The Arkansas advocate., 1833-01-16
LITTLE ROCK, N. T0 wEDNtsDA AY, JANUARY Io. Is3a

gets an eiemlnate and craven spirit ,; iil a word, that the dust and eobwebs oi tlDfar1 are kind of armor, which will not stand long against tie hard knocks of 'the bone and muscle of the State, , ana llle huge two-hsted sway of the stump orator. Whenever intellect is called into action, they would have the mind display rough and natural ener- gy-strength, strait-forward strength, ah'utored in the rules of art, and una. aorhed by elegant and courty erudi-
 he legitimate tendency of poetry is 10 exait, rather than to debase.- pu. riiy, rather than to corrupt. Read the inspired pages ot the Hebrew prophets; !; .ne eloquent aspirations of the psaImist ]! When did ever the spirit of devotion pear up tie soul more steadily and loft liy, than in the language of their poe try! And where has poetry been more exalted, more spirit-stirring, more ad- mlfable, or more beautiful, than when ''aas soaring upward OH the wings of sublime devotion, the darkness and shad- ows of earth beneath it, and from above the ebrigiitness ofan opened heaven pour Ing around it2 tis true, the poetic tal- ent may be, for it has been, most la. mentally perverted. But when poetry IS thus pefserted-when it thus forgeis It's native sky to grovel in what is base, sensual and though it may not nave lost ali its original brightness, nor appear less than the excess of glory obseured, Yet it's birth-right has been blasted, and its spirit wears sdcep scars of thunder
 ''it does not, then, appear to be the necessary nor the natural tendency of poetry to elevate the mind, corrupt the heart, or rincapacitatc us for performing the social-thc privale-and the public dutles ot life. On the contrary, it may De made an instrument for improving the condition of society at large and advancing the great purposes of human happiness. Manmust have his hours of meditation as well as of action. The unlties of time are not so we'll preserved III the great drama, but that moments will occur, when the stage must be left vacant, and even the busiest actors pass behind the scenes. There vii! De cd dies in the stream of life, though the main current sweeps steadily onward, till 'n pours in full cataract over the grave. There are times, when both mind and body are worn down by the severity of daily toil; when the grass hopper Is burden; and thirsty with the heat of labor, the spirit longs for the waters of Shiloah, that go softly. At such seasons, both mind and body should unbend themselves; they should be set free from the yoke of their customary service, and thought take some other di- rectlon, than that of the beaten, dusty thoroughfare of business. And there are times, too, when the divinity stirs within us; when the soul abstracts her. self from the world, and the slow and regular motions of earthly business do not keep pace with the directed mind. Then earth lets go her hold !; the soul feels herself more akin fo Heay- en; and soaring upward, the denizen of her native sky, she sbegins to reason like herself, andto discourse in d strain above mortality Call, if you will, snch thoughts and feelings the dreams ofthe imagination; yet they are no un- profitable dreams. Such moments of silence and mediation are often those of the greatest utility to ourselves and oth- CTS. Yes, we would dream awhile. that the spirit is.not always the bondman Of the flesh; that there is something immortal in us, something, which amid the dln of life, urges us to aspire after the attributes of a more spiritual nature.- Let the cares and business of the world sometimes sleep, for this sleep is the awakening of the soul.v