Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1874-08-27
The Advantage of Culture
READ AT OAK HILL INSTITUTE BY
G. W. MERRELL
Ladies and GenAemen:

eve: ing, to lead you off upon tht
fanti-d wings Of eloquence, or af
lect your minds IN the least by {
display Of rhetorical flights. Blu
be Ii mine un this occasion merely
to endeavor toimpress upen You
minds slate of facts, and by the
way cast my mite, however small
it be, in attempting to aggregate
IA plain and simple statement of
the many advantages gained by
culture. But in so doing. it is
necessary that we first take cat
egorical view of the past, and up
on the wings OF imagination let
cur minds glide back to the time
when man was hurled from the
elysian fields of bIissful paradise,
driven from the presence of his
God, and deprived of the holy
fountains and consecrated bowers
Of Eden and from that great fail
in the history of man trace him
up through the dark ages to the
present day, and we will see that
for years man remained closed in
the dark dungeons of ignorance
and superstition, and that centu-
ry after century rolled by, mere
ly converting time into eternity.
But amid all the obscurity, there
existed in man a pride that at
last prompted him to burst the
bonds Of despotism, ana open his
genial mind for the reception of
science and the culliA alton of i'm
mortal truths, and from that day
the arts and scieRces have slowly
yet steadily been moved onward,
by that agent, eBitiYation, until
to day we are blessed by its fruits.
So from an investigation OF the
worlds progress To The present
day, it presents ftselfSto US as it
came from the hands of the Gre
ator, as being a vast musical in-
strument with every string in
tune; but after the advent of sin
into the world the melody was
strangely disturbed, strings bro
ken, and many discordant notes
entered the once perfect harmo-
ny, but there is now abroad in the
ard a skillfui tuner called educa,
ton, that is fast improving the
jarring diScords by the continued
turn Of his magical hammer
cultivation.
True culture we understand TO
be that mighty fountain which
must water every part OF the So
;ial garden or its beauty withers
and fades away. 1t 8 the single
avenue, narrow at first but gradu-
ally widening, which all must
travel who would desire to arrive
1t usefulness and prosperity. 1t
is that great power beneath whose
influence thrones, dominions and
Jrincedoms have trembled, malice
been broken, tyranny ceased and
iespotS fallen. 1t is the control
ling OF human actions, thoughts
lnd feelings; it hews off the rough.
er parts, calms the raging winds
Of passion, soiIens the feelings and
makes the actions consistent; it
lecorates society with jewels far
more precious than gold, dia-
nonds or ruLies; in the parIor, in
he home circle,in the school-room, |
n the church, and, in a word, ev-
,ryWhere it has welded an in
iuence and left its impression.
t has been the means,by which
We have been educated, for not
outstanding the invention of |
was assisted by Deity, |
was after years Of gradual de-
and Improvement |
hat it arrived at its present per-
ection, for we learn that there |
vas a time when perhaps the in
erection was the only partsof |
.peech, from the reason thatmen,
however savage and ignorant of |
he use of words, would attempt |
o employ ordinations for the |
of expressing their sud-
len emotionB.a so among the |
Early races S6f men it seems
probable that there was much |
ess said than at the present day, |
or their means 9Of distinguish
ng objects was imperfect, their
sentences shorter, fewer and |
simpler than ours; but as sue
,essive advances, however, have
)een made,zandssit was found |
hat natural intercourse was a
source Of great pleasure. men
lid not copfne themselves SIM
by to what was necessary to
communicate, but impaired free
y to each other thoughts that