The emigrant aid journal of Minnesota. [volume] (Nininger City, Minn. Terr. [i.e. Minn.]) 1856-1858, 1858-03-24

The world is divided into two sorts of men, those
who think and those who act. Of course, all men think,
and all men act, but some more of one than of the other.
and hence the ~propriety of dividing them into two
classes. Napoleon, for example, was an able thinker,
but he Was a man of action to a much greater degree,
and he may, therefore, be ranked among the last as con-
tradistinguished from the first. Shakespeare was a man
Of action to an extent that few Poets have been, but his
career as a dramatist has oversladowed his other quail
ties, and he is to be considered consequently as a man
Of thought. The men of action, in a word, arc those
who carry out the thoughts of themselves or others;
the men of thought are those who think chiefly and
leave others to act. The first control their own age, the
last generally the ages that follow. Alexander the
Great exercised a more powerful aud extensive influence,
in his own time, than Aristotle, his old master but
Aristotle's works have been influencing men, communi.
ties and empires, ever since. A man Of action, however
great, is like a stone, dropped through vacuum, that
leaves no perceptible trace Of its passage. A man of
thought is like a stone dropped into water. which sets
in motion circles, that widen continually and never seem
to stop.
The men of action are too apt to undervalue the men
Of thought. The ordinary type of the former, in our
day, is the active, sharp-sighted, energetic man of bust.
ness, who brings everything to the test of the question,
: will it pay The ordinary type Of the latter, is the
talented clergyman, professor, or author, who, generally,
has no great knack at what is called getting along
4 natural ~antipathy seems to exist between the two
classes. The first despises the last. The last looks
with a contemptuous pity on the FIRST as deficient
in refinement and culture. Yet why should this an.
Ltagonism exist? Each class is good in its way, and
each is necessary to progress. If we had nobody but
busting, eager, money making men of action, there
would be no intellectual nor social progress, and a dead
materialism would eat out the heart of society. If we
had only great preachers, profund professors, or popular
authors, things would soon come to a stop for the want
Of a little practical utility. The two go together to
make up the State. Marry dreamer, however vast his
genius, to a dreamer like himself, and their housekeep-
ing is soon at SKIES and sevens.' But marry him to a
thrifty, energetic woman, with a strong dash Of common
sense, and matters get on very differently.
It is q mistake, also, in either men of action, orgEaen-
Of thought, to rank their speciality the highest Each
class has its mission to perform and each, thetefore, is
honorable in its place aud vocation. As the material
interests of society demand that We sheald> have thrifty
mechanics, adventurous merchants5 and enterprising
capitalists, so the moral, social, political and religious
wants Of the race require teachers, statesmen, authors
and clergymen. 1t is as inyidious as it is false, there
fore, for one class to say to another, in the spirit Of the
Pharisee, 'stand aside, am better than thou The
present wants Of society call for the man Of action aa
fully as its future Developments calls for the man Of
thought. The vast and complicated machine of human
affairs would come to q dead lock without either. One
wheel 10 - necessary as the other, and as noble, if there
is any Qtestion of nobility at all. Let each man fulfil
bis ~yosstion, taking care to perform his work fairly, and
MOTTO be, IS many are, a oarioature Of his class for
TIN man of action should not degenerate into a mere
miser, nor the man of thought pass into a crazy dreamer
or i~dealogist.