ZzrJL&jaiiiM
194
POSITION.
VOL. VIII,
Wcnlth may secure many an enviable
position ; but he who courts her favors
alone, will find her ever a fickle goddess.
Today you may be her most favored
subject, to-morrow banished from her doS
minion. Who oases the security ot his
position upon her caprice be it political
or social, will find to his sorrow, sooner
or later, that he is resting upon a sandy
foundation.
Knowledge may gain what wealth never
can. For the world is ever charitable to
him who may be the happy possessor of
this jewel, for:
"Man's genius flashes brighter
Than tlio diamond of an Earl."
Knowledge paves the way for the great
est influence; she opens her poitals to the
great mass of humanity through which
they may pass out from darkness into the
light; from the low and grovelling up
to a higher plane of excellence and beau
ty. She leads the mind out of bondage
into freedom of thought; dispelling super
stition for the exercise of reason; depend
ing not upon blind assertion, but by pene
trating investigation piercing into the hid
den mysteries of tilings around, convert
ing the narrow and selfish into broad and
charitable beings, elevating, refining, en
nobling until she has transformed the
narrow and contracted minds into the
broadest of intellects. But he who seeks
to win his way through the world by Iter
fostering Qare alone; who climbs to high
eminence by no other thin the mighty
power she places in his hands, will find
that he yet lacks the true touchstone of
greatness. The very element that makes
him a man. What arc all the world's lion,
ors, if, in gaining them, we loose the
world's esteem ?
It is character alone that elevates.
What is the greatness of wealth, the glory
of high rank and distinction, even the rev
erence and esteem which knowledge may
beget, in comparison with nobleness of
character? The lives of many of our
public men in whom we have placed the
highest confidence, whom wc have been
over willing to honor, reveal many a dark
and defacing blot over which the world
has kindly thrown the mantle of charity.
Webster, the clnmpion of American
rights and liberties, to satisfy an uncon
querable ambition, sank so low in the
scale of honor as to draw from the pen of
Whitticr the most scathing rebuke. Burr
worked his way to the second place in
the gift of his country, only to fall to the
degradation of a traitor, a victim to a
jealous spirit, that could brook no superi
or. If the veil of obscurity, that hides the
actions of some of our present public offi
cers could be lifted, it would reveal many
a secret plot for bribing and theft; men
selling their biithright ot honor and es
teem for the mess of pottage of a few pal
try dollars and a false and short-lived
glory. To whatever eminence wc may
attain, if, to attain it. wc have sacritlscd
the greatest ol all manly virtues a noble
character, we have failed. But, in keep,
ing the character unsullied, we have more
than conquered, though the world never
hears of our existence ; for God and angels
will give us glorious approval.
Then, to attain to the highest position
is but to live nobly, meeting manfully
every obligation, fighting bravely against
all obstacles, holding truth and its cause
dearer than personal gain.
"What Ik noblei-to Inherit
Wealth, estate, and )rond degree
There must be some other merit
Higher yet than these forme!
Something greater lar must enter
Into life's majestic span,
Fitted to create and centre
True nobility in man!
What is noble J That which place
Truth in its enfranchised will J
Leaving steps like angel's traces
That mankind may follow still I
K'en through Scorn's malignant glances
Prove him poorest of his clan,
lie's the Xoblf who advances
Freedom and the cause of man."
