Wabash express. [volume] (Terre-Haute, Vigo Co[unty], Ind.) 1841-186?, 1860-04-11

ings of instinct-we do not pursue the
same habits Of life our parents pursued
when the bright light for the first time
flashed through the ambrsoial bowers of
Eden. Bet We progress. improve, remem-
Der, learn. We advance.-still there seems
to be poiat beyond which we can not go.
Beyond that point all is mystery, specula-
ton, theory. A great veil-the shadow of
Omnipotence-shuts out from the eyes OF
mortals, the further end of this path. The
Almighty has fixed bounds to human wis
dom-"thus far shalt thou go, but no far
ther," seems to be the inexorable decree of
fate. Where this limit is, no one individ-
ual has ever known. Nations may have
reached it, but individuals never. 1t may
have been. attained at Athens, when Soc
rates drank the poisoned chalice-when
Phidias carved the statue of Minerva
when Aristotle, Plato, Sophocles and Xeu.
ophon taught aud wrote, for they we're
temporaries all, and il you blot out from
the history of the past. the age in which
they lived, you s.rike from the records Of
Greece, and the past, almost all that is
worthy of being studied. But, the most
distinguished men--men whose thoughts
and deeds fill the brightest pages in the
history Of the city of Athens, may all have
looked each other in the face--they might
have sat at the same festive board
This intellectual eninence may have
again been attained. when five hundred
years thereafter, the eloquence of Cicero
echoed in the Roman Senaie--when Taci
tus wrote and Virgil aud Horace sung
when Brutus and Caesar exchanged con.
gratulations. aud the proudest monuments
Of the Roman Empire were erected, for
all this. was done within the fifty years
our Savior.
And may it not have again been almost
reached, since SO recently Pitt, and Burke,
Currsn and Walpole filled the British Par
Lament. with an eloquence as pure. as fer
vent, and as thrilling as ever fell upon the
ear in the most classic ages? When Jsf.
fsrson and Hamilton, Washington and Ad-
ans reduced to periods the purest essence
of human wisdom? May not this year
this very day. be the blest period, when
human intellect, aud human genius are
rapidly attaining their full and complete
development-are reaching the very high
est poiat, marked out to them, for this
most forward age, by an Infinite Being?-
But we have gone one step farther than
the ancierts, aud perhaps but one-we
talk with the lightning's tongue and ride
in front of the storm. Yet in almost eve
rything else, our highest aim and ambi
ton is to come up to those who have pre-
ceded us--to learn what they knew. Still
while this seems to be the ambition OF the
student as general thing. yet there are
many who have advanced upon the learn
ing of the ancients. They have not been
content to stop just where other men have
stopped, bat have taken one step further
up--gone forward. until perhaps We will
go upward, aud forward no farther.
If we think for ourselves, then we are
beings of progress. but if We do not think,
we remain still--physic giants. and in
telleetual pigmies. The memory alone,
adds nothing original to the worlds stock
of knowledge. it only continues that.
which has already been known.
Adam, the first man, VIII n he was arou
sed into life, in our judgment possessed no
more intuitive knowledge than the infant
when it first opens it's eyes aud beholds its
mothers face. He was a man, but he pos
sessed only the instincts peculiar to hu-
mauity. He may have been able to give a
sound which designated every thing be
saw, but it is very evident, that even with
the assistance of Eve, he did not know how
to make a pair Of pantaloons. or a coat
He stood in the delightful bowers Of Par
adise, yet when the sun shone, or the dews
watered the earth. he repaired to the um
"
knew not how to br.l palace. or even
erect cabin.
Learning is tha: which is recollecte H.
Education is learning improved on
What, we would ask. does il add to the
worlds stock OF knowledge. that Won or
know, "that the square described upon the
hypothenuse of a right angle triangle, is
equal to the sum of the squares described
on the other two sidesr" Pythagoras
found that out more than two thousand
years ago. What does it adj to the learn
ing of the world, that all of us know, that
the planets do not move in circles, but 10
elipses, aud that IN their motions they de
scribe "eaual areas in equal times. and that
the squares Of their periodic times are
equal to the cubes OF their distances l"--
Kepler published that centuries ago. 1t
may add much. yea very much to our indi-
vidual enjoyment. but certainly nothing,
absolutely nothing. to the universal s took
Of knowledge. That principle however
fully understood by the mind of Newton,
enabled him to improve upon it, and give
to the world perhaps complete system of
philosophy. But why was this, simply
because Sir Isaac did not stop, and con-
tent himself with knowing just what KeP
Ter knew. He determined to go farther
he turned his thoughts inward, aud origi-
nated--left the beaten track-and denied
every thing. until it was proven
70 BE CONTINUED.
IL A large aud enthusiastic meeting oI
The Republicans OF Prairieton Township
was held at the School House in Prairieton
on Thursday evening. The house was
crowded, aud groups Of eager listeners
were around the door and windows. Gel
T.. II. Nelson did justice to the subject and
the occasion in a brilliant speech Of two
| hours length. which vas listened 10 with