The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1865-08-07
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Monday Morning, August, 1865.

said that the habit of intense refec--
ton upon moral or metaphysical sub
iects was decidedly injurious to the
capacity Of the individual for correct
observation in respect to external OBJ
iects. Such man viii do for a peri
,edic;.l essayist, but not for ncwspa-
per correspondent He can write you
a book, and never leave his chair.
He works from his brains, as the
spider from his bowels, and his topics
for analysis and thought are evolved
from meditation, and not experience.
In proportion as one INDUCES in this
sort of observation, will he close his
eyes upon all external events. He
will not Behold the grand procession,
though it passes directly beneath his
eye. The. Germans cay this disease
su6jccticity. You meet with this order
of intellect frequently III the case Of
statesmen, mot. politicians,) great
mathematicians and great constitu-
tional lawyers. It is the characteristic
of great imaginative poets, who are
neither gramatic nor descriptive. The
clever politician. the small orator, the
gossip, suffers nothing from this in
looking faculty. The nisi l'''i~s law
yer is not troubled With.it; his mood
being governed by his reliance on
6icta which 1lc does not care to ex;,-
mine, ind by the necessity of keeping
open eyes upon the world and the
worthless around him. To forget ones
self iii company, so that there sllallbe
no company present. is u frequent
consequence Of this mood, and intIi-
Gates the activity of the self-cvolving
nature. To make the great Traveller,
a certain degree Of this nature is cs-
sential, associated with !. vigilant ys.
ternal viMon, and Il rare readiness at
graspinS the numerous dependent
objects OF survey. Tic facl,lties. thus
united, aros not frequently found.
After all that your correspondents
write, how little do they say! They
sit down in your big cities, and take
mp the newspaper in the morning with
their coffee. The on' iii Of the day pre-
ceding is discussed aftcra faslion--the
last great atroc;ty ty-the abduction, the
murder OF the I,rawi-a9d tlEsy send
you the breakfast table comm3ts
npon it ,.allinSit no more clear than
the paragraph which You print i'll the
same columns, and which furnishes
the material for all the talk If they
would always confne themselves to
the event thus recorded, there would
be no harm doue. But thcalmbition
to do move leads to some practices less
innocent; and when facts flil, and
philosophers are stubborn, invention
is summoned to the ai1 of tho CORES
ponlent, and his intellect makes sad
havoc with his morality and con
science. flow to 1nVent hc finds
much ea pr than'' how to observe, .
or even chow to think" TO observe
is expensive, and to hhink fatig'7ing.
Ne have Hamlet's assurance, 'indi
reetly, that nothing is more easy thar
lying; and then, too, there is such /
charm in originality, that one sool
gets rcconcile.rto slight inaccuracies
nay, to large inaccrtracies--in thu
precious pleasures which accrue from
ones own exercise in the arts Of fiction
One of the greatest passions III thi
poor country OF OURS is to provok
astonishment; but the effort is Il Yer.
cheap one 1t employs so little art
The astonishing thing is that, with