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About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1877)
Ayugi No. 10. WlTCIIOHAKT 2U WITG IIC HAFT. Uringing down to us upon the bulls of memory tho echoes of the lumult have scarcely died uway. So few years liave elapsed since even our own fair land was .the seem- of many cruel deeds, tlu natur al outgrowth of a supcistition so ah suid. Wart, have sacrificed more and licttcr lives, perhaps, but many of these had for their object some grand and noble end; some down-trodden race to lift up in to the life nnil light of liberty and freedom, some shackles of iron to break asunder and .set the captives free; or some miss, guided people to instruct ami civilize. Hut witchcraft had none ofthe.se for its object. A supcistition, for it can scarcely be dignified by tho title of belief, spring ing up into life v, ' 'tout a moment's warn ing, like wild-lire, none weiu safe from its ravages The ti nest, the noblest and the best weic never safe from its attack. Iu rily ami innocence gave way befoie it Onward it progiessed, sweeping every thing befoiu it, and leaving behind it a pathway stained with blood, and strewn with the dying. Arising from sonic little event in the beginning that could easily have been accounted for by simple eom-mon-NCiise Miles of reason, the mania spiead rapidly and in an incredible short space of time had extended over so large an aiea as to be beyond human low er to control it. Quiet homes weic laid desolate, government was in imminent danger, peace destroyed the strongest, and the most independent and fearless wore its early victims- Hut in our own land, at least, witchcraft in its power lias passed aw ay. There aio however other species of witchcratt which, while not so disastrous in their results have nuveilholess exerted, at many different times, a poweiful influ ence for evil. Witchcraft in the zenith of its power and glory never nunc effectual, ly destroyed all a man's capabilities for noble action, than the absurd idea of a perpetual motion machine. Precious hours and days, yes, even years, which .should have been spent in living nobly for life's noblest ends, have been uselessly fritteicd away, the strong man's mind becoming weak as a little child's as the mania grows upon him. Home, friends, foituue, sometimes honor and integrity itself, all cast aside while, for the time being, insane, he persevere in hi? fruitless elfoi Is. Not only individuals but nations are often attacked by this same peace-deslioyer. When a government piospeious and happy, rushes into the heat of a long and bloody war, casting aside and tiampling beneath its feel all regard for jtist'eo or humanity, and blind ed by a love for conquest or the ambition of ils partisan leaders, witchcraft is the power at work behind ihe throne, and cruelly does she wield the sceptic. Hut otteu has ihe world's vculict on our action been "witchcraft," when really it was the result of profoundest wisdom. All great undei takings at (list were scoffed at and their originators called in sane. As of old, in the colonial times 01 our I'uritau foicfathers, true courage, cool heads and stout heaits, fought the battle bravely and grandly gamed the victory. Grand and noble truths have been uttered for which their authors paid as dear a price as Mary Dyar in the days of Massa chusetts tyranny. tJieal names weic stained by the breath of slander, which, in the progress of greater liberty and in telligence, have been erased from the ru brie of fanatics and inserted light among the aspirants after truth and the martyrs for libel ty. And a period shall com is "amid gliding years" when witchcraft and superstitious beliefs of ever,) soitshall have passed away, leascn shall sit upon mo uirone, ami justice and himianily hold the scepter, while the sunlight of peace shall shed its kindly beams" over all-.