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About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 1875)
THE HESPERIAN STUDENT. of Hint great city tiro therefore! turned out of the Foundling Hospitals, where they i:ttl been deposited ly their mothers al. most us soon as born. They never know llit'lr parents, and their own children he come Foundlings as they themselves did. They are thrust forth upon the world, mint unit women in about equal numbers, ab solulely penniless and friendless, with everything to stimulate their passions, ami nothing but tho strong hand of power to ri'sttiin them. They constitute a reckless and fearful element of turbulence, alway ready for insubordination, always ready to rise against order in the hope of bettor ing their condition. Such n thing as duty or virtuous principle, they never rise to mulct-stand. These facts bring into question the ox puiiieney of Foundling Hospitals. Is it wise in go eminent to relieve people of personal responsibility for their children? Does it not necessarily destroy parental tenderness, and incite to sin? XXVI I. DAY DUK.Y.M. Sir James Mackintosh says (Life, Vol. I., Page 5,) "About the same time, I read tlio old translation (called Drydon's) of Plutarch's Lives, and Eohnrd's Roman History. I well remember that the pe iitsal of the lust led me into a ridiculous lnibit.iwi which I shall nerer be totally and especially if his temperament be emotional, he would have to confess him s'jlf ashamed of some of thellctive flimsies that give him occassional delight. XXVI 11. Tilll V till II TO OKT. Of all the abused words of the English language, probably no other is twisted to such ill ollices as the verb yet. It is up. plied as follows; "He's got tho tooth ache." " lie's yoiiiy to ,7c married." "Ho got a word in." " lie got up a game." "He got ready." "Ho got to be seen." "He got well." " Get out!" " Make him yil!" "He's getting along fairly." etc., etc. In the conversation of ninety-nine per. sons out of every hundred, some form of tins verb yet will be found to do constant and conspicuous duty. Its perpetual use is slangy, and indicates either lack of tut 1 livatioii, or poverty of language. XXIX. IS WAR DYING OUT? When, a lew years ago, Mr. Buckle wrote his History of Civilization in Dug. land, he said " If wo compare one century with another, we shall find that for a very long period, wars have been becoming less frequent." And again he says " If we turn to the human intellect, in the narrow et sense of the term, we shall find that ev ery great increase in its activity has been free. I used to fancy myself Emperor of; a heavy blow to the warlike spirit." And Constantinople. I distributed ollices and ,he claims thai there is an irreconcilable provinces among my schoolfellows. I ! antagonism between the intellectual class loaded 1113' favorites with dignity and pow er, and I often made the objects of my dis like feel the weight of my imperial resent, incut. 1 carried on tltc scries of political events in solitude for several hours; 1 re Minted them, and continued them from day to day for several months. Ever since I have been morn prone to building castles and the military. Will these propositions bear daylight? Let us sec ! As for the first, that wars are dying out, what is the record of this ecu tury? There were the Napoleonic wars up to 1814; and as soon ab Europe had re covered from the exhaustion thereon con- sequent, war broke out in tho revo lution. la the air than most others. My castle .nry movements of 1848, and between Aus building has always been of a singular tria and Sardinia, between England allied kind. It was not tho anticipation of a with France and Russia (The Crimean singuino deposition, expecting extraordi nary success in its pursuits, and as little to be expected, as the crown of Constant!- war,) between France allied with Sardin ia and Austria, between Germany and Denmark, bet veen Austria and Prussia, nople at tho school of Forlrose. These between France and Germany, between fancies, indeed, liuvo never amounted to 'England and India, between England and conviction; or, in other words they have j Abyssnia, between England and Ashantee, never influenced my actions; but I must and there have beer, the civil wars of Italy, confess they have often been as steady, and Spain, the agressive movements of had of as regular recurrence, as conviction Itself, and that they have sometimes emit, til a little faint expectation, a btato of mind in which my wonder that they should be realized would not be so great sis it rationally ought to be. The indulg ence of this dreaming propensity produc es good and bad consequences. It produc es indolence, improvidence, cheerfulness; a study is its favorite science; and 1 have no doubt that many a man, surrounded by piles of folios, and apparently engaged in the most profound researches, is in reality often employed in distributing the ollices : inul provinces of the empire ol Constanti nople." John Randolph, as is well known, spent, his early life in dreaming of Baronial Halls and splendor; and doubtless the most of us have pet dreams, the " confu sions of a wasted youth," to which wo fly from pain, and tho weariness of existence. Heal pleasure and magiiificenceare the lot of few; but Providence has given another world for us to live In, save that of practi cal facts, namely, the world of fancy, and in that wo Idle many an hour. Neverthc leas, daydreams ought never to create " a faint expectation "very far from it I take it that If every man of a really powerful mind would disclose himself, Russia in Asia, and everybody in Europe is getting ready for another war of the grandest proportions. In America, sve have had the war of Ii3l2, Indian win, the Mexican war for conquest, the Great Civil War, and we have shown our teeth at San Juan, and in the waters of Paraguay, and Cuba. The most civilized nations are all armed, and as warlike as ever. We may not wage so many little wars as antiquity, but central Izatlou makes modern wars inevitably grand and murderous. As for the second proposition, that the intellectual, rather than the moral classes arc hostile to war, what shall be said for the Germans, where almost every man, every student and scholar is a soldier, and ready to light for the aggrandizement of his nations Y what for France, where the intellectual clim creates and heads every revolution and every warY what for Eng land, where the clergy denounce war, but the secular press and the statesman of mere intellect, like Palmerston, bring it about? Politicians arc always the first to dls turb the peace ; and are politicians usual ly the representatives of tho morality, or not rather of the intellect, the craft, and the fierceness ol a nation? It is astonishing how the sweeping as sertions of modem philosophers, like Buckle, fade out into the semblance of unmitigated bunkum, the moment they are closely examined. But so it. is. 0. C. I). (For tlio llosporlnu Studunt.) TRIBUTE OF lllSSI'fSCT. Prof. Or.stumis Charles lak. Early in the morning of tlio 18lh insl., at his home, Prof. Dnke was prostrated by a paralytic stroke, and soon after 111 id-dny breathed his last, departing as painlessly as a child sinks to sleep. Possessing apparently sound health, and enjoying the day before unusual exuber ance of spirits, without warning he was akeu from the active labors of life. No recent event in our city has produced a profoundcr sensation, botli on account of its suddenness and from the conscious ness of the great loss which this commu nity has sustained. Although the best medical skill labored actively through all the morning hours to ward off the fatal attack, it proved utterly unavailing. Ik passed quietly away, surrounded by his family and sympathizing friends. Prof. Dake was born in Portage, Liv ingston county, New York, Jan. 10th, 18!12; was graduated at Hamilton College N. Y., in the class of 1840; and from the first turned his attention to teaching. Having passed through the various expe riences of teacher, editor and preacher, he was elected in 1871, the Professor of Belles Lettrcs in the University of Ne braska, which position he was holding at the time of his death. In connection with his ministry in the Episcopal church, he opened in 18015, Brownell Hall, a sem inary ol learning for young ladies, in Omaha, which remains as a monument to his educational zeal, as well as of his de votion to the interests of his church. In stature the Professor was below the medium height, but of compact and rather sturdy form, giving promise of comparatively long life; and the more, because the tireless activity of his moral and Intellectual faculties tended to keep up to its best working condition the physical constitution with which he was endowed. The intellectual gifts of the Professor were of no common order, and super added to his natural powers, careful cul ture, in some lines ol literary work, gau him a facility and power which but few possess. His mind in its original bent was intuit i vo and imaginative in its oper ations, rather than discursive or logical. He preferred open vision rather than to be trammeled by the rigorous exactions of logical processes. Possessed of keen and warm sensibilities, and with such a cast of mind, his was of necessity eminently a poetic temperamcut, and in the field of poetry he achieved an enviable success. In 1871 lie published a small volume of poems, entitled "Nebraska Legends" and other poems. The aroma of the prairies and ol frontier life flavors almobt every page of this dainty volume. The writer is thoroughly cognizant of his great am bition to celebrate worthily, the peculiar characteristics, natural and social, of these new lands of the West. He was tlio poet of Nebraska. His "Praise of New Lands " and his various loving tributes to Nebraska, evince how deeply he was at tached to the State, chosen as his home; and had his life been spared, there is little doubt, hut In the increasing vigor of po etic powers, and in the maturity of Lis poetic gifts, he would have given to tho Slate a legacy of song, to which she would point with pride. But loo soon for his earthly lame, has he realized the wish expressed in one of liis beautiful odes to Nebraska, closing as follows: "Oil I Hiuiu'h 11 Hpot linulo holv. Deep In thy Hhelterliig bienst A Hpot iif mini hucIiibioii Whuro IomhI oiioh nro ill rsl ; Ami there, wlu-n wanderings ovit, And uoiiu Wis V llMludnv. Muv 1 with llicin bo lying, And nilnglo eliiy with ulny." Ill the summer of 18711 he brought out another volume entitled "Midland Poems" of nearly three hundred pages, containing tlio literary work done its relaxations, from his professional labor. The poetry of this volume is chiefly didactic in its' pur pose, on which account it is less suited to display the poetic fervor of the author. In these poems he handles some of tho social questions, that .stir Hie thoughts of men to-day, in the ho e, perhaps, of nl luring some minds lo consider '.heso themes, from which they would be repell ed by a more formal treatment of tlietn. Such subjects are, however, les .suited to poetic treatment than are those which up peal powerfully to the imagination, which as "it bodies forth, The forms of thing unknown, tlio poetV pen TnniK them to Hluipec, and glcs to airy nothing, A local habitation and a inline." Besides these published works, he lias written many iugitive pieces of merit, and was a constant contributor to the secular press on all qtstions involving, as lie thought, the wchare or honor of I lie com munity in which he lived, and tints hi literary talents wire always tributary to his best convictions of duty. "With respect to his moial qualities there can be but one opinion among those who knew him. His convictions of duty were clear and strong, and with a moral eour age, that was quite heroic, lie was instant in season to avow and maintain them. It is rare, in this time-serving age, to find u true man, true to his convictions of right, true in private relations, in business and in all the ollices of life. Such an one, however, was our departed friend, and if" at any time alittlcbiusqucncssof maniier or abruptness of speech came lo the sur face, it was only on the surface and novci struck in. They were the epidermis that covered sensibilities the most refined, and purposes sigularly free from every intent to wound or injure others. Associated with his poetic temperament, was his religious faith, both sttong and. steadfast. He clung to tlio hope of tlio gospel with a fervor of faith, and unfalter ing trust, which proved an anchor to his--soul in the perplexities of his eventful life. The writer has ample reason to know how full was his confidence in the religion of Christ, so that it could not be disturbed by the suggestions of scepti cism or eclipsed by the dark cloud -of un belief. His moral', religious and testhetio nature found its full fruition, its supreme satisfaction in him, on whom lie leaned with unfaltering trust. His professional labors in connection with the University liavu now extended over four years, in which time he has evinced an ardor of zeal in tlio discharge of his duties to the students and to the State deserving-of honorable mention and of praise. During his whole connection with the University, he has been a dilgent student, seeking to master the subjects which it was hisspecial province lo leach, and doing his work witli little ostentation but with zeal and eil'ecliveness. Naturally reserved and shunning publicity, his quiet and somewhat secluded labors, have robbed him, in a measure, of that public appreciation which a greater degree of self-assertion would have won for him. But who may say that his chosen course was not best for him, and equally benefic ial to those for whoso interest lie has been providentially called to labor. "Wo would, in this brief and imperfect tribute, dear friend and comrade in the great campaign of life, recall your virtues and seek the inspiration that comss from the contemplation of a pure and lofty ideal of life, to which, as the cynosure of your eyes, you were ever turning, and which we now trust stands unveilcdto you in all its glorious pcrfectness in the Immediate presence of our common Creator und Lord. A. It. Benton. m ' i 1 t ! mamamwt