HEkEZI
THE HESPERIAN.
aUcmpts to trench upon individual freedom, private property
o' the right to enjoy the fruits of labor, economy and self
dciiui!. Vain idl attempts to persuade amlitious, progress
ive, self-reliant Americans to abdicate their manhood to the
state.
What, then, is the relation of government to industrial
organization? The only province, the highest function ol
the state, is the enforcement of justice between man and man.
Justice is the basis upon which all true freedom rests. The
only equality possible in oociety is not equality in brain
power, not equality in wealth, but equality of opportunity, the
equality of all men Colore the law. In the administration of
even-handed justice, government can give its only relic f to soc
ial wrongs. From the supreme bench in Illinois it says toco
poralions, Respect free corporations, or surrender your
franchise." Through acts of Congress it says to private
organizations, ''llase your contracts upon public policy, or
courts of law are closed against you." Hacked by the awak
ening moral sentiment of an outraged nation, it will say to
board of trade and stock exchange, "Speculations in futures
and options form no exceptions to laws against gambling."
Ilcyond this government cannot go. Legislation never
can equalize inherent inequality, nor can enactment abolish
eternal necessity. Not by acts of congress, not by the
paternal power ol the state, not by a sweeping revolution in
form of government is industrial freedom to come, but in and
through that upon which they all depend, the eternal and
immutable impulse implanted in the mind ol man. The law
of the universe, material and' spiritual, is evolution. From
out of the gloomy darkness of mental slavery, the forces of
infinite truth and etciual righ have been leading mankind
to the light of a higher freedom. At each step some shackle
has been stricken from human thought, some idea based upon
the everlasting truth set free. The Orient said that one was
free the monaich, because he was a monarch. The Greek
said that he was free because he was a (Jreek. Modern
democracy says that man is free because he is a man free to
labor, free to think, free to worship, free to unite with his
fellows in organizing a state which shall mediate the th : con
flicts which arise while human nature is imperfect.
Vital and enduring change is slow. The invalid shriveled
in mind and body does not awaken from the sleep of a night
possessed of manly vigor. Neither does a state. Gigantic
combinations of wealth, the despotic power of single men,
will go down with the unusual opportunities for speculation
and accumulation which called them into being. Oppression
and inequality will grow less as human thought and con
science are emancipated by an education ol icason and a
religion of humanity. Centuries, cycles of years may pass
away and social struggle will continue. The opposing
fotccs of individual and state will ever live, but the bitterness
of conflict will diminish as mind becomes free. The only
true freedom is of the mind. Contending armies upon
battle fields can never establish it. The stiong arm ol gov
ernment can never maintain it. It comes lrom a realization
ol the underlying purpose in human existence, a comprehen
sion of'the eternal truth as revealed iu the universe mound
us. In palace or in hovel, surrounded by wealth or crushed
by poverty,
He is the freeman whom tin truth makes free,
And all are slaves beside."
In the death of Dr. Potter, the world loses one of its
brightest scholars. His best work the work which contained
the greatest amount of study, and is the most valuable to
scholars is "Human Intellect with an Introduction upon the
Psychology of the Soul."
LITERARY.
Tho Wind of March.
Up from the sea the wild north wind is blowing
Under the skv's grav arch;
Smiling, 1 watch the shaken elm-boughs, knowing
It is the wind of March.
The stormy farewell of a passing season,
Leaving, however rude
Or sad, in painful recollection, reason
For reverent gratitude.
Welcome to weary hearts its harsh forewarning
Of light and warmth to come,
The long-for joy of Nature's Faster morning,
The earth arisen iu bloom!
In the loud tumult winter's strength is breaking;
I listen to the sound,
As to a voice of resurrection, waking , ,,
To life the dead, cold ground.
Hetween these gusts, to the soft lapse I barken . ..
Of rivulets on their way;
1 see these tossed naked tree-tops darken , .
With the fresh leaves of May.
This war of storm, this sky so gray and lowering,
I write the airs of spring, " '
A wanner sunshine over field of flowering,
The blue bird's song and wing.
Closely behind, the Gulf's warm breees follow
The northern hurricane,
And, borne thereon, the bobolink and swallow
Shall visit us again.
And in green wood paths, iu the kine-fod pasture,
And by the whispering rills,
Shall flowers repeat the lesson ol the Master,
Taught on his Syrian hills.
Hlow then, wild wind; thy war shall end in singing,
Thy chill in blossoming;
Come, like l,lethesdu's troubling angel, bringing
I lie healing of the spring. J. (J. Wlll'lTIKR
III tll C'lLUtHklllH.
The sparkling little Katerskill conus, trembling, down
from the pine-covered heights of Caatskills.eddyingainongthe
rocks, and whirling through the gorges, till finally, it leaps
sheer from a precipice and falls like a mist into the chasm
below. After taking this terrific leap, the clear waters flow
on smoothly and calmly through the fields and meadows to
the little village of Caatskill, where they are lost iu the
mighty Hudson. In its lower'course the Katerskill is like
many a placid stream iu New York. In its upper course, it is
like a charming mountain cascade, flowing through numerous
little dells of wonderful beauty. Here, in these solitudes,
myriads of lovely and interesting flowers bloom each year,
unseen and unnoted. No one, except the botanist and the
artist, ever sets foot in these primitive dales. The axe of the
lumberman has never resounded through these forests. The
giant hemlocks, and spruces, untouched by the axe, tower to
dizzy heiglus In the reeds, which border the crystal springs,
is heard the shrill pipe of the cicada; the drowsy bees never
cease their droning hum as they fly from blossom to blossom.
The little blue nuthatch flits from twig to twig, warbling
chce.fully in the solitude; the cardinal bird, partially concealed
among the topmost boughs of a linden, ruffles his crest at the
intruder and chatters away noisily; the golden shafted flicker
hops up the perpendicular trunks, driving his bill into the
tough wood iu his search for food. The short blue grass
covers the ground with u dense sod, as soft as a carpet. The
mosses entirely hide the exposed roots of the trees and the red
and yellow lichens fresco the tree-trunks. In the denser
hades, the ferns unroll their green frontds, and the white
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