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About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (April 15, 1887)
ESl'ERIAN. crshadowcd. That Goriot was weak, lamentably weak, with regard to his -daughters, no one can deny; hut that they were at all justified in taking advantage of this weaknesses absuid to the last degree I say this because I know that some peo ple arc ready to take this stand and to assert that if Goriot was foolish enough loallow his affection to overcome all pru dential conditions, he deserved some degree of indifference in return. I regret that space will not permit me to speak of the other characters in this wonderfully powerful hook; "but after all, they would not excite much interest in comparison with the two most important ones, Goriot and Vautrin. This book, It appears to me, is by far the most powerfully written of anj of Balzac's hooks which have as yet come -under my notice, with the possible exception of Cousin Pons. It is somewhat sur prising that Balzac's first novel, the Comedic Ifumaive should be his best, and perhaps it is unfortunate that such Is the case, because the reader will be led to wade through some of his later ones wliicli can hold no comparison with the first of his productions. This is thecase Avith Caesar Ba rollean, a novel which, 1 doubt very much, will inspire any interest in the general 3 eadcr- It is too much a record offi nancial transactions and other matters of a similar nature, which enn intei est no one except those well acquainted with the subject. INDIVID UAL OBL1GA 7'ION. Underlvinc everv permanent institution and determinlnn ".'. . r . ., ,. .. .-.,.. .,. I! us permanence, is a principle 01 aruui. whatsoever as in mar moiiy with the constitution of the universe has a patent .of immortality, for it is truth, and trutli is immortal. Though ccrcmon j and hypocrisy and mm casonable conservatism may cumulate their empty shells above the principle till the entile structuie seems hollow, nevertheless the element that bustains the whole is not dead, but will come forth sooner or later mn defiled as the mountain stream gushes forth puie and spark ling from underneath its burden of damp and mouldy leaves. Class distinction is co-extensive with the history of the liu man race. Beginning in tthe earliest communities, social boundaries have gradually become more andmore.clearly.de fmed until nice discriminations, threading .their way between this man and that, have built up impenetrable barriers, on the bunny side of which, live the mobles. They assume for 'themselves certain privileges; they demand for themselves certain honorb. They are permitted to take the .one:; they re ceive the other. In whatliesithc-explanation of this? Iltw does it happen that a whole nation, as proud and independent as the Eng lish, call one woman Soveieign, and a few men .Lords? It is not because this form of government is forced iupon them, for often enough ihab it been demonstrated that no government is sufficiently strong to maintain itself when once (the minted voice of ithe people lias baid "Thus far and mo farther. " In the very opposite dii ecLion lies the explanation: hear it in the cry, "Long live the Queen!" "Long live our gracioub sover eign!" Add to this ihe Jact that at other times when the unoral sense of ithe mution was thoroughly aroused, from ihe same Hips has come ithe death Icnell, -"JDown with ithe tyrant," and we have the .explanation of the .existence .of ihat .order of the mobility in ithe feeling .of the people ithat there are posi tions which in virtue of ithe .duties nttaching to ithem, imerit honor and leveience, and that the individuals who iill them should Ibe worthy of ithic homage. Thus we bee Why the order is permiteddo exibt; Ibut what is the element within which preserves it? It ib this bentiment. "Noblesse oblige." In a paradox we have the declaration that the class which claims the highest privileges,the greatest free, dom of action, which dominates overall below it, is the one that is bound: "on the vobilify rrst obligations.'1'' In the appreciation of this thought and the fulfilment ofitg requirements, lies the real strength of the titled aristocracy of Europe As often as they have forgotten it, Jbloodshed and revolution have taught them that the two words which Ly a false application, forbid the blue blooded lord lo wed the gardener's daughter, have in lhein an immortal trnth which they set aside at their peril. "When Charles I failed to -comprehend that even a Stuart ma' exceed his rights, that the ti tle of king carries "Willi it obligations as well as authority, these words were gradnally transformed at the forge .of Eng lishindependence into a sword that fell with Jatal purpose on the neck of ihat proud monarch. When the French hlngs and courtiers mistook ilNobltsse oblige" for a fancy .doll which they might deck .out in the baubles of their Impious extrava gance and .carry around for a pleasure ride in their gilded carriages, suddenly it became the giant horse .of Trojan story, out of which issued forth armed men who set ihelr , heels on the despotism of the French nobility. The power of these words, however, is not confined to ithe oldAvorldor io monarchical' governments. In the promul gation and the development .of this principle, that .on the .office-holder as well as .on the noble, i est obligations, lies the true foundation and -"open sesame1' lo the successful perpetu ity .of all democracies. In our.owoi government many a man in a position of honor has learned, when it was loo late that the people who fought for Hie principle ihat there are no .da lles without rights,hold also Ihe .converse .of that proposition, that there aie no rights without .duties. Andiew Johnson was permitted to .discover in private life that theichief magistracy of our government was not created for the dispensing of favors lo his friends. Another name, .once honoi ed and revei ed, wab .quickly .changed to IchabocL the fallen, when, with pain and regret, the North was .con strained to believe that Daniel Webster had forgotten the .ob ligations .of his position in hib .debire towin the approval .of ithe South. And today, .the .demand for a better method .of appointment to our .civil serviue is partly a recognition .of the same truth: that mo person bhould Ibe raised lo a position of public trust whohas mot been proved fitloaneet its responsi bilities. !Does "Noblesse oblige" cease at the foot of the throne .or jtilheBpheie.of the office-holdei? Note the significance of its origin. Incomes from a. class .of persons who were, of Jail the Inhabitants of their kingdom, the freemen. They ruled .over those below them, and wei e.on terms appi oacliing .equal ity with the king himself. They were mot only the mominal lords, but for the most pari, in virtue .of the privileges which lhey and their ancestois had .enjoyed, the real lords. They were the most highly cultivated, the most dully .developed mien of their time. And lhey ioer bound. Herein lies the power .of "Noblesse oblige. ' ' Though a man may free himself from the artificial servitude in which human selfishness has placed him, he cannot free himself from the real .obligations lo the world of which he forms a part. The farther he (departs frommnnatuial slavery, ihe faster Will the natural bonds miul itiplyi the unoie. completely will lhey encircle .every faculty iof hib Hieing, till in the mew bondage he finds a mew and nobler dreedom. "No mian iiveth to himself" was mot Hie efTusion .of a anoi ol .enthiiBiast. lit nnai'iisihe coiibcIoubneBs of mari'slroie rela tions to the ..world or men. Feudalism and .clientage, aiujubt though they weir., meverlheleHb typify the true .organization .of r' I
