Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1874-01-08
WHAT MAKES 4 MAN

WHAT MAKES 4 MAN!
Plato, one of the greatest of ancient philos-
ophers, defined man to be two'lcgged animal
without feathers. Diogenes, to demonstrate
the absurdity of this definition, picked the
feathers off d chicken cock and brought him
into the lecture room of the philosopher and
turned the creature loose, saying-"There
yoes the man of Plato" In geological
point of view, the definition of Plato was ri
diculously absurd but in some respectsit was
not as great bluuder as the cynic made it ap-
pear
We do not propose to treat of man in re-
spect to his ethnology. This aspect of the
subject has been under consideration for cen
turies by such men as Viroy, Kant, Button,
Hunter, Agassiz, Pickering, Morton, Craw-
ford and Darwin. Whenever these men agree
among themselves, we may attempt to form
some opinion as to whether there is only one
race ofmen, or sixty-threc, according to Mr..
Burke.
In practical point of view, we would ask,
what does it take to make man? This
question, like many others, can be easiest an
swered negatively. What then, is not neces-
sary to make great and useful man? 1t is
not necessary, we answer, that he be huge
giant. Alexander the Great was small in
stature, and so was Napoleon. 1t is true that
when we hear of all individual accomplishing
great things, We are apt to think of him as
some huge Goliath of Gath; but in this we
are often greatly mistaken. A huge monster
once sarcastically said to Alexander II. Ste
phens, that if he were CREASED he could swal-
low him. Stephens replied that, in that
event, he would have more brains in his stom-
ach than he ever had in his head. 1t takes
something besides two hundred and fifty
pounds of animal carcass to make a man.
ut is the mind," says the immortal Watts,
"that makes the man." This is one Of those
ambiguous expressions that we often meet
with, that are both true and false. With GER
tain restrictions, it is true that it is the mind
that makes the man, and without these, Watts
himself presents good illustration that some
thing else besides pure intellect is necessary
to make a man. No doubt there were, in the
empire, many individuals superior to Alcxan-
der, so far as pure intellect was concerned
but there was in the whole empire but one
Alexander the Great. Possibly, South Car
olina has had many sons who were mentally
equal to John c. Calhoun but for the want
of something they went down to their graves
unknown by even their nearest neighbors.
In order to make man, the individual
must be properly organized. There must be
clear and active intellect; heart that can
feel, and will that is able to put both the
intellect and sensibilities into action. The
reason that so many individuals fail to make
men, in the proper sense Of the word, is be-
cause they are defective in will. To be
man, all the attributes Of humanity must be
properly balanced. Where there is strong
intellect and weak sensibiities and will, we
have an empty dreamer; where the scnsibili-
ties are highly developed and the intellect
and will dwarfed, we have a creature that
cries at every thing, and that is all he does
or tries to do When we have strong will
and little intellect and sensibilities, we have
a stubborn creature that will go no way but
his own, and that way is always wrong.
The nervous system must be properly ad-
justed. This gives energy and endurance.
We see this in brutes. A spirited horse will
60 farther in day, rest sooner when tired,
and last longer, than stupid creature that
has to be goaded on with whip and spur.
Just so it is with the human family. Those
creatures that want spirit, or pluck, or energy,
or whatever it may be called, never will make
men. They will drag along through this
world, or rather be dragged along through it,
and no one will be bettered much by their
passage. Men, however, with moderate
amount of well-balanced sense and pluck,
will succeed in nine cases out of ten. We
might change the declaration Of Watts and
say, "It is the pluck that makes the man."
There would not, perhaps be as much poetry
in this as in the expression, cit is the mind
that makes the man" but more truth.
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