Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1870-11-04
"SElF-MADE EiEN."
BY REV. H. 3. FRY
Delivered in Beerys' Fall Before the
Teachers Institute of Wyandot
Co, Friday Evening. Get. 20,
1870.
LADIES AND GENTLEAEN:


accuracy. There is always some.
thing incomplete i'll iigurative ex-
preston. We are in the habit OF
using figurative expressions about
persons whose fortune and charac
ter and abilities we discuss, without
knowing that they are waiting in
accuracy of definition or fuiness of
description. Thus how frequently
we speak of "self-made men," .'self
educated men" aud educated men,
and it may pe that for time our
words describe our meaning; but q
moments reflection must convince
any one, that the words arc vague,
and by no means a definition of the
thing. But it must he admitted that
this is the case with almost all our
definitions, they are but rough
sketches OF the minds conceptions
of things. In the most comprehen-
sive sense Of the words. no man is
"selfmade." We come into the
world endowed with forms, which
the constitutional order of things
compels us to accept; we are ma,le
after q model which is itself the
type of the race. . type for which
we know that the highest reason is
that its archetype exists in the mind
OF the Creator. Neither we nor our
fathers had any choice in the matter
neither where, when, by whom nor
how. we enter upon the conditions
of our earthly existence. Tbe bate
that smiles on all its surroundings,
and is ut ease. and pleased with its
conditions of existence, is as wise
as the philosopher Of three-score
years and ten who does the same
or the child who frets and is i'll at
ease may be called silly with as
much propriety as the aged man
who does likewise, for l imagine
that neither of them has much
choice allowed them, either as TO
what pains or pleases them. AS
animals, and as belonging to nature,
we are subject t the conditions and
laws of all natural things: assimila-
ton, affinity, nutrition. digestion,
respiration, health, disease and
death, are regulated for us by the
-sanle-i-ms, wi:icIrcgula,e and gov
era the life of plant or of an un
thinking animal, with only this diff
ference: tha these laws are for US
the forces Of an all embracing provi
dence. We talk OF free agency, but
free agency. except to our volitions.
is exceedingly limited. Our mo-
ton, our sensations, the perceptions
amd thoughts and emotions, tnat re-
suit from sensation, are largely due
to the inf fences OF the atmosphere
that encircles us, the light that
streams through it. or the waves Of
sound which agitate it, or the elcc
tricity which commingleS with ev
cry element, or to the agency which
causes hea t from latter in motion.
or gives motion to dust, or to stars
in distant heavens No man is free
and Independent OF the limits Of his
sentient existence He is subject to
the same vulgar necessities that iii
rect and limit the instincts of an or
dinary brute. Again man is largely
subject to circumstances, they curb
our desires, our appetites, and our
ambition. Man does not make cir
cumstances, they make hun, they
direct and control him: the wise
man, the cunning and the strong,
may take advantage of them, but
they must transpire before the AL
vantage is apparent. CircumStan-
ces which require much explanation.
will often account for the political
nd social condition of people
Take a nation isolated By deserts
aud mountains, and perhaps a thou
sand years will pass over it with
out any perceptible progress in its
social and political condition. The
climate. the physical and moral
cha acter of some people seem to
rnfit them for civil liberty. Indeed
the love for and maintenance of pop
uiar liberty, seems to depend on
circumstances in some measure Of
climate, of commerce, of habitation,
on great rivers and by great seas,
on popular education and a moral
and socia. condition which can only
be beg0tteu by christianity. There
are perceptible social differences,
between people Of the mountains,
and people of the plains, between
those who dwell in torrid, and those
who dwell in temperate zones, be
tween a commercial people and
pastoral peCple, and in fact almost
every avocation has some modify
ing influence on character which is
often observed to be even hereditary.
Why is it that the Beduin is to day
so unchanged-yet SO like the Ish
maelites who stood about Ishmael
wnen he "died in the presence OF all
his brethren ~ Why on the other
hand are the modern Greeks what
they are !: imbecile, capable only of
lighting in the mob, OF robbing the
wayfarer among their native Mills
and Of guarding their cottages by
savage dogs. and of eking out an
uncomfortable existence by ill direc-
ted and irregular toll! The isles
Of Greece are there still, there still
waves the classic sea stirred by the
breezes which delighted the elder
Greeks, there are Ida, and the hills
where dwelt the Gods, there are mon
lments OF the age of Pericles, there
are still the features of the Grecians, !
out the soul of old Greece is no
more. To explain these things we
must recount circumstances that
would fill volumes; and when l say |
/ do not mean for. 4