The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1865-12-12
Modern Matarialisnn.

II Is very lasntOnaoe among certain class
of modern writers to speak of ours as pure
Z lymaterial age, to declare that men live to-day
on alower spiritual plane than was formerly the
case, and that our standard of what constitut.
es a worthy object of human endeavor l.
steadily deteriorating. They tell us that the
age ola lofty chivalry is past, that there is now
no deep religious enthusiasm such as me,
martyrdom with joy, no selEdenying devotion
to some sacred cause, no worthy worship OF
the beautiful in poetry or art, but everywhere
the rude elbows of matter are crowding out of
human life the sweet and gentle train whose
task it is to elevate the soul. aJll2
Now, doubtless a great deal-though GER
tainly not all-of this lamentation is very sin
ere, and consequently entitled to MEASURE
of respect. Nevertheless, we feel sure that
these anxious ones who grleve so over the
badness and hardness of the present, and
sigh to calTback the dead past, have less ground
for their regrets than they deem. Out Of the
past is the present born, and as Nature never
repeats herself in individuals, so one of hel
generations of men never wholly resemble
any which went before. We do not pretenG
to deny that ours is material age. We not on
ly admit the accusation, but we accept the ep-
tibet with some degree of pride. For ours j.
not low and unworthy, but noble material
ism. 1t is materialism which brings ali
things to the severe standard of use. OF all
productions of the human hand or brain il
demands, What is your practical What
can you contribute toward the amelioration,
the civilization, the advancement of mankind?
That which fails to make good its claim to val
ne on these grounds it lets fall as SO much
waste and rubbish. True, it makes mistake,
sometimes, but these arise rather from the dull
ness OF Its vision than from the faseness of it.
aim. Then too, those who tell us that our ace
is Incapable of devotion to an idea must forget
how SO lately the mere iGea of patriotism sent
the men of our land 10 die by tens of thou.
sands on bloody fields, while the idea of hui
manity summoned the women to toll night
and day for the relief of the suffering and the
solace of the dying. Pious men do not 60 to
martyrdom now to maintain the truth of their
religion, but they wear out their strength in
the service of their fellow-men, thereby max
ing practical the religion of Him who said
lnasmueh as ye have done it unto the least
OF these little ones, We have done it unto me-
one OF the most thoughtful writers and
brilliant orators OF the day has lately said that
the distinguishing characteristic of our. age is
not so much faith as faithfulness, not so much
a quiescent assent as vital power, impelling
men to be true to their highest conyictions.-
We are sceptical, but ours is an honest and
manly scepticism, earnest for the truth, and in
itself the best of all possible guarantees for the
attainment of truth. -
Nor is it true that the worship of Beauty is
excluded from our idea of life. The poet and
the artist are still bnsy in their graceful min
istry, and their fitting need of fame and
wealth Is infinitely more sure than in any age
which has gone before. When Bierstadt takes
twenty-five thousand dollars for the picture of
mountain, let no one say that art no Longer
mas Its rewards. They tell us that the poetry
anu the art of our day are trivial and medic
ere, tnat they produce no masterpieces such
as tne past can show, and they would have us
tninK that genius is among the extinct things
- 'ooO ci9uI vi al important
CONSIDERATION and that is the extreme narrow
ness OF the held to which genius was formerly
limited. Shut out by superstition from tbs
pursuit of science, by tyranny from nolitics
and by the prevailing ignorance from m.ny
other roads, it had little save art and noetry
to which it could devote ITSELF Now the field
is wide, the paths infinitely varied. If Tasso
had lived in our day, instead of writing the
Jerusalem Delivered" he might have discov-
cred planet, or new gas. If the grand in
tellect of Michael Angelo had belonged to the
present age, Italy might have lost a spainter
and sculptor, and gained another statesman
like Cavour. Dante might have been an en-
glneer and built the Mont Gents tunnel. and
the author of the "Faerie Queen" might have
devoted himself to improvements in the cleo