Hesperian Student.
VOL, tt.
UnlvcvHlIu or JTcbraHka.
NO 10.
NOVUWHM"
tjnl non EroJloll',Toftolt.
1874.
IMI
Hcmch for Worth.
Mon, Uko coin, have u value, which do
poiuls mainly upon their own diligence.
Honcu till uro searchers, and It mutters
not whether in a stone quarry, in the coal
pit, along the sea shore, hunting quart,
upon the mountain side, gold in the
gulches or gems upon the diamond Hold,
their worth, I Bay, depends upon the num
ber of pearls (hey gather. Hut heavy and
unfruitful would our lives be, if these re
deeming qualities did not exist among us,
for all that gives us an idea of our future
are those truths we pick up hero and there
and deposit with our enlarging treasure.
Although these are the llrst elements of
holiness, we often neglect to search for
them, because it does not conform to our
indolent dispositions; for the brightest
gems are sometimes covered by rubbish
or huge unwieldy stones, the liner metals
combined with the baser class, and that
which is pure has tho exact color of its
counterfeit. Do you ask Is money made
of brass, or will n man pass adollar though
it lies in the road V Ah 1 you have reach,
cd tho very principle in question. It is
tho perception of an imitation that
makes the real article valuable, or it is
brushing aside the dust that makes a
coin brighter. It is the diligent search,
after all, Unit gives to objects their value,
that lends life its virtues and eternity its
happiness. Hence it fortifies our integri
ty, as it becomes our interest financially,
intellectually, earthly and heavenly, to
apply ourselves with unfailing fidolity,
and guide ourselves with a well cultivated
judgment.
Tho gold miuer is a searcher for worth.
Ho strives to excel in a worldly sense, and
hence bends every circumstance which
he controls toward that leading idea. Hy
so running his ditches ho gathers the wa
ter from the mountain side and turns it
hundreds of feet above him, thence down
through pipes, ho gains a power at tho
nozzle of tho hydraulic by which he can
easily remove the debris thai for ages has
slept upon those precious grains which ho
so often longs to handle. This saturated
rubbish now hurries through his sluice
boxes in tho bottoms of which he has
placed mercury to attract whatever line
particles that, by the great power ho has
created, may have been forced away from
his clean washed bed rock. If the pic
ture could oniy bo painted more brightly,
until you could see tho otllee ot every
ditch, or flume, or reservoir; until you
could see a rull-sized man standing in
some mountai". gulch, with verdant hills
on either side and far beyond those, rank,
lug as godly men before their congrega
tions, bald with bhow yet pointing heav
enward. If you could only hear tho roar
of tho hydraulic, grim and booming as a
distant cataract; if you could see that
powerful stream dash against tho bank,
in which tho treasures are hidden, madly
robbing it of its golden bed, and now
hurrying It away through tho mountain
pass; then you might gain an idea or th3
principle which must bo used in tho ac
quisition of real, genuine worth. Here
tho diligent miner works from day today,
not fearing tho dirt, the water, or the tot
terlng bank above him. Hero, whore so
ciety has never left a fooUprlut,ho searches
for that which will give him a high world
ly standing.
Tho student is also a searcher for worth,
and to be a real student, ho must careful
ly employ those instruments which kind
ly nature has placed low within his reach.
With those powers, which are given as
freely as the waters from the melting
snows, lie must bore steadily against the
hill of science. And thus, he may forget
the graceful bows of society as ho daily
picks up those- thoughts which, by the in
strumentality of the mind, he has washed
clean and golden. As he is trained to the
harmony of thought and stands upon tho
gray, old bed-rock of principle, that was
woven in creation, his step may lose its
softness on the tloor of a drawing room,
or his ear grow deaf to the more weari
some and artful tones from the touch of a
pianoforte.
So, when acquiring worth, whatever the
channel or motive, let the seeker remem
ber, to start with nis own natural gifts,
then strengthen these powers by diligence
and discretion, until he can overcome ov
ry obstacle that may attempt to thwart his
Intentions; to bond forward in one direc
tion, having liis eye on some diamond of
no mean proportions; to bo within him
self a principle of force and judgement;
to possess an attraction for merit, at tiio
same time yielding not to the desires of
tho worthless. F. M. L.
Shukcspouro, and the Authen
ticity of his Works.
In entering upon this subject, surely wo
arc wandering into a boundless expanse
of intellectual fertility. "Wo doubt not
but that this particular ago has been pro
ductivo of more literary value than tho
remaining ages combined. It is the con
tro around which every branch of litera
ture revolves, and towards which all con
verge. Indeed, who can give to those
brilliant luminaries u detailed account of
their lives, habits, and, above all, their
writings, without heaping volume upon
volume, of almost immeasurable length,
on their elegance, conciseness and purity
of language.
From the age of Augustus to that of
Elizabeth, the world of literature anil
morality was one dark, blank chaos, al
most devoid of anything bearing a rcsom
bianco to humanity.'
Far down in that yawning chasm of nil
man degradation was been, for a timo, the
morning star of modern literature strug
gling desporatch against tho powerful
odds of Wickedness and Ignorance.
Dante, in whom were found tho last faint
traces of ancient nobleness ami tho first
strong outlines of modern genius, loomed
up against tho horizon with dazzling
splendor, for a brief space of time, aud
then disappeared, leaving tho world.which
he had so completely revolutionized from
tho ancient to tho modern, works that pic
lure vividly to our minds tho admiration
of his mighty erudition. But soon, too
noon, he was forgotten in those succeeding
centuries in which nothing transpired but
the lowest villainies, and no one lived ex
cept persecutors and their innocent yet
ignorant victims. During this carnival
of crime and misery, while tho blood
crested dagger of Roman Catholicism
was held aloft in open defiance to retribu
tive justice, when kings could only make
the sign of the cross in confirmation of
their charters, when human reason was
cried down by tho point of tho stilletto,
and when the blood of innocent victims
was demanded to atone for the abomina
ble llendishness of assumed Christianity.
Shakespeare, with his strong array of
contemporaries, burst upon the scene,
armeJ with those superhuman powers,
God's best gift to man, talent and origin
ality, and succeeded in dispelling to a
great extent tho horrid consequences of
Bigotry and Superstition.
At the head of this brilliant list of
dramatists, yea, of all tho poets living or
dead, stands Shakespeare, tho invincible
army of poots, essayists, and historians
in himself. He was born at Stratford-upon-Avon,
in tho year 1504, of humble
parentage, in u " small but venerable
dwelling which will ever be sacredly
guarded as tho shrine of England's great
est glory !" Mr. Southey makes tho as
sumption that, " Fame indeed is of slow
growth. Like tho Hebrew language, it
has no present tense. Popularity has no
future one." To say that popularity has
no future tonso, which, if it moans any
thing, implies that it cannot protract its
existence, is treating an inoffensive word
with too much contumely. Shakespeare
was popular in his own day, and will con
tinuo to bo popular, we venture to say, in
spito of this rule laid down by Mr. Southey,
who seems to have entered upon this par
ticular point with almost literary insanity.
"Who whote Siiakespkauk?" is tho
question that has been going its rounds
in most of our periodicals. Hcally, it
seems as though somebody was (jetting con
cerned about tho matter. It is undoubted
ly true, that a great sensation has been
tried; but, alas! how wo fully has It fail
ed! A few literary "hacks" have been
slinging broadcast their vile bombast,
trying to make themselves notorious uy
sweeping laurels from Shakespeare's brow,
and adding precious diadems to the head
of Lord Verulam. They doubt the au
thenliclty of his writings: or, in other
words, claim that Bacon was tho uuthor
of those majestic workb; and that he pass
ed them oil' on an actor " for fear of com
promising his professional prospects and
philosophic gravity." Hut tho very fact
that there aro so many theories in regard
to it, if nothing else, is enough to upset
their fanatical jealousies and absurd ideas
respecting his monument of modern lit
eraturo. Then why is it, that these here
tics(T) wish to place odium upon tho
grandest name of all timo? Why is it,
that they doubt his splendid genius, and
deslro to give Lord Verulam tho credit of
something that his mind, (great as It may
have been), could not accomplish? Is it
not because thoy cannot concoivo tho idea
of "measuring swords" with so powerful
an antagonist, and becauso there is not tho
faintest trace of rivalry perceptible Y Lit
tle do these identical individuals think
that they aro the ones, who, from day to
day, copy some idea and pilfer (?) some
particular stylo that has been traced out
by their ancestors, to whom they cannot
comparcl
Upon examination of tho works of
Shakespeare and Lord Bacon, It will bo
found that there Is not the slightest resem
blance. Shakespeare's personages walk
and breathe, and in them wo procoivo tho
passions so common to all men. His lan
guage is simple, sweet, and flowing, ever
undulating in the change of characters,
as tho ripples upon tho silent bosom of
the silvery lake, or, making melody as tho
tiny rivulet that leaps laughingly along
over its pebbly bottom, murmuring ever
its lully-bye song, that soothes tho troubl
ed spirit of tho woaiy wanderer, unbur
dens his ovcr-iaden mind, and gently
raises it, on gossamer wings, to a higher
and nobler sphere of thought. Ever and
anon ho bursts forth in fierce passion that
is soon subdued by tho unrivaled gran
dour of his oratory, which swells forth
with all tho majesty of huge billows that
roll mountain high iu mid-ocean, and lap
the golden edges of tho murky cloud that
conceals within its treacherous bosom tho
muttering thunder and tho wiord, fantas
tic lightnings.
The philosophical researches of Lord
Bacon form a vast sea of study, upon
which tho youthful voyager can find but
little pleasure, and upon which the most
learned cannot smoothly sail. Thoy roll
along with their profound logic and deep
reasonings, in a kind of nevcrending,
high-toned monotony, that carries beforo
it tho unbounded admiration of all philo
sophical geniuses and tho natural aversion
of the mass of mankind. Thoy show us
what must have been the extreme depth
of his great erudition, and portray to us
what a mighty contrast those "far fetched"
thoughts, labored8entonccs,and his classic
style, mingled with beauty and rcgulari
ty, form with that tree and easy stylo,
with words and thoughts of our every day
lite. W. II. N.
SoKNii: A department of the Lincoln
Graded School . (
Tiuoiikii: (Miss , a former student-
of tho University, interrogating a class of
diminutive boys in history, etc. Topic
railways.) Aud now, children, who
invented railways ?
Fimst Hoy: (vociferously) Geo. 8tevcnr
son! (.
Second Boy: (innocently) Say, teacher,
was he tho same Stevenson, that Universi
ty chap, who used to beau you around
'ast winter?
Teacher suddenly begins to talk about
that good little boy, G. Washington, as a
safer topic, and boy No. 2 loses his recosaV
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