The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1861-04-26

while they have been paying for oil from the
far Pacific, they have been living within three
hundred feet Of deposits greater than all the
carsoes that ever foated in New Bedford har-
Dor. For hundreds, and. probably, for thou
sands of years, men have walked over these
deposits with no suspicion of their existence.
Biologists have looked wise, as is their hab-
it, but have given no hint Of them.
The simple truth appears to be that when,
in the history of the world, it became neces-
sary for these firmly fastened store-houses of
oil to be uncovered, they were uncovered
Nature had held them for untold thousands
of years for just this emergency. When the
whales ceased spouting, the earth took up
the business; and here she blows and there
she blows are heard in Tideoute and Titus
vile, while New Bedford sits sadly by the
sea, and thinks oflong absent crews to whom
the cry has become strange.
! cannot but look upon this discovery of
oil in the earth as one of the most remarka-
bic and instructive revelations of the age. 1t
has shown to me that, whenever human ne
cessity demands anything of the world Of
matter the demand will be ho, ored. When
ever animal life, or the muscle Of man or
brute, has shown itself unequal to the wants
of an age, Nature has always responded to
the cry for help Inventors are only men
who act as pioneers, and who 90 forward to
see what the human race will want next, and
to make the necessary provisions. An in
ventor has profound faith in the exhausteSs
resources Of nature He knows that if he
bores far enough, and bores in the right di-
rcction, he will find that which the world
needs. He is often 10 more than the Ciscov-
erer ola secret which nature has kept for the
satisfaction of the wants Of an age. a lake
yoked to coal bed would generally be voted
slow team but the inventor of the steam
engine saw how it could be made very fast
and q very powerful one and We who live
now are able to see that the discovery was
made in the right time, and that, for the en-
ergencies Of this latter day, it has really
quadrupled the power Of civilized man.
Think how nature has risen grandly up to
meet every occasion for new resources. The
revolution wrought by steam! in the business
Of the world has created great wants, every
one Of which was filled as soon as felt
Quicker modes Of communicating thought
were reeded 10 give US all the advantages Of
the increased facility of carriage, and Mr.
Morse was permitted to uncover the tele
graph. More money was wanted for the In
creased business of the world, and the gold
fields Of California and Australia were un-
veled. Il las always been SO. In the march
of the human race along the track of history,
nature has pulled aside the veil in which she
hides her treasures, to display that which she
has kept iii store for every epoch. In all the
future have no doubt that whenever oil
shall be wanted. oil will be had for the bor-
Ing. The word is fitted up with supplies for
AL the probabl, and possible wants Of the
human race. We are treadns every day up
Oh the Ids of grea, secrets that await the
life that lie before US. Discovery has but
Just begun, and viii. | doubt not, be as rife
in future ages as in this. There is 10 end OF
il, Vet the world is thing to be weighed
and measured. II is SO many miles around
it, ard so many miles through it. Never
mind it has more in it than humanity can
exhaust.
We are in the habit of talking Of the olG
authors and We read them as if we suppos
ed them wiser than ourselves. We Try tC
feed on the thought which they discovered
but It is in the main very innutr!cious foI
der. and the world is learning the fact. W,
read and reverence old books less, and rca|
ana regard newspapers great deal more
: The thought which our own age produces i
that which W. are learning TO pr:ze most
We bu> beautiful editions Of Scott. but ",
read Dickens and Iaackeray and Mrs Stowe
in weekly and monthly numbers. Milton, /!
half Gait, stands upon the shelves of our Il
, brary undstulbed. while We cut the leaves q
Festus : and Keats and Byron and Shelle
are all pushed aside that we NAV conyers
i with ongteiow and Mrs Browning. 1t
not. perhaps, that the later are the greater
) but, being infused with the spirit Of the az
in which We have our life. moving among tn
facts which concern us, and conscious of on
= want, they apprehend the true relations {
their aye to the world of thought aroun
them. They see where the sources of oil AZ
! exhausted. and bore for new deposits. 1t
comfort to Know that they can never boz
in van.
- We may be sure that literature will alway
rs be as fresh as II has been. 1t is possible tn;
we NAV never nave greater men than Shak:
II peare and Milton. and Dante and Goethe
but there is nothing to hinder our havin
men lust as great. Those who are to con
- will bore in different directions, and find re
deposits. Shakespeare and Milton were gre;
writer's, but the fields they occupied wei
their own. They DO not resemble each ot
er in any particular. Dante and Goethe wel
great writer's, but there are no points Of r
Semhlance between them. When Scott W;
issuing his wonderful series of novels,
seemed to his cote ttmporares, | suppose, TIL
there was no field left for successor y
ef Dickens, in the next generation, won as nj
III nv readers and as much admiration as he,
II field whose existence Scott never suspecte
OF Very different is the world of thought fro
ne The world Of matter, in the fact that its d
III posts are found in no particular spot. II
"A mind can 60 out in quest of thought in I
III direction without reward and every man +
Is ceves from his age motive and culture whit
&c peculiarly prepare him for the work of su
= 'e' plying its needs. There are some who see
n to think that the golden age of literature
IT. past-that nothing modern is worthy of Il
II tce, and that it is one Of the vices of Il
W. age that we discard so much the teachings
II the literary fathers. But the world
rs thought is exhaustless, and we have only
Al produce finer civilization than the wor
rs las ever seen, to secure, as its consumma
ne flower a literature of corresponding exec
NC lence.
Mt What has been said of the world of M
no ter and the world of thought, may be sal
ne and is implied, Of the world Of men. "
h are accustomed to say that great emergenci
make great men. But this is not true. Gre
lla 90" 1uors fornd 70 n,oat ora,t ono.