The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1850-01-09

repletc with eloquent and instructive les
sons. Here arc some of them:
The PAsr AND THE PREsENr.-Far
be it from us to speak disrespectfully OF
the few minds which shVne in the twi-
light Of Earope becoming larger through
the fog, yet heraldin9 the dawn. No
true-heartcd student is without a strong
antiquarian sense Of the interest attach
ed to the beginning of art, letters, and
civilization; neither can one who has
visited the ministers and cathedrals OF
Britain by day, or Melrose and Glaston-
bury by moonlight, ever forget his adj
miration of the creative genius which
combined more than Cyclopean strength
with more than Corinthian luxuriance;
but we must protest against this sac
rificing OF convenience for an imita
ton of the antique, this making vener-
able of all that is old, this condemnation
of the useful as the unspiritual. To an
elevated, healthy imagination, there is
more poetry in a nicely constructed
stean-engine, working with its Titan
sinews and Briarean hands, yet breath
ing softly as sleeping child, than in all
the knighuy tournaments and sacradotal
shows that our ancestors ever wondered
at; troubadours Of Provence had not
1.-THE Of the romance that a clear, 9sthe-
tical eve can see hanging round viii
lage of factory girls, every one Of whom
is living story of love, hope, constan-
cy, and courage; modern linen wea-
ver's label often presents as fine speci-
mems of Arabesquc as can be found in
a virtuoso's cabinet; nay, if richness OF
design, grace of drawing, and harmoni-
Gus contrasts of color be crlteria OF
good taste, we may point to q Sunday
group of servant maids, in the fresh
pride of their Lowell printed calicoes,
and say Solomon in all his glory was
not arrayed like one of these"
The PERPETUITY OF GENIUs.-The
most perilous warfare is that in which
only fearless reason can win victory for
the right; and there are knots in the
cords binding mans soul. which can be
cut BY no sword, however keen, but
must be united by strong, perseverlng
logic. Neither warrior nor statesman
adorns his birthplace with more imper-
rishable glory than the author who
achieves immortal usefulness. In a SIN
gle night were written both verse and
melody of that Marseiles Hymn which,
like whirlwind, has swept down sue
cessiye tyrannies, and will be chanted
as a spell of hberating might, until the
brave shall no longer need to arm at the
call Of freedom. Shame upon our men
OF genius, taat our people have as yet
neither national song nor air worthy OF
the name! The poet who will indite for
us such song, ihe composer who will
give us such an air, may be sure of a
fame, to which that OF Pindar is poor.
Where on earth is there river, except
the old Nile, the yellow Tiber, or the
sacred Jordan, to which pilgrim turns
with higher emotion than the ''sllver
Avon" Virgil, when, amidst the splen-
doris Of the Augustan city, he recalled,
as the shepherd Tityrus, his early haunts,
sang smilingly,-
''Urbem, guam dicunt Roman, TMelibee, pu-
tavi s,ultus ego huic nostra simiem:''--
but when the anthor of the Eneld came
TO die, the first words he dictated for his
funeral urn were legacy of his fame
to his native village
"Nlan,ua me genut.
The waves of the Egean, as they dash
against its vine surmountcd cliffs, echo
the name of him who from his misty
throne looks down without peer in epic
grandeur - -..
1.-The blind old man of scio's rocky sle.''
A curious traveller may find on the in
nermos. curve Of the Gulf of Contessa,
the wretched village of Stauros. There
once stood the strong, magnificent city
of mighty people, who, with moral
courage, contending against perfidious
Athens, persisted amidst its ruins. All
the names of those martyrs for liberty
with whose blood the Strymon ran red
are passed from the memory of man,
and their grand examples lost in the OBJ
security of unrccorded time; but men
ton of The Stagyrite comes upon our
souls like charm of power, as the
name of him who, through more than
two decades of centuries, since he died
an exile OH the shore OF the Euripus,
has swayed the widest empire over hui
man thought ever granted to an unin-
spired mind. Gentlemen, be it yours to
glorify with similar, if not equal troph-
les, the land Of your birth!
Power OF ELooUENCE.--Such are the
momentous changes now rapidly sue
eeeding each other, that faithful schol-
ar, at a crisis perhaps not apparent to
himself, may, by few well directed SEN
fences, save his country from impend-
ing ruin. History has not a finer in
stance of the power which eloquence
may exert over popular fury, than that
Of ayear since, when singularly mod
ulated voice stayed the most sanguinary
mob the world has ever known, stayed
them for long hours when bent ravingly
on destruction, and then turned them
back with the tricolor waving where the
red flag had glared. He, who won that
fyiurnph of S,Irh iuc lcula hIe va Inc uaS