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About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1876)
THE HESPERIAN STUDENT. think mill speak tuitl feel ami act. Thoy have soul, lli'iico lliu Novel, because it lms innn' of tho aesthetic, is legitimately entitled to llo first place among lite line nrls. What then is tho central piinciploV Fortunately, it is something belter than physical beauty than even womanly beauty. It is more comprehensive. It comprises litis clement, anil more. The central figure is embodied human inter. thl IDHAf.l.KH HUMAN iNATtillli Human interest is the vitality the very life blood in the veins of Liieraluio anil Art. No book ought to be read that lacks it. No such book will be read long unless siniie fale notion of duty enjoins it. It is a lifeless body. Here may be found an explanation of (lie persecution, the abhorrence, which llie novel has ever met with from ceitain elates. Some people imagine that hu man enjoyment and human interest are at bitter enmity with the Divine Will. Thai lleaun will be made brighter by making earth darker. That the spirit is chastened nail made purer by persecuting tho body. The barbarous philosophy of tho Cynics, the phrenzy of such zealots as St. Siinoni and the whole history of sacerdotal celi bacy, asceticism, and self mortification, both modern and ancient, are but monu ments of the same fatal delusion. The vice of the Novel is thai it is too interest, ing. It is too agreeable to tho palate to bo a healthy spiritual diet. Some peo ple area kind of moral vegetarians all rich and juicy moat must be rejected, one would sometimes suppose, simply because it tastes good We have aire uly recognized the Novel dennis, or even the Artful Dodger, nnd grow up with each, rejoicing in his joys, smiling in his mirth, and weeping over his sins and niislortunes. You learn Vir tue's true lesson, and hear the real warn, ing of vice. In history, virtue is often mistaken for vice, and vice for virtue. History, like a concave mirror, gives us the real image, hut it. is inrcrtcd. The Novel, like a plane glass, gives a us a vir tual or fictitious imago, but it. is right side up, and shows us things as they really are. Indeed, so far as results go, History is often false in true statements, and Fie tion the truth in imaginary ones. Here then we reach the true character of the Novel the perfected novel. Erom its very mil ure, must it not furnish us with a correct guide in human conduct? Is noi its charactei really ethical V This then is its mission that of llie noblest of all sc.i. dices Ethics or Moral Philosophy. The Novel has two gn'al advantages ov. or theoretical Ethics. First, llie point of sight. She leads you into tin- teeming theatre of the sensibilities, and bids you watch the players. Too players, as was said in the beginning, are the motors of action themselves; while over them in majesty, directing and pronipting.site Free 117. In tho second place, she has the advantage of all other sciences in that all her definitions are rml, none of them nom inal or logical. Everything is analyzed, dissected, and in its real nature revealed. Such, we believe, is tho grand destiny of the Novel the future Novel, lis mission may never be absolutely realized for liu man nature is weak, human power finite. At present, much that is mawkish, pot- upon which to expose their horrors and fantastic ideas. Sliakspearo hit the mark exactly when ho Mild "Get Ihco glass eyes, and like a scurvy politician, seem to see the tilings lliou dost not." This is tho main point. People imagine thoy see things they do not, and then raise the lial lucinatingcry of the corruption of repub lican misrule. They my our republic is fast approaching destruction; but when were wo stronger? Thoy tell us that our immorality is fast hastening us to a pre mature doom; but when was there a na- I lion .,.-.. ........ 0 '.. li .. 1 1 1 . iniu iuun,iiuu; u ; ii a muiuicii years ago when we began our history as a na tion? Was it when a Bonediot Arnold and an Aaron Uurr swayed their sceptred power Was it still further back in the aiiiialsof our infancy, when wo swung from every limb, innocentinen and women accused of witchery V Wc think not. It is true that we then had a Washington and hundred years, through a list, of Kings whoso only ambition was self-aggrandize; inont and whoso only desire was the- ik talninent of their own selfish ends. Surcv ly we, a people who are comparatively pure, and with a thousand advantages ov. er the Rritish dominion, should preserve our dignity as long as any that now claini a place in the union of nations. Grecian, Roman and South American have faded away under tho keen o.lged old scythe of limn. Their blushing rose bud of prosperity bad scarcely bloomed ere the destructible plowshares of opposi tion grasped it by llie roots and tore it re lenllessly from its firm old bed, and scat tered its slender tendrils hero and there upon the beautiful sward, only to await the slanting sunbeams which soon came pouiing down in brilliant Hoods of light, and llie fragrant young ilower, magnificent to behold in its simplicity, is no more. as a line art, willi its life-giving principle j sonous and vile, is foisted upon i and human interest. Until', with Dr. Swing, forges its name. Hut Geo. Eliot, Dickens, we pause here, we .shall great by deceive l Thackeray, and many others, are weaving o r.M-lves. The Novel has a higher ollice I more and more of llie deep questions of to till, a noblei mission to perforin ilian human interest into its. fabric; wiiiiu the any men- art can attain. We have already sensuous beauty woman is sinking fur caught u glimpse ol thii mission. It will titer and further into llie back-ground. conic out stiongor and clearer by a com. May not the coining generation see lite purison w itlt History. ' standard novel used as a text-book of inor- History is a record of results. It treats nl in our higher institutions of learning ..... in. I i.i i i i i i i j. ... Even now learned Doctors do not hesitate to quote copiously from novel lileialurelo illustrate grave subjects. What a marvel is hero! The humble, iast-born child of Fiction presides over lite reverend and gray-board sciences! Again lias llie stone which w ts well nigh rejected by the builders, become the head of the corner! Imagination, bright visaged, golden-winged Imagination, shall accomplish for us what the more honored and respected mental faculties were not able! All hail, omnipotent Imagination Crown of the Intellect! G. 15. H. Piil'llc Corruption. ol character and ovctilo objectively. His tory .steps fioni epoch to epoch, from cri. is to nisis, from great event to great event. The interstices aro left vacant. She speaks of publ.c character she lias i ,.ling to do with private life. She lias too much dignity for such things. Hut it may be justly replied, thai History has not yet realized her full mission: that a perfect history must lie a complete histo ry of intellectual and moral progress in facta history of civilization. Hut even such a history would not touch the do. in.iinof Hie sensibilities of tbocinoliuiis. In reality, history an it V, is a libel on human nature. It is a ceaseless stream of wars. eiu-niKjro. and distorted liiimaii pas sion abnormal phenomena without ui-; What does the term signify? What is linrito causes assigned. The real causes its import when applied to oui generous sit.- cannot reach, lliutwy him no fmayi- j public? Are we, as a cIink of people, ret HHlitm. ' ro! ailing in the scale of morality, and at Fiction, on the oilier hand, is a record the same time making such nipid snides ol causes.' She treats of events subjective-1 in education and industry? These two ar ly. She seat herself in the hcari, and de guniciilsseem to me to be incompalihle. scribes what passes there. You may fol ' People will admit that wp, as u mil ion, low Dickens, Thackeray perhaps een, j possess advantages over every oilier conn De Foe through the slum- of London, j try, and acUmmhdge our Miperioi iiy over among the. fouled scenes, into the black ( the world in niiiiiral icsoiiices and uu'ow csi lieariH, with seirecly more moral j ineiils by the Ctcntor, and at the same peril ilian you can read the chaste and el I lime play upon the wild, wierd harp cganl Maeaulcy, Fox's Ho k of Marly is, j strings of dUcml and discontent, and ,.. ,...,... it... ,..i.,. i,..,.!,. l.nie.neiie.s of the I send a mournful wail tliroii ,'hout die land, "I WV, 1U ) IIIIIIW1K1V. t t Old Tcwlnmenl Scriptures. Why? He- its plaintive imies pleading .o.iupt.on a Henry; and it is also true ili.il we now ( Hut AW had nothing upon which to build, have a Shurtz, a Hlaitie and a Hrislow. land icchavo everything. The Creator has Perhaps our reformers will cite you to Eu ' houniifully showered our land with every ropean monarchies as models of purity ' necessary article, and with an eve single- a t . . . . I - and dwell in glowing terms on the beauty of Centralized power; bill where are they if there ever were any? France, Spain, Austria and the Sicilies, have been itnpov crished and priest ridden by Catholicism for the last three centuries. Their courts have been defiled by the inipiousnoss of their Kings and Queens, and llie sancti moniousness of their Popes, priests and monks. The aristocracy of England to day displays the same uuallev'ated brutal ity towards the poorer classes which they always did. They crush tlieni under their infamous heel and grind them down into the dust of ignorance and starvation, while llieii piteous appeals are quieted through fear of the lash. Again, these model reformers tell us of the Heccher-Tiiton scandal, and point that to our advancement and welfare, ho has most graciously' bestowed upon us his choicest laurels We were once weak; we were driven here by the slinging lash of England's ar islocracy and hewed out for ourselves an asylum in the forests of North America, with no shelter but the blue canopy of tho heavens, and no companion but lite un tamed savage. England forged slowly but surely upon us tho fetters of slavery and subjection ; but the blood of English men still flowed in our veins, and our haughty spirit was yet unconqiiered. Wo rose up, to a man, and with indomitable energy burst from our shoulders the ac cursed shackles nnd flung Ihein forever aside. Now we walk hand in hand with our mother ooifnlry, each working foi tho out as (lie great bugbear to morality, but 'other's welfare. The mighty gulf that llie Prince of Wales has been accused of the same gross crime. Tho difference is, there tlm Press is under control and vub jeeted to authority, here the Press is free. This accounts for our appearance of oiiuie. Not a defeat, not a fault in any one, but that is hunted out and published to all the world. "We are bound by tho same insep erable links of corruption, continent to continent, nation to nation, and man to man, until llie whole world is chained in common unison, each working out for himself his own salvation. In looking over the annals of history we lind that our country has been making rapid and unfaltering marches toward the goal of our ambition for Die last hundred and fifty years; and yet, as each year, each month and each day passes, wo still add new laurels once yawned so terribly between us, but a century ago, has been gradually narrow ing until the line lias become almost im perceptible, act oss which are closely in terwovon the lights and shadows of broth erly friendship. W. II. N. At a regular meeting of llie Ladies' Liteiary Union, the following list of ofli- ccrs were elected to servo next term : Miss Townsend, President " Gray, Vice President " Scott, Secretary " Olmstead, Marshall " Watson, Treasurer At a special meeting of llie Palladian Society, the following ofllecrs wore elected for the ensuing term: t t i. i,.r, ,. 11. '. 111. illLILUDDllll. to our brow, and press on i ., ,, IT I It 1 ITiiMtiirci with unabated ardor, keeping pace will, I ; ; ' il.. i.util.iii.K tt u-m tiiwi iinni'i kutnir mi ' ,u. ' ,v . . :z .. :r: i mi .i.ic sou, Ilium ill! lUUii in uiufcuimiuiu unit iiimiiiii- ..,....,. ( ..in I'uttll 111 tiill II I llttf 1 I lit tntiu ,, ,. -i"""-" - ! Albert Joyce, He if oils fanatics become fewer and . . Mis Alice Darker, Albert Joyce A. W. Field, President Vico President Rep. Sec. Cor. Sec. Chorister Treasurer Crilid Historian Ushor cause the characters live and acl and feel before your eyes. You enter the heart of Florence D.unbey, the HI mil Nydia, Pen- at every door. Hut then, every man, like every huh' boy, must ilde Ins hobby, and some in ike Public Corruption a theme fewer, becaUM ihey ,, being con.inually ' 1 educated up to a higher seme ol morality, t ,r,wil, 'and leave their superstitious ideas in the 1 background to cope with things of the j The following are tho olllcers elected past. Of course fanaticism has not entire- in the Adelphbiu society, for the spring ly disappeared, bill there in the place ol term : the blitcheties of Paris, the torch ol John II. II. Wilson, Calvin and witchery in o-ir own country, I Miss Maggie- Lamb, wo have pome down to the milder forms of .Moody ami Saiikoy. If a system of pence and absolute honesty, irtue m:d ip , lemity, is necessary for the perpetuity of our institutions, we aro afraid thosulialuy. on days will never come. Gteat Hrilian has preserved her existence for over fifteen Alfred Platte, Miss Alice Frost, " Carrie Holt, Charles St.atlon, C W. Rhodes, G. E. Howard, W. 13. Stewart, Pros id en I Vice President Rec Sec. Cor. Sec. Chorister Treasurer Critic Historian Marshall i ' m
