Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1856-07-24
Practical Life.

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t'cal Life, few notes from which were taken
during its delivery.
lie proceeded to state his subject, to give its
definition, and then to illustrate it. He said
Practical Life was not merely living, but there
was wide difference between life and mere liv-
ing that there was one class of persons who
were merely living, losing sight of the true OBJ
Ject of life, and such was the inconsiderate life
OF the brute-not that of the more noble and
higher life. A class constituted in u miscel-
laneous group Of sensual ones, whose personali-l
ty were SO disguised by dirt that certain tax
gatherer proposed to rate them as real estate
Another class live id truth, and their lives are
real.
1t was charged against Americans that they
have no quietude, but live in one continual
round of excitement. He considered the charge
as redounding to our glory, and not to our re-
proach. Our whole life, compared with the
English, is an instinct of intelligent enterprise.
He alluded to class who living and toiling,
without any definite object, save but q space in
their lives for their graves. Such arc a mass in
our larger cities. There was fullsess of life in
the world, but many did not stop to think about
it, but hurried on in their pursuits, all getting
ready to live. Some had that mysterious con-
sciousnessness which forces them in their every
act to do good. 1t was considered Il great feat
to writc the ten Commandments within the
compass of dime, but there were many who
crowd much more, even all of the New Testa-
ment, into tho small compass of ten cent
piece.
Many who were loving their lives, and who
would scorn to sell them, were doing it
inch by inch, piece by piece, in indulgencies,
paying by installments so much of their hearts,
80 many of their days, until the burnt out-shell
Of their mortal bodies was thrown into the
grave. There were those whose hearts were d.
vided upon fifty building lots and q cargo of
goods-their souls sunk in stocks so deep that a
resurrection would not raise them
A man s life is rated by what he does, every
person has ar influence upon others; the in
infant whose whole life is but day, and
bounded by the circumference of room lives
long enough to unscal cavernous springs in a
fathers heart, and open heaven to u mothers
eye the boat that swamps at sea, goes down.
cuts the waves and they close not over it just
as before. There is difference in men in guam
tity and quality, and of weight of soul and
brains. A remarkable feature in our times is
lack Of great oertopping mountains-really
great men. There are a multitude of small
hillocks, but q few that can bc seen FIVE miles
out to sea. The true democratic instinct alike
divides us from the aristocracy of England and
the squash aristocracy of America, which the
speaker likened to potatoe plant, the potatoe
rotted out and but a cumberous mass of vines
left to our sight. He contended that all blood
ran from the same puddle, the blood Of the Ia
boring mechanic was of just as good stock as
the blood of the aristocrat. He saw inscribed
upon the roll Of fame such names as Beniamil,
Franklin, Printer Roger Sherman, Shocma-
ker
LII dll Coib puiiCc tnCiC 10 OUC W whom tn(
mass look for leader-in company of school
boys, or Il company of citizens showing that
some men are more active more alive, and have
more real personality than others. The men
who have in all ages affected the history of theil
country, have been men of humble appearance
but holding vast reserve of power, as men o
40 M thn,
truly great men without being impressed witt
the idea of there being still vast amount ii
reserve with their character. Practical life doe
not depend upon outward acts, but the inwar
force of the man. s inborn nature. Men are lik
cannon, cast of different calibre, and must &C
in different spheres lie referred to the differen
spheres of practical life-that of fact, of sym
pathy and the ideal. The first object of ma
is that he must see and boldly grasp reality, 0
he cannot hre at all. There may be windows t
the soul, but if they are darkened with ignc
rance they are good for nothing Men mus
have knowledge-the people were more afraid {
: facts than of ghosts. He further illustrated th
) by asking, when the actions and preachngs {
men are looked into how little is found to hay
: been the result of earnest research, and ho
d, much of what passes for original, is in fat
: "paper currency" and not real bullion. Ma
i should strengthen his intellectual being in Il
e study of fact and reality; he should learl
a There is enough to teach us-enough to lear
y from. A man may learn lesson by the wa,
l. side, while returning from his labor. All Il
i world is full of knowledge. We should stuc
: nature; not that all can be scientific observer
= but that we should believe the knowledge gain,
e from the watch-towers of others. The has
at glance toward the stars, the odd momen
le snatched between laboring hours in obseryil
Nature and her objects, becomes warp and wo
of our being.
He referred to men following scientific NJ
. suits, saying that no one could go any dstan
4 in one direction in study, without gaining
knowledge Of many others. Man could n
practice one virtue to the exclusion of the rel
: lie referred to the age as one not of product
. design, but one characterized by scientific app
10 cation-telegra railroads and STEAMSHIP
a. There is more benevolence in the world as il O.
", nearer the truth. This is emphatically an a
of increased knowledge knowledge has tax
w the idiot and the lunatic from their cells Pr,
= tical life is enlarged as we increase in facts,
i terest books conviction, and we believe only
% we are interested, and until truth iars open
90 heart, and forces us to follow conviction repa
less of interest, it is not life. There is lit
ed truth in political parties, and it is difficult
ed make politicians honest men. Aristocrats
10 not leave their tyranny because it is agai
their interest.