Iffir T I um mtwimimti
Csss
No. 7.
THK MA HUH OK INTKIit.KUT.
4i)3
particles of water, power to move 1111 cn
gino. It is said that at the beginning of
tlio sixteenth century, there remained
nothing to copy, and the English mind
took its first bent. From that century tee
cannot say there remains nothing to copy,
yet we can say, that the American people
have reached a stage ot progression
where a second Ciusar is not needed.
Ciusur was the Roman king; to-day we
want no king, we are all rulers. The
world is now Shakespearian, hut it shows
signs of coining Sliake.spoaros. Art, it is
true is living a second childhood, hut
science has continually advanced with
rapid strides.
Science and invention have-been the lead
ing spirits among the American people
since the " Pilgrim Fathers" landed upon
our soil. The physical wants of a people
require their first attention, and not until
steel vibrated the thoughts of nations,
not until the locomotive dashed over our
land, and machinery was invented for the
rapidity and ea?o ol manufacture, was the
ambition of the nation sufficiently curbed
to slop and inquire after the progress of
the human mind.
Mr. Ruskin says, in speaking of the ra
pidity of inventions, "The great cry which
rises from our manufacturing cities loud
er than their furnace blasts is, that wc
inanufacLuic every thing hero except men.
Wo blanch cotton and strengthen steel;
we refine sugar and shape pottoiy. Hut to
strengthen, to refine, or to f.irm a single
living spirit never enters into our estimate
of ad vantages. '
In view of this great cry an attempt is
licinir made to manufacture men. The
spirit of rapidity which has so entered in
to the very existence of the people exerts
its infiuence here. A human body with
the intellect of a oh'ld is put into this
elucHtional machine and run through.
What is the result? If the body is made
of material sound enough to beat the
wnr and tear of six years of crowding, we
have a polished intellect, if not, a wreck.
The tendency of .such an education is
cither to make artificial men andwomen,'
or to improve tlio mind at the expense of
the body.
The people of the present ago want to
live rapidly. With self-government
comes self-support, and with self-support,
the devise of being supported. Specula
lion is the order of the day. To make
much from little in a short space of time,
is the greatest "achievement of the nine,
teenth century. Until this spirit is driven
out of our colleges we can expect no great
results in the intellectual progress of our
nation. The world is full of superficial,
imitating men and women. What wc
need and may have is, intensity, original
ity, and thoroughness.
The object of education is the culture
of the world. The culture of the world
depends upon the culture of the individ
mil. The general inlclligcnc of the people
is gradually increasing, but in some re
spects the sixteenth century excelled the
piesent. While science and religion arc
much more enlightened now than then
literature lias only advanced in quantity,
and art cannot compare with art as it ex
isted then. While we congratulate our
selves upon our nation's progress in some
respects, with the amount yet to be don 9
there is no time to fold our hands and
say, "Heboid us and our works."
In science there is still room for im
provement. Religion, is by no means
perfect. Literature and Art are sadly neg
lected. With our general intelligence
and facilities for obtaining knowledge,
if we do not clear up some of the doubts
which are gathering over our land, it will
be because we lack that intensity of
thought and thoroughness of knowledge
which is the result of true education.
Our generation is called upon to satisfy
itself as regards the faith of our fathers.
Truth will always bear investigation, and
the sooner the world is rid of superstition
and deceit the belter. There is such u