Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1873-07-24
For tha Advertiser.
Lights and Shadows.

Lights and Shadows.
This is emphatically a world of
contrast; the curtain that shuts out
light brings in darkness; a smile iH
absence is substituted by tear;
the beauteous flower that unfolds its
tiny petals to the rising sun, is, at
the same time, encircled with thorns.
| All harmonies, whether in the physi-
cal or moral world, rasult from diff
ference Of tones and aspects show
ing that variety in human expert
ence, as in other things, is essential
to beauty aud utility. These marked
changes are conducive to the devel-
opment and expansion Of man physi-
cally, mentally and morally; for
crises must be presented to him be-
fore his faculties can be sensible for
anv high and noble purpose times
in which every energy is to be rem
dered plastic by exercise; when the
frame is to be hardened by honorable
toll whe2 the intellectual powers
are to be strengthened by a laudable
ambition; then deeds Of individual
heroism will illuminate the whole
man, and make him embody, i'll at,
tractive form, the excellencies Of
genuine manhood. Every fash OF
the Divine Spark in. the soul is but
the occasion for the waking up Of the
natural powers from passive stat
and every awakened capacity, in The
very act of its awakening, begins y
struggle against natural vices and
inclination; but with moral power,
perpetuAlly energizing, and The think
ing principle, in ceaseless motion, the
developed powers Of man will strive.
with untlaunted zeal, to rebuild the
demolished edifce Of human gran
deur-to enrich it with furniture
from the handiworks Of the Great
Architect Of natqre-and to adorn it
with all the brave ideals of virtue
We, by no means, say that dark
periods of incessant toll, in every in
stance, exemplify the statement. Con-
stancy of labor may deprive man Of
those facilities for intellectual pro-
sress which intervals Of leisure might
afford. Cold penury or the chilling
breath of calumny may freeze the
genial current of the soul; the ethe-
real fires of genius may be extin-
guished III the gloom of an unsym-
pathizing world; and imperial pur-
Piles and fabled ancestries may be
narcotics to many gigantic Intellect,
who might have been the moving
star to guide the nations to deeds OF
usefulness and undying glory.
The instruction Of the world has
been carried on by sacrifice. A wri-
ter-no less renowned than VIM. G.
Preston-remarks, that, as you in
crease the circle of light, you in
crease the circle of surrounding dark
ness" and SO, as you widen the area
of positive knowledge, you widen
the boundaries of positive Ignorance.
How contracted the scope of intel
lectual exertion ! How restricted
the possible boundaries of knowledge
Man may, with Hugh Miller, Gull
many gem from coral caverns, and
sum up this old engine earth OF ours
he may with Herschel keep an un-
broken vigil on the watch-towers OF
science, and blidle with all eclipse
the celestial horse" he may walk,
with the grand old masters of poetry,
around many a classic fount, and
: snatch the bay and ivy from the fin
gers of the Goddess of Literature on
many Parnassian height. Even
then, he is heard exclaiming in the
bitterest agonies, low little we know
How little we know
Dalton's theory of chemical combl-
nation may lead you into the atom
world, and the microscope may reveal
to human vision the teeming animal
cul@ that collect in a drop of water
and yet. do they disclose their origin
their variety Of motions, perceptions
and appetites?
Newton's law of gravity may ex-
press, in few lines, the dynamlcS OIL
the universe, but does it attempt to
explain the circumvolution of the
multiplied systems of worlds, with
orb within orb, and cycle within cy'
Gle, around some central sun afar of
in space? Or the telescope assay te
trace ! the fading of stars to faint
nebul@? -"Ossa will have to be pilec
upon Pelion in the grand arena o
thought" before the arcana of nature
n will yield TO the human mind, or.tht
: absolute First Cause come within th'
scope of the flights of transcenden
talism.