The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1877-03-03
Philosophers and Realists,

"'"Ht III fHtutC ~ "H''fut tHcf
t schools. We are upon the thresh
hold of a new era in which, new ideas
new systems and new every thing ar
> to be introduced, which, under thu
teachings ofthe rh, >ogl aides ofthc olt
school, who have held sway beyon,
} their day and generation here a.
elsewhere, would fail of successful re
suit, AZ Fulton would have with hi
steamboat or Morse with his tclc
graph.
We believe that our philosopl'ists
are more vcrSed in the science Of Gin
> possible" and "cun't,' than any IT,
the State. Ask one of them why il
is the gang pillow cannot be worked
on our level and cleared lands 7 and
he tells You with wise shake of the
head that it "can,t''-and his reason
in ninety-nine cases in one hundred
for this "can't' is, "bccausc his great
grandfather did 30 aud 80, and did it
very weIl.'
1t is perhaps unreasonable to cx.
poet material or sudden changes in
the habits to which they are welded,
among men III advanced life - but we
contend TINT the cnleavor to incnl-
cate this retrospective philosophy
into the minds Of the young men of
this country, is rs idiotic rs it is
criminal. In tho young lies all hope
Of a salutary change. Our old sys.
TENS have been completely destroyed,
and We are to build upon Il icw basis
and in new times, under u new gov
eminent, country from its fonnda-
ton stone to its turret. Is it not
wisdom then, to inquire of our neigh
Dor, who has lived under the system
to which we arc SUDDENLY forced, how
he manages and what convcnicncts
he supplies himself with. With It's,
TIE "Phi|osopher" would say, "do il
this way because my father did it,"
forgetting the fact that ''his father
lived in the evening shadows of a
system of labor aud government now
completely dead, and what to him
were possibilities, are now certain of
failure If attempted.
The basis of orr hopes in this State,
materially speaking, lies in our as-
ricultural friends, aud with them, it
is sad to say that the c0tte phiIoso,
pliers have large and growing
school.
A sensible man whose dwelling is
destroyed will, before he rcbuiids, iu-
quire of other persons in other places,
if they have not convenienccs to en-
10y which were not found in the des-
troyed building. Our farmers have
lost sight of the fact that they arc to
build up system npon the ruins Of
the old. Twelve years have passed
since the destruction Of slavery, aud
still oar farming 8, stem is no system,
except it be weak, clumsy and mis-
cradle attempt to reanimate the dead
or,ler-so dead that no resurrection
awaits it. Total oblivion of the asri.
cultural past liz "a certain sense, is the
first lesson to be taught; that, we do
not expect from old age, and for that
reason it is easily seen where and
with whom lies all hope of future
success, and how criminal it is to at
tempt to saturate the young and Wig
orous mind with theories impossible
of solution.
The vigor and manhood of this
country, if prosperity is wanted,
must be left to assert itself-it may,
and no donbt will, do things that seem
foolish to those who lived in the past.
Daniel Webster thought the tele-
graph humbug, aud Morse a vision
airy tool, but Webster learned better
before he died. Our youth will strike
out, aud striking ont is what they
must do, and make failures ; let them
not listen to the II told you 500" Of
the aged asses around them. Go on
and think-don't dream; think of the
causes that produced your failure,
work it out, and change, change all
the time until you succeed. In this
material age every thing that stands
still is simply monument of stu
pidity-erase from the tablets "can't'
and quit tire school of "NArcn1ro-
CHEs PHILOSOPHERS" men who
dream of the past and live in the
present, and the future is bright be-
fore us; continue in the leading
strings of q dead and never to return
system, AND we stumble along from
one failure to- another, until We sink
under the oaA of accumulated folly,
and there will he none to mourn our
fall. Let II vii, ~ succeed II cautn
ChaMDiOn IWDrOyel RICKS