Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1857-06-20

tors, will you oblige ME by giving tne aceo'np
ing Grafton an insertion in the Standard! Anu
simply ask YOU and your readers ca.1u 49,. :.
of it and think you will conclude WIN me '''''
is one among the finest productions OF the oay'
Raleigh, June 18th, 1857.
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
The student of History in reviewing the Prcs'e.S
of the world, finds human nature inc SANE Il. az
ages but occasionally some mental oe'eloPinen>'
the regularity of the current age, looms up oe!oe
him as grand monumeh! !" tlo ' ";.ha. Sron, tho
He finds each age taking its name either from 'cie
prevailing governmental institution, or from the Ia
yorite department of literature from the best re-
warded occupation or in general, irom Tic popua.
element of the times. Thus scattered up ana down
the leaves of History, we read OF the fat,'ale'''
Ace the age of poetry the age ofleters, and so on
through as many different kinds Of ages as there are
div;sions of time. But although poetical writer's,
and men who strive to make strange expression OF
happy combination Of words pass Tor great loea'
are yerv prolific of terms descriptive OF their iasor-
lite periods yet passing by all these petty divisions
of time, find great, leading character's"cs Oh one
aee completely ignored in another, and deSpSea
theories and practices in the merit age wearing the
parb of popularity and esteem. These differences
result from the progressive nature OF NINA. since
the time when the breath of life leaped from heaven
to earth and hid itself in the brain OF man. IL mas
been aSSang It's enemies W. 1850
the supremacy of the world Sometimes untoward
circumstances have checked its march, and physical
obstacles darkenei its pathway. Thus, ignorance
and brute force, though they were triumphant when
they draped the world in the pail of the dark ages,
and dimmed minds glorious light with the black.
ness of SUPERSTITION. Bat Luther lifted a corner OF
the gloomy curtain and rays of light Shone in, and
Faust told the people Of their condition and what
they might be- and soon the dark covering was
thrown aside, ard mind started on triumphant
course Since then it has Strode through centuries
like giant conqueror, over each succeeding age
throwing halo more bright than she preceding. I'M
til reaching our age mind has clothed the nineteenth
century in robes of such bewi,derng hriiancy that
all other ages arrayed in their dirty sink down
at her feet, feeble and ashamed
Let the antauated scholar delight to turn back to
the time when Athenean mind ruled the world -
Let him rejoice to sing OF the glorious time when
intellect was uncontamnated by matter, when the
noble science of mathematics ideal. and he who
applied this science considered diSgraced
scholar Gaze first on the splendid iccie Of Athe-
mean philosophy, warming no heart and benehttins
no mans condition, and then lock on the modern
-annihating space, con4uering the clements, and
shedding peace, plenty and happiness over the
world Which is the nobler? Why, Grecian mind
did not conquer matter. 1t constructed Suhlimated
systems of philosophy, it perfected the art Of Soph-
istrv it created fancifui heaven Of gods, ~th all
the vices and none of the virtues of men; but the
and clog which it did not seek remove The
philosophy of the Greek was too exalted to be ap
piled to the common purposes OF life nat a pu-
Grille idea that mind is degraded by conquering mat
teri That the spiritual must not be brought 20 bear
upon the material for fear spirit shall become mat
ter! That ideas may be embodied in words and
theories, but must not be expressed in material
things! Yet there those in the nineteenth GEN.
tury who consider him only as intellectual who digs
at Latin and Greek roots, drags his slow length
along" through the fog and mist of metaphysics,
denying intellectually to the man who has mastered
the intricacies Of finance, or to him who, with
practical knowledge of the principles of natural
philosophy, invents machine which is powerful
auxiliary TO mind in its march. In other words, he
only is intellectual who comes to his conclusions in
regular, syogistic manner, has his sentences neat
ly balanced and his periods graceful and flowing
Before such judge of inteec, Christopher Column
bus though the father of world, would dwindIe
into insignifcance. Whitney, Watts and Morse
hide their diminished heads, and that company of
practical men now considered as the real benefac-
tors of their race throw away their distinction and
bow at the feet of those gods of pedantry Mol
The mind of the nineteenth century is as purely in
tellectua that of the Greek, as fully appreci-
ate the sublime, and nobly send its aspirations
out in search of the spiritual. And what over
balance is there in favor of age, inasmuch as it
has embodied intellect in matter, has given
"-to airy nothing local habitaton and name"
has touched and bettered the heart and improved
and exalted all of its kind
But is sneerngy said that the 18th century sac
rifces something to utilitarianism. But one age
does not pass by all the excellencies of other times
in search OF the practical. 1t is the eclectic age
We have culled from all ages and times, and leaving
behind the worthless and vicious have bound up an
age with the good of all. 1t may be true that we
have no Athens with its wilderness of marble tenn.
Piles and sculptured gods, its lazy, luxurious habits
OF life developing and appealing only to refined
suality; but yet the cunning hand of man builds
lofty temples for the worship of the Great Spirit"
and the genius of the sculptor still "bodcs forth
the forms" Of Nature and Imagination. 1t may be
true that we have no Campus Martus and Marc An
tony rousing the fercest passions of our nature and
binding US firmly to ambitions car; but yet men
hang breahess upon the eloquent lips of the orator,
and cham themselves to the triumphant car of Liber-
ty anu Progress. 1t may be true that men no Ion
ger march over burning plains and sandy deserts.
armed with the bloody sword, to rescue the Holv
Land from the infdeps powers; but vet they crowd
through difficulties and dangers to wrest the HOLY
Land of the soul from the Great Enemy hand It NAV
De true that men no longer enlist under the banner of
knight-errantry, and, with naught before them but
devotion to the fair sex, live and die beings of Ro
nance; yet woman is enthroned in the affections Of
men, not as his divinity, but his sober, rational
hep-meet
Taking from the Greek his refined love of the
beautiful from the Latin his patriotic bravery and
opposition to the entertainments of power from the
knight his lofty respect for the character Of woman
and from the crusader his religious zeal the nine.
teehth century carries them all along together and
suoordinates them all to the great idea Of the
the practical benefit of human kind. Here is the
great leading feature Of the tmes-a feature which
no no other age has made prominent, and one which,
gm It's very nature must continue to prevail until
mas performed its mission of developing TIE whole
oe,ng Of man. 1t rules every thing. An our dis
's''es are practical ones. All our inventions tent