The Arkansas advocate., 1833-01-16

taught to rely upon his own exertlons fol
 q livelihood, and Is the artitlcer ot lis
 own fortune and estate. But It ought
 not to be exclusively so. We ought not,
 in the pursuit Of wealth and worldly hon-
 or, to forget those embellishments oIthe
 mind and the heart, which sWecten so.
 cial intercourse and improve the condi-
 ton of society. And Jet, in tie lan-
 guage of Dr. Paley, 'Many of US are brought up with tile world set before Us
 and nothing else. Whatever promotes
 this worlds prosperity is blamed; and there all praise and censure end. We see mankind about Us in motion and ac-
 tion, but all these motions and actions directed to worldly objects. We hear their cons ersation, but itis all the same
 way. Add this is what we see and hear from the first. The views, which are continually placed before our e, es, re- gard this life alone and it's interests.- Gan 1t then be wondered a., than an early worldly-mndedness is bred in our hearts SC strong, as to slut Giit heavenly
 mindednessentirely Y- And this, though not Ill so many words, yet in fact and in its practical tendency, is the popular doctrine of utility.
 "Now, under correction be it said, we are much led astray by this word utili- ty. There is hardly word in our lan- guage whose meaning is so vague, and so often misunderstood and misappIied. We too often limit its application to those acquisitions and pursuits, which are of immediate ani visible profit to ourselves and the community; regard ing as comparatively or utterly useless many others, which, though more re mote in their effects, and more imper- ceptlble in their operation, are notwith- standing. higher in their aim, wider in theIr Influence, more certain in their results, and more intimately connected with the common veal. We are too apt to think that nothing can be useful, but what is done with a noise, at noon- day. and at the corners of the streets; as II action and utility were synonymous, and II were not as useless 10 act without thinking, as it is 10 think without act ing. But the truth is, the word utility has wider signiiication than this. It embraces in its proper definition what
 ever contributes 10 our happiness, and thus includes many of those arts and sci ences, many of those secret studies and solitary avocatons, which are generally regarded either as useless, or as abso- lntely nJuIionsto society. Not he alone docs service to the State, whose wisdom guides her councils at home, nor he
 hose voice asserts her dignity abroad.
 \ thousand little ril!s, springng up in the retired walks ot life, go to swell the rushing tide of national glory and prosperity; and whoever in the soli-
 tude of his chamber, and by the single effort oi his mind, has added to the in- tellectual pre-eminence of his country, has not lived in vain, nor to himself a. lone. Does not the pen of the historian perpetuate the fame of the hero ard the statesman? Do not their names live in the song of the bard? Do not the pen. Gil and the chisel tonch the soul while they delight the eye? Does not the spirit oi the patriot and the sage, look ing from the painted canvass, or elo- quent fromthe marble lip, fill our hearts with vencration for all that is great in intellect. and godlike in virtue?
 ''it this be true, then are the orna- 1 mental arts of life not merely ornament al, but at the same time highly useful; :; and poetry and the fine arts become the instruction, as we'll as the amusement of mankind. They will not till our lands,
 nor freight our ships, nor fill our grana-
 ries and our coffers; but they will en-
 rich the heart, freight the understand ing, and make up the garnered fuIlness of the mind. And this we hold to be the true use of the subject
 "Among the barbarousnations, which
 in the early ycenturies of our era, ,overfan
 the south of Europe, the most contume-
 lioqs epithet which could be applied to
 man, was to call him Roman. All
 the corruption and degeneracy of the
 western empire were associated in the
 minds ofthe Gothic tribes, with love
 ot letters and the fine arts. So far did
 this belief influence their practice, that
 they would not suffer their children to
 be einstructedint learning of tbesouth.
 obstruction in the sciences said they. 'tends to corrupt, enervate, and depress
 the mind; and he who has been accus.
 toned to tremble under the rod of a
 pedagogue, will never look on a sword