New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-07-11

greater his stock OF InlOlInat4Oh' hV" mum
freer his mind from clogs. how much
broader the grasp of his intellect. And II
we 90 to the masses the change Is still
more remarkable. The schools have no
longer any secrets for them; indeed the
days of secrets and mental hocuS-Pocus aud
DISCUSSES of learned ignorance have disaP-
peared. Any layman may now safely IN
ouire into the value of any dogma and form
his own judgment on the dlctum OF every
authority. The other day a worthy and
excellent gentleman OF this town, from
whom it is our privilege now and then to
buy a pair of shoes,-we say gentleman
for it is the only word which describes the
person.-was discussing a question OF no
small moment with prominent clergyman.
and it seemed to US that the worker was
twisting the preacher round his finger. And
so it is everywhere Great ideas and great
subjects are common property, and men In
hale them from the universal. mental and
social atmosphere. Science has become
popular and the people are becoming more
and more scientific. The universe is as 1t
were. opened TO exploration, the barriers
which once shut the mass out of this or that
road of thought having been kicked down and
burned up When the good Sir Thomas More
would describe that world Of Justice and fra
ternity which his noble fancy and nObler hea TT
authoritatlyely prophesied, he put 1t into the
form of romance, and had to look for SYM
patty and appreciation to distant posterlty.
But now there are millions of humble men IN
Christendom, toiling at the hardest tasks OF
Society, whose minds are daily fed and
lighted by ideas similar indeed, but larger,
purer, and ulster than those Of the venera-
bic Chancellor, and with this notable differ
ence, that they are no romance, but practl-
cal. positive, all ready to be realized or even
now in the way of realization. To COM
pare the objects and questions which en-
gage the thought of this age, with those OF
few centuries ago, is to contrast the vlgor
and manly spirit of the youth who has out
grown the paternal guardianship and takes
the world on his own account, with the
reveries and efforts of child at infant
school
Those who think this is Boosting we have
no dispute with We say it with no dispo-
sition except to render It's due to past
which we NAV think ourselves lucky to
have escaped from, but which many
CARRIED sentmentalism that may be pardoned
because it has nothing better to do or to en-
iov, loves to festoon with praises ana mug
to its lonely and longing heart. Only it
ought to be generally understood by sensi-
BILE people that this bespangled old world of
romance and ceremony was unspeakably
less rich in real romance, lndescrlbably
more monotonous and barren, incomparably
less manly. decent and habitable than the
present. And be sure that whatever OF the
past hasD been thrown off and left to perish,
mankind are better without than with it.
Nothing worth preserving has been lost.
But we honor the present by no means
for its own greatness so much as because.lt
is big with a greater future. And here Is
another superiority of modern over old time
things and notions. Now-a-days our plans
and speculations, our reforms and Erevolu-
tons, our discoveries and inventions claim
to be but the heralds and precursors OF
mighter things behind So il was not IN
the epoch of authority and of unquestlonlng
obedience. Then sufficient for the day was
the evil thereof, and that it should ever 90
easier and better in this world was not
imagined Now signs and omens OF hu-
maner and happier era beam before the eye
of the beholder like flowers in summer
prairie, and every event of moment seems
pregnant with a thousand benehcent conse-
queuces and indications quite collateral to
its own original purpose, and unsupported
perhaps by its authors and actors.
We have already shown what Is the au-
curry of the Worlds Fair and how, no
matter what its commercial origin and
uses, ii still has cosmopolitan significance
and presages the organized Unity OF man
kind Now, after the Fair has proved so
good speculation. paying It's way and turn
ing handsome penny besides, the question
arises what shall be done with the Crystal
Palace after the show is over. This Is
subject of present interest at London, where
the predominant opinion evidently Is that 1t
should be converted into public conserva-
tory aud nrnmenade There the seekers of