174 in which we are now engaged Young, and Watson, and Clinion, and Buel, and many others, both of the dead and the living, who have laid society under enduring obligations — will receive their share of the public gratitude. fleeting, is the fame of the mere warrior, when How dim, how contrasted with What wasting that of the civilian and the philanthropist ! battles, what fields enriched with carnage, what spoils of victory, or what splendid triumphs, could confer the lasting glory of De Witt Clinton! LV. THE OLD MAN DREAMS. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. Oh for one hour of youthful joy! Off with the wrinkled spoils of age! One moment let my life-blood stream My listening angel heard the prayer, "If I but touch thy silvered hair, "But is there nothing in thy track Ah, truest soul of womankind, One bliss I cannot leave behind: The angel took a sapphire pen "And is there nothing yet unsaid Why, yes; for memory would recall I could not bear to leave them all: The smiling angel dropped his pen,— The man would be a boy again, And be a father, too!" And so I laughed,—my laughter woke The household with its noise, And wrote my dream, when morning broke, To please the gray-haired boys. 175 LVI. ALL VALUE CENTERS IN MIND. RICHARD EDWARDS. Universal education—the culture of every mind born into the world is necessary: First, because the end of life, and of all things which concern it, is to minister to the needs of mind; and the greatest need that mind has is education. We have said that, as compared with communities, the individual is an end. But a further analysis shows that only the immortal part of him is so. Of all things in any degree entrusted to human management, the human mind is, beyond expression, of most worth, because it is the only thing which is valuable in and of itself. All other forms of existence are only means, to be used and valued so long as they contribute to the development, ex、 altation, or dignifying of mind, and then to be thrown aside like a worn-out implement, or a cast-off garment. Farms and houses, railroads and shipping, earth and stars, powers and principalities, things present and things to come, have just this one use, or they have none-to minister, in their feeble way, to the illimitable, eternal, infinite necessities of mind. If anything in the range of human knowledge can be pointed to, of which it may be said that it does not contribute to the perfecting, in some way, of mind, then we say that that thing, whatever it may be, has no right to existence, and ought to be abolished. How shall we test the usefulness of some material interest or possession? As, for an example, of a railroad or a farm? Are we told that a railroad is useful in increasing the facilities for intercourse between different portions of the country, in devel. oping the resources of otherwise inaccessible regions rich in every product that supplies human wants? That it increases the population of States, and of the nation, and enhances the value of real estate; and, in short, that it increases the wealth-power, and consequent dignity of the nation? Then, I ask, what is the use of all this? Are these things to be sought for their own sake? If the railroads of our own State have increased her population by numbers that shall soon be counted in millions, yet of what avail is it all if they are millions of knaves and cow、 ards? What is the use of wealth, or civilization, or national greatness, in themselves considered? ན No, my friends; if this world was made for any purpose besides the glory of God, (and to contribute to God's glory is to exalt and dignify mind,) unless its creation was an accident or a blunder, it was formed to be the school house of the race to minister in its various forms of harmony, beauty, and sublimity, to the necessities of the souls that have been placed in it. It is for this that the mountain shoots up from the plain, and stands in majesty against the distant sky; for this the earth puts on her gorgeous robes of spring and summer; for this the sea is spread out in beauty when the winds are hushed, or is roused into terrific sublimity when the tempest is abroad; for this the 177 heavens put on their star-decked mantle, and make the night more glorious than the day; for this planets and suns move with measured and obedient step through an extent of space that appals even the mind to which it ministers, for this all nature, like a grand instrument, with infinite variety of parts and expressions, has been uttering her voice, from the time when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. Every tint of the rose, every sigh of the breeze, every glimpse of the sunshine, is laid as an offering upon the shrine of mind; and man, feeble and frail though he be, is admitted to a share of the magnificent homage. We may depend upon it, there is nothing with which we have to do that is of so much consequence as mind. And, if so, it follows that all mind should be educated. This is the great duty of humanity. Every generation of men owes it to the next succeeding, as a debt before the law of human progress, to give to each INDIVIDUAL of that next, as high and symmetrical a character, one conforming as nearly to the ideal of manly or womanly excellence, as possible. Let the generation now on the stage do all things else, and neglect this duty, and on the grand ledger there will be an infinite balance against it. We may tithe the mint, anise, and cumin, but this, the training of the children entrusted to our care, this is the weightier matter of the everlasting law. If a skillful lapidary should find, in the possession of some rude savage, a rough, misshapen diamond, but of such superior quality as to enable it, when polished, to treasure up the sunlight, and to pour it forth in a glorious flood, would he not be inclined to exclaim, "What a pity that such beauty should be covered up, when a little cutting and polishing might open it in all its wealth to the wondering gaze of men!" If a practical philanthropist should see a province of fertile land lying waste and barren on account of the thriftless indolence of the inhabitants, would not he exclaim, “What a pity that such resources, such capacities for promoting the progress of civilization, should remain dormant and worthless just for the want of a little energy and industry on the part of this people?" But what are all the diamonds that ever graced the brows of majesty, or glad dened the heart of the miser? What are all the fertile plains that ever filled the world's granaries, compared to that to which field and gem are but ministers? And when we contemplate the sad spectacle of a single mind allowed to grow up to the deformities induced by ignorance and vice, transformed by neglect into the likeness of the fiend instead of the divine image, and all for want of that higher industry, that diligence in the performance of duty, which is the prerogative of man alone; when we think of this we feel that illustration entirely fails; that it is the strongest case that we can conceive — imagination strives in vain to present a spectacle half so sad. Figurative language but dissipates the power of the thought. The plainest statement is the most impressive we can make. LVII. MY DARLING'S SHOES. God bless the little feet that can never go astray, O little feet that wearied not, I wait for them no more, I put on them a value high above their price in gold; And while I thus am standing, I almost seem to see Ah, me! I might have known that look was born of Paradise. I reach my arms out fondly, but they clasp the empty air! There is nothing of my darlings but the shoes they used to wear. |