Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1861-10-19

OF wealth and deceit circumvents and baf
mes honor. Such world as this the crit.
fcs condemn as falnre, which reflects alike
upon the benevolence and power of i,s Ma.
ker ; but these men have an eminent place
among the fools who criticise half finished
"otk: IL they could have witnessed the
creauOh OF the earth, and watched It
through all the processes by which IL was
prepared IOr the reception of the human
race, they would doubles have been quite
as critical as they are now and quite ms up.
reasonable. Suppose man should visit his
peartrees in midsummer, and on tasting the
fruit upon them, should condemn them and
order Them 10 be cut down aud removed
how should we characterise his folly 7 He
has criticised half.fnished fruit, and made
fatal mistake. 1t is just as unreasonable
10 condemn half-fnishvd world as half.
flushed pear. Human society must be
brought to perfection by regularly institnt..
ed aud operative processes. 1t may take
as long to perfect society as it did to create
the world that it lives on ; and God is not
to be found fault with for the flavor Of a
fruit slowly rpening beneath the light of His
smile and the warmth Of lis love, bat not
yet fully ripe.
Mr. Buckle has undertaken TO write his.
tory of civilization, or rather be has com
menced to write an Introduction 10 his
tory Of civilization. His progress has not
been great, and lie doubtless realizes that
he has undertaken task which he can nev-
er finish. He will probably labor upon it
while he lives, and then some other daring
man will take up the thread where he will
urop It, and go on until he in turn will be
Obliged to relnquish his unfinished task to
q successor When the work shall be finish
ed, after its original design, it will doubtless
be found to be adequate 1t undertook to
organize half finished life-to reason upon
forces that had only half revealed their na-
ture aud their power-to develop principles
whose relations were imperfectly known. In
short, it must necessarily prove TO be a
half-6nished history of half.fusbed civili-
cation, whose every newly. opened event
will throw a modifying light on all that shall
have proceeded it.
We have, therefore, but little finished
work in this world. Not finished charac-
ter lives among mankind. No nation in the
world illustrates consumate civilization.
All presentations of truth, of whatever ma
ture and relation are necessarily incomplete.
Lille is too short, comprehension too limited
, in its grasp, and expression too feeble or
p too clumsy, to allow the mind fully to or
ganlze vitalize and fll out to roundness
i. and just proportion, single creature of le
+ gitimate art. 1t is, therefore, literally true
, tha rthe criticisms of the worlds half-hnish
ed men on the worlds halffnished affairs
Imperfection sits in judgment on incom
pieteness, and the natural consequence il
that criticism, in whatever field of demon
straticn, is little more than a record of no
tions, which may be better or worse than
those that oppose them,
1t is with painful sense Of the incomplete
ness of these lessons in life, that now in
dite their closing paragraph. cannot but
be aware that the criticisms have indulg
ed in relate very largely to halffnished
work, and painfully feel that they are tht
product of most imperfect judgment.
the reader has found them kind, charitable
hopeful--tending toward that which is gooC
and true-lenient toward human frailty
, loyal to common sense, aud faithful to vir
tue if he has found in them that which
leaves HIM larger and a more liberal mai
9 advanced in some degree toward that pei
, fection which we are ever striving for bU
!. which we never reach, then my aim he
}. been accomplished, and / bid him Go
l. speed
~ END OF THE RUMISATIoNs.
A The articles which have been publishe
!, under the name of "Rumiuations" are al
ready in the press of Charles Seribner c
:, New York, and will be published at an cal
! ly day, with the title, Lessons in Life.
n They will make dollar volumn of the sam
4 size as "Gold Foil" and will be issued i
:. Mr. Scribner's eharaeteTistically tastcfr
a style. ...
l. Smart Sn lmOn.