Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1856-11-15
Ali
From the Rochester American.
PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY.

Every little circumstance has instruction, and wise
men know how to use it to the best adyantage.-
All Of human lifo is lived within a few feet Of the
surface of the earth. l never yet knew n man
who bad his tenement. in the stars any length OF
time. The difficulty is men are too apt to think
that knowledge is a treasure lying in the mines OF
Golconda or India; and that but few are privileged
with its possession. The experience Of every man
were it well recorded, both the surface circum-
stances and the principles which governed their
manifestation, is enough to form q volume OF IN
teresting history.
Mr.. Goldsmith, who has delighted the wise and
polished Of the reading world SO long. knsw how
TO make the most of his capital. His knowing
how to use his capital was the real and valuable
investment, which was the prolific source OF his
fame aud what little money he had. II he wanted
a hundred pounds to pay his bills he would go in
to the street, and, with walking half an hour, see
enough of human life 10 make him wise and give
his pen employment till the hundred pounds were
obtained. Charles Dickens will make a thou sand
pounds ont of a little circumstance that would not
furnish a topic for conversation for five minutes
at a dinner.table. One word dropped carelessly by
some beggar-boy that he stumbles over in the
street will be the revealing of y new character to
him, and he will delight the world with it. He
knows how to multiply one circumstance into a
thousand.
Addison, that easy writer. who conveyed more
pleasure and good instruction in his writings than
any other man of his age. was one who had this
wonderful faculty OF making something out of
nothing. lie might acknowledge an invitation to
dine. and ten minutes in the parlOr would give him
q hint which would set half the ladies of London,
if not England, looking about their own house
holds. The human virtues, vanities, and vices
we're wont for particular tunes to show themselves.
They came out to the sight in a movement OF the
body or glance of the eye. One glance may be
on index of a large field of character Iying in the
dark behind. A keen eye will Immediately catch
the glance, read its tendency, and discover the field
behind, and by telling what he saw will seem en-
dowed with superior wisdom to the world. He is
no wiser than other men he only lives with his
ewes open, and sees deeper because he is not too
indolent to take the pains, This was what gave
the writer's of Addison's day such popularity, and
what still holds them high in the estimation of the
world.
We live books every day. We talk books when
slipping our tea, and think books more or less no.
BILE according to the moods we are in. Books are
only recorded experience. Experience comes first
and books afterwards. The works of Imagination
are only the experiences of men magnifed. The
warmth OF the writer gives a superiority tofach
circumstance, the same as the microscope magni-
fes the animalcule living in the crop of water.
Every circumstance, from the stumbling in the
street to the discovery of light ming as electricity,
has IA principle or cause lying at its base. Histo-
ry accordingly is marked out by regular laws, and
every battle or act of legislation or oppression has
its foundation rock in the actor who brings it to
light. The duty of every man who seeks to in
struct should be to understand their blind causes
and see how all things are moved by order and
divine law. Those who DO this are inclined to
philosophy, and never have any opinions without
being able to account for them. They are able to
account for their own opinions, and sometimes see
beneath those of others, and tell them Of things
lying in their hearts they knew not of before. This
is done by observation, clear rigid discipline,
which will not be satisfied with the fact without
the cause. When the cause is made plain, then
they can place the case in a thousand different
circumstances and tell as many circumstances tn
the world. This lies at the root of works OF i'm,
agination. Dickens and Milton, and in truth all
great men OF song or romance have this philo-
sophical principle, and are philosophers without
the worlds observing it.
Principles always lie in nut shells, as the knarl
ed oak dwells in the little acorn. A revolution
may lie in a mind and the fate of generations ii
one small book.
This explains why some men are prominent nov
and forgotten tomorrow. They perish with wha
they identify themselves. II man identifies him
self with the present he perishes with the pres
ent but if he identifies himself with that whicI
lives for ages, he becomes a Methuselah, thong
in his grave. The politician Of to day identife
himself with the issues of to-day, and as soon =
those issues give room for others those politician
90 down to oblivion. He who weds himself I
truth will live as long as that truth is brougf
prominently before the world. Shakespeare dea
with the passions. and SO he will live as long a
men are moved by them. He lost sight of hin
self, or rather he was uncon scious Of himse
when he wrote. and, becoming absorbed in his pa
sion, the passion appeared natural, and he wi
live with it. So Ben johnson identified himsc
with the living sentiments and feelings of huma
nature, and lives still, sweetly remembered anon
men. But many q millionaire and great lord
busting politician, on the busting front of the
time, who hardly acknowledged the individually
of these AppolloS OF song, are not forgotten 70
ever. These poets allied themselves to the eve
recurring principles undo rly ing all human fac
and circumstances, and hence the more understot
the more they come to ourselves.
Gray, in writing his elegy, sealed the signet
fame on his brow. The grave yard always Civ
US melancholy emotions, and when we are in
Der moods he lives, both in sentiment and mel
dy, on the faint echoes of these words, as swe
distant music through the enclosed window. Tn
was no better suited to his own time than to o.
own hence his widespread equation now. b.
Ter. no more than r. medicant to the goood En-
lish esquires around him, spent a little time
dealing with the eternal things of this life, al
became of some consequence to after time. if
none to his own. His satirical hits will jar Il
memory of many a man non in eSse, to q respeC
ful consideration Of him.
None of these men saw further into the cart
the heavens, or a milestone, than most Peep
can. They only used what little they saw, an
when they were moved to speak, spake from VIII
they had discovered with their own eyes, n
from books and spoke too in their order Of natu
in the order which things occur. Many q m
takes his diploma, like Shakespeare and Franki
from the university Of the world, with the PEG,
for their professors. The difference between the
and the collegiate is,they live and speak in
order OF nature, while the collegiate lives a
speaks in the artificial order Of books. They
out ut themselves ana become autOmatOns, speS
ing often on impulse they obtain in the studio. a
he ce are nothing to themselves nor other peOpl,
would rather be taught at the corner of t
street, or wherever ! can meet a man. acting
eording to the impulse Of his nature, and be N
self. than spend years in the resurreeted aleov
of Alexandria, and believe that all knowledge
now locked up in books and ancient ages. 4
functions of song and philanthropy flow now
freely as when Homer sung and Plato taught.
J.D D. V.
The fountains Of the CRYSTAL plnnn "a Cuhonbo