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.
