Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-10-07

I Cinclnnatus to drive the Acqui and The
II Nolscie from the gates Of the city, he
was found in the peaceful pursuits of his
], fields. $500. -
When not to be a Roman was to be a
bondsman,- at least TO the extent of paying
tribute at the dictation of her imperial au
3 thOrity; and when to be Roman, was to
/ be stamped with the birthright of superior
: ty; Even as Paul said when demanded to
state who he was-replied, 81 am Roman. y
she gathered her strength and filed the
ranks OF her incarnate legions from those
rural districts, made immortal by the verse
of Virgil.
When Hannibal seeking to redeem the
oath administered by his father, hung
around her tanks for three years, and thun-
dered at her gates, she alone found her SAT
ETY. In leyies drawn upon her agricultural
districts, who, under the lead of ScipiO, bore
her banners in that grand flank movement
made upon Carthage, and thus relieved her
gates. But when she ceased to respect the
rights of her husbandmen and look to them
as the sinews Of her strength; the pretor-
can soon soon stood guard over her bloated
officials,-as the vulturous centurion fed
upon the vitals of her promethean strength.
When she became to love the luxury and
display OF the city and discarded the toll
and simple frugality of the country. When
the philosophy Of Cato, was abandoned
for that of Sardinapolis; and the odes of
Horace, spiced with a lascivious twang
found more relish with her Maecenas, than
the sweet and simple Bucolics of Virgil; il
was an indication of the triumph of the vice
Of the Citizen, over the virtue of the has
bG1admen which gradually but surely paral-
lied her strength, until the Goth and Vandal
shouted defiance in her very temple,-and
with a jackall cry, seized and devoured the
prey Of the dead lion.
This stroke of the barbarian gathering
strength and volume as it swept from the
borders of the North Sea, over the Rhine
and the RhoRe, into the cultivated fields of
Italy, destroyed their land-tenures, and
blighted their fields, until, in lieu of grain,
the wild grass grew rank upon the beautiful
Campagna.
There was more of all, that advanced CT
vilization, and elevated the human race in
the well cultivated '1ten dcresn of each agra
rian, around Rome, than was found in after
time in the vast uncultivated estates of
more Northern feudal lords, and more of
the true philosophy of our race, asserted in
the simple, quiet and independent walks of
those old self-reliant Romans, who cultiva-
ted their Latian farms in times of peace,
and mustered beneath their eagles for de-
| fence in times of danger, than was found
in the Pageants Of their proud Tarquius, or
| in the tramp of her incarnate legions.
HusbandTy abandoned, sickly senti-
mentality sprang up, destroyed her strength,
! and opened the doors of her ramparts to the
I invading Northman. The chase supplanted
the harvest as a means Of supply-the cas-
! tie became a barracks, and the mailed
! knight strobe with his armorial bearings
! over the necks of his covering serfs. In the
/ long dark night which followed the going
down of this sun of civilization, the i'm
| plements Of husbandry, together with the
| art of agriculture, were well nigh lost to
man.
I But at last the religious zeal Of Peter the
Hermit aroused his slumbering energies,and
! pushing crusade into the then more culti-
waited regions of the east, gathered by con-
tact, the various Improvements of other
peoples; which, when applied by the hardy
virtues of the northern races, developed a
progress in art and agriculture, that has
since lost no step in its onward march upon
the fields of Europe and America. And
now it holds at its bidding mechanical and
manufacturing industry, and the sails of
expanded commerce, floating the products
and demand may invite.
Not to theOrize as speculative transcen- |
dentalist, in regard to the origin and destiny !
of "that vital spark Of Heavenly fame" /
which so beautifully lights up our - earthly !
tabernacles," let us in obedience to that in |
junction Man, know thyselff' take for |
moment a practical glance at our physical |
selves. Man is not only given, as a part Of |
the economy of his nature, the senses Of I
sight and touch, of hearing, tasting and I
smelling, each independent of, yet harmoni- !
Ously combining and co.opeTatingalone for !
his happiness; but to subserve and further |
utilize these gifts. He has the power of lOcom- |
OtiOn; this power brings into requisition !
what has been termed ritdlizad eTergy. I
And what is this, but the power Of physical !
exertion, the capacity for labor? |
By daily observation, We see in man, this /
energy, strengthened and toned, or weak /
ened and impaired, each of which effects
has a cause; the one, traceable to the amount
and quality of food we consume, which is
converted in that mysterious laboratory
with which nature has provided us, into a
combustion that produces and feeds that
energy; while the other is the result of that
wear and tear which consumes the tissues
Of our bodies.
uOI ulci dlll SAudlsllNt cNcTClot ulSiu
tegrate and destroy these nervous tissues,
while nutritious food and rest win reproduce
and tone them.
The soldier, in time Of active warfare, re-
quires more rationS than when listening to
the pipe of peace around the inactive bar
racks.
The ploughman takes, with sweeter relish,
a more liberal diet than the sedentary phil
osopher.
- 1t has been truly and beautifully said,
that food is to the animal what fuel is to
the engine. only an animal is much more
economical producer OF work than an en-
gine.'
If then, the food we eat is a source OF
this vitalized energy, whence does this food
draw its yitalizing and energizing proper
ties?
If our diet was exclusively vegetable, no
intermediate inquiry need be made, but as
ours is a somewhat carnivorous race, We
might pertinently ask, whence is derived the
vitalized energy of those animals used as
food, that we have transferred to our own
systems? The response would be-" from
the vegetable food which they consume.-'
Are We not led then to conclude, that
the source Of that energy, which expresses
itself through the locOmotion of our frames,
is either directly or INDIRECTLY derived from !
that vegetable kingdom, which so readily
yields to the appliances Of husbandry?
What, then, occurs to produce this vegeta-
bic matter, and what takes place in It's life
and Death? This presents the most attrac-
tive and beautiful field, along whose flow
cry paths the philosopher Of nature may
tread on science at every step.
Those wonderful chemicals, heat and
moisture, light and air, silently and steadily
working in the earths great alembic, pro
duce most mysteriouSly and beautifully,
those plants which contain the source of
that life-energy, that excites and moves
animated creation. The little seed, dropped
from the pollen Of the flower, and buried
for season, in the earth's vast charnel-
house, while the white shroud Of winter
lies chilly as a marble slab, at the door of the
sepulchre, until, in spring-time, the genial
rays, sent as angelic messengers from the
day-god, upon missions of mercy, melt it ! ,
away-is aroused from its sepulchral sleep,
and bursting the cerements of its tomb, ex-
tends downward its spiral tubes with which
TO drink nouTishment from mother earth;
while its stamen gradually pushes its way {
upwards, until, kissed by the warm love- i
light, it bushes into beauty. (How typical ,