as crowns the true man with an\nimperishable diadem, there are many things to be considered, especially\nthe materials which enter into its moral masonry. Its foundation must be\nsolid and immovable, its superstructure chaste and elegant, and its\nproportions harmonious and beautiful. Like a temple built for the gods,\nit should be worthy of the gods. It should be not only beautiful in its\nexterior, but be in its interior the life-work of a truly heroic soul.\n\nCharacter represents soul. As character is moulded by human\ninstrumentalities, so is soul. Soul is therefore the essence of a true\nmanhood, a living principle that cannot die. It is an influence in\nitself, and out of itself, felt everywhere and forever. It is the moral\nlife and the eternal life. Like a pebble cast into the broad ocean, its\nimpulse is sensibly felt by the entire ocean; every particle moves a\nparticle, until the vast deep is moved. Such is individual influence. If\ncharacter, then, be what it should be, truthful, noble, divine, it will\nnecessarily be godlike, and exert an influence in harmony with the\nbenevolent designs of Heaven.\n\nAnd yet there are thousands who seem to live without purpose,--live\nmerely to vegetate. Of course such persons do not live in earnest, and\nhence do nothing in earnest. They have life, but no lofty aspirations.\nThey may have souls; but if so, they remain undeveloped. In fact,\npersons of this character have no character, no earnest work, no\nsignificance. And for this reason, though living, they are literally\ndead. If we would make the world what it should be, we must first make\nourselves what we should be. The work must begin at home in our own\nhearts, and with a view to our own moral needs.\n\nIn the cultivation of a pure heart-life, we should begin by cultivating\n\"a conscience void of offence.\" If we would unlock the gate of paradise,\nwe must look for the key where it is to be found. We may rest assured\nthat it cannot be found in an uncultivated field of brambles and briers,\nnor amid the rubbish of a misspent life; yet to find it, only requires\ndiligent search. Though everything beautiful, everything noble,\neverything sublime, may lie in the distance, yet it is attainable; it is\nthe _ultimatum_ that we should seek,--something substantial, something\neternal. Mere fame is nothing worth. It is a thing of earth, and not of\nheaven.\n\nThere may be an innate feeling or principle that constitutes what is\ncalled conscience; yet it must be conceded that conscience is\npractically but the product or outgrowth of education, and may\ntherefore be so moulded as to become the just or unjust judge of the\nmoral questions which involve both our present and future welfare. How\nimportant, then, that this judge should not only be a righteous, but an\neducated judge, familiar with the principles of right and wrong, and\nstern in the application of them! In a word, conscience is the central\nlife of character,--the silent monitor within our own breasts, whose\nmoral influence controls our destiny.\n\nThe law of love may be regarded as the great law which underlies all\nlaw, because it is divine. In fact, love is the law that pervades the\nuniverse, and in itself is sufficiently indicative of our moral\nobligations. He who is governed by it, cannot err. It is not, however,\nwhat we do for ourselves, but rather what we do for others, that can\nafford the most substantial happiness. If you would receive, you must\ngive, influenced by a kind and generous spirit. \"Overcome evil with\ngood.\" In this way, like a moral Alexander, you may conquer the world.\n\nIt is doubtless true that conscience, being essentially the outgrowth of\neducation, is ever in a formative state, and may therefore be\nstrengthened and elevated in its moral perceptions by culture. The more\nperfect its judgment, the more perfect the man or woman. There can be\nno religion without conscience; nor can there be conscience without\nreligion. The one is a counterpart of the other; and equally true is it\nthat the character of the one reflects the character of the other.\n\nA true religion does not consist in a mere profession of faith, nor in\nchurch membership, but in that which is the leading principle of our\nlives; in that which binds us to achieve an ultimate aim; in that which\ncalls into exercise all our moral powers, and harmonizes our lives with\nthe requisitions of the divine law. Yet any religion is better than\nnone. Even the pagan is not destitute of a religion of some sort,\nhowever debased it may be. It is simply the refinement of a higher\ncivilization which has made the difference between the pagan and the\nChristian. Nothing can be more important, therefore, than the kind of\neducation which is bestowed on us in childhood, or the kind of\nself-culture which we choose to bestow on ourselves. And though\ncircumstances may be adverse to our interests, it is our duty to conquer\ncircumstances, and take into our own hands the fabrication of our\nfortunes. In this life every day brings with it new lessons; and though\nsome of them may be pernicious, all of them have their value. If there\nwere nothing evil, there would be nothing good,--for the reason that\nthere would be no contrast, no standard of comparison. And yet between\ngood and evil there is no halfway house, no \"happy medium.\"\n\nIn every question of right and wrong there are but two sides. The one or\nthe other we must take, either directly or indirectly. We cannot take a\nneutral stand if we would; nor can we identify ourselves with both\nsides. Sincerity and hypocrisy are not born of the same parentage, and\ncannot therefore walk hand in hand, nor take the same social position.\nThey are marked by a different sign, and by their sign they are readily\nrecognized. Appear where they will, the one will be respected, the other\ndespised.\n\nIf you would excel in anything, in any particular pursuit, you must\nfirst resolve to excel, and then persevere, cost what it will. If you\nencounter lions in your path, exterminate them. In ascending mountains,\nmake difficulties your stepping-stones, and never look back until you\nreach the summit, and can breathe freely in a pure atmosphere. If you\nwould reach the stars, construct your own ladder, and climb until you\nnot only reach them, but are crowned with them. The soul never becomes\ntruly heroic until it becomes truly godlike in its aspirations and\npurposes.\n\nIt is only in the practice of the cardinal virtues--prudence, justice,\ntemperance, fortitude--that we acquire that divine power which alone can\nmake us divine. It is only in the adoption of lofty aims that we can\nexpect to reach a lofty ideal. Everything is possible to him who has\nresolved to make it possible. In other words, where there is a will\nthere is a way. The will is the motive-power; if this be wanting, then\nall is wanting that goes to make up the character of an heroic soul. The\nworld needs moral as well as physical heroes,--heroes who know their\nduty, and dare do it. In the battle of life none but the wise and the\nvaliant can be safely intrusted with the command. The hostile powers of\ndarkness, of ignorance, of superstition, challenge the field, and cannot\nbe overcome without a severe conflict. The crisis has come. Whether\narmed or unarmed, you must meet the foe; for results you must trust in\nyourselves. It will never do to trust in shields, in breastplates, in\nfire-arms, or in faith without works. If you would conquer, you must go\ninto battle inspired with lofty aims, and with a divine enthusiasm; then\nwill victory perch on your standard, and the eagle of freedom,\nfire-eyed, pierce the sun.\n\nAnd yet you should remember that in your attempts to achieve success,\nyou must deserve success. It is only in severe moral discipline that\nyou can see what you need, and acquire what you need,--eminent virtue,\nindustry, and sagacity. In social life, be social, amiable, and\naccomplished; in domestic life, be something more,--be kind,\nconsiderate, and sympathetic. Whether you have one or more talents,\nimprove them; they will grow brighter by constant use. Whatever may be\nyour capacities, never indulge in vain aspirations. However seductive\nthe temptations which may beset you, never compromise your integrity.\nHowever ambitious you may be in your ultimate aims, regard a good moral\ncharacter as of infinite value. Always true to yourselves, be true to\nothers. Place implicit confidence in no one, but confide in the strength\nof your own individuality. In adversity be hopeful, and always look on\nthe bright side of things.\n\nIn selecting a profession or business for life, be governed by your\nnatural taste or capacity,--your peculiar talent for this or that\npursuit. If embarrassed by circumstances, never yield to them, but\nresolve to excel in whatever you undertake. Perseverance is the secret\nof success. If born with the gift of genius, make it available; do\nsomething new; invent something new; and in this way bequeath something\nvaluable to mankind. In other words, live for mankind, and if need be,\ndie for mankind. Adopt this as the religious sentiment of your life, and\nact in accordance with it, and your works will sufficiently attest the\npurity of your faith.\n\nAnd yet you are not required to crucify yourselves; but on the contrary,\nit is your duty, while striving to live for others, to live for\nyourselves, and thus make yourselves and your homes as happy as\npossible. It is not in the shade, but in the sunshine, that you should\nseek to live. It is only the _now_ of life, the fleeting present, of\nwhich you are certain. If, then, you would be prosperous, if you would\nbe happy, if you would look to the future with a pleasing hope, so live\nas to feel that you are sustained, in all you do, by an approving\nconscience, and by the divine counsels of Infinite Wisdom. It is only by\nliving thus that you can make life on earth what it should be,--a\nheaven-life.\n\nHe who made all things has made no distinction between heaven and earth.\nIt is man that has made the distinction. The natural atmosphere which\nsurrounds the earth is pure and healthful; it is only the moral\natmosphere that has become impure and deleterious. It needs no chemical\nagencies to purify it; it must be purified, if at all, by moral\nagencies. In other words, we must recognize our obligations to our\nfellow-men, and obey the \"Golden Rule,\" as prescribed by the law of\nlove, if we would succeed in making earth a heaven.\n\nAlmost every American of culture has an object in view for which he\nlives,--some ultimate aim or aspiration which stimulates him to effort.\nIt may be a desire to excel in some one of the learned professions, or\nto become a millionnaire, a hero in the battle-field, a Solon in the\nhalls of legislation, perhaps President of the United States. In\nattempting achievements of this character, it should be remembered that\nknowledge is the basis of success. It is knowledge that gives power, and\nwisdom that should direct us in wielding it. Yet a man may be learned,\nand still be a cipher in the world. God gave to man a divine outline,\nand then left him to perfect himself, at least in a mental sense. This\nhe must do, or remain an animal, and \"feed on husks.\"\n\nNearly all our great men are self-made men. This is true of Washington,\nFranklin, Jefferson, and scores of others who, like them, have acquired\nan enviable renown. Thus, in all ages of the world, have men of noble\naspirations reached eminent positions and immortalized their names.\n\nIt is somewhat surprising, however, that most of our American graduates\nlook to the learned professions, rather than to a practical business\nlife, as affording the widest field for the acquisition of wealth and\nhigh social position. This, it seems to me, is a great mistake. Not more\nthan one professional man in ten ever rises above mediocrity in his\nprofession, though he may prove to be useful, and succeed in acquiring a\ncomfortable livelihood.\n\nIn fact, the learned professions have yet to learn that the supply\nexceeds the demand. And hence there is but little use in attempting to\nshine as a \"star\" in any of the professions, unless you have a\nsufficient brilliancy to take rank as a \"star of the first magnitude.\"\n\nAnd yet we cannot have too many men of liberal education; the more the\nbetter. They are needed in every pursuit in life, and in every place. It\nis not the occupation that dignifies a man, but the man that dignifies\nthe occupation. When you have chosen a pursuit, whatever it may be, aim\nhigh. Yes,--\n\n\n     \"Give me a man with an aim,\n        Whatever that aim may be;\n       Whether it's wealth or whether it's fame,\n        It matters not to me.\n       Let him walk in the path of right,\n       And keep his aim in sight,\n     And work and pray in faith alway,\n       With his eye on the glittering height.\n\n     \"Give me a man who says,\n        'I will do something well,\n       And make the fleeting days\n        A story of labor tell.'\n       Though aim he has be small,\n       It is better than none at all;\n     With something to do the whole year through,\n       He will not stumble or fall.\n\n     \"But Satan weaves a snare\n        For the feet of those who stray\n       With never a thought or care\n        Where the path may lead away.\n       The man who has no aim\n       Not only leaves no name\n     When this life is done, but, ten to one,\n       He leaves a record of shame.\n\n     \"Give me a man whose heart\n        Is filled with ambition's fire;\n       Who sets his mark in the start,\n        And keeps moving higher and higher.\n       Better to die in the strife,\n       The hands with labor rife,\n     Than to glide with the stream in an idle dream,\n       And lead a purposeless life.\n\n     \"Better to strive and climb\n        And never reach the goal,\n       Than to drift along with time,\n        An aimless, worthless soul.\n       Ay, better to climb and fall,\n       Or sow, though the yield be small,\n     Than to throw away day after day,\n       And never strive at all.\"\n\n\n\n\nAMERICA AND HER FUTURE.\n\n\nThere is something in the very name of America, when applied to the\nUnited States, which carries with it an inspiring influence,--an ideal\nof freedom and of true manhood. In referring to the incidents of her\norigin, in connection with the events of her subsequent career, it would\nseem that America is none other than a \"child of destiny.\"\n\nShe was born amid the storms of a revolution, and commenced at birth to\nwork out the great problems of civil and religious liberty. She has an\nabiding faith in herself, and believes it to be her mission to originate\nnew views and discover new principles, as well as to try new experiments\nin the science of popular government. The greatest peculiarity in her\ncharacter is that her past cannot be safely accepted as an index of her\nfuture; in other words, her past is not likely to be repeated. In fact,\nshe does not wish to repeat or perpetuate anything that can be improved.\nHer political creed is as simple as it is brief,--the \"greatest good to\nthe greatest number;\" and yet it is the most complex creed, perhaps,\nthat ever existed, involving questions which have not been, and cannot\nbe, satisfactorily settled.\n\nAmerica knows what she has been, but does not know what she will be. It\nis doubtful if she knows what she would be. She has several favorite\nwatchwords, such as progress, freedom, and equal rights, and but few, if\nany, settled opinions. Her present position, unstable as it may be, is\nher standpoint of judgment. In attempting to achieve what she most\ndesires, she relies on experiment rather than precedent. In her forecast\nconsist her welfare and her political sagacity; yet she can no more\npredict than control her future. None but a divine intelligence can\ncomprehend the extent or grandeur of her future.\n\nOne thing is certain, the rapidity of her career approaches railway\nspeed. What impediments may lie in her track, or what collisions may\noccur, it is impossible for man to foresee. It would seem, however, that\nshe is an instrumentality in divine hands; a nationality, whose task it\nis to work out the great problem of a just government,--one in which all\npolitical power is vested in the people, and exercised by the people for\nthe common purpose of securing the greatest possible good to the\ngreatest possible number. The right to live under such a government is\na natural right, and should be accorded to every human being, the world\nover.\n\nIn all human governments there are, and probably ever will be, more or\nless imperfections growing out of mistaken theories, or arising from\ntheir practical workings. Though it may not be possible by legislation\nor otherwise to remedy every imperfection, yet there can be no political\ninequality which may not be so far modified as to extend to every\ncitizen equal rights and equal justice. There is a natural love of\nfreedom and of justice implanted within the human breast, which lies at\nthe foundation, not only of the political, but of the social, fabric.\nThis love of freedom and of justice is an instinctive feeling, if not an\ninspired sentiment, which ennobles the patriot, and converts him into a\nhero. When oppressed, the true hero smites his oppressor. This is a law\nof his nature--an attempt to redress a wrong--and therefore an element\nof human government. When a civil government has been instituted,\npositive law becomes the rule of right. But when nations differ, and\ndiplomacy fails in its mission, there remains no recognized alternative\nfor adjustment but a reference to the arbitrament of the sword. This\nfinal method of redressing national wrongs has descended to modern times\nfrom the primitive ages of barbarism, and when adopted, as often\nterminates in perpetuating the wrong as in redressing it. It is, to say\nthe least of it, a method which is entirely inconsistent with the\nrefined civilization of the present age.\n\nThere seems to be no good reason why an international code of laws might\nnot be adopted by all civilized nations for their common government in\nredressing their grievances. If such a code could be framed and\naccepted, it would not only secure the just rights of nations from\ninfraction as against each other, but would unite them in their mutual\ninterests and sympathies by the indissoluble ties of a common\nfraternity. Then all differences and dissensions could be settled, as\nthey should be, by negotiation or voluntary submission to arbitration;\nand then wars would cease, and rivers of blood no longer flow.\n\nNations, in their relations to each other, are but individuals, and\nshould, as such, be subjected to wholesome restraints by some recognized\nauthority. The proper authority would seem to be a representative\nCongress of Nations. This view of the matter is an American idea, and\none which has been suggested by American experience. The assumption that\nevery nation is an independent sovereignty, if not absurd in theory, is\nby no means true in fact. No civilized nation can live within itself and\nfor itself, but must and will, in order to supply its wants, hold\ncommercial intercourse with other nations. The productions of the earth\nbelong to man, and are essential, whether of this or that clime, to his\nhealth and happiness, and will therefore be sought and distributed. Even\nthe social relations of one nation with another are hardly less\nconducive to the general welfare than their commercial relations,\nespecially since steam-power and the telegraph-wire have comparatively\nmade all men next-door neighbors.\n\nIn these modern times no government which is not just in its\nadministration can long survive without provoking a revolution. It is\nonly as a last resort that revolution becomes an elementary right, and\nthen it must succeed in order to be recognized as a right. Nations\nsucceed each other as naturally as individuals, sooner or later. The\ninterest of all, whether national or individual, is the interest of\neach. Hence mankind the world over should be regarded as a common\nbrotherhood, entitled to the enjoyment of equal rights and equal justice\nas the legitimate sequence of their fraternal relationship. And yet\nneither in ancient nor in modern times do we find a perfect government.\nIt is true, however, that we sometimes speak of our own American\nRepublic as a perfect system of popular government; yet it is nothing\nmore, in fact, than an unsatisfactory experiment. It is a system which\ngrew out of circumstances, and one which changes with circumstances.\n\nIt was near the close of the eighteenth century when America began to\nlose her affectionate regard for her mother England. This change in her\naffections grew out of the fact that the mother evinced a sincerer love\nfor money than for the welfare of her daughter. Remonstrance, though\ncalmly uttered, proved unavailing. It was then that America for the\nfirst time gave indications of possessing a proud puritanic spirit that\nwould not brook oppression. The imposition of the Stamp Act had incurred\nher displeasure; nor did an invitation to \"take tea\" restore her to\nequanimity. Instead of condescending to take so much as a \"sip\" of that\nfavorite beverage, she had the audacity to commit whole cargoes of it to\nthe voracity of the \"ocean wave.\" This offence provoked England to take\nan avowed hostile attitude. America, still unawed, proceeded to beat her\nploughshares and pruning-hooks into broadswords; war, with all its\nhorrors, ensued. The result was that after a seven-years contest,\nliberty triumphed, and American independence became an acknowledged\nfact.\n\nAmerica had statesmen in those days who were men of pluck. When they\nsigned the Declaration of American Independence, and proclaimed it to\nthe civilized world, they took their lives in their hands, and so far as\nhuman foresight could determine, were as likely to reach the gallows as\nto maintain the position they had assumed. But fortune \"favored the\nbrave,\" and instead of ascending the gallows, they ascended the pinnacle\nof fame, and now take rank among\n\n\n     \"The few, the immortal names\n     That were not born to die.\"\n\n\nIt will be recollected that our Pilgrim Fathers, on landing at Plymouth\nRock, entered into a written compact which contained the germs of a\nrepublic,--principles which were expanded in the subsequent articles of\ncolonial confederation, and finally were so developed and enlarged in\ntheir sweep and comprehension as to constitute not only the framework,\nbut the life and spirit, of the federal Constitution, which has been\naccepted as the written will of a free and magnanimous people. In a\nrepublic like ours, the popular will, when clearly expressed, commands\nrespect and must be obeyed. There is no alternative, nor should there\nbe. As Americans, we believe in the Constitution, and in the \"stars and\nstripes,\" and would die, if need be, in their defence. We also believe\nin ourselves, and in our capacity to take care of ourselves. This great\nfact is sufficiently illustrated in our past history as a nation.\n\nWhen her population was but a small fraction of what it now is, America\nnot only compelled England to acknowledge her independence, but also\ncompelled her, in a subsequent war, to acknowledge the doctrine of \"free\ntrade and sailors' rights.\"\n\nEver intent on enlarging the \"area of freedom,\" America next sent out\nher armies and took possession of the ancient palaces of the Montezumas,\nand finally settled differences by accepting the \"golden land\" of\nCalifornia, nor thought it at the time much of a bargain. And last, not\nleast, she suppressed within her own borders, despite the adverse\ninfluences of England, one of the most formidable rebellions the world\never beheld, and succeeded in restoring fraternal harmony throughout the\nUnion.\n\nIn the history of the world there have been many forms of human\ngovernment, which have arisen at successive periods, and which may be\nclassed as the patriarchal, the monarchical, the aristocratic, and the\ndemocratic. The last was originally a direct rule of the people, but\nfrom necessity and convenience has now become a representative\ngovernment, chosen by the people, and controlled by their will and\naction as expressed through the medium of the ballot-box. The doctrine\nthat \"the majority must rule\" is evidently based on the scriptural idea\nthat in a \"multitude of counsellors there is safety;\" and yet this is\nnot always true. Minorities are often right, and majorities wrong. What\nis right and what is wrong, is a matter of opinion, ever changing with\nthe advance of civilization.\n\nTake any form of government you please, and analyze it, and you will\nfind that its vitality and its ability to preserve itself, are based on\nphysical power,--a power to coerce; and when this power fails, the\ngovernment fails, and either anarchy or revolution is the inevitable\nconsequence. Yet the moral power of a government, though it may not save\nit, is not less important than its physical power. When both are\nexercised with no other view than a sincere desire to promote the public\nwelfare, the government is pretty certain of being sustained, and simply\nfor the reason that it is approved by a generous and healthful public\nsentiment. But let public sentiment become corrupted by the influences\nof aspiring demagogues, or by men who avow principles in conflict with\nthe public interests, and no government, however pure and just in its\ninception, can long command respect, or preserve its authority.\n\nEvery nation has its representative men. America has hers. Cotton Mather\nwas a Puritan and a theocrat; Benjamin Franklin, a patriot and a\nphilosopher; George Washington, a great general and a model man; Thomas\nJefferson, a true democrat and a wise statesman; Andrew Jackson, a hero\nat New Orleans, and a Jupiter in the Presidential chair; and Abraham\nLincoln, a man of destiny, who crushed rebellion, and proclaimed freedom\nto four millions of slaves. These were the men of power in the hands of\nDivine Power; and yet they did not comprehend the sequence of their\nmission. Their achievements marked the age in which they lived, and will\ndoubtless exercise a living influence, more or less controlling,\nthroughout the coming ages of the civilized world.\n\nNations, as well as individuals, have their destiny in their own hands.\nIt is the character of the individuals constituting the nation which\ngives to the nation its true character. America began her career by\nlaying the foundations of her character, not in the sand, but on the\nrock of free schools, free churches, and a free public press. Without\nthese institutions true freedom can neither be acquired, nor be\npreserved. They are the only legitimate nurseries of a healthful and\nvigorous public sentiment. Preserve these institutions, and the nation\nwill continue to be free and prosperous and happy and powerful and\nglorious. And yet there may be corrupting influences growing out of the\nmanner in which a popular government is administered, or growing out of\nthe exercise and extent of the right of popular suffrage.\n\nIndeed, it has already become a grave question how far it is safe to\nextend the right of suffrage. It cannot be denied that our American\npopulation is but an intermixture of different nationalities, thrown\ntogether by a common desire to become free men in a free land. Yet\nimmigrants continue to come from the Old World, differing as widely in\ntheir political and religious education and predilections as in their\nlanguage, customs, and social habits. It is this foreign element that\nmakes our population what it is,--an assimilating, and yet an\nunassimilated mass. A five-years residence, under our present\nnaturalization laws, entitles aliens to citizenship and the right of\nsuffrage. When they have acquired citizenship, demagogues assume to be\ntheir best friends, only to deceive them and advance their own selfish\naspirations. In this way the original peculiarities of the different\nnationalities are wrought into political subserviency, and employed as\nan element of power in securing the balance of power. It is in this way\nthat the people are first corrupted, and then the government. It is in\nthis way that we, as a nation, allow demagogues to educate the masses\ninto a low and degrading estimate of what constitutes a popular\ngovernment, and of what are its true legitimate objects.\n\nThe right of suffrage is clearly a political, not a natural, right. It\nshould be exercised with wisdom, and only with reference to the\n\"greatest good to the greatest number.\" The ignorant cannot exercise\nthis right with safety, for the reason that they are not sufficiently\nintelligent. A certain degree of education should therefore be regarded\nas an indispensable prerequisite. A mere residence of five years in the\ncountry, without the ability to read and write the English language,\nshould not be accepted as a presumptive qualification, though\nstrengthened by an oath of allegiance.\n\nThere are some statesmen, as well as other persons, both in this country\nand in Europe, who are earnestly engaged in agitating the question of\nextending the right of suffrage to women, on the ground that women are\ncitizens, and often own taxable property, and consequently have the same\ninterest as men in securing and maintaining a just and proper\nadministration of the government under which they live. While this is\ntrue, it is equally true that men are endowed by nature with more\nphysical, if not more mental, strength than women, and have a higher\nregard for the diviner sex than they have for themselves, and\nconsequently were created to be their protectors and guardians. In fact,\nthe two sexes are but counterparts of each other. In Nature's\narithmetic, the two count but one, and should be but one in heart and in\nlife. But somehow or other, many of these counterparts get strangely\nmismatched, or are never matched at all. This is not a fault of Nature,\nbut a defect in our social system. If it were considered as proper for\nwomen as for men to be the first to propose marriage, it would doubtless\nlead to the happiest results. But taking things as they are, the thought\nhas occurred to me that it would be wise for the State to limit the\nright of suffrage to married men, for the reason that such men would\nnaturally feel the deepest interest in sustaining a good government. Let\nthe right to vote and to hold office depend on marriage, let the honors\nof State and of society be conferred on none but those who have honored\nthemselves by assuming the duties and responsibilities of wedded life,\nand I doubt not that all marriageable bachelors would aspire to the\nhonors of full citizenship, while marriageable women would soon find\ntheir proper places in their proper sphere, and the government become\nwhat it should be,--pure in its principles and just in its\nadministration. America is in a transition state, and will in all\nprobability continue to trust in the success of untried experiment,\nrather than rely on her past experience. But still there survives within\nthe American breast a popular sentiment, which, like the magnetic\nneedle, ever points to an unerring polar star. It is only amid clouds\nand storms that dangers arise, or become alarming. It is therefore\nimportant that the ship of State should be intrusted to none but skilful\nmariners. The pilot should appreciate the dignity of his position, and\ncomprehend the extent of his responsibilities. Whether the \"golden age\"\nof America terminated with the outbreak of her great Civil Rebellion, or\ncommenced at the date of its final suppression, remains, perhaps, an\nundecided question; yet there are thousands who believe that her golden\nage has passed, never to return. This may or may not be true.\n\nIt is hardly to be expected, however, that a happier age will ever\narrive than that which existed prior to the Southern Rebellion. The\npeople generally, both North and South, before an appeal to arms\noccurred, were characterized by a genial sincerity in the expression of\ntheir political views and in the recognition of their constitutional\nobligations, as well as in their ecclesiastical connections and social\nrelations. They, in fact, felt that they were akin to each other, and\nregarded each other as a common brotherhood, having mutual interests in\nsustaining a common government,--a government which their fathers had\nframed, and bequeathed to them and to coming generations. In this genial\nrelation, for nearly a century, the North and the South enjoyed\nuninterrupted peace and prosperity; and America took her position as one\nof the great and powerful nations of the earth.\n\nIt is to be hoped, however, that the result of the late Civil War will\nprove a \"blessing in disguise,\" though laden with many unpleasant\nmemories.\n\nIf we cannot obliterate the \"dark spots\" in the sunlight of our past\nhistory as a republic, we can at least cultivate friendly relations and\na liberal spirit, such as will give to our future history a spotless\ncharacter.\n\nIt now becomes a grave question whether the freedom of the emancipated\nslaves will prove a boon or a curse to them. As yet they cannot\ncomprehend their relative position; nor can they foresee their ultimate\nthough not distant destiny. As a race, they differ widely in their\nnatural characteristics from the Saxon race among whom they have been\ndiffused. They belong to Africa. The two races, being distinct in the\nconditions of their origin and physical structure, as well as in their\ntemperament and tastes, can never harmonize as one people, either in\ntheir social or political relations, on the basis of a perfect equality.\nThe thing is impossible, simply for the reason that the law of\nantagonism which exists between the two races is founded in Nature, and\nis therefore a divine law, which can neither be controlled nor\nessentially modified by legislation or education. In fact, a \"war of\nraces\" has already become imminent, and must, when it does come,\nterminate in the expulsion, if not extinction, of the African race.\n\nIn the future of America there are mystic events which time only can\ndisclose. \"Onward\" is the watchword of the living present. Every\nAmerican believes there is \"a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at\nthe flood, leads on to fortune.\" The \"almighty dollar\" is his leading\nstar. Hoards of gold and silver glitter in the distance. In acquiring\nwealth he acquires power. He knows that wealth is power; and hence the\nacquisition of wealth has become the ruling passion of the age. In other\nwords, money supersedes merit, while moral honesty is held at a\ndiscount. Lamentable as the fact may be, it is evident that an\nunscrupulous desire to obtain wealth and political honors pervades all\nclasses of American society, from the highest to the lowest.\n\nIn order to facilitate the accumulation of wealth, and achieve their\nambitious aims, individuals consolidate their capital in corporations,\nand corporations consolidate themselves into overgrown monopolies. In\nthis way almost every leading branch of trade and of manufactures, as\nwell as railroad interests, shipping interests, and telegraph lines, are\nmerged in corporations,--in fact, nearly all that remains of\nindividuality is lost in corporationality. Of course the mere\nindividual, however meritorious, becomes literally powerless unless\nrecognized by a corporation. Though a trite saying, it is nevertheless\ntrue that corporations are \"soulless,\" and therefore devoid of human\nfeeling and of human sympathies. Among the most formidable of these\nmonopolies are the railroad corporations, ever busy in weaving their\nspider-like webs over the entire continent. In discharging their duties\nto the public they seldom subordinate their own interests.\n\nAlmost every man of wealth in America is a stockholder in one or more\nincorporated companies, and will of course act politically, as well as\nindividually, in accordance with his interests. Both the commercial and\nfinancial operations of the country are essentially in the hands of\ncorporations. They in fact monopolize the banking institutions; and if\nthey do not control, they evidently desire to control, the legislation\nand government of the entire country. Indeed, the time has already\ncome, when in quite too many instances the popular voice yields to the\ncorporative voice, while personal merit and qualification for office\nbecome questions of secondary importance. It is easy to be seen that\ncorporative interests have become not only gigantic, but are engaged,\nwith pick and spade, in undermining the very foundations of the\nRepublic. If the people would preserve their equal rights, and enjoy the\nblessings of a free government, they must not only remember, but act on\nthe principle, that \"eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.\"\n\nIt is owing to the tendency of capital to combine its productive\nenergies that working-men, as they are pleased to designate themselves,\nconceive the idea that capital and labor are antagonistic in their\ninterests. Hence working-men, especially miners and mechanics, combine\nagainst capitalists for the purpose of securing higher rates of wages.\nIn doing this, they resort to \"strikes,\" violate their contracts, and\ndictate their own prices. If their terms are not accepted, they refuse\nto work, and the great leading industries of the country are crippled,\nif not suspended. A train of moral and physical evils follows, which are\nmore seriously felt by the \"strikers\" than by capitalists. If movements\nof this kind are continued, the obvious result will be to drive capital\nout of the country to seek a more reliable investment. It is labor that\nproduces capital, and capital that furnishes labor. The one must depend\non the other. Their interests are therefore mutual, and both are\nentitled to equal protection; their relations to each other must\nnecessarily be regulated by the law of supply and demand. There is no\nother law or power that can do it. If force be applied, it is certain to\nreact. Yet the field is alike open to all. The laborer often becomes a\ncapitalist, and the capitalist a laborer. What are known as \"strikes,\"\ntherefore, can effect no lasting good to any one. They are but elements\nof social discord, which demagogues seize and control for their own\naggrandizement. In fact, \"Trades Unions\" are nothing more nor less than\norganized conspiracies against capitalists and the best interests of the\ncountry. If tolerated, the government itself is in danger of being\nultimately subverted. It is clear that the tendency of these unions is\nto produce disunion. They have already become so formidable in numbers\nand in political influence as to render it doubtful whether any\nlegislation could be obtained, or military power enforced, which would\neither control or restrain them in their action and ultimate aims. In\nview of this state of things, it would seem that the time has come when\nthe American people, as a nation, should pause and \"take the sober\nsecond thought.\"\n\nIt is often said that the world is governed too much. But so far as this\ncountry is concerned, the reverse seems much nearer the truth. Our\ngovernment is presumed to be the creature of public opinion. In theory\nit is so; but in practice we generally find that what is called public\nopinion is manufactured by a few scheming politicians, through the\ninstrumentalities of packed conventions and a subservient public press.\nAnd hence candidates for office are selected with a view to their\navailability rather than for their known capacity and integrity. This\nfailure to select the best men of the country to govern it, and\nadminister its laws, has already resulted in degrading American\ncharacter by the corrupt practices which it has generated, if not\nsanctioned, in every department of government, whether federal, State,\nor municipal.\n\nIn fact, dangers lurk on every side. There is no safety, unless it can\nbe found in the virtue and intelligence of the people. If in this\nrespect the people are deficient, it is the fault of their education.\nThe rights of citizenship should depend on education, and the masses, if\nneed be, should be educated by compulsion. As it now is, the learned\nprofessions are regarded as the main pillars that sustain the social\nfabric. They in fact give tone to public sentiment, and erect the\nstandard of public morals. The masses accept their opinions, and seldom\nquestion their accuracy; and yet the masses are often misled. The few\ncorrupt the many. Hence it is that we so often see the lawyer, the\ndoctor, and even the clergyman, swayed in their action by political\nincentives; and especially is this true of professed politicians and\nofficial dignitaries. As a matter of course, public sentiment becomes\ndemoralized, and almost every species of fraud and corruption comes to\nbe regarded as quite respectable. If for this state of things there be a\nremedy, it is only to be found in our public schools and in the moral\nteachings of our churches. It is here that the work of reform must\nbegin, the sooner the better. It should begin by re-laying the\nfoundations of the Republic deeper and broader, and with principles as\nsolid and permanent as the masonry of the everlasting hills. When this\ngreat radical work has been accomplished, the threatening clouds which\nnow cast their shadows over our national future\n\n\n     \"Will fold their tents like the Arabs,\n     And as silently steal away.\"\n\n\nWhile in the tendencies of the age we see much to admire, we also see\nmuch to be regretted. In a word, there is too much friction in the\ncomplicated machinery that spins and weaves the web and woof of American\ncharacter. In religion, morals, and politics, wide differences of\nopinion are to be expected, yet they should be honest. While a free\npublic press may be regarded in theory as the \"palladium of American\nliberty,\" it seems to proceed practically on the belief that its own\ninterests are the public interests. Especially is this true of the\npolitical press. Money, instead of principle, is too often its guiding\nstar. By its influence, men in office and out of office are made and\nunmade at pleasure. And this will ever be the case so long as editorial\nutterances are accepted as oracular. And yet there is hope, and perhaps\nsafety, even in the freedom of our partisan prints, so long as they\ncontinue to expose the falsities of each other, whatever may be their\nmotives. If, as in China, the head of every editor who knowingly\npublishes an untruth were demanded as a forfeit, it is to be feared that\ngentlemen of the \"tripod\" would soon become \"few and far between\" in\nthis broad land of the free. Yet the newspaper is the controlling power\nof the government, and the mouth-piece of public sentiment. Editors\nshould therefore appreciate their responsibility, as well as \"take the\nresponsibility.\"\n\nThough rotation in office may be regarded as a wholesome principle in\nthe administration of a popular government, it is evident from the\nhistory of the past that frequent elections tend to disturb the peace\nand harmony of society. One political campaign scarcely ends before\nanother begins. Especially is this true of our Presidential elections.\nThe spirit of these elections extends to all our local elections, and\noften renders them equally bitter and intolerant.\n\nThese are growing evils which seem to threaten the stability of the\nRepublic, and which require the application of a radical remedy. In the\nfirst place, the right of suffrage should be made uniform in all the\nStates, and extend to none except citizens who can read, write, and\nspeak the English language. This must be done, if we would preserve our\nAmerican nationality from a confusion of tongues and the contamination\nof disloyal principles. In the next place, the President should be\nelected by a direct popular vote for a term of eight or ten years, and\nbe rendered ineligible thereafter.\n\nIf provisions of this character were incorporated into the federal\nConstitution, the President would have no other motive in the discharge\nof his official duties than a desire to make for himself a good record;\nwhile professional politicians would disappear, and our county be saved\nfrom the demoralizing influences of a constant partisan warfare.\n\nIn regard to the Presidential question, the keynote is usually sounded\nby the friends of the administration, who wish to retain its patronage,\nor by opponents, who seek to overthrow it for the sake of the \"spoils.\"\nThough candidates for office contend loudly for principles and reform,\nit is evident that with many of them the public treasury is the centre\nof attraction. It is true, however, that there are some honorable\nexceptions,--some men who are influenced by patriotic motives, who love\ntheir country and desire to promote its real welfare, and who would\nrather \"do right than be President of the United States.\"\n\nIn a government like ours, which is essentially partisan in its\ncharacter, there exists a manifest want of promptitude in the exercise\nof its central power. In other words, it takes a republic too long to\nmove and execute in a crisis. It is prevented from doing this by the\npopular trammels which environ it. And yet it is often as difficult to\nascertain what is the popular will as it is to comply with it. For this\nreason it is often a slavish fear, rather than a sense of right, that\ncontrols the administration of the government. Even our best men, when\nplaced in power, become so sensitive to public opinion that their moral\ncourage \"oozes out at their fingers' ends.\" They see lions in their\npath, and therefore fear to do their duty. So long as a love of office,\nrather than a love of country, influences the action of the politician\nand the statesman, there can be neither strength nor stability in the\nframework of democratic institutions. For an illustration of this, we\nneed only appeal to the histories of Greece and Rome. America has\nproduced, however, many model men, and doubtless will produce many more\nof a like character. It is men that we want,--men of nerve and pluck, as\nwell as men of wisdom, not only to enact our laws, but to administer\nthem. All conspiracies of one class against the rights of another class,\nor against the rights of individuals, should by Congressional enactment\nbe declared crimes, and the perpetrators promptly punished, no matter by\nwhat name their associations may be known. It is the prompt enforcement\nof criminal law that gives it moral force and overawes the offender.\n\nIt is impossible to predict the future, except as we see it from a\nstandpoint of the present. Hence it is, perhaps, that we apprehend\ndangers when there are none. Yet we know that the elements of\ndissolution are incorporated into the very material that constitutes the\nuniverse. And so it is with the nations of the earth. The law of change\nis universal. It affects alike both the moral and the physical world. In\nhis desires, man, as an individual, is insatiable; and so are nations.\nIt is a prominent trait of Americans to want territory, and to acquire\nterritory. They must have elbow-room; but the misfortune is, they do not\nknow when they have enough. It seems as if they aspired to grasp the\nworld and to govern the world.\n\nIt is doubtless true that we, as a nation, have already acquired too\nmuch territory. The result is, the government has become unwieldly, and\nthe danger great that it will break down, sooner or later, of its own\nweight. So vast is the national domain, and so various is it in its\nclimate, productions, and population, that its central power cannot so\nlegislate as to do equal justice to all interests, and at the same time\nharmonize the conflict of public sentiment. This state of things had its\ninfluence in producing the outbreak of the late Rebellion. For\ngrievances of this character there would seem to be no other remedy than\nthat of revolution.\n\nWe can but hope, however, that the States now known as the United States\nwill continue to increase in numbers, and to harmonize as one people,\none nation, and one government. Yet it is quite possible that the time\nwill come when they will sever into groups and become independent of\ntheir present federal relation to each other, in accordance with their\npeculiar sectional interests, \"peaceably if they can, forcibly if they\nmust.\" Then, instead of one, we shall probably have several independent\nAmerican confederacies, whose future boundaries are clearly indicated,\nnot only by differences of climate and productions, but by Nature, as\nmarked by her great intervening rivers, lakes, and mountain ranges.\nThese confederacies, when organized, will doubtless consist of those\ngroups of States now known as the Eastern, Western, Southern, and\nPacific States.\n\nIn addition to sectional interests and geographical differences, there\nare other considerations tending to induce a division of the Union.\nAmong these are an almost unlimited number of political aspirants, and a\nrapidly increasing population. In Europe, and in many parts of Asia, an\novergrown population, in connection with geographical differences and\ntribal distinctions, is doubtless the original cause which led to\nsubdivisions of empire, and the establishment of so many petty kingdoms\nas now exist in those countries. The same causes are evidently at work\non the American continent, and must ultimately produce similar results.\nIn little more than a century our population has increased from seven to\nsixty millions. In the next century, at present rates, the increase from\nnatural growth and the influx from foreign emigration will in all\nprobability approximate two or three hundred millions. Europe alone,\njudging from present indications, will transfer to this continent within\nthat period a large share of that number. If this be assumed as worthy\nof credence, is it not time that we, as American citizens, should look\nahead, as well as go ahead, and if possible, preserve our national\ncharacter?\n\nIt is true that an intermixture of foreign blood with American blood may\ntend to develop a higher order of manhood; yet when we go so far as to\npermit foreign languages to be taught in our public schools at the\npublic expense, as essential to an American education, and that, too, at\nthe dictation of denizens whose education and predilections are in\nconflict with our own, have we not reason to fear the ultimate results?\nIf this insidious influence of foreign growth be allowed to control our\neducational system, it will not be long before we shall adopt foreign\nhabits and sentiments, and lose forever our American nationality.\n\nIf America would be true to herself, she must preserve not only the\npurity of her principles, but the purity of her spoken language. If\nforeigners choose to become American citizens, they must expect to\nbecome Americanized in language and sentiment, as well as accept our\nform of government. We want no foreign element incorporated into our\nfree institutions which does not harmonize with them. In a word, we want\nno union of Church and State, no \"confusion of tongues\" in our public\nschools, no aping of foreign manners and habits, no foreign\ndictation,--nothing but pure American freedom and pure American\nprinciples.\n\nIt is in this country that Church and State, for the first time in the\nhistory of the civilized world, have been separated, and allowed to\nconduct their own affairs in their own way, and independently of each\nother. So far as experience has gone in this respect, it proves the\nwisdom of the policy. And yet there are many statesmen, who, in reading\nthe \"signs of the times,\" think there are reasons for believing that the\npriesthood have inherited their ancient love of civil power, and are\nquietly endeavoring, in various ways, to secure such a degree of moral\npower over the popular mind as will, in effect if not in fact, transfer\nto them the control of the civil government.\n\nIf the priesthood are to control the government, it matters but little\nwhether it be the Catholic or the Protestant. Catholicism regards the\nChurch as supreme and the State as subordinate, repudiates public\nschools, and trains her youth in the Church and for the Church, thus\npreparing them to become not only adherents to the faith, but \"soldiers\nof the cross;\" while Protestantism asks the recognition of God in the\nConstitution, urges a fraternal union of all her various denominations,\nwith a view to concentrate and direct their moral force, and even goes\nso far as to discuss politics in the pulpit,--thus attempting to control\nthe results of our popular elections, especially when great moral\nquestions are supposed to be involved. In all this there may be no\ninsidious design; but facts carry with them a degree of significance\nwhich ought not to be disregarded. If a \"religious war\" must come, it\nwill be a fearful contest, and one which must result in the subversion\nof free government, and finally extinguish the last hope of every true\nphilanthropist.\n\nAnd yet, as a people, we need never \"despair of the Republic\" so long as\nwe sustain free public schools and confide the government to none other\nthan an enlightened and philanthropic statesmanship. If America\ncontinues to respect herself, she is evidently destined to wield, not\nonly the moral power of the world, but to complete the civilization of\nthe world. Inspired with a desire to ameliorate the condition of\nmankind the world over, she annually expends millions of money in\nadvancing the cause of a true Christianity. So inviting are her free\ninstitutions that she is rapidly becoming a central nation in point of\nwealth, talent, and population, as well as in moral and political\ninfluence. It should be her pleasure, as well as aim, not only to\nperfect her own government, but to diffuse a knowledge of her liberal\nprinciples throughout the world.\n\nIn reverting to the history of the past, we see that nations, like\nindividuals, have their career, succeed each other, and finally become\nextinct. On this continent the red race has been rapidly succeeded by\nthe white race. Whether a still higher order of man will succeed the\nwhite race, is a question which time only can determine.\n\nNature is provident, and like Divine Providence, works in \"mysterious\nways,\" and with an aim to achieve ultimate results. What America now is,\nwe know; what she will be, we know not. It is devoutly to be wished,\nhowever, that her career may continue to be characterized by great and\nnoble achievements, and that her \"star-spangled banner\" may forever\nfloat in triumph\n\n\n     \"O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.\"\n\n\n\n\nCAREER OF REV. JOSEPH BADGER.\n\n\nThere have been but few men in the clerical profession who have made a\nworthier or more exemplary life-record for themselves than Rev. Joseph\nBadger. He fought for liberty in the Revolution, and for Christianity in\nthe wilds of the Western Reserve. In the one case he fought with the\nmusket, in the other with the sword of the Spirit. Whether serving as a\nsoldier or as a missionary, he proved himself sincere and steadfast in\nhis devotion to duty.\n\nRev. Joseph Badger was born at Wilbraham, Mass., Feb. 28, 1757. He was a\nlineal descendant of Giles Badger, who emigrated from England and\nsettled at Newburyport, not far from Boston, about the year 1635. The\nfather of Joseph was Henry Badger, who married Mary Landon. They were\nboth devoutly pious, and equally poor in this world's goods. They\ninstructed their son Joseph, at an early age, in the catechism of the\nPuritan faith, and gave him such further elementary education as they\nwere able at the domestic fireside. He grew strong in the faith as he\ngrew to manhood, when he began to realize that in sharing life with his\nparents, good and kind as they were, he shared their poverty. In\nconsulting his mirror he was often painfully reminded of the fact that\nhis garments, patched as they were, displayed about as many colors as\nthe coat of his ancient namesake. Inspired with the patriotic sentiment\nof the times, and desiring not only to provide for himself, but to\nobtain sufficient money to give himself a liberal education, he enlisted\nin 1775, when but eighteen years of age, in the Revolutionary army, as a\ncommon soldier, and was assigned to the regiment commanded by Colonel\nPatterson. The regiment was stationed at Fort No. 3, near Lechmere's\nPoint, in the vicinity of Boston. At the battle of Bunker Hill this\nregiment was posted on Cobble Hill, in a line with the front of the\nAmerican battery, and about half a mile distant, where every man of the\nregiment could see the fire from the whole line, and enjoy the pleasure\nof seeing the British break their ranks, run down the hill, and then\nreluctantly return to the charge. On their third return, as luck would\nhave it, they carried the works at the point of the bayonet. This was\nthe first time after his enlistment that young Joseph had an opportunity\nto smell the smoke of British gunpowder. It was some time in September\nof the same year he enlisted that the British landed three or four\nhundred men on Lechmere's Point to take off a herd of fat cattle.\nColonel Patterson ordered his regiment to attack the marauders and\nprevent them from capturing the cattle. A sharp conflict ensued, in\nwhich Joseph tested the virtues of his musket and poured into the enemy\nnine or ten shots in rapid succession and with apparent effect. Several\nwere killed and others wounded on both sides. Joseph escaped unharmed.\nBut soon after this skirmish he took a violent cold, attended with a\nsevere cough. His captain advised him to return home until he could\nrecover. This he did, and within twenty days came back and rejoined his\nregiment quite restored to health.\n\nThe British evacuated Boston on the 17th of March, 1776. On the next day\nColonel Patterson's regiment, with several other regiments, was ordered\nto New York, where they remained for three weeks, and were then ordered\nto Canada. They were transported up the Hudson to Albany, and thence by\nway of Lakes George and Champlain to St. Johns, and thence to La Prairie\non the banks of the St. Lawrence and in sight of Montreal. On the way\nthe troops suffered severely from exposure to rain-storms and\nsnow-storms, and from want of provisions. They arrived at La Prairie\nlate in the day, and in a state bordering on starvation, where they\nencamped supperless. The next day each soldier received a ration of a\nfew ounces of mouldy bread for breakfast, and a thin slice of stale meat\nfor supper. Joseph accepted his share of the dainty feast without a\nmurmur, but doubtless thought the wayfaring soldier had a pretty \"hard\nroad to travel.\" A part of Colonel Patterson's regiment was then ordered\nup the river to a small fort at Cedar Rapids, which was besieged by a\nBritish captain with one company of regulars and about five hundred\nIndians, led by Brant, the famous Indian chief. The Indians were\nthirsting for blood. A fierce conflict ensued, which lasted for an hour\nor more, when the enemy was compelled to retreat towards the fort. At\nthis juncture a parley was called, and the firing ceased. A number were\nkilled, and more wounded. It so happened that the fifth company, to\nwhich Joseph belonged, did not arrive in time to participate in the\nfight, though they had approached so near the scene as to hear the\nfiring and see the rolling cloud of battle-smoke. Joseph expressed his\nregret that he had lost so good an opportunity to give his flint-lock a\nsecond trial. The detachment was now ordered to retreat to La Chine,--a\nFrench village about six miles above Montreal. Here they were\nreinforced by the arrival of eight hundred men, under command of General\nArnold. The entire force advanced to the outlet of Bason Lake, at St.\nAnn's, where they embarked on board the boats and steered for a certain\npoint about three miles distant. In passing, the force was fired upon by\nthe enemy, armed with guns and two small cannon. A shower of shot seemed\nto come from every direction, and as the boats containing the Americans\nwere about to land at the point sought, they received, amid hideous\nyells from the Indians in ambush, a hailstorm of bullets that rattled as\nthey struck the boats, and slightly injured some of the men. The men in\nthe boats returned the fire as best they could. It was marvellous that\nnone of the Americans were killed or seriously injured. \"It appeared to\nme,\" said Joseph, \"a wonderful, providential escape.\" A British captain\nby the name of Foster was shot in the thigh. It was now nearly sunset,\nwhen General Arnold ordered a retreat. The night was spent in making\npreparations for the morrow. It was near morning when Captain Foster\ncame over to General Arnold and agreed with him to a cartel by which\ncertain prisoners were exchanged. The American prisoners were returned\nin a destitute and forlorn condition. The pitiful sight deeply excited\nthe generous sympathies of the kind-hearted Joseph, who did what he\ncould to comfort them by dividing his own supplies with them.\n\nGeneral Arnold now returned with his troops to Montreal, exercising\ngreat vigilance to avoid further surprise. He then crossed the St.\nLawrence and encamped at St. Johns. Here the small-pox appeared in camp.\nIn order to avoid the severity of the disease, Joseph procured the\nnecessary virus and inoculated himself with the point of a needle, which\nproduced the desired effect. Two days after the disease had appeared in\ncamp, the troops were ordered to Chambly. The British hove in sight and\nbegan to land on the opposite side of the bay. The invalids were\nnumerous and continued to increase. They were directed to march back to\nSt. Johns,--a distance of twelve miles. Most of them could hardly carry\ngun, cartridge-box, and blanket, and were often obliged to sit down and\nrest by the wayside, Joseph among the rest. In the course of a few days\nthe sick were transported to Isle aux Noix, at which place all the\nshattered army were collected under command of General Heath. From this\nplace the troops, including the sick, proceeded amid sundry\nembarrassments to Crown Point, where they encamped. Here the small-pox\nspread among the men, and in its most aggravated form, with fearful\nrapidity. The scene in camp soon became appalling. The groans and cries\nof the sick and dying were heard night and day without cessation. As it\nhappened, the surgeons, for want of medicines and hospital stores, could\nrender but little aid. In some instances as many as thirty patients died\nin a day, and were buried in a single vault or pit, for the reason that\nthere were not well men enough to bury them in separate graves.\n\nThe humane and philanthropic Joseph, who had previously inoculated\nhimself with success, and thus avoided further danger from the\ncontagion, now devoted himself to nursing and caring for his sick\ncompanions-in-arms with unwearied assiduity. As soon as the contagion\nbegan to abate, the sick were transferred in boats to Fort George, while\nthe men fit for service were ordered to Mount Independence, opposite\nTiconderoga, to erect works of defence. The mount was covered with\nforest trees, loose rocks, and dens infested with rattlesnakes, which\noften crept into camp and were killed.\n\nAt this time Joseph suffered for want of the clothes he had lost in the\nretreat from Canada, and had, in fact, worn the only shirt he had for\nsix weeks, and was so incommoded with vermin that he was compelled to\ntake off his shirt, wash it without soap, wring it out, and put it on\nwet. He was also scourged with an irritating cutaneous disease, which\ninduced him to retire some distance from camp, fire a log-heap, and\nroast himself, after anointing with a mixture of grease and brimstone.\nThe camp was destitute of indispensable conveniences, and the hospital\nin which lay the sick had not a dish of any kind in which could be\nadministered a sup of gruel, broth, or a drink of water. Resort was had\nto wooden troughs, or dishes, cut out with a hatchet or penknife. The\ncolonel, in passing through the hospital, said, \"I wish there was a man\nto be found here who can turn wooden dishes.\" Joseph, who understood the\nart, replied, \"Furnish me the tools and I will do it.\" The tools were\nfurnished, and Joseph soon turned from the aspen poplar an ample supply\nof wooden cups and trenchers. He was also often employed in making\nbread, and in fact was a sort of universal genius and could do almost\nanything. At the instance of General Washington he was also employed at\ntimes to aid in negotiating treaties of friendship with the Indians. But\nafter being transferred several times from one military point to\nanother, and suffering more or less from hardships, his health became so\nimpaired that the principal surgeon gave him a discharge, and he\nreturned to his home in Massachusetts. He soon afterward so far\nrecovered that he re-enlisted and served as an orderly sergeant in\ndefence of the seaport towns till the 1st of January, 1778, when his\ntime expired, and he returned to his father's house once more, having\nbeen in the service a little more than three years. He received, on\nretiring from the army, about two hundred dollars in paper currency,\nwhich was so depreciated that he could not purchase with the whole of it\na decent coat. He then (for the next six months) engaged in the business\nof weaving on shares, and during that time wove sixteen hundred yards of\nplain cloth. This enabled him to clothe himself decently, and to spend\nthe ensuing winter in improving his education. At this time, as he said,\nhe \"had no Christian hope,\" but continued to labor and study during the\nyear 1779, when a religious revival occurred, and he acquired a\nChristian hope, with a determination to fit himself for the ministry.\nEncouraged by his friend, Rev. Mr. Day, he prosecuted the requisite\npreliminary studies, and at the same time taught a family school in\norder to meet his expenses. He entered college in 1781, and graduated in\n1785. He then studied theology, and was licensed to preach in 1786. He\nsoon received a call and was ordained as pastor of the church at\nBlandford, Mass. He had previously married Miss Lois Noble, who was a\nyoung lady of refinement and exemplary piety. In October, 1800, he\nresigned his pastorship at Blandford and received a regular dismissal.\n\nThe Connecticut Missionary Society, whose central office was at\nHartford, had formed a high estimate of the character and piety of Rev.\nJoseph Badger, and at once tendered him the appointment to go, under the\nauspices of the society, as a missionary to the Western Reserve. This\nwas the kind of Christian labor in which he preferred to engage. He\ntherefore accepted the appointment; and leaving his family at home until\nhe could explore somewhat his new field of service, he took his\ndeparture on horseback, Nov. 15, 1800, bound for the Western Reserve. He\ntook what was then called the southern route, crossed the Alleghany\nmountains in the midst of a snow-storm, and after a weary journey,\narrived at Pittsburgh on the 14th of December. Here he rested for a day\nor two, and then resumed his \"journey through the wilderness,\" and after\na weary ride of nearly a hundred miles, reached Youngstown, one of the\nearliest settlements in the Reserve, on Saturday night at a late hour,\nand was kindly received. The next day he preached at Youngstown his\nfirst sermon in the Reserve. The town at that time consisted of some\nhalf-dozen log cabins. His audience included nearly every soul in town,\nthough but a handful, who had assembled in one of the larger cabins, and\nwho seemed pleased to receive from his lips \"the good tidings of great\njoy.\" Gratified with his reception at Youngstown, and resolving to lose\nno time in expediting his missionary labors, he rode the next day to\nVienna, where but one family had settled; thence to Hartford, where but\nthree families had settled, and thence to Vernon, where he found but\nfive families. In making these successive visits he did good work. While\nat Vernon he was informed that Mr. Palmer, the head of the family\nsettled at Vienna, had been taken suddenly sick and was not expected to\nlive. There was no doctor residing in all that region of country. Rev.\nMr. Badger hastened at once to the relief of the sick man, and nursed\nhim for eight days, when he so far recovered that his providential nurse\ncould safely leave him. In this way Rev. Mr. Badger visited, in the\ncourse of the year 1801, every settlement and nearly every family\nthroughout the Western Reserve. In doing this he often rode from five to\ntwenty-five or thirty miles a day, carrying with him in saddlebags a\nscanty supply of clothing and eatables, and often traversing pathless\nwoodlands amid storms and tempests, swimming unbridged rivers, and\nsuffering from cold and hunger, and at the same time here and there\nvisiting lone families, giving them and their children religious\ninstruction and wholesome advice, and preaching at points wherever a few\ncould be gathered together, sometimes in a log cabin or in a barn, and\nsometimes in the open field or in a woodland, beneath the shadows of the\ntrees. At about this time he preached the first sermon ever heard in\nCleveland. In response to all this benevolent work he had the\nsatisfaction of knowing that he was almost universally received with a\nheartfelt appreciation of his services, and with a liberal hospitality.\nThough most of the early settlers were poor, they cheerfully \"broke\nbread with him,\" and gave him the larger share of such luxuries as they\nhappened to have at command. Even the Indians, who were quite numerous,\ntreated him kindly and with respect. He took especial pains to enlighten\nand instruct them, and soon acquired such a knowledge of their language\nas enabled him to communicate readily with them.\n\nIn September of 1801, he journeyed on horseback to Detroit, with a view\nto extend the field of his missionary labors. On reaching the banks of\nthe Huron River, late in the evening, he stopped at an Indian hut,\ndesiring to remain for the night. He was kindly received by the\ninmates,--an aged Indian chief and his squaw. The squaw cut fodder from\nthe cornfield and fed his horse, and soon presented him with a supper of\nboiled string-beans, buttered with bear's oil, in a wooden bowl that was\ncut and carved out from the knot of a tree with a hatchet and knife.\nHungry as he really was, he relished the feast. She then spread for him\non the floor a bed of bearskins and clean blankets, on which he enjoyed\na refreshing night's sleep. In the morning she gave him for breakfast a\ncorn-bread cake, baked in the embers. It contained inside a sprinkling\nof black beans, and resembled plum-cake. While he was eating, he\nexpressed his admiration of the bread. The squaw replied, \"Eat; it is\ngood. It is such bread as God gives the Indians.\" He then resumed his\njourney to Detroit, where he remained a few days. While there, and while\non his way to and from there, he held religious interviews with all he\nmet who were willing to converse in relation to their spiritual welfare,\nwhether white men or Indians, but found no one, as he said, in all that\nregion, whom he could regard as a Christian, \"except a black man, who\nappeared pious.\" On his return he visited Hudson, where he found a few\nprofessors of religion. Here he organized a church, consisting of ten\nmales and six females. This was the first church organized in the\nWestern Reserve. The next morning, October 25, he took his departure\nfrom the Reserve, and returned by way of Buffalo to his family in New\nEngland, preaching, as he went, at such settlements as offered a\nfavorable opportunity. He arrived at home Jan. 1, 1802, after an absence\nof thirteen months and fifteen days. He found his dear family all well,\nand like David of old, blessed the Lord, who had \"redeemed his life from\ndestruction and crowned him with loving-kindness and tender mercies.\"\n\nSoon after his arrival, he visited Hartford and reported to the\nmissionary society what he had done, and the character of his work, and\nagreed to return with his family to the same field of missionary labor,\nand for such compensation as the society chose to allow him, which was\nbut seven dollars per week. This was at that time considered a\nsufficient sum to meet the current expenses of himself and family. He\nexchanged his former homestead at Blandford for land in the Western\nReserve. On the 23d of February, 1802, he started on his journey to the\nWestern Reserve in a wagon drawn by four horses and loaded with a few\nhousehold goods, his wife and six children, and himself driving the\nteam. He took the route leading through the State of New York to\nBuffalo, and thence followed the southerly shore of Lake Erie to\nAustinburg, in the Reserve, where he and his family were received with a\nhearty welcome to the home and hospitalities of his friend, Colonel\nEliphalet Austin. He accomplished the journey, a distance of six hundred\nmiles, in sixty days. This was travelling at a pretty rapid rate, as was\nthen thought. He remarked, when he had reached the hospitable home of\nhis friend Austin, that he and his family seemed destined to share God's\npromise to his ancient Israel: \"And they shall dwell safely in the\nwilderness, and sleep in the woods.\"\n\nHe now purchased a small lot of land in Austinburg, and soon, with the\naid of a few kind settlers, erected a log cabin in which to shelter his\nfamily. He found it difficult to procure sufficient provisions, but soon\nsucceeded in obtaining a sack of coarse flour in the vicinity; and\nhearing of a barrel of pork for sale at Painesville, he sent a man with\na team thirty miles through the woods to purchase it, and paid twenty\nsilver dollars for it, and found on opening it that it contained the\n\"whole hog,\"--feet, head, snout and ears,--and weighed but one hundred\nand seventy pounds. This, with the milk from two cows that were pastured\nin the woods and sometimes missed for a day or two, was all the\nprovision he could make for his family when it became necessary for him\nto leave them and enter upon his missionary labors in other parts of the\nReserve. He visited Mentor, Chagrin, and other settlements. At Euclid he\nfound a family by the name of Burke, who had resided in a lone situation\nin the woods for over three years, in so destitute a condition that the\nwife had been obliged to spin cattle's hair and weave it into blankets\nto cover her children's bed and save them from suffering in cold\nweather. At Newburg he visited five families, the only residents in the\nplace, but discovered to his regret \"no apparent piety among any of\nthem. They all seemed to glory in their infidelity.\" He continued\nvisiting families and preaching throughout the southeastern part of the\nReserve, and establishing churches. He called on his return at \"Perkins'\nStation\" in Trumbull County, where an election was pending and a goodly\nnumber of voters present. He was invited to dine with them. All took\ntheir seats and began to help themselves, when he interrupted them and\nremarked: \"Gentlemen, if you will attend with Christian decency, and\nhear me invoke the blessing of God, I will sit down with you; otherwise\nI cannot.\" Knives and forks were instantly laid down and a blessing\ninvoked. The dinner was then discussed with a keen relish by the\nassemblage, who seemed to appreciate the fact that \"blessings sometimes\ncome in disguise.\" He then continued on his way home. Soon after this a\nrevival commenced in most of the infant settlements, and his missionary\nlabors were largely increased.\n\nIn some of the settlements the revival was attended with miraculous\npower. In many instances the converts were stricken down in convulsions,\ngroaned in apparent agonies, and tore their hair; and in other instances\nthey fell in a trance, saw visions, awoke, and leaped for joy, shouting\nlong and loud, \"Glory to God!\" All this surprised the itinerant\nmissionary and presented him with a problem which he could not solve;\nyet being a disciple of the \"Calvinistic school,\" and charitably\ninclined, he attributed the \"spasmodic demonstrations\" to the mysterious\nworkings of the Holy Spirit. The people far and near partook of the\nexcitement and flocked to hear him. On one occasion he preached to an\naudience of five hundred. Though some scoffed, many professed to have\nexperienced religion. The general impression was in those days that\nconversion consisted in experiencing some sudden and mysterious\nshock,--a puritanic idea that is now held to be absurd; yet this wild\nexcitement doubtless produced some good fruit, if not a \"rich harvest.\"\nBe this as it may, Rev. Mr. Badger persevered in extending his labors,\nand between June 18 and July 1 of the year 1802, rode two hundred miles,\npreached eight sermons, and administered two sacraments. In riding\nthrough the dense woodlands, especially after nightfall, he was often\nfollowed by hungry wolves and bears, manifesting a desire to cultivate a\ntoothsome acquaintance with him. On one occasion, when riding through a\ndark and pathless forest late at night, along the banks of Grand River,\nand drenched with rain, he discovered by the sound of distinct footsteps\nthat some large animal was following him. He stopped his horse, turned\non the saddle, and with loud vociferations and clapping of hands\nattempted to frighten the animal away, but instead of the noise having\nthe desired effect, the bear, as it proved to be, sprang towards him\nwith hair standing on end and with eyes flashing fire. At this critical\njuncture, as Rev. Mr. Badger states in his diary: \"I had no weapon of\ndefence. I thought best to leave the ground, turned to the left, and\nwalked my horse partly by the bear, when the brute stepped directly on\nbehind me and within a few paces. By this time it had become so dark\nthat I could see nothing, not even my hand holding the bridle, and the\nbear was still snapping his teeth and approaching nearer. I had in my\nhand a large heavy horse-shoe, took aim by his nose, and threw the shoe,\nbut effected no alarm of the enemy. To ride away was impossible in a\npathless wood, thick with brush and fallen timber. I concluded to resort\nto a tree if I could find one. I reined my horse first to the right and\nthen to the left, at which instant some sloping limbs brushed my hat. On\nfeeling them, I found them to be long pliable beech limbs. I reined my\nhorse again and came with his shoulder close to the tree. I tied the\nbridle to the limbs, raised myself on the saddle, and by aid of the\nsmall limbs began to climb. I soon got hold of a limb large enough to\nbear me; and at this instant the evil beast came to the tree with\nviolent snuffing and snapping. I fixed my stand on the limb, took out a\nsharp knife, the only weapon I had, and prepared for battle. But I soon\nheard the bear snuffing near the horse's nose as he was crunching the\nboughs and leaves within his reach. I then ascended about forty feet, as\nnear the top of the tree as I thought was safe, found a convenient place\nto sit on a limb, and then tied myself with a large bandanna to the\ntree, so as not to fall if I fell into a drowse. The bear continued\nsmelling at the horse until he had passed around him to the opposite\nside of the tree; and all was still but the champing of the horse. By\nthe roaring of the wind it appeared that a heavy gust was approaching.\nIt soon began to rain powerfully, with wind and heavy peals of thunder.\nAt this time the horse shook himself, which startled the bear to a quick\nrush for a few rods, when he stopped and violently snapped his teeth,\nand there remained until a few minutes before daylight, when he went\noff. My horse standing as he did at the foot of the tree, without moving\na foot from the place where I left him, and in no way frightened by the\napproach and management of the bear, seemed to be peculiarly\nprovidential. This was the only time I was disturbed in camping out many\ntimes. As soon as I could see to take my course, I mounted my horse and\narrived at my house, about six miles from my lodging-place in the tree,\nwith a pretty good appetite for breakfast. Having in my saddlebags two\nvolumes of the 'Ohio State Laws,' it was remarked by some of my friends\nthat the old bear did not like so near a 'union of Church and State.'\"\n\nRev. Mr. Badger continued his missionary work with zeal and with highly\nencouraging prospects. He organized many churches and schools, and\ndistributed many Bibles and school-books, and often assisted the\nsettlers in erecting their log cabins and in securing their harvests.\nIn 1804, the missionary society reduced his compensation to six dollars\na week, being the same they allowed their missionaries nearer home. This\nhe did not relish, but accepted the reduced pittance, remarking that he\nwould go on with his work and trust to Him who \"feeds the ravens.\" At\nthis time he was obliged to pay at the rate of sixteen dollars a barrel\nfor salt pork, though the other provisions were comparatively cheap and\nplenty. Early in the spring of 1809, his house was burned, and nothing\nsaved but two beds and a few articles of clothing. He at once built a\nsmall cabin, with the generous aid of his neighbors, and moved his\nfamily into it, without bedstead, table, knife, fork, or spoon. In June\nof the same year he returned to Hartford, Connecticut, and made a final\nsettlement with the Connecticut Missionary Society, and received an\nhonorable discharge from further services as a missionary under its\nauspices. He then proposed to engage in missionary work among the\nIndians west of the Cuyahoga, known as the Wyandots; and having within a\nshort time received cash donations from the Massachusetts Missionary\nSociety to the amount of over a thousand dollars, he returned to the\nReserve and commenced his missionary labors among the Indians at Upper\nSandusky, which he regarded as a central point, and from which he\nextended his labors in the region round about so as to include all the\nIndian villages in the vicinity of the lake, from the west side of the\nCuyahoga River to the city of Detroit. This mission was called the\n\"Wyandot Mission.\" His labors in this missionary field consisted mainly\nin visiting the Indians in their lodges, instructing them and their\nchildren in the elementary principles of Christianity and in the\nobservance of peaceful relations. He also gave them practical lessons in\nagriculture and other arts of civilized life, and tried to reform their\nintemperate habits by condemning the use of whiskey. He was a stanch\nadvocate of \"temperance in all things,\" denounced slavish habits and\nalso slavery long before the latter became the subject of political\nagitation. In 1812, he took a deep and active interest in the war, and\naccepted the position of chaplain in the command of General Harrison. He\nalso exercised a wide influence over the Indians in preventing them from\nmaking alliances with the enemy. At the close of the war he resumed his\nmissionary labors. In August, 1818, his good wife died, and left to him\nthe care of their children. His grief seemed inconsolable, but he soon\nso far overcame it as to marry in April, 1819, Miss Abigail Ely for a\nsecond wife. In the following June he took his bridal trip with her to\nhis old home in New England, and after a brief but delightful visit,\nreturned and devoted himself to preaching in the eastern part of the\nReserve, where he soon settled as pastor of the church at Austinburg,--a\nchurch which he had organized, and which had become so large in the\nnumber of its communicants that it was generally known as the \"mother\nchurch\" of the Reserve. He subsequently officiated as pastor of the\nchurch at Ashtabula for some years, then at Kingsville, and lastly at\nGustavus, Trumbull County, where he settled in 1825, and officiated not\nonly as pastor of the parish, but as postmaster, having been appointed\nto the latter office by the postmaster-general. In 1835, he resigned his\nposition as pastor at Gustavus, and preached a farewell sermon, taking\nthe following words for his text: \"Finally, brethren, farewell. Be\nperfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God\nof love and peace shall be with you.\" The sermon was a masterly one, and\nthe audience was affected to tears. It was long remembered, and was\nnever forgotten by those who heard it. He had now become so enfeebled by\nage as to disqualify him for further service as pastor of a church. From\nGustavus he went to reside with his married daughter in the township of\nPlain, Wood County, Ohio, where for eight or nine years, he devoted\nmore or less time, as he was able, to missionary work in the vicinity.\nIn 1844, he changed his residence and went to the neighboring town of\nPerrysburg, where he lived with his married granddaughter, and where he\ndied in 1846, at the advanced age of eighty-nine years. In six months\nafterward his wife died. But two of his six children survived him.\n\nIn personal appearance Rev. Joseph Badger was tall, slim, erect, had\nblue eyes, brown hair, and a pleasing expression of face. In temperament\nand action he was quick and somewhat impulsive, yet he was considerate\nand slow of utterance, rarely, if ever, uttering an imprudent word. In\nhis social intercourse he was sedate or facetious as the occasion seemed\nto require. He enjoyed hearing and telling amusing anecdotes. In his\nstyle of preaching he was apostolic, plain, simple, and logical. In\ncreed he was an orthodox Presbyterian. He had but one grand aim in life,\nand that was to do what he could to advance the moral and spiritual\nwelfare of mankind. In a word, Rev. Joseph Badger, though dead, still\nlives and will ever live in memory as the early western missionary whose\nlifelong labors were prompted by the spirit of a true Christian\nphilanthropy.\n\n\n     \"His youth was innocent, his riper age\n      Marked with some act of goodness every day;\n     And watched by eyes that loved him, calm and sage,\n      Faded his late declining years away.\n     Cheerful he gave his being up, and went\n     To share the holy rest that waits a life well spent.\"\n\n\n\n\nMISSION MONUMENT.\n\n[Dedicated at Williamstown, Mass., July 28, 1867.]\n\n\nIn the accomplishment of great moral purposes, a Divine Providence\nemploys human instrumentalities. Of this we have ample evidence, not\nonly in the history of nations, but in the career of individuals.\n\nA little more than eighteen centuries ago, a few obscure fishermen,\nwhile casting their nets into the Sea of Galilee, were called to abandon\ntheir nets, and become \"fishers of men.\"\n\nA little more than sixty years ago, a few obscure young men, while\npursuing their classical studies in Williams College, were called to go\ninto benighted lands beyond the sea, and proclaim the divine doctrine of\n\"peace on earth and good-will to men.\"\n\nThese students, though unknown to fame, were young men of thought and of\nhigh moral aspirations. Influenced by a devotional spirit, they felt\nthat God had a great work for them to do, and that it was therefore\nimportant for them to comprehend their true relations, both to God and\nto man.\n\nWhat was the precise character of the great work assigned them, they\ndid not seem to know; and for this reason they sought for more light,\nand for guidance from the Mighty Counsellor, whose wisdom is infinite,\nand who cannot err. In seeking for that knowledge which \"cometh from\nabove,\" they were accustomed, in the milder months of the year, to hold\noccasional prayer-meetings in the solitudes of Nature, believing that\n\n\n     \"The groves were God's first temples.\"\n\n\nAnd doubtless they felt that the Divine Presence dwells more essentially\nin the silent sanctuaries of Nature than in \"temples made with hands.\"\n\nIt was here, within the quiet and cool retreat of the maple-grove in\nwhich we are now assembled, that they had convened at the close of a\nsultry summer day, in the year 1806, to hold the accustomed\nprayer-meeting, when they were overtaken by a sudden shower of rain, and\ncompelled to seek the friendly shelter afforded them by a neighboring\nhaystack.\n\nThe group of young evangelists who were present at the prayer-meeting on\nthis particular occasion consisted of Samuel J. Mills, James Richards,\nFrancis L. Robbins, Harvey Loomis, and Byram Green. Protected from the\nrain by the haystack, they continued, amid the conflict of the\nelements, their devotional exercises, and also discussed religious\ntopics of deep interest to themselves and to the world. It was a sublime\nmoment for them and for the world. The heavens were darkened; the\nlightnings flashed; dread thunders rolled; the rain fell; yet amid this\nconflict of the elements there came \"a still small voice,\" as if from\nthe storm-cloud. It was a divine whisper, an inspired thought, which\nstirred the life-currents in the heart of Mills, and diffused upon his\nbrow a celestial radiance. That inspired thought, broad as the earth in\nits comprehension, Mills announced to his devout companions. They felt\nits divinity, and regarded it as a divine communication. At the instance\nof Mills, they knelt in prayer, and besought divine aid and guidance in\nexecuting the great work which they now believed had been revealed to\nthem. It was nothing less than a mission to some foreign heathen land,\nand the ultimate evangelization of the world. In offering up the last\nprayer at this meeting, so enthusiastic became Mills that he invoked\n\"the red artillery of Heaven to strike down the arm that should be\nraised against a herald of the cross.\"\n\nAnd now, as the storm-cloud passed away, the skies became bright and\nserene; the air was pure and fragrant as balm. The raindrops, like\njewels, glittered on the leaves in the grove, and on the grass and\nwild-flowers in the meadows. In short, the smile of Heaven was reflected\nin the face of Nature. And the sublimity of the scene, as it may be\nsupposed, was heightened by the appearance of a rainbow in the\neast,--that glorious emblem of a divine love, which is so ample in its\ncharacter as to embrace within its golden circle the great world of\nmankind, of \"every nation, kindred, and tongue.\"\n\nAs these inspired young men of the haystack wended their way back to the\ncollege halls, they \"pondered these things in their hearts\" and\ncommunicated their thoughts to such of their fellow-students as they\nbelieved would sympathize with them in the desire they felt to\nconsecrate their lives to the great work of foreign missions, and\nespecially a mission to India. Several of their associates became at\nonce inspired with a similar missionary spirit. But as yet the interest\nfelt in this new enterprise was restricted to the circle of the \"Society\nof Brethren,\" as it was designated. This society was a secret\norganization, composed of such students as had made a profession of\nreligion, and had for its object the promotion of the spiritual welfare\nof its members. In pursuance of this object, they held private\nprayer-meetings in each others' rooms, and discussed questions of\nspecial religious interest, and often, in the summer season, retired for\nthe same purpose to the neighboring groves.\n\nIn this way was sown the first grain of \"mustard seed,\" which was\ndestined soon to vegetate and grow to a tree of gigantic proportions.\nThe planting of this \"smallest of all seeds\" constituted a nucleus for\nmore extended effort. Consequently other societies were soon organized\nto promote the good work. In fact, new life was breathed into the \"dry\nbones\" of every valley; and Heaven repeated the command, \"Go, teach all\nnations.\"\n\nThe grand result of this day of \"small things\" was the organization at\nBradford, in 1810, of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign\nMissions,--an organization which under the direction and favor of a\nDivine Providence has achieved so much for the civilization and\nevangelization of the benighted races of mankind. Of this we need adduce\nno other proof than the leading facts of its history.\n\nIn its inception, this Board consisted of but few members. At its first\nmeeting there were but five members present, and at its second, but\nseven. Its receipts for the first year were but a thousand dollars. Now\nits annual receipts exceed a half-million of dollars, and its annual\nmeetings are attended by thousands of people. In the aggregate, it has\ncollected and disbursed nearly twelve millions of dollars. It has never\nlost a dollar by the fraud or embezzlement of any of its officers or\nagents. Since its first meeting of five persons, in 1810, its corporate\nmembers have been increased to two hundred, and its honorary members to\nseventeen thousand.\n\nIt has sent into the missionary field thirteen hundred persons, in\nvarious capacities, including nearly five hundred ordained missionaries.\nIt has established missions in almost every benighted region of the\nhabitable globe, especially in the Eastern Hemisphere,--in India, in\nChina, in Persia, in Syria, in Greece, in Turkey, in Africa, and also in\nseveral isles of the sea, including the Sandwich Islands. It has more\nthan a hundred missionary stations, and nearly two hundred out-stations\noccupied by native helpers. It has in the native ministry three hundred\nChristian converts, about seventy of whom are pastors of churches. These\nnative Christian churches have now increased to two hundred, in\ncommunion with which more than sixty thousand hopeful converts have been\nreceived.\n\nIt has printing-presses, which have printed more than a thousand\nmillions of pages of religious and educational matter, which has been\ndistributed in forty-two living languages, as now spoken in pagan and\nother unevangelized lands. It has invented alphabets, and reduced\neighteen native languages to writing. It has put in successful operation\nmore than four hundred native schools, in which more than twelve\nthousand native children have been taught. All this has been done in\nless than sixty years, and still the great work progresses with\nincreasing zeal and efficiency.\n\nThus has the Board proved itself to be, in the providence of God, a\ngreat moral power in the nineteenth century. It is the star in the West,\nwhich flings its cheering light into the East. The wise men have seen\nit, and the shepherds have seen it. Like the star of Bethlehem, its\nerrand is divine, for it was born of an inspired thought which has now\nbecome an invincible element in the moral world,--a power which must and\nwill do its work; and though opposition and discouragement may come,--\n\n\n     \"Truth crushed to earth shall rise again.\"\n\n\nYes, millions of Christian heroes will come to the rescue, still bearing\naloft the banner of the cross, and shouting the battle-cry of civil and\nreligious freedom. And woman, first at the sepulchre, first in deeds of\ncharity, first in every good work, will renew her activities in the\ngreat warfare with moral darkness, until the \"uttermost parts of the\nearth\" have been illuminated with the light of divine truth.\n\nIt is expected, perhaps, that some allusion will be made to the motive\nwhich has induced the erection of the monument you see standing before\nyou in its modest yet truthful significance. The motive was simply a\ndesire felt in common with many other persons to see a spot which has\nbecome sacred in missionary history commemorated by some permanent\nexpression of Christian gratitude. An expression of this kind seemed due\nnot only to the great and good cause of American Foreign Missions, but\nto the revered memories of the five young men of prayer, who knelt here,\nunder shelter of the haystack, and received from on high a divine\ncommission. And permit me to add that the filial regard I entertain for\nmy Alma Mater, and for my native State of Massachusetts, has had its\ninfluence in disposing me to make this contribution to a heaven-born\nenterprise, and in remembrance of those truly good, and therefore truly\ngreat, men, whose names are inscribed on the monument. The plan of the\nmonument, as well as its erection here, it gives me pleasure to state,\nhas received the cordial approval of the Faculty and Trustees of the\ncollege. The grand object for which the monument has been erected, is\nthe commemoration of the \"birthplace of American Foreign Missions;\" and\nto this object we now dedicate it, in the name of a Christian\nphilanthropy, whose \"field is the world.\"\n\nIn its character the monument is not less unique than emblematical. It\nstands on the identical spot where the haystack stood. As a specimen of\nfine material and artistic sculpture, it is strictly a Berkshire\nproduction, composed of Berkshire marble quarried at Alford, and wrought\nin the workshops of The Berkshire Marble Company. Its entire height is\ntwelve feet; its shaft, cap, and base, square; its surface polished; its\ncolor a silver-blue. It is surmounted with a globe three feet in\ndiameter, traced in geographical lines. On its eastern face, and\nimmediately below the globe, are inscribed these words, \"The Field is\nthe World.\" Then follows a similitude of the haystack, sculptured in\nbas-relief, and encircled with these words, \"The Birthplace of American\nForeign Missions, 1806.\" And beneath this appear the names of the five\nyoung men who held the prayer-meeting under the shelter of the haystack.\nThe maple-grove, amid whose cool shadows we now stand, is the same grove\nfrom which the five heavenly minded young men were driven by the\nimpending rain-storm.\n\nThis maple-grove, which has now become ever memorable, is included\nwithin the boundaries of Mission Park. The park contains ten acres, and\nwas purchased on account of its historical interest, and made part of\nthe domains of Williams College. It is the design of the friends of the\ncollege to embellish the park with specimens of the trees and shrubs and\nflowers of every foreign land to which missionaries have been sent by\nthe American Board, so far, at least, as such specimens can be\nsuccessfully acclimated in this country.\n\nWhen its embellishments have been perfected, Mission Park will become a\nplace of delightful resort, full of sacred memories, which will\naccumulate and grow in interest with the lapse of time. Every year will\nbring within its inviting precincts hundreds of pilgrims, and every\ncollege commencement its missionary jubilee. Then will Mission Park\npossess, not only an attractive aspect, but a moral power which will\nawaken a renewed zeal in behalf of missions. And here may this\nconsecrated monument, which is so expressive of a highly interesting\nfact in the history of missions, ever remain as an educator of coming\ngenerations, and as a landmark in the pathway of the citizen, the\nstudent, and the stranger! And here let the moral hero of the present,\nand of the future, stay his steps, and make still higher and holier\nresolves. Nor let us of the present generation forget that we have a\ngreat work still to accomplish in the moral field,--a field which is as\nbroad as the earth, and in which we ought to renew our\ndiligence,--feeling assured that with the final triumph of truth will\ncome universal freedom, universal love, and universal brotherhood.\n\nIt is due to Williams College to say that her educational and Christian\ninfluences have ever been directed by a benevolent and philanthropic\nspirit,--a spirit that burned on the prayerful lips of Mills at the\nhaystack, and which has inspired with heroic zeal in the cause of truth\nthousands of human souls throughout our Western Hemisphere. Humble as\nthe college may have been in its infancy, time and the favor of Heaven\nhave made it a power in the land. In every department of literature and\nof science it has furnished mental giants who have made their mark in\nthe world. In addition to this, it has sent forth its thousands of\nfaithful workers, who are engaged, far and near, in pulling down the\nstrongholds of error, and in building up in their stead towers of\nstrength, founded on a Christian basis. In its teachings of literature\nand of science, it teaches those still higher and diviner principles\nwhich give to man the graces of a true manhood. In a word, its refining\nand harmonizing influences are felt, not only by its sons, but by\nthousands of others, the world over. Few indeed are the men who have\nwielded a more extensive influence for good, or contributed more to the\npermanent value of our theological literature, than the learned and\nvenerated President of Williams College, Dr. Hopkins.\n\nThough the world owes much more to the efforts and vigilance of the\nFaculty and Trustees of Williams College than it has ever acknowledged,\nyet these patient, earnest, and hopeful men will continue to work on in\nsilence, still inspired with the belief that in casting \"an handful of\ncorn in the earth, upon the top of the mountains, the fruit thereof\nshall shake like Lebanon.\"\n\n\nTHE END.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNATURE AND CULTURE\n\nBY HARVEY RICE.\n\nSECOND EDITION      PRICE, $1.00.\n\n_NOTICES OF THE FIRST EDITION._\n\n\n\"The author has been a careful reader of the science and literature of\nthe day, and has formed generally intelligent opinions upon the great\nquestions of modern thought. He is also scholarly in his use of\nlanguage.\"--_Chicago Tribune._\n\n\"Mr. Rice's ideas upon matters which he treats appear to us sound and\npractical; and the modesty with which they are put in his volume will\nnot detract from their value in the minds of sensible persons.\"--_Boston\nTimes._\n\n\"The style is pure, and the thought, if not new, is fresh, and at times\npresented to the reader in a fine poetic setting. Nature is spoken of as\nby one who really loves her, and who has seen her face to face, and not\nthrough the eyes of another.\"--_Christian Leader._\n\n\"The collection of miscellaneous essays embraced in this volume without\nany apparent bond of connection are worthy the attention of intelligent\nreaders, from the thoughtfulness of their tone, the sobriety of their\njudgments, and the naturalness of their style.\"--_New York Tribune._\n\nFor sale by all booksellers. Sent, postpaid, on receipt of price.\n\nLEE & SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS.\n\nBOSTON, 1889.\n\n\nPIONEERS OF THE WESTERN RESERVE.\n\nBY HARVEY RICE.\n\n_SECOND EDITION._\n\nPRICE, $1.25.\n\n_NOTICES OF THE PRESS._\n\n\n\"The name and character of Hon. Harvey Rice are sufficient guarantee\nthat anything which comes from his hands is worthy of consideration, and\nit is with this assurance that in this work he has produced something of\ngreat historical value, as well as of interest in its style and\nincident, that we commend the work without hesitation.\"--_Cleveland\nLeader._\n\n\"The incidents of the book have not only real historic value, but they\nare of great interest as giving the present generation some idea of the\nhardships and privations to which the early pioneers of Ohio were\nsubjected.\"--_Sunday Gazette, Akron, Ohio._\n\n\"Mr. Rice tells the story of the early struggles of the early settlers,\ntheir haps and mishaps, and gradual development, in a most interesting\nstyle.\"--_The American, Waterbury, Conn._\n\n\"It is altogether an instructive and valuable book, and especially\ninteresting to the people of our historic and noble state.\"--_Christian\nSecretary, Hartford, Conn._\n\n\"There is much that is fresh and interesting in the narrative, and much\nthat helps the making of history, though it does not itself claim to\nrank as history.\"--_Boston Journal._\n\n\"The reader's interest is sustained by remarkable historic facts, heroic\nadventures and thrilling incidents, which the author has taken pains to\ncollect from authoritative sources.\"--_Christian Intelligencer, New\nYork._\n\n\"A book on the early settlers of the Western Reserve that will keep one\nawake, like a novel by Scott or Dickens.\"--_North American Review._\n\n\nSent, postpaid, on receipt of price.\n\nLEE & SHEPARD, Publishers.\n\nBOSTON, 1889.\n\n\nSELECT POEMS.\n\nBY HARVEY RICE.\n\nIllustrated edition. Price, $1.00.\n\n_NOTICES OF THE PRESS._\n\n\n\"'Select Poems,' recently published by Lee & Shepard, Boston, pp. 174,\n12mo, are from the pen of Hon. Harvey Rice of Cleveland, O., and author\nof 'Nature and Culture,' published by the same firm in 1875, and which\ncontained several essays on those subjects worthy of the deepest\nconsideration.\n\n\"In the volume now before us, the same love and admiration of all things\ngood, noble, patriotic, and beautiful, are to be observed; and we wish\nthat some of our magazine-writers would take pattern by the plain,\nalmost severe, Saxon verbiage in which the deepest thought and most\nvivid fancy find expression.\"--_Journal of Commerce, Boston._\n\n\"A second edition indicates the public estimate of these piquant,\ngraceful, and, in many regards, beautiful creations. We still think that\n'Unwritten Music' rightfully fills the first place. It is simply\nexquisite.\"--_Christian Leader, Boston._\n\n\"Among the best of the long poems are 'The Mystery of Life,' 'Mount\nVernon,' 'Ancestral Portraits,' 'Home of my Youth,' and 'Freedom.' The\nshort poems are all good, some of them being perfect gems.\"--_Eastern\nArgus, Portland, Me._\n\n\"A collection of original poems, all of which are pleasing in structure,\npure and elevated in sentiment, vigorous and refined in diction, and\nfaultless in numbers. The religion is that of the natural man, the\nmorality that of works, the sympathy tender, and the wit general. The\nlovers of good poetry will relish the feast.\"--_Epis. Recorder, Phil._\n\n\"Mr. Rice writes true poetry.\"--_New York Methodist._\n\n_Sent, post-paid, on receipt of price._\n\nLEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS.\n\nBOSTON, 1889.","title":"Nature and Culture","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":46669}