The Winchester weekly appeal. [volume] (Winchester, Tenn.) 1856-1856, 1856-08-02
Written for tho winchester Appeal.
SOLITARY MUSINGS. so
ON THE PAST.

msnts more gratifying to the enquifing
and cultivated mind than to muse and
mediate on the Past,--to roam with the
historic Muse through the annals of by
zone ages,--to take retrospective view
Of tho actions and dispositions of man.
kind in every age. 1t is instructive to
look back through the long vista Of time,
and behold man in the many different
stages of his condition, both moral and
Intellectual. And to the enquiring mind
it can be no less pleasure than source
Of the most useful instruction to unroll
the moulderng record Of ages and medi.
tate upon the pages Of the history of
knowledge. But it is by no means an
unqualified enjoyment. for in those pa.
ges is presented most varied picture of
the greatness and littleness of man. In
every stage Of the worlds history | be-
hold the grandeur, the absurdity, and the
imperfection of human conceptions the
loltest aspirations Of which man is capa.
BILE, and the utter futility of his endeav.
ors to realize them.
With regret | see genius perverted, and
prostituted to the worst of purposes,
while | fondly participate in the joy of
the sage at the success of persevering
exertion in acts Of benefcence and the
diffusion Of useful knowledge. While |
sxult in the triumph Of ambitious mental
effort and the noble achievements Of moral
action, there also obtrude upon the mind
the ignorance that cannot comprehend
the envy that will not appreciate-and
narrow prejudice and dark, malignant
bigotry-like ill.omened birds Of night,
raising their hideous outcries at the open
ing day, closing their dazzling eyes, and
turning their backs upon the radiant
beams Of light which are penetrating
through the gloom and showing up the
dim outlines of the objects that surround,
influence, and hold terrific sway over the
path Of life. | find myself an unwilling
observer of their struggles to preserve
and strengthen the dominion of error, Or
check the soarings, blight the hopes and
destroy the dearest acquisitions and most
valuable productions Of genius; to pros
ecute it, their demoniac delight,--to pros.
trate and exterminate it, the ruling i'm.
pulse of their nature. Diversified indeed
is the scene!-a group of opposites, Of
Intellectual antipodes that the pages of
history hold up to our consideration. |
go back to the patriarchal ages, when the
mighty Deluge had subsidized, and the
race Of Noah had begun to multiply on
the earth when the depravity Of man
had again begun to display itself by its
malignant effects when the lust of am
bition had begun to exert its banelul in
huence over the heart, and when the in.
ordinate desire after wealth, fame, dis.
tinctions and aggrandizement had paved
the way for the erection Of despotism,
and for encroachments on the rights and
enjoyments of mankind. Here. among
the mightiest despots and heroes of an
tiquity, l behold Nimrod, the first to
make invasions on the territories of his
neighbors,--the first to aspire after regal
dignity and power-the first to assume
the reins of absolute government, and
introduce "among his subjects the
Fabian Idolatry, or the worship Of the
Heavenly host" From the foundation
Of his kingdom-the Babylonish Empire
IL see following in the footsteps of his
proud, ambitious and despotic career,
"a train Of Alexanders, Casars, Hani.
balls, Attillas, Alaric, Tamulanes, Jeng.
hiz.Kans, Marlboroughs, Fredericks and
Buonaparte," who have drenched the
world in human blood, and driven the
plowshare of destruction, and in many
Instances, OF determination, through the
nations, wading through seas of blood to
Empire, and erecting thrones over the
graves Of unoffending nations which they
had slaughtered, and decorating their
palaces with trophies dyed in the blood
ofmillions Of mangled and dying victims.
whose groans and shrieks have filled the
world with mourning, lamentation and
woe. To trace the scenes Of desolation,
distress and horror that follow in the
train Of atrocities, butcheries and dsvas'
tation perpetrated BY desperadoes and
monsters in human form, epsn since the
Ft00d, "would be to transcribe the whole