THE HESPERIAN STUDENT.
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Another legitimate result will beatond
ency toratlunnlism. Materialism and ra
tionalism nrc relatives, ami the causes
that directly produce the one, Indirectly
produce the other.
As mechanism of (nought Is produced
by a material life, or the severity of ra
tionalism so the natural sequence of ma
tcrlalism. Two thousand years ago, on the wide
plans of Italy, the Pelasgian tribes (level
oped a severe, powerful and material na
tionality, while the same tribe on the pen
insula of Greece, and surrounded by its
cheerful scenery, assumed a very different
form ; likewise it it must be a matter of
care to us, lest we on these wide and fer
tile plains of the West sink in our nation
al and religious life, and lest we become
mechanical and sensuous, and "lose the
legacy and the better characteristics of
Saxon fathers.
We must add to this Inherent tendency
the powerful foreign force brought hither
each year by immigrants from abroad and
especially by the Germans. Many of
these are not in full sympathy with our
method of government, and not only lack
sympathy with our forms of worship and
our religious beliefs, but even in many
instances are apparently without much of
the religious clement in their nature. It
is liard oven now to compute the effects
produced by these people on our methods
of thought.
The sanctity'of the Sabbath and respect
for our common law, which in any way
interferes with individual liberty, are los
ing their force, and Lcssing and Schiller
are crowding out the Bible and Shakes
peare. This question presents itself, What
shape shall our politics and our religion
assume in the future ? Will our reprcsent
tative character be a compromise between
the steady Saxon and the license-loving
German, and will our religion be a com
promise between the straight theology of
Jonathan Edwards and the philosophy of
Mill and Comte?
The foreigner brings us more muscle,
he give us vitality and force, he adds an
other element to our aheady many-sided
and versatile character, he gives addition
al freshness to our people ; but he contrib
utes to our inherent materialism, he be
comes a modifying factor, and beyond
all doubt io changing ho type of our
American citizen and is leaving his im
press on our customs and laws. More im
portant than most questions of political
economy or of domestic politics is this
question of foreign forces. What the re-
suit of the working the present forces will
be, can only be con jectured and not
known. S. II. M.
Ambition.
Perchance you may ask, " What is am
bition ?" In answer we would say that it
Is the most noble trait of true manhood,
and that grand feature that draws a divid
ing line between a man of honor and in
tegrlty,and one of unquestioned character.
In looking at the a man's face we can
almost invariably tell whether or not he
posses that required amount of ambition
that will give to him in society a standing,
such that ho will bo looked upon as a man
that has braved life's battles and come out
conqueror over the almost universal difli
cultics that have overturned the canoes
of thousands, while upon life's voyage,
and precipitated them into the unfathom
ablG'sea of oblivion. Yet, " such is life,"
and' such is the sea Into which countless
numbers of human beings are irrecover
ably tossed.
" All (ho world's a stage, " says Shake
spcarc, one who had bullied (lie storms of
opposition, laughed to scorn the idea of
criticism, cast in the shade his literary
opponents, and finally come off victori
ous. His works are the chief corner
stone in (he foundations of the English
language, and his name will be revered
as long as the language lasts. This one
grand stage of the world may bo divided
into different parts, each and every one
being a characteristic of a certain class
of individuals. Prom the lowest to the
highest they are stepping-stones that re
quire culture, practice, patience and am
bition to rise from one to the next.
Our imagination fancies a little news
boy going through the streets on a cold
morning, selling his daily papers, his be
numbed fingers beating his sides in a
lively manner. Now and then he breaks
forth in a wild and joyous whistle, his
whole air portraying one of liveliness and
mirth. The occasional passer-by stops,
shakes his head omniously, gazes at the
boy a moment, then points his finger to
wards him and says, "That boy has grit,
he'll make his mark in the world." Thus
it is, that while the world sleeps in ignor
ance of the ambitious lad or his business,
he is silently and steadily working his
road to fame, from the very fact that lie
has pluck enough to avoid the gambling
hells, dens of iniquity, and companions
of vice, crime and degradation all of
which tend to a great extent to allure the
youth and lead him from an honorable
standing to a contcmptablc One. bucn a
charac(er was Horace Greeley, who, after
scouting the giddy pricipiees of vice, fin
ally became one of the chief liberators of
4,000,000 of human beings, by heralding
far and wide the curses of bondage and
exciting the minds of the American
sympathizers lo so great an extent that
they arose en masse and struck the shack
les of slavery forever from the American
soil. We can say that he attained as high
a position as is possible to be reached by
any man in a free county: namely, to
be acknowled the greatest literary genius
of his age.
Yet, when wo seo those around us that
have obtained glory and honor by their
persistent habits of trying to get a little
higher, (although exceedingly few,) we
still float along in the giddy current of
life, not caring whether we live or die.
Occasionally wc take a peep back into
the misty chambers of the past, where we
see nothing but one grand string of errors
when, had wc had the ambition to
overcome a few of those objects, the
whole course of our lives would have
been effectually altorcd, and we would be,
instead of floating along so carelessly in
life's drama, wending our way higher
and higher, taking one step after another
upon the golden stairs of fame, where we
would bo exalted by all humanity, while
we arc now plodding along in a dark and
dssmal atmosphere of absolute know
nothingness. Napoleon, too, through his nover-end
ing perseverance and ambition, made for
himself a title and a name that caused
monarchs to tremble at its very sound.
Kings and princes, at his word, were
hurled into prison side by sido with mur
durers and thieves. Monarchies, at his
invincible charges, trembled, tottered and
fell ; and upon their ruins new crowned
heads were placed, at his command. For
all this his ambition know of no bounds,
and at Waterloo the Duke of Wellington
had to have thousands added (o his al
ready vastly superior army, before the in
vincible guards of Napoleon could be
beaten down. That awful carnage ruined
In a single day what it had taken him
years to establish. Ho was precipitated
from the throne, and died the death ot an
exile, despised by millions of even the
lowest classes of humanity. While we
ponder upon this subject, wc are led to
believe that although the world is in an
unparalleled stage of progress and devel
opment, men do not attain as high a stand
ing in society, literature, oratory and the
arts as (hey did in (ho days of Aristotle,
Demosthenes, Plato and Cicero. Be
cause in those days a man that made him
self notorious as a great philosopher or
orator must arise from the common ranks
of society, through his unresting zeal,
unceasing energies and persistent perse
verance. No political or literary friends
stood at his back with an incalculable
amount of the "evil treasure" and said,
" If you have not the ambition nor even
the ability to rise to an honorable position
wc will put you there if it costs all we
have," but, on the other hand, If a man
of no ability came before the public, he
was hissed, scorned, and If he still re
mained before the people hi his hypocrit
ical garb of intelligence, forcible means
were taken by which the victim was for
ever silenced. In this day and age of
the world, a man, no matter what may
bo his ability to fill a position of public
trust, his political friends at once employ
means by which he is immediately ush
ered into his desired position. Now-a-
days there are bribery, crime and treason ;
glaring frauds and high-handed robberies
committed in the world, that stand upon
every page of public record to show the
villainy, treachery and abominable sel
fish ends of supposed civilized human
ity. Yet these vile fiends, whose worlls
are as the hiss of the venomed serpent,
are allowed to go on perpetrating their
horrid outrages in this enlightened age
the 10th century. You may perhaps ask
why wo arc clamoring upon public cor
ruption when our subject is ambition ? It
is simply because thousands of the peo.
pic of to-day have not the ambition to
earn an honest name, an honest living or
an honest penny cannot deny themselves
society and oven tho necessities of life,
as did Demosthenes, to learn the art of
oratory. It is because the people are not
plucky enough to lay their hands on these
base impostors and swing them between
the heavens and the earth by the gallows,
or sever their vile heads from their bodies
by the use of the guillotine, or the block
as they used to do. Although believing
in ambition to a great extent, yet we lie
Hove in the old saying, that "it takes all
kinds of people to make a world." Ac
cording to (his saying there are people
who have no ambition, nor do they care
whether or not they ever arise from the
mire of sin and oblivion into which they
are sunk. In this manner we seo them
groveling along from day to day, from
month to month, and finally years have
passed them in this manner, and still they
are the same unchanged, uncaring andun
deserving individuals they were in years
S"oby. Biwok.
Amos E. Gantt. from Kn,miam ...
has been acting Local Editor this month'
'" "' "uaenco oi w. ii. Hweet. Ho will
continue to manage this department until
the return of Mr. Sweet.
On the Wing.
Traveling in Nebraska at this day is
among (lie wonders of tho age. Wo are
seven years old, at (lie age when other
states have been able only to u toddle"
about. Now behold' us! nearly 1,000 miles
ot rail Una been laid, and fifty iron steeds
are rushing, with their trains freighted
with thousands of precious lives, in all
directions. We are living in an age when
living is sublime, when intense activity
characterix.es every department of human,
ity. It is especially so in Nebraska.
We seat ourselves in the comfortable
cars on the B. k M. II. It. and take our
course toward the setting sun. We roll
on at the moderate rate of about twenty
miles per hour, which gives the traveler a
fair opportunity to note the various
changes in scenery, and enjoy the panor-amic-like
view as the train sweeps steadi
ly onward.
From Lincoln to Crete the landscape is
varied; from the valley of Salt Creek the
pathway of our fiery steed is somewhat
tortuous and ascending. The land seems
broken and unattractive to the western eye,
but to the eye of the dweller among tho
Cattskill or Green Mountains it has many
charms. It is like the grateful palm and
cooling waters of an oasis in a weary des
ert of burning sand.
It is a little strange what custom will do
for man. The Swiss in his mountain
home envies not the peasant of France in
his vine-clad cottage on tho lovely plains
that skirt the mountain fastnesses.nor does
tho versatile Frenchman desire to leave
his lowly domicile for the more elevated
and rugged hills of the Swiss, and thus
Nebraska will, in some slight degree, give
satisfaction to the hardy mountaineer and
less rugged nature of the dwellers on the
plains.
And this broken country between Lin
coin and Crete shall yet astonish the ob
servant traveler with its magnificent or
chardsand well cultivated graperies. The
whistle sounds while we dream on thefu
hire and we are now in Crete.
As I am writing for tho Studknt, you
will pardon me if I exhaust my space al
lotted for this place, on tho present and
prospective College located here, for
Doane College is slowly, quietly, unobtru
sively laying carefully its foundations.
Is it not presumption in a few Individ
uals thus to attomp, at this early day, to
commence such an Institution .almost
within the sound of the University bell?
i inniK not it the school is inaugurated
in the proper spirit and does proper work.
It will not probably deter a single student
from attending the University, but will
rather awaken a spirit for higher educa
tion among the citizens of Crete and that
vicinity. I am inclined to honor the foun
ders -)f the Collvge for their wisdom in
thus early laying tho foundations of their
denominational school. I have met Prof.
Perry who is at present at the head
of the institution, and believe him well
qualified for the work. H,. h8 spent a
year in Germany and has made good use
of his opportunities.
We aro moving again. Here we cross
the Big Blue, one of the mighty agents in
the futuro history of Nebraska. It is not
like the rollicking, rattling torrents of
New England or Now York, yet time will
witness its peaceful current turning bun
dredsof busy wheels and thousands of
dextrous hands will find employment
through its utilized motive power. Ne
braska must have manufactories, and this
stream must contribute much toward their
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