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About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1877)
mm 68 OnsiinvATioK. BdMWttfsJWtt goes on thoy nro onlv becoming worse. When will it cease? Whuto will it end? The quest ion is now being agitated all over our country wbat can be done restore pence, or how can the two rn ces be made to live together in nny de gree of harmony ? Vnrious methods have been tried, and as ninny more suggested, but none have produced good results. 'flint the wisest policy has not been pur sued is ov'dent, we think to the mnjority. lint to complain of what has been done and to suggest now whnl might bnvc been done, (as some are continually doing,) would be extremely foolish. We do not believe that the reconciliation of the two races is possible by nny ingenuity or log islntion of man. It might have been ac complished by some diilcrcut course in times past, but, as matters now nro, it is perfectly impossible. Absolute rcperntion is, we believe, not, only the best but also the only course to pursue. As most of the blneks nrc willing nnd even dcsiie Unt some nrmngment be made for establishing them in their fatherland, where they can carry on their own allnirs, it seems to us that it is the duty of our government to take such steps as will most quickly nnd in the beat manner relieve this down trodden people. P. 0. A. OBSERVATION. The art, for it truly is nil nrt, when properly prncticed, of observing what we sec or hear in such ;i manner as to leave n clear nnd definable iden in our minds of whnt is seen or heard, is by no means n mean acquisition. For of what use would it be to us to have nil the phenom ena of Science pnssed before our goze, or all the wisdom of ages poured into our ears, if we retnin no definite knowledge of whnt had merely attracted our attention but like the moving panorama pleases, while it passes and when gone leaves no trace that it ever had been. To observe is to learu, although to see or to hear may not always be, therefore if we wish to ac cumulate knowledge wo must bo obsor vant. To thoughtful observation wo owe much of the civilization of the present da and much of the knowledge of natu ral science of which we are so proud. Hnd it not been for Newton's thoughtful observation of the falling apple, followed by his untiring efforts in investigating the causes which made It fall towards the earth instead of nwny from it, we might yet have been ignorant of the laws of grav itation. Little, indeed, might yet have been known of mnny wonders nnd beauties of God's creations, had White, Ag.is.siz and numerous other naturalists looked upon animal nnd vegetable life in the world around them with the snme careless eye as thousands of others, who noticed God's creations only as thoy were pleased or profited by them. Although it might be said that there would, probably, have been no " Evolution " theory, had Darwin's ob scrvntiou of the the relation of the di Her ein species of the animal kingdom been less close nnd accurate. Still we think that even this has resulted in more good . than evil as it lias brought to light many valuable facts and by no means placed sci enccin opposition to religion by disprov ing the existence of n Crentor, It is said of White that "Evcrc change of weather, every circumstance in the habits of birds, beasts nnd insects, were noted by him with an interest and euthusnsm Hint cap tivates the dullest render; nnd his Natural History of Selboune has made at least as many naturalists as ltobinson Crusoe has made sailors." Thus it might be shown that intent observation has been the mentis of the development of ncariy all the important facts of science. Nor is it re stricted to science. This was undoubtedly the principal secret of Shakespcar's sue cess in the Dranin. Could he so vividly have portrayed, through the numerous characters he wrought into his plays, the thoughts, feelings and actions of men un der different conditions, hnd he not close ly observed nnd studied human nature in