The hydraulic press. (North San Juan, Nev. Co., Cal.) 1858-18??, 1858-10-16
THE HYDRAULIC PRESS
True Greatness.

men who modesly labor for the welfare
of others through many years, and
then sink quietly into unregarded
graves. Eulogies may not be pro-
nounced over their remains, nor mon
uments perpetuate their memories !;
they may pass entirely away, " and
the busy world think as little of them
as we now think of generations yet
unborn" but the influence Of their
benevolent deeds will never be spent.
In the words of Carlyle, 1T is a
high, solemn, and almost awful though
for every individual man, that his
earthly Influence, which has had a
commencement, will never, through
all ages, were he the very meanest
Of US, have an end What is done
is done; has already blended itself
with the boundless, everything, ever
working Universe, and will also work
there, for good or for evil, openly or
secretly, through all time" Let US
have sufficient reliance upon Supreme
Justice to believe that the good mans
influence is the greatest. We must
believe this-else, what becomes of
our faith in human perfectibility !?
We must believe it-else, what COM
pensation exists for the innumerable
company Of gentle spirits who go
about the earth doing good, asserting
no claim to human reward? The
days of martyrdom are not yet over.
How many mild philanthropists are
every year sacrificed to the worlds
neglect or contempt how many
sink into the grave under the burdens
Of suffering and unprovided old age
But there IS compensation.
Every age is noisy with the fame
of men who have not "achieved greats
ness" but have had greatness thrust
upon them - and mankind, however
they may be blinded for time by
the false glitter of confident medioc-
rity, eventually decide their merit BY
forgetting them. 1t is only after
they are forgotten, that the truly
great are placed in the niche of i'm.
mortality, or stand, like the single
beautiful column left erect Of a vast
ediGce-a monument and wonder
through future ages.
elbow many demagogues, Cresus-
es, and conquerors fill their own age
with joy or terror, with a tumult that
promises to be perennial, and in the
nert age die away into insigni6cance
and oblivion These are the forests
of gourds, that overtop the infant
cedars and aloe>trees, but like the
prophets gourd, wither on the third
day." The paths of true greatness
oftenest lead through quiet places.
Carlyle, in his review Of the life and
works of Voltaire, already quoted,
gives the following noble illustration
Of this fact. The passage is marked
by a pomp and force Of language
which are seldom attained in these
days OF RAPID, careless writing:
When Tamerlane had finished
building his pyramid of seventy thou
sand human skulls, and was seen
standing at the gate Damascus,
glittering, in steel,with his battle-axe
on his shoulder till his fierce hosts
filed out to new victories and new
carnage, the pale onlooker might have
fancied that nature was in her DEATH
throes; for havoc and despair had
taken possession Of the earth, the
sun seemed setting in seas of blood.
Yet, it might be, on the very gala
day of Tamerlane, a little boy was
playing nine-pins in the streets Of
Mentz, whose history was more i'm
portant to men than that Of twenty
Tamerlanes. The Tartar Khan, with
his shaggy demons of the wilderness,
passed away like a whirlwind' to be
forgotten forever and that German
artisan has wrought benefit, which
is yet UNNECESSARILY expanding itself,
and will continue to expand itself
through all countries and through all
times. VIVA, are the conquests and
expeditions of the whole corporation
of captains, from Walter the Penni-
less to Napoleon Bonaparte, compared
with these movable types of jos
names Faust? Truly. it is morti-