Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1859-09-30
THE INTELIIGENCBR

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A friend sends US the following extract fron5
the address of the Rev. Samuel j. Wilson, Iate>
y delivered before the Literary Societies of
washington College, (Pa) Mr. Wilson is we'll
known to many of the citizens of Wheeling
out aside from this, therare beauty and finished
literary elegance of the extract we present, will
well pay for the space which we devote to il
Inc result of decision of character was next
treated IN masterly manner, showing that r.
VIII end IN singleness of pnrpose-concentraS
tion OF thought and effort Said he, the Roman
ShIPs oasked IN pleasant sunshine; but when.
oy means OF his mirror, miles off, Archimedes
gatnereo el up their harmless rays and threw them
N ~ a locus upon the ships, they burned them up.
w e are not to trouble ourselves about the truth
OF TINS story, or to carefully inquire whether
archlmedes really burnt the Roman fleet or
not. No one believe, denies that it is tbeo.
retlcaLly possible, at all events So it is with
the intellectual powers Scattered over hunt
dred objects, and they are imbccilc Concen-'
tTate them on one. and they are almost omnipo.
tent The rays of the sun at Syracuse were
not hotter than elsewhere 1t was not owing to
any thing peculiar in the individual rays. but to
their concentration. Genius is not the excel
ience OF any one quality of the mind, but a
concentration of all.
following the eloquent speaker, in his Apostle
quotations, vivid illustrations and multiplied
proofs IN confirmation of the views lie so con.
idently maintained. He said, 81 pause here to.
pull up by the roots another error that is apt to
inject the minds of students. They read OF the
inspiration OF poets and orators, and conclude
that they must sit still as 0mphalos. until the
expected afiatus comes-indu &c in reverie. in.
dolence and tobacco, hoping that in this way
they shall all once feel the mighty impulse. and
lind the dull, langnid eye lighted up, and
"In fne phrenzy rolling"
Slliier mistake was never committed. There
is such an inspiration, but t comes not oY
painful thought Israel's Poet King found it
SO. "Where L unused the fire burned" Even
the PSalmist's inspiration came not by chance,
nor was it thrust upon him. God gave it him
in accordance with the laws of human nature
and the human mind. Attentive thought and
concentration produce inspiration. The MAJ
chinery must work before it glowS Here again
all are on level.
Providence has fixed labor as the price of
success in any thing. He has, also, mercifully
made it not only consistent with our happiness,
but conducive of it. The curse becomes q
blessing.
Sir William Hamilton defines pleasure to be
the reflex of unimpeded cnergy Beginning
with Plato, who was the first to attempt to give
a definition of pain and pleasure, he comes
down through the long succession Of philoso~
pliers to the present, and, by masterly gem
eralization, shows that all their apparently
diverse views resolve themselves at last, by a
little analysis, into this definition. Nor is this
alone the view Of metaphysicians. find the
Prince of American preachers John NJ. Mason,
saying, in his culogy on Washington, that ''the
Omnipotent allots great enjoyment as the need
of great exertion." Identically the same idea
Poets give US the same thought dressed in its
best attire. Shelly, in his exquisite ode to the
skylark, says: