Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1875-12-17
LITERARY TuLTURE

p
is great deal in q name. The very term
literary culture" sounds in the ears of
unread and unreading people like the title
of some learned profession which it is too
late in life for them to begin. d.. SEAS
showed keen appreciation of the situa-
ton when he selected tine title Of his lee
ture. jThe doctor prefaced his address,
and we should like to preface ours, though
perhaps not 30 asreeably with this inci-
dent. About year ago literary man Of
wealth and refinement and with mind
better stored with general kno Wedge,
snd better llgment in utilizing it in con-
sessslion tor the profit and delight of 9th
~ rs. than that of any one twas. ever. our
ortune to meet, came to Staunton with
With his family to reside. In conversation
.'ie day after several months residence here
80 gave u condensed opinion of US this
way, your people are full of energy, good
IA ierS aud work, i generous people and
ri-ndly people, but they have read 80 lit
10 that their minds have hardly gotten
ntsi lie of the mountains around them -
I''>o 60 CiO OPiuiOl VI uO PulCiy AuCAoAy
nind fer which, by some sort of delusion
'ur practical bu siness man has sort Of
kindly pity, as something that can't he
of any real use, but Of the mind Of man
who had so successfully done business as
to accumulate large wealth. OF course we
will all denounce this lmpertinent s1rang-
er who is, fortunately for himself far be-
yond our reach for what Mr.. MANTILINI
would call his s'demnition frankness" but
all the same, many Of us will feel guilty
The human mind is too restless to remain
still. If the right sort Of fo d is not CIV
en- it will still have some if it, has to have
tine wrong sort. Pc 'ple who do not read
books and have no new thoughts or new
characters to talk about pick up the acts
tnd characters of their neighbors. There
is nothing surer than that minds that are
narrow and unread will seek employment
in gossip, and gossip invariably lowers the
character of the community. The worst of
if it does not grow broader it grows narrow
er and without healthy food dwarfs until
you might hold it between your thumb and
fore finger. With narrow minds people
lose money--an argument which is all
powerful with some people. Great bust
ness opportunities 90 past them without
there knowing it and small opportunities
also. S'ignorance is mortlfying to even
nlravaricc rs we'll AS t, our pride. For
it does mortify our pride more than Wa
like to confess Success in business, the
Injuries IF life, prominence ii, the com mi
nifty cannot put us on II level with the
man who has broad cultured mind. We
may, and often do affect tn hold his sac
cnmplishments." as we view them, in light
regard tut we do not conceal fro II our
selves our sense of inferiority. These men,
whom we can only envy, have thatw thin
themselves which is sufficient to their con-
tentmenC !; something that no reverseS in
.heir affairs can take away from them, that
rima does not pail and that increases with
,ge. In the family circle, literary Culture
is beyond any agent for producing refine
melt and if allied to Christianity presents
the nearest approach to perfection that
is attainable on earth. Reading children =
rot those book worms with morbid and
Unnatural ap.'etites which we sometimes
see in childhood; and reading parents-not
siterati, combine to form the happiest char.
,cter of family circle that the human i'm
gination can picture. Education is no
substitute for this thing Of literary cul-
ure. 1t only breaks up the ground and put
il seed leaving lis to till it every day Of
'ur manhood. What we get at school and
College does not stay with us but is soon
consigned to oblivion with the memory of
'ur school days. How many of us twenty
ears rem wed from youth have not substi
tuted d different education for the one we
eceived then. How many men of us read
'r even thi TX Of the classics that were the
burden of those days?
We are glad to sne that DR.. SEARS with
admirable Judgment addressed himself
Tuesday night to the audience Def re him,
not to a literary audience. which is the
failing of 50 many men in his positio Il hat
tread SO famlliaIly the higher walks Ut
literature that they { ,rget that their hear.
ers are not prep ,r'd to follow and puzzle
and confuse them by keeping them
looking from the valley up to the heights
We regret that we are not able to give the
whole of his lecture with its cilaste dictian
mi wealth of learning bat as it is. cur
readers will find the majority of his
thoughts and suggestions in readable form
Doctors theological education m do him
lean too strongly towards theolgy in his
list for a general reader, but in all the rest
We are gla d to accept his judgment.