The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1875-11-19


flying at once the clear light of the sky,
and whatever spiritual meanings these
simple instincts associated Herewith,
has endured as a root-word of worship
for the whole Aryan race; in all its
branches the appellations of Deity are
waves of this primal sound, flowing
through all it's manifold and changing
religions with the serene transcendence
of an eternal law. Before their separa-
tion into different branches, the Aryans
must have developed rich mythology.
1t has been shown by recent researches
that the whole substance of the legend
ary religious ideas of Greece is but the
development, with exquisite feeling, of
primitive Aryan stock of names and
traditions, recognizable through eompar-
ison with the Vedic hymns. All the
names of antique fable have the same
Hindu affinity of Specification and or
igin. The Olympus of the Greeks is but
reproduction of the Hindu Olympus,
and the Iliad of Homer seems only an
echo of the Ramayana, Hindu poem,
in which Rama goes at the head of his
allies to recover his wife, who had been
carried off by the King Of. Ceylon. The
productivity of the early Hindu mind
was astonishing 1t exhausted most
forms of devotional mysticism and
subtle speculation. In its sphere, as a
distinguished scholar remarks, sit left
| its pupils little to learn from Zeno or
Aristotle, or the controversies of later
theology" 1t created one of the most
artistic languages and one of the richest
literatures in the world. It's poetic de-
velopment was prodigious. Its great
epics, the Ramayana and Mahabharata,
containing the one $4,000, the other
100000 lines, glow with luxuriance of
imagery still unsurpassed. GAIL" says
a recent writer on Oriental Religions,
''that this colossal people have dreamed
or done, in philosophy, mythology, eth
les, in Imagination or didactic thought,
is here transmitted into song"
And again, as scholars assure US,
names and traditions, found alike in In
dian Veda and Iranian Avesta, indicate
that these unknown fathers of our art,
science, and faith must have venerated
mountain plant, and used its sap as
symbol of life renewed through sacrifice;
that they believed in human deliverer,
who, after saving men from destruction,
had recognized their reviving forces
for social growth; in a human-divine
guardian of the world beyond this life;
and in true Aryan hero who slew the
serpent of physical and moral evil.
And so we learn how early and how
prophetic was mans sense of his unity
with the order of the universe, the idea
which it is the main business of all our
science and religion to make good.
In each of the great races typical
traits of character appear. The Teuton
and the Celt, though primarily from the
same stock, as we learn from the testi-
mony of language, differ in many lead
ing characteristics, and have so differed
from the time when history took the
first notice of them. Lying back of the
beginnings of their history as we have
it, there must have been an immense
antiquity, in which, under differences
of situation, climate, pursuits and means
of subsistence, the variations of charac-
ter were developed. The Teutonic char
acter is still essentially the same as in
the days of Caesar; and the sketch OF
: the Germans which Tacitus has left us
shows the same traits which distinguish
the race to the present day. Among
the Teutonic peoples there has always
been strong national feeling. More
than any other race of whom history
gives an account, they have possessed
always what is called "public spirit''-
that is, the idea of subordinating indi.
vidual aims to the public good. But
with this they have also been noted fol-
boundless spirit of individual enter.
prise. No other people has been so fonC
of adventure or so reckless of their lives
The Teuton is naturally landholdel
s and a believer in self-government L
is mainly to the strong infusion, through
D the Saxon invasion, of the qualitie!
e above noted, that England owes tht
1 steadiness of her political institutions
= The Celts exhibit some very differen
4 qualities. According to the oldest au
y thorities, they are brave race, quicl
t to quarrel, vain and fond of display
e with little pertinacity or power for sus
: tanned effort, but capable in an irregula
e way of the most extraordinary exertions
r liable to excessive encouragement o
q unreasonable elation; never attachet
: like the Teuton to the soil, but prefer
It ring the associated life of large towns
s and possessing little of that persistenc
b which enables the Teuton to acquir
}. wealth by slow gains. The Celtic Ian
y guage undoubtedly came from India
:. but the migration must have takel
r place in far remote ages, since the Ian
IS guage, though showing an undoubte
n affinity for the IndO-European tongues
'f is held by many scholars to be earle
Ic in it's development and formation tha
IS the Sanscrit itself. 1t is thus that th
b student at every step of his investiga