The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-02-23


Among the lectures which serve Horace
Greeley as pretexts for exhibiting himself to
people who mistake distortion for genius, and
eccentricity. for greatness, is one ON self-made
men. The very title Of the lecture proves
the incompetency of its author to deal log-
callv and extraordinarily with its theme. The
nbrase. ose,f. made men which Mr.. Greeley
az 80 - s...,,,,5 hand IL the invention Of ona
~ ne most shallow. iuiune and beccarly
tr;,,es NJ literary adventurers. There never
was sucb a thing as a self-made man. There
never can be such thing, any more than
there can he such a thing as a self-m ,de
oyster or a self.made elephant The idea is
;mnossible. IT involves the confusion of
manufacturer and product; and the result of
that is-nothing. Both self. creation and self
existence. though exploited TO the utmost
stretch of abstraction. are inaccessible to the
unaided human reason. Everything that is
objective to the mind presents itself as the
resnlt Of anfecedent and contemporarv con5;-
!. !, -. = -.
uons' whether IL NC nian VI surnip'
steam-engine or penny whistle the sublime
s+ra;rs of noat,c cav;us or The slavar;po
- 80
drlvel OF the idiot; the ETHEREAL ana GENIAL
humor of Ella and Boz or the malignant and
-, :;....f uo.,..1.h. sta.as,,.,,,,,;., ,e
pfutsi JioeS "a NasDy 'lo s'a'e'nian'niP VI
Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison,
or t,a ,,ol;t;caJ roonon,ania and cbarlata,rv
y. - -,,.,,.N- 60
OF a Greeley, a Philllps, sumner bow lar
the human will, in its free agency, is able to
d;rect or modify individual manifestation
49, - ~-N : -.s-1'
labor, and destiny, is one OF those unfathom-
able questions on whose borders angels NAV
.oax.a1,, 5ara IN tread Pit tla o,arot;o,, &c
"ANy .~ Fs.- "a
the VIII itself, as an element OF character,
n,ust he euhsurned under sonoethino rr;or
- = .-,-
ana, thereiore' can not De Regarded as factor
of making Individuality
rhafact ;s NJ croa,ox, L;,,,so,f l,-,,o,rs a..
Aue i"o' a. vi oiee,eJ Ai'li'eIi AuooAS 'ne
bottom out OF his subject IN some remarks
with which he recently introduced his lecture
on self-made men before a Cincinnati audi
ence, and in which he assumes education to
be, humanity speaking, the basis ofindividual
and social development and progress. He
said, to quote his precise words
There was once a time when regarded all re-
loi.s % possDe, anu anoss mau,n Inc cImpass
fectiops. baeed on experience. have convinced me
Of The truth Of Whist the young reformer said, when
onss % hsrafcss s ca TOT
forces, and stand on the platform Of education for
ne million, not as me complement Q, reform,
der and speculate on social reform-on The rirht
placing and requirement. cfmen and women for the
., a. an terdsd a. bs,tIs ,nv mans lucy
the value Of the great changes which then CON
tenpiaeo, nave leo me 70 place tne greater IN
or The right training of men and women for the
battle of life; how TO act SO that the generations
Dnbisr s anI trusr and more esctvs f,r soaS
than those that are to be displaced. This seems
20 NE ,ne mos. wsd h interest y, mar concerns
what boldly and sharply our current systems Of |
higher educauon, not as absolutely unnt, but as
wucb larger realm Of usefuIness remains rsis'
lively unprovided for.
Now what is education2 1t is the sum Of |
all things which combine in educing per-
sen, and which must of course. be exterior |
to him. The utmost that he can do is to |
help the process by surrendering his faculties |
to it with willing mind. And in proportion |
as his faculties are large, and his disposition |
tractable and rightly ambitious, win his edu-
cation be broad, solid and wholesome. 1t |
does not follow that, because man has not
passed through college or university, he
is either self-made or uuedncated. Indeed,
oueptlv thrown obstacles in the wav of a