New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-03-09

accusing conscience, repeating TO themselves with
poignant sincerity the hollow words Of the old traitor,
when the alabssier box OF precious ointment poured
upon His II cad. To what purpose Ia this rastei
why it not sold for three hundred pence and given
"to the poor T. Nor Is the self accusation lessened
when perceives that elegance and luxury most
often employed as shining barrier built up between
the cultured and the vuigarhe barrier around class
more impenetrable than the conventional distinc-
tions of artificial nobility For no customs Of law
usage have such force those which spring from the
souls own living consciousness Of difference and sgpri
oruty Many earnest therefore have associated
beshmens with selfshness, and forswear them part
of their fesy TO Benevolenoe 1t to that God
has ordaipeds usefulness Of the beautiful much Of
knowledge Of skill, Of laber and OF benevOence. IL
wealth allow able if one will employ it benevolently l.
philosophy allow able If will apply il to the uses Of
men Il scholarship vruous if ii be treasure held in
trust for all kinds Of ignorance Is skill right If EN-
ployed promote the human veal And why is not the
possession Of architectural beauty, of art treasures, of
garden beauty, Of landscape beauty if held conscien
ousy emenabe to the law OF usefulness Society grows
trees DO, by rings. There nnumerable circles
formed with mutual attractions. The lowest section feels
and emustes that which is next above that circle
aspiring to the level next above IT, This one in its turn
lie attracted by yet higher and that by another
There some influences, to be sure, that are
general, and that strike right through from top TO
bottom Of life And there many special influences
which like comets Unexpectedly blazing along their
orbits with streaming influences long traed But there
certain conditions of life founded grada
ors Of mind power, Of development The ditcher as
pres to the position of husbandman the apprentice en-
ulaes the prosperous master mechanic Inc mechanic
looks up 10 those whose wealth is allied to education the
plainly bred citizen aspires the mental activity of pro
essioual me and scholars and these in turn, ackn0w
edge pradatons among themselves to the very top OF
niue and all reaching after some ideal or some
example that hangs above them so that when man mas
DO longer any conception of excellence above his own his
voyage done he dead-dead in respasses and sins
Of bear eyed vanity We cannot always tell the eraet
gredotons mark of the sections like inches on pole
Society thing and lis growths are so IKE the
luxurious upsproutiDgs of tropical forest choked with
abundance and forcing its vines and plants IN
Duous nterlacngs that quite be"der the eye that would
flow sap from rooet to tOpmost leaf Yet we know thatt
il society is in vegetation 1t is notthe sun uponthe
that begins growth in tree but the sun upon its top
The oumosi awakes and draws upon that below It,
and sends progressing activity down to its root then be-
gins double circulation The root sends up its crude
sap the leaf prepares with all veeetauye treasures ana
back goes mission OF distribution to every part TO
the outinos And thus, with striking analogy is It
in society The great producing gross material
that rises up refnemen and power that in turn sends
back the influence of refinement and power upon all the
suoce ve degrees TO the bottom Ii is in this point OF
view that The very highest forms of literary and scen
tifc institutions are TO be judged and ustined an 90
srratory may TO have relation to the welfare
of a community What have ecliPses and planetary
trapsits 10 DO with human life When the invisible
paths Of all traced by mathematical faith what
have parallaxes and muttudnOus calculations TO do with
mems ordinary business But experience will, in a
generation show that those who first feel the fruits
and elevation of such pursuits will be few but they
will become broader deeper ana better IhrJngh
them, but diluted and not recognized, the next class
infueDced-nOt by astronomy, but by the moral
power Of men who have been elevated by astronomy
And in time the very dog kennel will feel the upward I'M
pulse There be who rail at Universities a. too re-
mote from practical life and living wants and who propose
colleges TO teach their very trades and professions
But these subordinate colleges will depend upon the supe
rior influences of institutions obore nem, that are the
sfandards-the Chronometers of LEARssG. 1t is upon
this principle that hold that thee can be too many
b aries many cabinets too many galleries OF art too
many literary too much culture Toe power OF mind
AT ne top Of socey will deern the ease and ripdy OF
the ascent of the bottom just as the power OF the engine
at the top of the inclined plane viii determine the length
Of 4 "a trnu
ascent Ibis marks the distinction between natural and
CRITICAL nobility. All societies have mobiles: We have
nobty as really monarcbies. Butin England IS an
order laraied from those beOp and there no free crcu
aton No one rise into by force of moral excellence
ard culture thong he may be really equal to its members
Artificial arsocracy stands looking upon the mass of
men as did Father Abraham, saying: Befwoen us ana
you Moe is great g"D tTtd, so mat ney "h,eh ~ogm
pass Lence TO y0u cannot neither can they pass TO as MAJ
1rouH come from thence" Natural arisrocracy is the
eminence Of me over their fellows in real mind aud soul
They are above men, because they are wiser and better
and spy one may Join them whenever he as wise AMI as
good They are society not to spread heir roofs IN
the great Democracy and sustain the glory of the d oy
flching out its strength but rather as clouds are above
the earth open their bosoms and cast down ertizng
1ans that all the Garth and every living thing may re-
oGe Is ePos n Of ber Face by the niunce Of
beauty and embellishments, they be employed generous
w. and public spiritedly Every mansion that eniirges
mems conceptions Of convenience OF comfort Oi saosah
talnes and permanence and Of beauty ison tastRHoR
II nav even have been selfshness that bult exrava
earce may have been the ruling spirit The owner may
have bee n some mbece for whose vanity some noble ar
cbiiect wrought and the COM leed work may leave the
luckess owner bankrupt; and all men may
dIte the folly costly verS Sua 1nSToscb ana msy
fail upon his empty head most rgheousy yet his folly
NAV have done for the village than the wisdom OF
an The rest The work is done. What that stately man
SION is n is IN itself Ii stands through generations
form Of beauty lifted up When its owners history is.
legend its lines Will stand unboken its shadow will be as
fresh as the day when they first fell trembling from the
elances of the sun The old trees will outve genera
lions OF men They will proclaim the glory of God to
te eve bv day; and awake az midnight in the summer
winds 10 sing their solemn song OF praise But now
much more, eli this, if such structure De IN dus
proportion TO It's builders means: II IT be no crea
lure of his vanity but born legitimateiy Of his sense
of grandeur and beauty. II 1t be the magazine,
too, of his benefcence, so inst gu, oil sna issue
ali grace and purity of life and eifuent as the
GOLDEN airs days, charities and public bonnties
eDrichipg the wide circle about and making angels s9op
to KRIS with love the noble brow ai lived IN
such ov of beauty as this Ii is wealth selhshy kept or
spent that is II is architecture that shuts mans
heart in from his fellows that is mean that stands with
efroptery saving TO all who pass Come and r0rsttp
"me" Ii is aifshHess, in short under what form oil
knowledge. refinement, power wealth or beauty hat
curses man and is itself aecursed The question not
what rroportion Of his wealth a Christian may divert
from benevolent channels for personal enjoy men through
the element Of the beautiful For rightly viewed and
rightly used your very eleearcies and uxues VIII be
contribution 10 the public good. One may well say;
- How can indulge in such embellishments in ny dwell
nr when so many thousands are pershlng Tor lack oil
" knowledge about me =" This is conclusive against
selfish of the beautiful But rightly employed u be
comes itself contribution the education OF society
acts rpo tie lower classes by acting hrst upon the higher
Ii an education Of the educators And the question be-
comes ONLY ths How much OF my we 4lIh gwen 10 the
publc good shall be employed directly for the eleya
ton of the ignorant and how much indirectly HOW
mrth sha bring bear directly upon the masses and
low much in a. ecy through institutions, and remote IN
st,rrertales | cannot but think that Christian men
have not only hight OF enjoyment ia the beautiful but
duty ia some measure of producing it, or pTopa eating IT.