Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885, December 01, 1878, Page 491, Image 10

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    4!M
CU1VU.11Y S N KIH TOU
VOI VII,
fj
site biuiu of tho IntttM" stream, wc siiw
Fort Snelling, a large and strong looking
structure, which scorned to he built upon
solid rock.
During our short stay at Mondota, wo
enjoyed .several rambles up and down the
banks, where we might see the cool
springs of water issuing forth from rocky
ledges far above the level or the river.
One day we went to Minneapolis, about
eight miles distant. Here was the most
picturesque view that we had yet seen.
Minneapolis, a large and thriving town, is
on one bide of the Mississippi, and St.An
Ihony on the opposite bank. Between
are St. Anthony's Falls. The river has
hei'j a perpendicular fall of about eight
feet, and presents a highly romantic ap
pearance. About four miles from Minim,
apolis arc the Falls of Minnehaha, which
w. much admired by all visitors.
TltAYKMjtiU.
CHIVALRY AS AN EDUCATOR.
It has become a difficult task for oven
an unprejudiced thinker to fanthom cor
rectly the history of a few hundred years.
Surrounded as we are with our presont at
tainments, wc lack a standard by which to
judge the action of a remote period. Sep
crated as we aie but a few centuries Horn
mental darkness, our llight has been rapid
and the growth of our industry rank. Hut
through the mists of history that enshroud
us, dimly can bo seen a solitary star
around which still Hits the sword and
lance
Chivilry, as a type of civilization, was
not a choice f humanity; but rather the
result of a force that it could not resist.
With Italy and Spain still smothering in
the ruins of a mighty republic and em
piro, the richneis of their treasures, and
the crime and corruption that fumed from
the smouldering remains of their hurried
cities, spread the wildcontageon through
out Europe. And if the sun sat with its
golden rays gloaming upon the Komaii
eagle, the silvery moon concealed the
ghostly shades of a magic hand that throw
a spell of superstition over mankind. For
from south to north, from cast to west,
there arose a universal cry against tynuiy
and oppression. Hut one extreme follow
ed another, and that tyrany which was
oppressive in a legislative form, found a
new tool, deadlier still, in the confines of
a despotic church, the oppression that was
here found weighing upon both body anil
soul, was still too great to be tolerated.
Uut the very act of extricating himself
from it grasp, inaugurated that freedom
of action, that individual responsibility
which though for the times were extrem
es and caused fanatics, nevertheless, plant
ed in every human being, the dctcrmimi.
tion of possessing within himself a right
that tyrants, kings or popes could never
usurp.
If mental disiplcine was neglected in
the development of the physical nature of
man, there was even in this, a spirit of
liberty, n reaction that could not be sub
dued by the most stringent precedents of
the day. "When the cry of "On to Jerusa
lem" ecnoeo mrougii Europe, wiiuc vice
and ignorance, pervaded every depart
ment of life, there arose a sentiment f
true piety that had not been experienced
for ages. With the star and the crescent
leading the van th"re followed a puriu
of purpose and morals, that stamped upon
the mind, a sentiment of right and jus
tice, that has never been lo-t by any sect
or creed that has had for its aim, the in
telleclual development of the human
race.
If the Roman gladiator exulted in the
baseness of the arena, such actions wore
foreign to the laws and order of chivaln.
Human life that had formerly existed in
the greatest depravity and echoed from
the sacred shrines of the imperial cit
with base forebodings, though let loom
upon all classes of society, found in the
strange drama of the day a model for if.
form.
The Tournament had its vicus and it
virtues. Here was developed an inde-