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About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1883)
THE HESPERIAN STUDENT. gho giudyite' gcny ooht HOME. Home! sweetest word rounl which fond memory clings, II en von crowned, the bilghtcst Jewol ol nil earthly things, Blest word wo lovo thecl ofour lives n part Dew drops or memory, un a world encied honrt. EBBcrccofBll things pood, nnd pure, ami strong, Shelter for ngo, protection for thu jotuig, Uotlor by far than frescoed pnluco dome, Wns hat loved spot; the Httlu world ol homo. Poets have sung thy praise In lofty strain, PuroBt nnd beet, thou lendest In tho tiatu Of lofty fancy, far romoed from Btrlfo Thou nrt tho mainspring of domestic llfo. The houco nnd garden old familiar scenes, Of lovo and plearure; nnd tho youthful drenmB, Of any cnstlo, strong nnd tall nnd grand Ourselves the heroes, honored in tho land. Mingled together, were oui smiles nnd tears; Tho Joj nnd sorrows ofour child-hood ) cars, O It stnr crowni d resting place I from weary care Wo sought thy shelter, nil wo loved waB there. All fond rotations, that our lives linvo known, Aro linked together, in the one woid, homol Twin-wreathed nround our heart-strings; dear as llfo F nthcr nnd mother, brother, sister, wife. No time can homo efface, Wo often roam And find a resting place, "but only one a home," Clustering around our mothers "old nrm chair" Faith, lovo and duty, ever centered there, There's music In thy memory molhcrs prayer So lull of tender plccdings, lingers there, Nursing of virtue! when this life is pest, May wo find homo again in heaven nt laBt. Ivy. DEQUINCEY. ''"It snpposilion that tlieie is u philosophy of style, despite the ncutc logic ol Spencer, still rests upon insuf ficient grounds. 'Hint he, on the contrary, has failed is proved by ft reduction ad ndbiirdum, since according to this phiosophy the highest literary excellence is attained in the bombast nnd rant of Omiiii. Doubtlees an exist ence so ethereal as poetry cannot be fettered by the iron dogmatism of science, since whenever it litis been made untenable to tiny canon ol criticism, its composition has degenerated to a mere mechanic nrt. To the growth of imaginative litearturc the restraints of modern society arc mostlbaneful. The poetic spirit r f the English rice has been sustained not by intellects nurtured nt the great Diversities but by men in obscure life whoso bosoms glowed with a poetic warmth that chill penury could not lepress. Ihns Chntterion, n lawyer's slave , even no-v lives deep in tho general heart of men. Thus the genius of Burns "Rose like a star that touching earth, For bo It seems, Did glorily its bumblo birth With matchless beams." and the poets immediately subsequent to Pope failed on account of having befoic them certain artificial models which they, In the woids of Horace "Studied ever night and day." A distinction however, must bo drawn between thoso to whom tho university did it truth furnish culture, 3 Gray and Wilson, and thoso whoso altcndiinco wns merely nominal, as Byron who passed his tlmo in con vivial plpasuro., Wotdsworth nbsorbed in meditation nnd Shelley expelled for his hostility to formulas or Dc Quinccy whoso imperial intellect towered abovo tho triv ial duties of tho ordinary student. Upon tho latter, how ever, who so eagerly imbibed the life of antiquity, Greek culture exercised an influence so complete that ho seems to have discarded his English intellect and to have res ceived m its pled an Attic mind. It may be objecteo hero that DcQttincy received wilhout.ite nid of tho uni versity that culture which it is wont to afford, but this thought plausible at first sight is groundless, since there is an essential diilorenco between forced discipline and the culture which genius receives it tho pursuit of its own inclinations. The group of literary men of which DcQuinccy wa3 a member had fell tho "awakening of an unlookcd for dawn." But tho morning heralded a storm cloud whoso floods descending swept away the tried and honored in stitutions of the past making way for tho Heeling though imposing structures of the fancy. But what can noble aspirations avail tho irresolute, or what reality can dis sipated power give to gorgeous dreams. Even his pr o jected "Emendation of the Human Intellect," exists only in name while his fanoy's brightest gleam seems liko some meteoric will, the wisp in a Lapland midnight of gloom. In his strange exleiior we can read his wayward life. Observe the man as he moves through tho rural lanes of Edinburgh. Tho grotesque figure, the motley apparel, the inquisitive suspicious eye, the fragile, unsub stantial form impress you not favorable. Regard him not however as a mere voluptuary, or as one having a tran sient fame. Ho who could harangue uu Athenian mob has slept shelterless on the hills of Wales and in the streets of London this unsubstantial shadowy form has eullcted for many weeks the intense pains of cold and hunger far beyond mortal pen. There is a certain fas-' dilation in all that pertains to wayward grnius. A wellpropottioned nature commands respec', but abbcrra lionB rivet the attention. Within that form reposes na ture susceptible of tho highest enjoyment and tho mo.it heartrending pangs; for every nerve that can thrill with pleasure can also agonize witli pain and tho empyrean of of possible blessedness is not more high than the abysses of possible woe arc deep. Within that grotcbquo exterior dwells an intellect powerful, versatile, comprehending within its grasp the rich stores of erudition gathered from every field of thought, combining the dialectic skill of Aristotle with an infinite imagination and a Miltonic grandeur with a fervid glowing eloquence, re sembling in the words of Macauley the tent which tho fairy, Paribanou gave to prince Ahmed "Fold it nnd it seems a toy for the hand of a lady; spre:d it and tho armies of powerful Sultans might repose beneath its shade." His learning is indeed prodigious. With an "Acondn digestion" he devours books, imbibes the learning of the German schools, imbibes opium, eight thousand drops each day, and in style which the North American Revieto dceniB contemptible, to which Spenceriau dogma will not apply, records visions tumultuous as tho dreams of Kichtcr, gorgeous as the creations of Milton, approach- A f mmmmmmm