The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1875-09-02

OLD FOGYIsM, OR THE ONWARD MARCH
OF MIND.-At the request of many friends, DIR.
Flippo. of Baltimore, delivered his lecture on
sOld Fogyism, or the Onward March of Mind,'
at the Baptism Church, on Tuesday night. In
opening, he remarked that unlike his other lee
lures, the calculation of the subject chosen,
would directly assail no one, as he had yet to
find that man who would acknowledge himself
an old fogy, and that you might as well search
for man who considered himself a confirm
ed drunkard, as to try to discover one who be-
lieved that his ideas were behind the times. AZ
ter photographing the old fogy, the lecturer
gave picture of the schoolhouse in the days gone
by, when the only furniture that adorened the
classic department were slab benches and black
gum branches. The first, the children sat up
on. and the second, were laid on the children.
He, himself, was at that time one of the mar
tyrs to learning, and a lesson in geography he
would never forget, was the exact location Of
the old tree which had faithfully supplied the
timber for his jacket busting. He remember
ed, too the stern, ignorant old schoolmaster,
and the halo Of wisdom, which in his youthful
verdancy, he imagined lowered around the
empty old pate. He then constrasted this pur-
suit of knowledge under difficulties, with the
present luxuriant school rooms and college
halls. and he feared that this generation was
rather rushing into the other extreme, as it
was no uncommon sight to see scholar 60
ing homeward in the evening actually groan-
ing under the weight of the books in his arms,
and it was rather difficult to understan how
he could carry them in his head.
The old fogy motto of ''Never learn, never
forget" had fallen sadly into disuse, and its adj
vocatcs had encountered many difficulties in en-
deavoring to impede the Onward march of pro-
gress. Fulton with his steamer, Morse with his
telegraph, and Howe with his sewing machine,
have well nigh demolished the structure Of the
old fogy, and though in the incipiency of these
could not see" had been the only encourage
ment which the bold inventors had at fisft re-
ceived, yet in after times these same scoffers
were loudest in their plaudits of the triulnphs
of genius. In fashions, too, old fogy had en-
countered fearful adversary, and here he gave
and prospective, which quite convulsed the au-
dience, and a certain old bachelor, who never
bought a bonnet in his life, triedin vain to sup
press his self-congratulatlon at the review of
the perils he had escaped.
The onward march of mind had revolution
lied all systems except two. The first was
counting. No one had ever yet been able to i'm
prove ON the old style courtships, and no one
ever would be. The second was the plan of
the redemption. Through the long corridor of
centuries, it had descended to the present gen.
Grafton in all its pristine purity, and is the
same now as it has ever been and will ever be.
Amid the triumphs of genius, the progress Of
science, tie development of letters and the
perfecting of arts, it stands out in majestic
us lofty and sublime as when its
great originator marked out the plan with the
Cross of Calvary.
Like all of DR.. Flippo's lectures, this one
in the most useful information, and
was lnterspersed with many witty anecdotes,
and satirical hits. We 10 not remen1-
Der to have ever heard lecturer enter
tam an audience with more success, and
as he will, by special request, repeat his
popular lecture on s'Ice in the Puipit,'' to-
night, at the Baptist Church, we advise all to
attend. it will do them good, and we feel certain
that all will be more than repaid.