551
IllliK.VKSS.
Caesar is mailu Dictator for lifo, lio asks
tho (iiiustion, will Censar bo salislled with
the conquests already made? Will the
doors of (he temple oi .latins hit opened?
Or will one-half of the woild he heavily
taxed to require the rest of the world to
submit to the sttme grinding despotism
under which they were groaning.
Tn modern history we see Napoleon,
arising from the lowest ranks of society,
overcoming obstacle after obstacle, and
raising himself b, his own will to a height
where the imaginative novelist would
not dare to place his most ambitious hero.
It is often said that no practical use can
liu made of history beyond the mere
knowledge that a certain event happened
one year, one hundred or a thousand
years ago.
Cicero said: "that to be ignorant of
what happened before ones birth is noth
ing less than to remain in a state of child
hood " 1 believe thai man wus created
into this world for the formation ot char
acter. If the aim, the true end of life is
to form character, I lien the study of the
lives of persons either present or past as
a guide to form our own caraoters, is
one of the most important and useful of
the studies of science.
1 1) LEX MS S.
Of those habits which footer the lower
desires of man, and are productive of tur
bulence and crime, one of the most pow.
erl'ul is idleness. It tends to make him a
cipher in t It is world of ours, when he was
designed to be industrious and useful.
Labor, though originally a curse, is an in
calculable blessing. By lurnishiug man
with useful and ennobling employment, it
helps him to become intelligent and virtu
ous, and tends to prevent him from giving
way to tnose degrading motives which
otherwise would govern his actions.
Tlio most industrious communities will
always be found the most vigorous, pros
perous and intellectual. The nations
which have most distinguished them
selves in the paths of civilization have oe
e.upied countries possessing a temperate
climate and a soil but moderately fertile.
Hence, they were compelled to struggle
for a maintenance, and this very excioise
developed their inventive talents, taught
them habits of industry and enterprise,
and, by promoting intelligence, paved the
way for a higher culture. But where cli
mate is more genial, soil more fertile and
nature consequently more lavish in her
gifts, man is less compelled to make ue
of his own resource, and, thereby, acquir
ing habits of indolence, becomes less pro
gressive and, without external assistance,
does not reach so high a plane of culture
as the less favored deui.en of the North,
li is in temperate regions t lint civilization
lias reached its highest development.
Idleness has ever played a prominent,
part in the causes that have operated to
hurl nations once powerful into degrada
tion and ruin. Look, if you will, at old
Home. In the early das of the republic,
when its people were strong, hardy and
comparatively poor, her vitality was great
ami her power irrcsislable. And though
the early Unmans were averse to manu
facturing pursuits, they yet held agricul
ture in the highest esteem, and their
chieftains wcio not ashamed to be found
at the plow. But when tho wealth of
their conquered tributaries began to
How in'o their collcr, labor was icgardcd
as In neath the dignity of a Human citizen
ami was performed cliielly by slaves or
neglected. As a result of this cause, the
capltol was Hooded by swar.ns of iniiuin
erab'e idlers, who were oficn supported
by the government. They consliiutul u
restless, turbulent diss, ever ready w hen
the country wit shaken by civil commo
tions, to serve the highest bidder, no mat
ter what his cause might be. A disturbed
and ruinous oonditl ' ol government fol
lowed as a natural consequence.
But litis illustration, though forcible, is
remoio. Other and i.imilar scenes have
often been enacted in the world's history
and serve to illustrate the turmoil and
t