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No. 5.
CULTOIIE AND POLITICS.
379
virtue. The young generation is growing
up with ideas or its own, and does not
hesitate to call the opinions and views of
older persons, antiquated and dogmatic;
and their authors, old fogies.
It was one of the grand customs of
the Greeks that the youths received
daily ins'ructiou from the old white
haired patriarchs; and, brought up un
der tliir beneficial teaching, they did
not much develop that wayward independ
ence so characteristic of young America,
who too often forget that somethings, nay,
almost everything, must be accepted upon
anothei's testimony. So little can even the
wisest really understand, for,
" In reasonlug proud, blind leader
Of the blind, through life we go:
And do not know the things we see
Nor see the things we know."
Egotism and vain-glory are but milder
types of insanity, and J?sup thought this
probauly when he wrote of the Hy thai sat
upon the axle-tree of the chariot wheel
and said: "Ho! what a dust to make."
There are also too many Hies, even in
these boasted days of advancement, who
are just as important in their own estim
ation as ever were those of old; quite as
man', who, at the spider's invitation, will
walk into his parlor and up those wind
ing stairs, even with their ces open, and
they suffer the same fate. But we cer
tainly have a right to expect more than
this from an intelligent humai being.
The tly is perhaps excusable for rushing
into the spider's web though he may see
many of his companions suspended in its
toils. But practical common sense and
discriminating wisdom are supposed to
some noble end in view, to run tue race
swiftly and win the victors prize; to work
for some good; to do what we can do
with all our might; to "disdain neglect;"
and to " ignore despair;" and on defeats
that arc past and gone, to plant our feet '
upon a stair and mount right up and on!
M. B. F.
CULTURE AND POLITICS.
Fiederic Harrison, an English liberal
ist, says, "The man of culture is in pol
itics one of the poorest mortals alive.
For simple pedantry nd want of good
sense no man is his equal. .. Perhaps they
arc the only class of responsible beings
in the community who cannot with safety
be entrusted with power." "We are not
surprised to hear this clever writer dis
claim so eloquently aguinat culture when
c hear him define it as "a smattering
of the two dead languages of Greek and
Latin." Now if culture consists of uoth
iug but a knowledge of Greek, Latin and
Mathematics, I think the English liberal,
ist is right in declaring the man of cul
ture unfit for the political arena. It is
altogether probable that a man may be
an adept in Gieek roots and even appre
date Greek tragedy and yet not under,
stand the simplest laws of exchange. It
is not impossible that he should scan Lat
in verse with ease, or even indite a poem
in that noble tongue, and still be ignorant
of the well ascertained laws of currency.
Nay, lie may even excel in the intricacies
of the calculus or calculate the move
ments of the heavenly bodies and yet be
be moie efficient weaj ons lo ward off the innoianl of the principles of taxation.
evil, and we may waid it off if we only
will, because, although the race is to the
swift and the battle to the strong, never
theless there are some supplementary
causes which contribute to the victory or
to the defeat; and we would plead for
moie thoughtfulness, and less careless-
ness ; more consideration, and less will
But lie has only a mean conception of
culture, who limits it lo this narrow
range. Tiue culture is broader and more
comprehensive; it is to know the best
that has been thought and said as well as
done in all past ages. I know we are apt
to rely on education for the security of
our institutions, but education must
UVaO, UV -. . .
fulness; more actions, and fewer words he something more than classic lore and
for the earnest living of active lives; with 'abstruse theorems if it is to prove any
Ka.ia
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