y AlTI.WJSR. 125 man, yet will the Tact he unobscurcd and plainly visible uader Hie reflecting light of reason, that man works not his way unaided through lift, hut must needs he dependent, directly or indirectly, on his fellow man Tor the inspiration that is with in him to do good; for the mighty impulse to grasp the sceptre of fame. Circumstances control the actions and the career of men. Applause greets one individual as he wends his way on the highway of life, and his journey becomes as a walk into verd ant fields and beautiful dells, bloom ing with fragrant flowers and abound ing in the riches ami beauties of nature. Opprobrium and sneers greet another, nml despair settling on him with its every discouragement, sends him reckless and frenzied to a life of crime, or to a prema ture grave. Thus do we find that inhu manity toward humanity at times, pre dominates. But there is a law of compensation in connection with the character of mankind. On one page of his history, wc find a rec ord of dark deeds; on another, a record of worthy deeds, and a career of intellect, ual and moral splendor, on which the an gels in heaven look down with approving smile. Many, knowing full well the facility with which one is borne along an the ti dal wave of public opinion, pull out into the stream and drift with the tide, without having in view any fixed destination, be. ing subject only to the winds which toss them at their pleasure. To gain a public notoriety and popular ity, we observe men executing man' ma neuvers, and concocting various schemes. Under the motive for applause and power, peculiar transformations take place. The selfish politician " in the twinkling of an eye," becomes the liberal benefactor of the poor, and an earnest advocate of re ofrm and economy, in the administration of government. The minister in order to please the peo pie and thus stand eminent among his con grcgalion, often preaches that which is averse to his consciencious view. He lacks the courage to refuse their impcra live demands, and thus do wc find, that instead of lifting the people up to its doc trines, orthodoxy weakens and so modi, fies objectionable features that they might be handed down to the people, Dul docs it not often happen that those who worship and manifest the most ser vile humbleness and devotion at the shrine of public favor, suifer, at times, most humiliating ill success? While shrewd men arc endeavoring by the application of the arts and methods known to the science of politics, to obtain a smile of recognition and approbation from the public; endeavoring so to act and speak, that they might strike a popu lar chord, and by this means, bo exalted amid the plaudits of thousands to some famous position some olllce of trust and honor, they sudd&nly find themselves confronted with the mild request to step aside and applaud with others, some com paratlvely obscure personage, who per chance is about to be installed in the high est office in the gift of the people. This exalted individual pcihaps is very little known to the country at large; never ex hibited any brilliant talents, and whose earlier days were spent, not amid the con- veuienccs afforded by fortune and afllu encc; not within the walls of some fa mous college, but on an Ohio river, raft ing logs, in a Kentucky wilderness, split ting rails, or on an Illinois prairie, earn the necessities of life by the humble occu pation of tanner. Some may call this a freak or caprice of the people to thus bring into national prominence and sig nificance, men who never exhibited talent to any great extent. Let this bs called by any appellation as may &eem fit, it has never failed in a time of peril, a national crisis, to give us men, who, nt the helm, have guided the "ship of state" through the storms that have raged on a b'llowy sea, into a harbor of safety. 1