San Andreas independent., 1858-01-23
The Pen and the Sword.

They shall bgat their swords into plow-sharcs.-Na-
ton Stall not lift up sword against nation. II ISAIAH
sThe Pen shall snpersede the Sword
The Right not Might shall be the lord,
In the good day coming. ANON.
These are the tive great instruments by
which men have fought their battles. By
these all the victories have been achieved
which have startled the world-all the
victories which have crowned the heads
of men with palms, and their names with
Immortality. The battles of each have
shaken the world in its very centre, and
planted triumphal tokens all along the
road of Time. Many have fallen in the
contests; some leaving their frames in the
CORY battlefield; others wearing their
lives away the students chair Nations
have been overthrown by one and mems
/ minds wrought up by the other, Both
have been mighty in their battles, and
in their victories.
But the Pen and the Sword have each
Ia different path to the field of glory );
each works in different sphere. One
has its contests and triumphs with the
physical man; the other with the mental
being One CLEANS inthe battlefield; the
other moves OH the arena of the mind
While the sword is welded by mems
hand, used between men and slays men,
the pen is propelled by mind, works upon
mind, and is successful over mind The
one strews the battlefield with CORY, soul
departing frames; the other filings thought
upon thought, sentlmentupon sentiment
fact upon fact. While the thrusts of the
sword are followed by the outpouring life
blood, the dashing of the pen are answer
cd by confessions to its truth and omnip-
otence While sword clashes with sword
making their thunder loud and long, the
noise of the pen is only heard in the
stiffness of the students chamber
And why this difference in the spheres !?
The one is worked by the poor, frail, NOR
tai body, while the other is guided by
the mind-the immortal emanation of
Deity.
The laurels, also, are very different
While the success Of the sword is only
praised in the age Of its victory, and re-
corded on historic pages, the works and
victories Of the pen are operating through
endless agcs-ever working BY its books,
and leaves, and pages, upon succeeding
mind. The victory of the one is all on
a single battle-feld-the battlefield of a
day, while the ether is effecting its glory
on the field of Eternity, and is every day
gaining in triuaaph. Lifeless forms
overturned nations, and depopulated ter
ritories, are the glory Of the sword
Beautiful Thoughts, sublime sentiments
powerful intellectaelisnls, and enlightened
minds are the triumpls of the pen
Laurels bathed in the light of time, are
thine, O sword I4aurels bathed in the
luminous beams of eternal intellect, arc
thine, O Pen
The men of the sword-where are
they? A page of history tells short
f tale Of their achievements. There ends
their glory. The men of the Pen
where are they Look through the i'm
, mensc Libraries of the wisc-the smaller
libraries of the mass-the libraries of the
/, hearth-stone. Their names stood forth
i never to die Their words in the minds
of millions; their thoughts Of intellectu-
, al humanity The man of the sword
dies hero Of day. The wieldcr of the
+ pen lives conqueror of Eternity.
Thesword battles with the pen. Ever
+, since the world began, has there been a
q contest between them for the supremacy
In ono ace the sword has ascended and
the pen sunk into insigniicancy In the
; next the pen has faded the sword by its
glory Mind has fought the body-the
brute with the immortal-the spirit with
: the dust. Hard, have they fought
! Alexander and Plato.
But the victory is coming. The Pen
must triumph. The sword must be beat
f into the plough share It has been de.
creed. Every day is showing progress
towards this period The impulse of
thought is becoming irresistible = its
streams are as living truth. They are
overaowing the earth. " Books, and
leaves, and pages are strewed every where.
The mind of the mass is rising. Every
ithing tends to their mental Improvement.
The arlstocracy Of knowledge is no more.
1t is republican. Mankind-universal
humanity, is drinking in mind All the
earth Is preparing for the conquest of the
Pen over the Sword
s. We may not live to see the day,
But earth shall gsten in the ray
OF the good time coming.
Cannon balls may aid the truth
, But Thought S weapon stronger;
Well win our battle by its aid
Wait little longer,
Men OF thought. be up and stirring!
f Night a,sd day!
Sow the Seed Withdraw the curtain;
: Clear the way
Men of action aid and cheer them,
Il As ye may.
There's iount about the stream;
There's light about to beam;
There's warmth about to glow,
There's flower about to blow;
There's midnight blackness charging
Into gray.
Men of tAoug.lt and men of action
Clear the way.
Once the wclcome light broken,
4 Who siali say
What the unimaged glorics
= OF the dayl
What the evil that slalI perish
In its ray?
Aid the dawning tongue and pen;
| Aid it homes of honest men