The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-01-29


strike, and was wound up every Sunday
morning" And when he dies his cpl
taph should be, ''here lies the body OF a
human machine, who did good from
force of habit" l have quoted from
memory and may not have gotten his
words exactly but think this is the
substance of them. Now do not agree
with the speaker that there are any men
that do good ''from force of habit" l
think it impossible in the very nature of |
things. But fortunate by far for this |
world, there is class who do good so |
uniformly, and whose lives are SO con- /
sistant with duty from day to day, that
they may seem to edo good from force |
of habit;" and L think the proposition |
is calculated to take from that class |
some of the credit the world has hereto
fore given them, and which l think they
richly deserve, hence / notice it."
Now this is certainly not the pbT1seOL-
ON or the grammar of Judge Spohord,
and conveys no correct idea-if it does
not miss the matter entirely-Of what
the Speaker did say. The words were
on this wise; ",rhe man who is Virtu-
Gus from the force of habit alone, is
like Dutch clock" etc. The character
of this man was drawn with no uncer-
tain coloring, and was rounded of with
the inscription that SHOULD be placed up
on his monument: "Here lie the re-
mains of "A human machine that did
good from the force of habit" This
was the picture in the background, and
was only one of several drawn by the
| Speaker in contrast with that of the
| truly vi-tuous man-the roof and crown
of creation. The Speaker was hurting
as keen a lance as was ever thrown at
! that routine virtue and huHldrans piety
oil tho VaoVanny-Qn nnmam0n in
| these days, and upon which so many
''goOd easy souls" repose with infinite
com placency. The picture was that Of
a man who has attained the appearance
of virtue and having reached that height
If it be a height-stopts there, but re-
peats these acts until the routine is per-
| feet, and then continues to repeat them
''from the force of habit alone" He
i may wear all the robes of virtue; he
may give an aims here, and charity
there but,the impulse ofh humane heart
attuned to deep sympathies, goes out
with neither, but remains untouched
and unmOVed. His routine aims
flow from the "force of habit and falls
cold and cherries as ''icicles swept from
the eaves.' That was the "Duteh clock
wound up, and tick, tick, on to the
striking point from the "foPce of habit, y
and nothing more. Does Sylvanus COM
plain of the epitaph?
But Sylvanus says in the extract
above: 'fNOw do not agree with the
Speaker that there ore any men who dc
good from force of habit" OF course
not, and the speaker said nothing of the
kind. On the contrary his shaft was
thrown at that seeming virtue, which in
fact is not virtue, but the mere hollow
product of the ''force of habit" And
as SylvanGs denies that any one can dc
good 'from force of habit,'' that leaves
no controversy between him and the
speaker on that point. The Speaker
only drew a character which does not
exist in the experience or in the philOs-
ophy of SylVanus. But how is that
| think many persons imagine, at leasl
that they have seen some few men whose
virtue is largely adqlterated with rOu-
: tine actions gone through with, "frOn
the force of habit" if not the sole pro-
duct of it. propose no metaphysics
consideration of the point, but as Sylvia
nus quotes from Webster as authority
l will refer him to the word "routine"'
in that book wherein that great mar
; seems to think that some things may bS
done "from the mere force Of habit"
But again, Sylvanus pans out II
, / lengthy reasons to prove that there il
some virtue la acquiring good habits, be
] NuheS ~ may "COsb AAGAOlC C4AOlb W az
quire them" Very well, then there il
! certainly no controversy between hin
and the speaker in reference to the vir.
tue of "heroic effort" l rather thinl
the speaker would have commended thi
"heroic effort" If it had come in hi
way, but the thing that did come in hi
way was routine repetitiOns of the act
ions long after the "heroic effort haC
ceased, and he thought it sort Of
J Clutch clock" business. The speaker
, went upon the idea that there are sever
al classes of men, neither few nor fee
BILE, whose virtue consists mainly in thl
acts they do from the mere "force o
T habit" and get credit in the world anC
upon their monuments, as for the gen
uine article. But Sylvanus seems tC
know nothing of these people.
/ too, listened TO the lecture with the
deepest interest, and grant that the
, speaker carried his audience into ere.
gions Of thought that were new" bu
from the heaFty responses l think they
followed him there without difficulty
J 1t was a region Of thought for both sain
and sinner, the pure air of which it wa
"life to Breathe" | cannot give ever
the burden of the lecture, and any at
tempt TO do so would prove futile. car
only say that it inoulcated that higher
, virtue that springs from the impulse Of
a pure heart, IN harmony with the Uni
verse in the largest sense, and in com
munion with God. That virtue that de-
N ponds on the frame of mind and the
style of the soul, rather than on the per
formanee of routine actions that have
I the semblance of virtue bat not the life
The man who does good and loves viT.
tue for its own sake was the ultimate
picture drawn by the speaker, and its
bpanty thrilled and fnapirn1 the fnrC
audience in a way that Is rarely accom-
plished. This picture i'm contrast with
the "Dutch clock and the keen lance
thrown therefrom, could not help bu
touch the tender cuticle Of those "goOG
easy SylUdR souls that love the shady
woods, love to rest there, and do thing
from the "force of habit" dreaming al
the time that they do them from the
force of virtue, and rppose upon then
as the highest good the human sonl car
attain.
The task of the present age is to in
, fuse higher life into the Thought anC
the ethics OF Christendom, and to fine
nobler virtues than those that spring
from the routine of duty or the "forcC
of habit" And to accomplish this end
earnest men everywhere are seeking fol
the truth in all the realms of nature anC
, inspiration from the depths OF the eartf
and the sea to the highest heaven. TIT
dreamy souls that are standing by anC
repOSing upon conclusions and belief
, of hundred years ago, and who love
""Hhe hollow Lotas-land of mind,
And live and lie reclined
On beds OF amoTanth aud molly,
STEPPED in slumber deep and holy,
And dream there is no JOY but calm.
Or list to what the minstrel sings
OF Ilium's gods or JGdah's Kings,
And Gilead's sacred BALM"
had as well wake up now and join thi
! march of mind ere they are swep
away as dried leaves in the au
tumn winds. REFLEXUs.
. Pulaski, East Hill.
I NOTE-eROUTIHE.-Any course of action o
procedure rigidly adhered 70 nom the mer
force of habit. WEBSTER