Southern standard. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1851-1856, 1852-12-04
nc AcqnlsILIon Of KnoNIcdge.


The Acquisition Of Knowledge.
A child not seven years old vas sitting upon our
knee the other evening talking only children can
talk, asked usf there were any two flowers alike ~
For moment, we were puzzled at the strangness of
the question and also for an answer. We told her
that there were no two flowers exactly alike, though
to the eye, they mghtseem SO. This question: simple
and childish though it may appear contains the germ
of Depreciation wide the Universe, and as varied
and diversified as Nature ITSELF No two trees, shrubs
blades grass sands upon the shore, or shells be-
meath the dark blue waves, exactly alike The re-
mark attributed to the great master mind of his age
Sir Isaac Newton upon his deathbed, at the end of
long laborious life, that she had but picked up few
pebbles the shore of the great ocean of TRUTH will
strike every man of thought with its force and beauty
When man has spent life in the acquisition of
knowledge and he is called to answer to his creator for
an account of his labor he then learns how ignorant
he is, by leaving on record acknowledgment, that
he had not even passed over the threshhed of true
knowledge. An elegant writer, and man of splendid
requirements himself, has illustrated this idea very
beautifully, by saying that "each elevation which be-
fore bounded his view, from its summit displays new
mountains rising, one above another, till they are lost
in the blue distance" Our knowledge of the forma
ton of earth and the races which have inhabited
it, at best, based upon few meagre calculations
and rude guesses. We may, in daily walks, stride
unthoughtedly over the Wondering remains of hun
Edreds ofextinct races, of whom know nothing
Every day the nerves of men shocked, and their
judgment astounded respecting new develop
ments of our species. The vartes ofthe human race
have been logically accounted for and probably
never will be. Man only guesswho built the i'm
mense cities of Central America and he is dumb when
asked who constructed the mounds that dot the great
valley in which we reside. He has only suspected
the internal formation of planet, and is lost in
fusion when askedwhat its destiny will be. We have
heard, indeed, that whole system, and planets
is but speck upon the face of Creation, and that th
and million of such orbs night be struck out Of exs
tence, burnt up like old newspaper without any
loss sensible to mites like us. We are taught to be
eve that the operations of the universe of which W.
form such insignificant portion, in space
and DURATION that millions of years but
onds, as but single vibration of pendulum, in tn
grand time march of the sublime whole Imagination
may conceive the existence of ntelligences vast
is this extent and duration, but the intellect of Ma
dwarfs before the incomprehensibe knowledge whic
guides and controls this illimtable machine with sue
! accuracy and harmony What are the annals of on
J., six thousand years existence when compared with tn
~ unceasing roll of time in which this universe has bee
" going forward in its grand funeral march 1t may
N but moment and we may never know but that tn
r spheres beyond system has sung the music;
% requiem of ten thousand ages extended that
~ which we boast. The Great Soul of such uniVers
Il as this, is not ofyesterday- day is thousar
L. years, and thousand years day. to it. 81
- what can man know or learn of all this Here but fl
l. instant, he may learn to contemplate these myst
ries but the child does the beauty of flowers and u
he begins to appreciate the grandeur of Gods worl
in the universe the shades of night close around hir
60 and the earth receives his bones. But the mind
s- that principle within that grasp so much has
d higher destiny than to go out like candle in its socke
ne leaving nothing but heap of ashes behind. And
b the child he learns that there two flowers
% actly alike he may still believe that the Being wi
m has created him with capacity to think and feel,
1f placed him here but learner preparatory to
= future transfer to realms where human knowledge
- but as sounding brass and tinking cymbas.