Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1844-08-16

CnIOHlcle OF Olu eF6nlSt FeSpSCteu lol HoI Hool
hairs, but not greeted as a companion and friend.
She comes with her time-worn records, her dim
traditions, and vague mythologies dust is on her
garments, the msts of the early dawn still cling
around her she brings tales OF sorrow Of OPP
preston and crime and still they love her
not What sympathy has the poet with her,
waking him from his beautiful dreams, to listen
to her stern revealings What has she to do
with the businessmen, weary from the mart, and
the counting-room ? What cares tho toil-worn
artisan acho has lived, and died, and been recor-
ded Such knowledge brings no work to his
hands, nor bread to his hungry children and
why should he waste his time and blear his eyes
in the pursuit The sentimental lady, on her vel
vet dvan, reads her novel; and Pronounces MS
tory to be taseess and wearisOme.
The orator, indeed turns to the exploits OF old,
that he may utter striking comparison, or round
A brilliant period, and taxes the mighty and glo-
rious past to aid in garlanding his brow Inc
pulpit weayes many moral among those majestic
ruins, and the press gathers up their dlsIolnted
fragments, for daily use. So history obtains
good name, generally speaking, and is praised
With lip homage, but voted quite lmpractIcaOle
and antiuuated as teacher of necessary, every
day wisdom Yea, in this money-gettlng, place
seeking age, her grand lyrics are unprlzed'
almost unheard in the din of worldly strife. Per-
chance the heart Of some schooboy thrills to the
solemn sou-uteriugs Of Thermopyla, or kneeIs
to MiItiades at dim old Marathon, or IS awed by
tie stearn patriotism of Brutus yet even he re-
coils from the tyrannies, wars and injustice that
too often meets him,
The short-sighted phanthropst sits broodng
over the depression of man, in the solitude OF nus
closet, and history brings no light to his eye. lie
sees only confederation OF sorrow and CRIME
calender OF the storms, pestiences and earth
uuakes of society, ard the world is to him but an
immense battlefield where gigantic earthllness
and infant spirituality strive for mastery, and
where the mortal bears down and chains the I'M
mortal to degrading servitude. Thou sorrow
full one Thou hopest nothing for humanity OPP
pressed and downrodden, for it has lost tiny re-
spect and won from thee pity only, perhaps con
tempt Thou canst not give 1t thy hand freely
and cordially, for thou seest no symbol of the d.
vine on its forehead thou despaires not only of
man, but thou hast almost lost faith in the noble,
the good, and the true. History has been TO thee
no teacher, for thou hast dealt with the letter, and
not with the spirit of her lessons. Thou hast
learned them by halves Thy mind has been
slumbering, while thy feelings have been too &C
tive. Thou art chilled in thine eager love, and
paraIysed in the energies that shond be exerted
for thy race Thou hast not marked the silent
progress Of intellectual and moral improvement
coming down from the shadows Of early time, and
thou canst draw from thence no encouraging
prophecies. The future Of humanity is dark to
thee for it is not ilumined by hopes boln OF Its
solemn wayfaripg that wayfaring, so mourntu
with earthly blindness and weakness, yet beauti-
full and almost holy with increasing vision and
strength.
Thou hoary bookworm, whose life is almost
worn out in the study of the past, what has Il
ayaed thee in the acquisition of true knowledge
Is thy spirit wiser, purer, or happier from the
long research Art thou more established in thy
faith in God in man, and in thy life to come
Canst thou work for thy kind, for its Temporal
good and moral progress, with stronger arr
and more earnest heart Art thou instructed or
any point that can touch thine immortal advance
ment, and fit thee for higher and holier state o
being Thou art not Thou also hast wruogh
on the outside only thou hast boarded details
and names, and years. Thou canst rehears
battles and SUGGESTIONS, boundary-lines and eras
thou canst trace the chain of rulers and event
from its first link shrouded deep in traditions
even down 10 the things Of yesterday but tn
subtle electric currentthat floats on it, and wit
it, has never made itself known to thy mind, Tho
hast no thrill of higher joy than that Of know
ing that such things we're. Thou hast dealt il
distractions, and thy soul has not been warmed
strengthened or cultivated History has been t.
thee no teacher. She speaks yet in an unknown
tongue, and thou highest as we'll have waste
thy time on fairy tail, in respect to thy splrituo
good.
How, then, shall history become teacher, an
the mind receive benefits from her ong-gathere
memorials Of minds that have fulfilled their aIlo
ted course on earth, and passed to higher tn
ton This is question Of some moment. Th
Supreme ordained, for some wise purpose, thj
chronicles Of the infant state of society should
preserved, and traces Of its growth through tn
succeeding stages be left along the passing year
This must have been in order to minister to II
development of the mind, and to the amelloratlt
of the circumstances in which we have our ply
ical and moral being. AT least, this accrues fro
it but, first, there must be in the mind some a
probation of the connection that runs through Il
long line, of the relation that man, the indVidui
bears to the age, and that the age holds to tho
proceeding and successive A clear detail
events and their chronology furnish data for
philosophical investigation of all the mpora
questions relating to man. his physical and MOI
welfare, and the progress or decay Of those ev
to which he has been the bond-slave, more or le
Crom the morning of creation hut there must