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About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1878)
48U MICN OK ONK 1I)KA. VOl.. VII, 14- It "killing crcaL.i'cs" in society. There is ciuisc for apprehension that moro of Hint pretending class arc going from thosplon. did parlor to the saloon, from the saloon to the state work-shop. Pel chance they may learn there what they now allVcl to despise some plebeian occupation. Those who make exemption from work a necessary qualification to social prefer ment need to he reminded thai idleness is the parent vice. An ancient writer pro duced a satirical poem in which he repic sailed Satan, fishing for men. Of course the wily angler adapted his baits to the tastes of his prey; but being an coononii cal chnp, Old Nick said the idler pleased him most, because he was fool enough lo bile at the naked hook. American prosperity equaling Ameri can advantages, natural and national, re quires not only that the sons of America be taught honor and industry, but that her daughters delight in usefulness iia well as beauty Social circles over which mothers, wives and sisters preside, are the oases in the desert of life whence spring those in lluences which give birth to, and reinvig orate those characteristics which inspire noble aspirations and stimulate repug nance to vice, which sweeten toil and smooth the path of danger. M. II. MEN OF ONE IDEA. In defending men of one idea, a broad distinction must be made between men of one idea, men with one idea and men ca pable of but one idea. It is needless to say anything concerning the last class; there is no defence lor their narrow mind cdncss. Men with one idea arc those whom Holland compares lo the indentations of the rocks, formed by a pebble forced round and around by the action of the water. In time there appears a hole drilled through the solid rock, larger or smaller as the size of the pebble, and its formation quickened by the rushinir of the current. So with man the destruction of intellectual and practical Mtility is rapid and complete as the idea is great or small or as the action of the current is violent or sluggish. Men of one idea have been described by Whipple as the detective police force of society, of politics and letters whose inlcl lects aie contracted to a sharp, certain, and sure sight and whose glance ismicio acopic rather than telescopic. The prevailing defect of American character and education is its lack ot con. centralion. The United States ranks sec. oiul to no country in her schools of poli tics, in her mechanic arts and the general dillusion of knowledge. Hut in all her annals, she has but few names that arc authoritivo in philosphy, science, and the liberal arts; and these few come early in her history and are the names of men whose education and spirit was of the old and not of the new world. No one can deny that this is true, and will be until American men are taught to let one idea dominate all the aims of their lives. Much is made by this sceptical genera tion of the functions of unbelief. It is claimed that the intelligent doubter is the upholder of all belief, just as it is claimed that the intelligent "bolter" is the purifier of a political party. And it is doubly af firmed that what the country mostly needs is intelligent observers, and, that all observation to be intelligent must be unbiased by any belief. Hut there t the same dillicultv in distinguishing the doubter from the liypouiitu, and the bolter from thy traitor. And some one has aptly said "In point of utility, the man who believes sincerely in a few things is better than one who has intelligent doubts on all subjects." . Every great discovery in science, and every groat revolution which has over thrown error and established truth has been made by men who doubted what it was held sacrilege to doubt. Hut their doubt was never half so conspicuous, us I their firm belief in what they strove to 'WKifVffi':.!Ki