Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1860-07-26
Thought Leads the Way.


Thought adjusts and rebuilds society. In
every great moral reform that transforms the
relations and conditions of men, thought leads
the way 1t is the precursor OF all great ac-
complishments, the magic agent that creates
all systems and machinerieS in invisible per-
fectness before they jut out into the world.
Men are prone to Judge of things by their
size and form as seen by the physical eyes
granite mountain they are willing to call
great fact, and an engine that jars through
our land living and useful one. The steam
er that pIoughs the foam of ocean, or the
reaper that almost intpIligently cuts our wheat
fields, they bow to with some reverence, be-
cause here they can see action and usefulness
which at once press home to their conscious
ness When thoughts have put on body of
wood and steel and are at work in matter to
furnish man food and raimeut, their various
forms, their action and their results are seen
and admired But who thinks for moment
that thoughts are as real and as perfect in
themselves before they are given iron muscles
as afterwards, or that thought always con-
structs machine before its steel joints are fit
ted together? No grand cathedral or work
of art was ever reared but it first stood forth
in some mans brain in all its perfectnesS. No
noisy locomotive ever thuudered across our
land until it had taken noiSeleSS trip in some
mans brain and no steamer ever ploughed
the ocean billow until after it had sailed on
the calm ocean of some mans mind. Thought
leads the way in every great enterprise Man
never trod pathway in the civil or social
world but thought had gone before him and
opened the way. When you see men engaged
in building the Yast blocks and factories of
our cities, or turning the untamed lands of our
country into beautiful homes, you know that
thought has been there and given them plans.
When you see beautiful church ediGce, you
know that a good heart has given the world
good thought and when you glance over our
country, and study our excellent social and
moral reform organizations, and our grand
system of free schools, you know that phioso-
ply has been abroad and sowed the land with
thoughts Of wisdom which are now just bios
5oming forth into form and beauty.
Living thought is the forerunner of all great
discoveries Before Columbus crossed the stOr-
my Atlantic his thought had taken many an
excursion to TIE new world, and roamcd over
its broad fields and before the telescope
points to newly discovered planet, thought
has already Travelled the way tC its home, and
measured its bulk, and calculated its weight.
Thought heraldS every great Improvement.
It is always in ad7ance of action. Before a
city is built or its foundation planned, thought
has searched out place for it and long be-
fore a railroad track is laid thought, with I'M
seen fingers, has traced its course Thus
thought is ever in the foreground leading Oh
to a higher state Of civilization, and greater
Intellectual capacities and improvements
What then are to be our conclusions when
we see thought leading off in some new direc-
tion ? Are we not to suppose that man with
active hands will soon follow 1t g.? Are we not
to believe, when we see thought attacking
some rude topic in science, or some untamed
agency in nature, that it will subdue it, and
make it servant? Who ever dreamed.
when thought first sailed to the skies and
made battle with tile lightning, that the fiery
angel should be subdued and become our swift
est notebearer?
But thus it has ever been in the past
thought has always been in the van and tri-
umphed, and to-day, the world is filed with
its grand exploits Who then can foreread
the future who can search out the channels
in which thought may yet travel, or measure
the accomplishments Of the intellect that are
vet unrealized Infnity stretches of before
us. Let the thoughts, bold, living and cheer
full lead on, and the world will follow -
Thought leads the way