Indiana American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1865-1872, 1868-09-04

motive.
Motive is the soul Of being, the main.
spring of action, the foundation stone
upon which the whole structure Of true
nobility il reared, the fountain from
which emanates good or evil. IL is til,
seed in the soul, from which springs leal
aud bud, ful.-Slown flower aud ripened
fruit. II is legacy from Deity, the gift
Of God to every created intelligence. /,
is the pivot upon which is poised the en-
tire machinery Of human movement, the
lever that elevates the character Of the
world.
Worthy motives, honest inten tons, and
noble aspirations after good, are the rich.
est possessions Of the soul. The indiyid.
ual who dares to do right. and leave the
result with his Maker, who prefers truth
to triumph, and that self.respcct arising
from pure motives, 70 any esteem the world
can render TO deserving actions, is the one
who nearest resembles Christ. Motive Is
the criterion by which our actions are TO
be judged, and upon which we are to be
accounted guilty or innocent.
No one can fail to SEQ the entire alb
sence Of virtue In any act, however good
il may appear, where the motive was sell.
fish aud unworthy. Ever since the time
that certain city was Inhabited by the
unjust Judge, who avenged the widow OF
her adversary, not FROM any motive to
right or love Of justice, but simply that
she might not weary him, we see the fact
clearly written, that all excellence lies in
the intention. Mankind Is oitentimes dc.
ceived, forgeis to look within his o,oa heart
to find what may be has olon motive for
action; so goes abroad to his neighbor,
may be his friend, and proclaims to the
world supposed wrongs, forgetting that IL
is God who sits in judgment, aud that
words idly uttered with no Just motive,
weigh with Him more heavily thaa ac-
tons, which may be open to the world,
having for their basis pure motives com
ing from those who have never known sus-
p on but have looked upon ali the human
family as children Of one family, there
fore friends, brethren.
Some names are always uttered with a
blessing. Centuries ago, we find Joan OF
Are, an humble servant, yielding to the
impulse of a mighty motive, and flying to
her country's rescue. Since then great
men have lived and died; Kingdoms have
been overthrown, and their rulers forgot.
ten; noble utterances have been lost in
the surge of ages; the clarion of trumpets
has sofIened TO dying sigh; lofty thought:
have been whirled away ike falling leaves
but her love for her Lative France, her
faith and truth, were stronger than they
all; and so long as that sunny land shall
remain, her noble daughter shall live in
deep, grateful remembrance.
Howard, whose life was one of human
ity's most touching, beautiful poems, who
unselfshly spent bis days in the unwhole.
some depths of earth's prison. houses, now
sleeps beneath the daisies; but one Of the
largest places in the worlds great heart is
given to him who labored so assiduously
for the good of the erring. No Night
ingale ever warbled sweeter song than
she, the burden of whose lay and life was,
relief to the suffering; who, giving her
to her brother, went out from her luxu-
rious home to minister comfort to the dis
tressed, cheerfulness to the disconsolate,
consolation to the dying. Where she
moved among the mangled mass, the NOR
al atmosphere seemed pure as the breath
of an angels lips. Those whose every
word and thought had been impure, breath.
Il - Al -. hloonb ann ,han sha was =, 90
Ears that had been deaf to every appeal
to their better natures, were unstopped tc
her gentle voice, and hearts that had been
filed with bitterness now pulsated with
gratitude.
Will the name Of Dorothea Dix soon
be forgotten by those who, during the
late struggle Of our beloved country foi
the maintenance and perpetuation of The
liberties bequeathed US by our forefath
ers, took their lives in their hands and
went forth to do or to die? Many brave
noble American women, with her, from Q
pure motive gave themselves to the relic
Of devoted soldiery.
Washington fought his couptry's bat.
ties, and when the highest gift in the ma
tons power was his, would receive bu
the just recompense Of his services, and
the regards Of nation have been waited
to him in Heaven. When Henry Clay
said he "would rather be right than to be
President" he added brighter star TO
his crown, than IL he had swayed the
sceptre Of the world. Abraham Lincoln
because he was natures nobleman in Civ
ing his thoughts and name to paper
which gave liberty and freedom to four
millions Of people whose lives had been
spent in seryitude, acted from no motive
of self-aggrandizement, but because man
has no right to enslave his brother man,
aud his great free born soul could not rest
in his high position as Chief Executive OF
a free people. until oil were indeed free.
Ho for more than fossoyears bore the
anathemas OF mass Of his countrymen,
because, from love Of right and justice,
he dared to act in accordance with his
convictions of duty. To-day he is en-.