Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885, October 01, 1874, Page 2, Image 2

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THE HESPERIAN STUDENT.
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That Is ii poor excuse, lor luck of
thought, to numufacturo certain clover ex.
pressions for tlio sake of a happy quota
tion. Ills learning Is undoubtedly great,
hut it is small to stoop to a display. Each
sentence must he necessary. The hest
Is all that Is (It for hooks. The world is
large, and we may have our choice. He
hemoth knows the crib is fed by the gods,
and will cat his (ill of the good grain,
will have no chalf.
Ills "Hepresentativo Men" are not the
every.day biographies found in niiiHizinos.
"Jones" would sound as well for him as
anything else, to begin the " Life of Win,
Bhakespeare" with. No man shall put
"Smith" in the front of his essays. Ills
sketches are mental photographs, life-size.
"Bonaparte's exact rank is plainly oen;
and ho will put on the right shoulder
straps without hesitation. Neither will
he Hatter him by a high grade, makiUg
Him a hero.
His love for the Bible is as for a book
of many ages. But all of Christianity
and Mahammcdanism can bo found in
Plato's Phoodo. It is his business to
know as much of the world as possiblo
its origin be with the heavens. lie was
put here with the flowers like them to
wither or bloom, as the weather orders ;
and like them, he will take what comes.
There is in his writings, however, a cer
tain tinge of u belief in the immortality
of the soul, and in the existence of a Dei
ty a spirit, pervading all things. There
is no skepticism in those lines; but it is
none of his business, he will not meddle
with God and the angels.
This man is not made by recipe, as the
Oxford graduate propose to manufacture
numberless Wordsworths and Tennysons,
and as the women do cakes and puddings.
There is too much life in him. We must
have no platitudes. Let each word be
coined gold, standing for something. It
will then sparkle in the eyes of some
shrewd hunter, some good mind; and that
is the excellence of a work, the friction it
creates.
My first love for him came through his
"Society and Solitude," a series of essays
on such subjects as most interest a young
mind, viz.: Success, Courage, Eloquence,
Books, Old Age, and others. My room
was peculiarly uncomfortable and cold;
the noise down stairs rude and unpleas
ant. I purchased this book ono evening
to keep the glooms away. Wrapping
myself in a quilt, I sat down to read.
The cold was forgotten. The book was
full of heat a perfect warming-pan. My
blood tingled. Each sentence was" stout
with vitality." As Lowell would say
" tho thoughts and fancies seemed to play
around his head like hcat-iightcning."
The brain is pulled with with incessant
encouragements. Nor is it of tlio bubble
kind. Alter you have laid tho book aside,
Borne sentence, you find, hangs lire. It re
fuses to leave yon, but creeps in and out
of your mind like a bee humming about
tho dewy portals of a ro-o. Your mind
is full of a panorama "f fairyland. The
sentence will cling to you. A sprite, it is,
which feeds you with a dreamy nectar,
too sweet to drive away. You dream with
your eyes wid6 open. But it is not tho
profitless dreamigfialecp. It is pure lion
ey, and1 yoti are hevbr satiate. Ho Dooms
f! ... ''.j.. ...ill. 41... 1.. c l
iu uu in communion wuu uiu guua, lurniH
pen 'is surely dipped in their blood. You
may wonder why that wild colt is rang,
ing over tho prairies so madly, until you
see that he is tho Inspiration of a' troop of
geldings who are following away along
the ridge yonder. So with Emerson. lie
never pulls a plough. There arc no heavy
trains of thought or reasoning tn his
work, lie conies at the question on all
sides at once, but he never fails in strlk.
ing the centre. Your heart swells; your
coat fits tightly. "IVylhee undo this
button," that I may grow as big as I feel.
You feel yourself fairly hold of the
rounds of the ladder that leads up to Ga
briel. Ills nerves are strong. We must
hold all hope, drop nil discouragements.
" Never hung a dismal picture on the
wall." The uneducated are blessed, if
they have read his works. lie excites
curiosity. Hoad his essay on Plato, and it
will be hard not to hasten away for the
works of the old master. That, to him,
has ivholc currleulums, ten times over, in
it. Whether his mental nieanderlngsand
beliefs will do to follow always, we have
not presumption to say; but all will find
in him a sturdy helper. A tonic for their
debilitated nerves. A sort of galvanic
battery. His is what hehimsols calls the
"celestial chime, ringing in the best
minds of the world for auditors." A di
vine mind. Kaiius.
Three.
THKIK SAYINOS, ltOTU WISH AND KOOMHII,
Ak reported by Ixroel.
"0, como Maidens, come, o'er tho blue-rolling
wave,
Tho lovoly ehiill etlll ho tho enro of the Drove,"
comes softly from the dusk wiiiiin
the room where belle Marie
sits at her piano, idly singing "very soft
and low," old half-forgotten melodies of
"long ago." It is a fashion of our beautiful
friend's to sing to us thus at twilight and
she scarcely needs Euphrosyne's half
command, half request, which Is sure to
come at tho "edge of the dark." In spite
of Euphrosyne's 'theories' I am suspicious
that a thread of golden romance runs
through her practical nature ami nowhere
manifests itself more clearly than in the
music she prefers. She sits now on the
veranda steps, leaning against the column
over which clambers a spreading rose
tree; with her hands, firm white hands
they are, idly clasped in her lap as they
have a trick of falling; the leaves droop
down to touch tho short, wavy hair
pushed hastily back from the white brow
whose contractions show alio is thinking
deeply. I quite agree with tlio Apostle
in what he said of the chief glory of a
woman . It is even a shame that she have
short hair, no doubt tho good saint
thought. Marie's now, is the royal crown
of her womanhood.
I watch Euphrosyne's drooping face
in silence. There aro lines there that tell
of pride and haughty determination but it
is sweet and womanly withal. An earnest
face yot not one to tell you all at tho first
glanco. There Is a restless look in thn
brown oyes seeming to bo always seeking
after somothing. Thoy aro not Mario's
blue, ail
"doopcr than tho depth of wutorw,
Stilled at ovon.
I can conceive of no greater contrast than
those two friends ofmino. Ono restless,
self-assorting, inquiring. Tho othor calm',
quiet and restful. One, never content,
Impatient, always questioning. The
other accepting everything with that faith
which is woman's most ondonrinir olmrm
Euphrosyno mint work for, and by her-
sun. one is a law unto herself. Marie,
dopendant and womanly, is content that
she is happy. One is an intellectual
woman; tho other, a beautiful one.
As tho words of tlio song como Hunting
through the open door, I see on Euphro
syne's face a swift look ofdlspleasure. I
am curious to know what she thinks, for
I am sure I shall hear something original
at least, as the reward of my Inquiry '
"What are you thinking of, Mlini?"
Hui'JtiioiVNK. Aesthetically approve
of that song morally, I d.ui't. Or if you
will let me coin a word, "romantically" it
is all right, but practically It is nil wrong.
I was just wondering what became of that
class who evidently had no place iu the
poet's thought when he wrote that very
pretty sentiment whal becomes of tho
unlovely in fact.
Ihkaki,. You, at any rate, will have no
occasion to be troubled. (There is a look
iu Euphrosyne's brown eyes that shows
mo I have made a very foolish speech.)
EurmtosYXK. Don't descend to com
pliments, Israel. It's a very common way
you men have of getting around anything
a woman cays. And it' perfectly exas
perating to bo treated so, too. If you
would give us credit for the sense we do
possess we might come in time to have
more.
Ishaki,. Well, well, Miml, I'll try to
do so after this. I you aro not lovely
what are you going to do about it?
KunruosYNic. That Is just what JI was
considering when you spoke to me. In
directly our poet seems to divide into four
parts "all people that on earth do dwell."
Two, fortunate two, unfortunate, which
may bo described thus: Class First
those who arc lovely; Class Second those
who are bravo; Class Third those who
are not lovoly and Class Fourth, those
who are not brave. Doubtless it is very
pleasant to be one of the f.ovely
and be tenderly cared for by the
Brave. Doubtless it is a sad
fact that but few of us are of that favored
class and not all of you are of the Brave.
Evidently then we, the unfavored many,
must take care of ourselves as best we
may or
Ihkaki.. Perhaps 3-011, since you per
sist in placing yourself there, and your
class are in the charge of your fourth di
vision those who arc not bravo.
EuiMinosYxn. A gracious dispensation
of Providence truly! A double blessing
to tho lucky and a doublo curse to tho un
lucky ones. Well, let tho first he so, but
we will work out our own salvation with
out being a "charged" upon you.
Ihkaki.. A vain boast, I apprehend,
But, Mlmi, are you suro that your third
and fourth classes aro as large as you
imgine them to beV You dare
not determine who is brave and who is
not. You dare not set up a standard by
which to measure all men, saying of one
this man is brave; of another, this man is
not brave, because he docs not riso to
your ideal of manly courage How do
you know Hint your hero is tho tito ono?
Euimihobynk. I do not. But tho ideal
I have, ho it worthy or unworthy, is tho
standard by which my judgments aro
rendered. Jyjudgmcnts, remember, not
your's or tho world's, and as Channlng
says, I nm answerable, not for their right
Hess, but for their uprightness,
IsuAKTi. Then let your standard bo as
near tho true ono as is possiblo ior a hu-
man one to be.
EuiMinoSYNK, (quickly.) What is tho
true ono ? Is it yours ?
IsuAEi.. Not because it is mine We
havo but ono truo Ideal Man tho Good
which came out of Nazareth.
EuiMtitOBYXK. Measured by that stan
dard do you hopo to lessen the multituOo
of that unfortunate class ? Ah, my friend
whoso deeds aro great chough to lift im '
to that level ?
Ishaki.. Tho magnitude of the thing
dono is no measure of tho heroism re
quired to do It, and In one sense we might
say there aro degrees in moral heroism
Do you not think it is heroic Tor the mean'
est of us all' to overcome his peculiar
temptation, as for John Huss to hum at
the stake, or 11 Canieronian to endure per.
sedition for his faith? Again it is not so
often the deeds done that are heroic as
those that are not done those that are
renounced those dearest hopes of our
life perhaps that are resigned for the
most uncongenial work. I believe Hint the
grandest lesson of life isrenunciiition, To
learn to give up in silence our cherished
wishes because duty calls us to it and to
even lind pleasure In so doing at tnc last
is it not heroic ? Is it not more heroic
than to conquer worlds for unnoticed we
conquer ourselves by moral force, by far
a more difilcul' task than to overcome the
world by physical power amidst the
praises of an admiring multitude. And
in that our struggles are unnoticed lies the
'icroism. We can not be rightly judgod
or wo lose tho end for which wo are striv.
ing tlio bloom is gone from the fruit.
"HiUUm nlo tnlch boitrthencn konnon
80 wnr' Ich nlcht vn Ich bin."
Mimi's face glowed wiih the thought as
she sat iu silence, a black robed figure,
looking out into tho west where the moon
hung, ti silver setting in the blue cnnmcl
of tho heavens and Hesperus gleamed
like a golden lamp. A light wind sud
denly stirred among the vines like "the
sound of a going in the tops of the mill
berry trees." A limitless prairie-sea at
our feet stretched in the dim distance to
meet the dark-bluo sky. Across lis
sheeny waves of fading Autumn grass,
shining iu the last rays of the moon, there
camo the faint cry of some wandering
bird. Within the dusky room the pluno
which had been growing softer and softer,
now stopped. A light footfall and a scent
of Iloliotropc at my side told me without
a look who stood, a stately picture, with
white flowing drapery, framed in the dark
nesss of the doorway. "A daughter of tlio
Gods,, divinely tall And most divinely
fair," Im Hello Marie! Her clear voice
broke the charmed silence at last.
"Dreaming as usual, Mignon?" (Do
not wonder at the number of names wo
give our dreamer. Euphrosyno Is such a
stumbling block to us all that wo aro glad
to substitute almost anything for it.)
Mignon slowly turned her face still glow
ing with tlio enthusiasm of her thought.
.1 was thinking how glorious it must bo
to strive for victoiy over ourselves and to
vanquish the "inward fire." That aftor
all, a life of work and continual strife,
such as Is our destiny, is the noblest thut
could bo given us to live--and the nio?t
to bo desired. And that I is not bo much
tho victory as the struggle that. Is tho hap
piness of noble souls. I was even think,
ing I was almost glad that I am one of
tho uniovely, because then I have a difll
cult part in the contest. Don't laugh atmo
plesao. I know all my enthusiasm will
vanish with tho practical sunlight and I
shall bo just as doubting and morbid as
before. I shall faint in tio noontide but
I am tlio better for oven this little flash of
heavenly foe Still, aftor all, what are
you going to do with us?
Maiuh. Here is a chance for you to
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