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About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1879)
ins hbttku ihdb a wbe. vol. VIII, character llml will to-day, mmiso u popu lar attdioncu and cull forth much up-plausu. JWTTElt lUim A WEE. )Pr(lIK sweet old Scottish song embodies e in its poetry more sago advice tliuu l!S ty III US pociry mure sagu ;mvu;u man is often expressed by the rough simplicity of the highland proverbs. In the dreamy old land of its birth with its ivy grown vines, ancient legends ol romance, where men live longer and more deliberately, the suggestion is not so much needed. Hut in our country and day, where every pulse beat throbs with activity and ex oitcment, when aided by steam and eleo tricity, the world can scarcely move las enough to satisfy the restless tendencies to her unruly children, the fair, simple bal lad floats down to us from the Scottish highlands, ami cools our fevered, aching brows, ll comes fiesh from the native air of thu mountains, and brings with its freshness a new lease to wearied lives. Upon the wild hurry and worry ot these ti oublous times the rushing seething whirl, pool of earliest activity, it falls, like the faint vesper bulls at twilight fell, on the wicked noisy cities of the ancients, when the custom was in vogue of ringing Hit sunset chimes. There is a wild charm in sweeping rapidly down with the rushing current; a weiul fascination in Hying past thu rapids; but nothing save a thrilling horror in being swept over the falls. The loveliest scene around Niagara, the full conception of its wonderful beauty, a true realization of its matchless grandeur, one loses, if, instead of journeying quietly and slowly along its banks, ho choses to em bark in a frail canoe and make the peri Ions journey among the rapids and rocks. Too many Americans, especially, are in clined to take Uieir chances in the rocky, dangerous river, the more quickly to reach their destination ; rather than to make the safer, longer journey by land. Speed is subservient losnfoty; present gain to fu turo good; ambition to right Heir ism may too often degenerate to recklessness, and courage into wild nu. dacily. Not that one word is to bu ut. tercil against true fearlessness. Our day is already too sorely in need of men fear lfiss and independent, to stand bravely out amid the blinding lightening and heavy thunder of troublesome times. Hut it is yet an unsolved problem whether the pushing, cinmlng systems of to-day arc competent to fit us for the higher duties of life. After more careful deliberation and thoughtful preparation, concentrated effort would remedy ovils under which people arc sinking; would eradicate the fallacious theories and more fallacious practices of the times: for none probably are such fierce denouncers of their age as to believe that opinions and habits have climbed slowly up the centuries from bur. barism into civilization only to sink back into the dark yawning chasm left behind. If only we could learn to stop, and turn aside a little from the noisy bustle, and duly weigh and consider important qucs tions, instead of hurrying along, content to take things as they come; if only we would bide a while ere the first irrevoca ble steps are taken, fewer mistakes would be made; and less frequent regrets would be registered, to cancel the heavy mortga. ges upon the good that is in us. The old fable of the hare and the tor toise is demonstrated over and over again in every decade of the worl-l's existence. History repeats herself many times, in ihat the race h not always to the swift nor the battle to thu strong. From silence, deliberation, and reason ing come the opinions and thoughts that are to mould the world, the 'great produc tions of any age, whether literary, politic cal, mechanical, or artistic. Upon the restless, seething muss of hu manity, reason and better judgment would lay a warning hand; a hand to stay and calm it; a hand to direct its burning energies into narrower channels, which need to be widened and fitted lor common travel.