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
