Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1843-03-30
From tie Philadelphia Museum.
"A LECTURE,
ON HU NJ a n l. | E p.
BY II. GREELY. KsQ.

rive make the following extracts~lrom =
t.ecture recently delivered before the Mer-
camille Library Association. Of Philad.'
by Mr.. Greedy the talented editor OF tie
N. Y. Tribune.
Mr.. G. stated that his topic was HUI
man Life. with some thoughts as hints
for its intellectual and moral improve
ment. 'fhe gaze from infinite space oil
an unfettered Spirit. upon this fair siooe )
must afford a sublime spectacle, as 1t
was rolling on-ever on must pre-
sent views of interest and grandeur. IN
its volutiops-Japan, India ami the
Hlmneehs with their lofty rocks and
icy sum.nits-the rich regions of En-
rope-the scorchins and gloomy deserts
Of Africa, shining in sllvery worthless
ness and arid desolation-then the green
Atlantic and the green land OF America,
which the population of three centuries
had settled little more than the eastern
-. border; where amid the all embracing
. foliage were seen the mlrror-lIke Lakes.
the slender threads Of the Father OF wa
tiers and other rivers, bestowlag an Eden
like fertility further or, the Andes end
the Rocky Mountains. lifting up their
SHOWS to high heaven, as If In rscornful
contemplation Of the plains OF earth be-
meath; and then the Pacific with its isles
gay with flowers of perennial bloom. -
And still the world rolled on.
Beyond doubt. the central .fgure ct
this vast wonder was man THE
presiding genius-the lord OF the heri-
. tage. II was his presence that gave vat
ue to its fertility. 1t was not in the Ter
tility--in the .wayy surface and count
:. less beauties and riches OF earth--no'
in these that the soul Of nature found at
teraHce, but in man-in his conflicts with
.nature-in his struggle with 80 called
destiny or fate. Let, us look at the wld,
owed solitude wherein Rome brooded
eisconsolate, and consider over her gran
deur and power-or on Jerusalem =
.Thro' all circumstances and all events
it must appear that mans being is the
essential fact; his intellect the impaired
vitality of the world. Human life, how
! .boundess the theme! the subject of Pc
etry and history to illustrate--the nurses
: starry, the scholar, anu the statesman who
illunines and exats this lfe-which is a
marvel, poem. The beating heart. the
seething and working brain, the eye, the
ear-could biologists and philosophers
: shew us wonders greater than these p
These were mysteries we could not IN
ravel. We must content ourselves with
the simple lact-itis is. Human life, how
varied
The lecturer then described you'll
going forth into the world from home,
and the difiealtias .he encountered IN has
conflicts on the manly battle. field of life:
his travels. perhaps to the Andes. the
Oregon; or to Troy, whose very ruins
had vanished, leaving no trace oil
their existence. save in Iiomer's never
diving song. The emisrant was also de,
scribed, his settling in the wilderness,
and the new chapters he opened in The
volume of human life. We should moi
contine ourselves to these Individually
but consider in a more catholic spirit
those brawny arms of labor; those multi
tudes Of fishers; those armies of trappers
in dreary solitudes, providing furs fol
the danes of Lon'ion aud Of Pekin.-
Readily enough did we appreciate the
grandeur Of vast armies assembled to era
tfy the lust of conquest or love of dis
play of some despot i: but the army Of
those who penetrated the wilderness
before whom the century-crowned wood
monarchs, rank after rank. came crash.
ing to the earth--first reaching the Ohio
then the Mississippi. then the Kansas
and then the plains where roam the buf
fa!o; what eye of a Caesar. a Xefxes, q
Napoleon, ever contemplated such slori
ans victories as those pioneers had ACHE.
veds Thsw the triumph of man over
nature. He tanned the elephant for his
use. and had the lion for his diversion