The Russellville Democrat., 1876-04-13
7z---. RUssELLvIILE ARK. THURSDAY APRII,

grand-something that will win for us the admiration and respect of our visitors and guests during our great display at Philadelphia. There never was-nevcr will be- a more bcfitting time for US to take look at OURSELVES ass we really are than the present. We mean now, for ourselves-the readers of the DEMOCRAT and the people of Pope county. We would ask this people here in Pope county, in all earnestn .ss and with all desire for their ad- vancement and the amelioration of their condition. to take for once a calm, frank view of our condition, and see just where we are, and what we are-see what advancement we have made, and what position we now occupy in the scale of enlightenment ana civilization. All the fervor and zeal and patriotism and self ad- miration that may be awakened in us during this great centennial year will rebound very little to our profit or credit, if it is merely vanity for a display, and if our admiration for greatness and our struggle for fame, stops without causing us to form any firm de- termination to place our common people-the masses-in a broader road to civilization and enlight- enment. What will the spark ling genius of few amount to- what will the display of the works of art and skill from the hands of few gifted ones amount to- what will our astonishing strength in arms as 2 power of the earth amount to, if after all, it shall be found that the masses of our peo- pie have not yet made any i'm. provement--if their social and moral and intellectual condition is not being advanced-if we are yet under a cloud of ignorance and semi barbarian. Grander than all the display that will be made at Philadelphia would it be, if we could point to our people and say, here is enlightenment here is civilizatlon-here is mor- ality and purity, and here is hu. manity, greater than exists in any other people on the face oi the globe. What does it speak for us when we have to acknowl- edge that notwithstanding hun drcd years have passed away, tue number of our people who cannot even read or write may be counted by the thousand and tens of thousands? What will advance ment and greatness in commerce, might in war and grandeur in fine buildings amount to, if we have not intelligence and enlight, enment in the masses? It will simply tend toward making us an arrogant, q selfish, a corrupt na- tion-a nation where the few will prosper, and grow rich and GOT rupt, and the many remain abject, poor and powerless.
 Now while the iron is hot let us strike-strlke for means which will conduce to more wide spread intelligence ald enlight- enment, a more elevated appre- citation of the good and pure, and a higher regard for the welfare of humanity. To say that there is fearful apathy resting upon our people in regard to these things is to make a truthful but humiliating acknowledgement. We are not doing our duty in this regard. We are not making the effort we couldmake to dis perse ignorance and selfishness, and disseminate intelligence and inculcate the more generous and ennobling truths and principles of life.
 Look around us-how many do we see who cannot read-how many who cannot write-how many who are absolutely at the mercy of the designing dema- gogue who is ever ready to take the advantage of ignorance. Is it any wonder that corrupt villains have succeeded in usurping the