Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-11-20
THH MAN WHO TOLLS;
BY THE BLUFF rArLER.

LIAM poRN TO TOLL.
Without the slightest shadow, of doubt
we are the greatest people the sun in its
splendor shines upon or the stars in their
sport wink at; and the Mississippi Val.
ley is the longest, the broadest, the grand.
est, the loveliest, the most picturesque
and most fertile valley in the land. No
wonder is it, then, some of our ingenious
expounders of Genesis, full of imnscu-
late wisdom and empty of impetuous ire,
tell us blandly and sweetly that toll was
inflicted as punishment on man and
hence we may find acres-sy, whole
tracts--covered with the golden blossom
of the dog fennel, and feel the soft sum
mer wind waiting in our faces cloud upon
cloud of the silvery thistle-down. Yet,
Notwithstanding our greatness and gran.
deur, ard the broad ideas of those latter
day Davids who "play on harp of g
thousand strings" man it seems is born
to toll, and to turn all things on earth to
fit use and advantage. Hence be is
endowed with an acute mental orgsniza-
tion and forcible physical formation
which enable him to execute and effect
everything necessary for his convenience
and happiness. 1t does not appear
quite clear that the Great Maker
intended man should live otherwise than
by toll, producing wealth by the sweat of
his face and wisdom by the cultivation of
bis brain. We find him possessing
power to subdue the soil and make it
yield fruits in abundance; smartness to
wander over trackless seas and mount
their billows in vessels constructed by
his own hands ability to catch the
breeze in sheet of common canvas and
turn it to q gentle propelling agent; skill
to concentrate a volume of steam in
metal tube and cause it to keep myriad
little and big machines in motion; in
genuity to rake the briny bay and the rip
pling rill and force them to pay tribute
to his table shrewdness to trap the wild
game Of the air and of the woods and
convert them to his own comfort and
economy; intelligence to use the sun,
moon and stars as time.tellers, the north
pole as a needlepost the lightning 90 a
messenger of news that speeds quicker
than thought oyer hill and dale, down
ravine, up mountain, across rivers, through
the ocean, around the world Truly
there is something in all this light and
force akin to the creation of earth, with
its varied beauties and peculiarities of
cline, its gentle and rugged ways, its tenn
pests and its cslms, it's snowaakes sndits
sunshine. Nothing seems to be asi.ay
or needless, but everything ccmpact and
perfect, ready to be put Into useful action
under proper guidance and practical in
formation. This condition of man, liable
to learn almost any art and to overcome
almost every obstacle, surely excludes the
idea comm among expounders of holy
and unholy writ that toll was inflicted
on him as terrible punishment, fraught
with sorrow and gloom, bitterness and
desrth. To be sure there is very sslu-
tary lesson in the simple fact that viola
ton of either divine or human law, or a
disobedience of either paternal or SER
viceable superiors, is followed by some
sort OF evil but one cannot readily re-
conoile the abuse of the words addressed
to Adam, "cursed is the ground for thy
sake" and the lsudation of the words ad
dressed to Cain, "a fugitive and vsga-
bond shalt thou be in the land, upon any
ground except that idleness is greater
than industry, that wild spirit is better
than tame one, or that savage life Z
superior to civilizsd society. Thee is no
evidence in the record of " oses that Adam
was reconstructed after his fall, if be ever
fell; ans hence one may reasonably sup
pose that an allwise and benevolent
Providence purposely made man to cul-
tivate the earth and subdue it, and that
the Garden of Eden is q very handsome
figure of an age of innocence and de-
pendence preceding an age of manhood
and indepandsnce-au age when the
mind is able to think and the body is
able to work, and the creature, made
after the image and likeness of the
Creator, goes forth in his majesty TO
conquer the tborns and thistles Of nstu
raj growth, to copy after the lovely aud
useful works Of creation, to draw beauty
from beauty and force from force, to ex-
pand the intellect and grspple With ev-
erything terrestrial, TO turn the unshspes
into shape, and show that be combines
the cunning of ell animals with the SOU
of an angel.