Smyrna times., 1875-10-13
VOLUME XXI.---NO. 90.
MS C eII0n e OMS.
Great Men.
BY REV. r. II. WILLIAMS.

the man pronouncing the Judgment. What
one man would call great, another might
regard as hardly above mediocrity. Then
men often esteemed great are so imper-
fectly developed, that they be giants in
certain qualities of their nature and be
dwarfs in all the rest. Whether these are
really to be CALLED great, will depend upon
the qualities which have this prominence
and the effect they may have upon other
traits of character.
The surroundings of men, the offices or
positions they fill, have given them a repu-
tatiOn for greatness, when any observing
man has seen that small men have often
filled positions of great prominence.
Leigh Hunt, speaking of Henry Sth and
Wolsey, says: "We have said more about
Wolsey than we intend to say about Henry
Sth for the son of the butcher was a great
man, and his master was only king
Henry, born prince, became a butcher;
WOlsey, butcher, became prince"
Since it is so difficult to pronounce cor
rectly upon true greatness, the opinions of
few distinguished men may be helpful to
us. Says Arnold: "The spirit of moral
thoughtfulness is the leading element in all
true greatness of character
"My faith," says De Quincy, "is that
great man may, by a rare possibility, be
an infdel, but an intellect of the highest |
order must build upon Christianity.n
Pascal says: Thought makes the great
ness of men,"
He only is great" says Lavater "who |
has the habit of greatness; who, after per-
forming what none in ten thousand could
accomplish, passes on like Samson and tells
neither father nor mother about it."
Machiavelli says: "The world is made
up of three orders of men-namely, those
who perceive with their own powers; those
who perceive when matters are explained
to them and those who do not perceive at
all The first of these are the truly great
men,"
Says distinguished author of our own
country: q 1t is easy in the world to live
after the worlds opinions, it is easy in
solitude to live after your own, but the
great man is he who, in the midst of the
crowd, keeps with perfect sweetness the
independence of solitude"
The origin of great men is often obscure,
which fact shows that greatness is not de-
pendent upon any favored condition in ,
life. Cations tables indicate that blood (
has much to do with the development of ,
greatness.
RFIf fenaV =
modern times had no ancestors who were ,
distinguished. The Roman historian tells !
OF distinguished man who rose up during !
the Jugurthine war, and said :" As to high &,
descent, however, let us not dissemble the .
TACT. An illustriOus ancestry casts ray of
splendOr around the virtues of the posses I
sOr; although at the same time it magnifies
the fOulness of every stain with which he :
Is polluted. have no images, they say, to +,
produce, and my nobility, if such it can be .
called, must be dated from myself. As if .
1t were more honorable to shade and sullv,
like them, the memory of our progenitors, :
than to lay the foundation of a name which =
was unnOticed before" !
The historian of Greece SAYS Of Athens: !
" Her great men stand alone None care 4
to ask who were their fathers, or whether =
they left any sons" i
The great Napoleon sent to ask the EN- o
peror Of Austria for his daughter in mar. e.
riage. The Emperor replied that he q
thought his daughter would consider his :.
nobility Of too recent date to be suit I;
able match for her. Napoleon replied, a
" Go tell your master, the Emperor of
Austria, that the difference between him :,
and me il this, that my nobility commences G.
in me, and that his ends in him. 6
To tell the ruling influence in the develop h
ment of greatness, is as difficult as to tell ;,
what is the predominating element in o
greatness. Some have special aptitude q
for that which has made them famous. h
Said a man of genius, :" cannot fiddle, >.
but l can make little village great city," q,
He could not fiddle, and probably could T
not learn to fiddle, but he could do some q
thing that required greater, nobler effort. h
"How had you the courage, Commo- n
dore Perry" said friend, "to pass from 8
your vessel to the Niagara in an open boat d
in the presence of the concentrated fire of q,
the enemy2' h
"Why," replied Perry, water is my a,
have always lived on the water. N
have no fear there; but | was once with h
Gen. Harrison, on land, in a battle with d
the Indians, and when / heard the war n
whoop, my hair stood on end. On land
am the veriest coward that ever lived"
Washington Irving entered as law stu m
dent, but in his 26th year her wrote Of him J.
self: 81 felt my own deficiency, and tf
of ever succeeding at the bar. n
| could study anything else rather than fa
law, and had a fatal propensity to Bellies d,
Lettres.n N,
The family of Disraeh entertained the d,
thought that he would be successful as 10
and were really alarmed when
n nasv his s,,faraef -, lifnrafsyro Thrx.