i'2
The Unknown Heirs, or The Contested Inheritance.
Kilrlt Hint lurkf ench form within
Iti'cUuiiH to nnirlt of its kin;
Scir-klndli-d ovory ntom hIowh.
And hlnlH tho lutitru which ll owes.''
D.
Tho Itlun Who Ioults.
From the very nature of men and things,
most tilings lire, and must bo us they are
for, every tiling being as it is, there is a
cause. This is equally true of tilings ma
terial and immaterial. These we hold as
bull-evident truths.
While we do not believe anything to bo
without a cause, we may be unable to tell
what the enuso is. It is for the few to
advance theories and principles, and for
the iniinv to accentor reject them. JJut
to do either requires judgement, natural
and cultivated.
"While we all unite in granting that
there is a striking similarity between per
sons, similarity in form, and a no less
coinpiu alive similarity in mental powers
all bolni' endowed with the same faci.
ties, capable of development, none will
den) that there are constitutional diH'or.
ences diHeront degreesof power. It isof
a person, who enjoys one of the faculties
in a marked dogreV, that I desire to take a
view. That is, the man who doubts. The
man, who, before he accepts a proposi
tion, whether it bo one newly formed, or
one long accepled by the masses, must
first see the reason for such a conclusion.
This is the man 1 would honor, for it is to
him, of all persons, wo must look to for
reform, for the correction of all the erron
cons principles in the policy cf govern
ment, the fallacies of society, and false
theories in science. Wo cannot correct
errors until we know thai the' exist. And
it is on- tho man who doubts, that will
ever find out that errors do exist, and
where.
There arc- principles in every depart
meat of science that are to be studied and
and undestood, and it is only by a famil
iarity with them that we may safely
judge. These principles, tho mar who
d.oubts endeavors to understand it, and is
ho who understands them best. It
is not tho desire of any one to bo de.
ceived, notwithstanding tho many things
that appoav to the contrary. Hut how
many are not deceived ? There are ma ly
things that aro not what they appear; they
are so studiously made to represent some
valuable -'article, that it is by the closest
discrimination only, that tho fraud is do.
detected.
There aro many things, fallacious, that
have become so generally accepted, that
they may be termed popular fallacies.
Tho masses "accept the situation," and do
not doubt for a minute that the yoke they
wear was made for them, and that it does
not (it. Jiut the man who doubts asks:
" Is this as it should be V " If it is, no one
is more ready to admit; but, if it is not,
he feels it to bo his duty, and takes it
upon hi nisei f, to denounce it. Numerous
sham enterprises have been formed, that
would not else have been so eil'uetual,
but for lack of consideration. The ingo.
unity of shrewd men may give to things
such a respectable appearance, that it
would bo more strange not to be, than to
bo deceived. U is against the boomingly
plausible proposition we must especially
guard. While we aro firm in tho belief of
the righlness of our views, we should over
bo willing lo hear tho views of others.
Knowing our weakness wo should have a
high regard for this, most useful of all
persons, the .wise counssllor, the guardian
of tho right, the man who doubts.
C. M. K.
The Unknown Heir, or The
Contested Inheritance.
CIIAHTBR III.
KllOM 1IONOK TO DIsailAOIS.
When Mr. Sykes and Johnson arrived
at the house of tho two brothers, tho for
mer knocked on the door and llichani an
swered the call, lie had just returned
from u canvassing tour. The boys re
ceived their guest courteously, and tho
conversation turned upon the subjects
connected with Richards vocation.