Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1878-03-08

body of the people are i'll poor and misera-
BILE condition :" here that great body has ar
rived at sudden plenty. Ham, con-cake. a
tight roof and room enough have been OBJ
tanned Man is awkward and restless III
these new conditions, but honest and KIND
understanding his own rights ana always
ready to maintain them, and disposed to give
his children II better education than he re-
ceived The steady improvement of the
public schools in the cities and IN the coun-
trv, enables the farmer or laborer to secure
better educational facilities than formerly.
1t is rare to find II born American who can
not read and write There are great tacili-
ties by which clubs are formed 10y young
men for the discussion of social and polltl-
cal questions. The people take an Intelli-
gent interest in Government. Congress Is a
standing insurrection, and escapes the rlo-
lence of accumulated grievances. just as
the globe keeps its identity by perpetual
change, so our civil system by perpetual ap-
peal to the people preserves its life. The
people all over the country shrek their ex-
carnations against the shortcomings OF the
Government. And this fact that we are n
nation of individuals, that we have highly
intellectual organization, that we can see and
feel moral distinctions, and have such orGaIi-
ZatlOnS tlut mOrul llNS anu IplttS Iih0t bc
heard and felt. all these things are our hope
But our people act for.the moment and ON eN-
ternal impulse They follow success and not
skill Therefore rs soon as the success
stops. and an admirable man blunders,
already they remember that long ago they
suspected his Judgment. and transfer their
confidence to the next prosperous person
who has not vet blundered. Men of thirty
years, and earlier. lose all vivacity and fail
ing i'll their first enterprise, throw up Inc
game.
THE NEEDS OF THE HOUR
Our Young men lack idealism. \ man to
be a success must not be Il pure ideallst but
he must have ideas. lie does not want to be
sun-dazzled or blind, but he must have
elimmer enough to keep him from knocking
his head against the wall We want men of
originality, with ideas wider than their ma
and taking in the interests OF their
race and of civilization. We need men OF
moral aud elastic minds who can live in the
moment and take step forward. Columbus
was not IA backward-feelng crab nor was
Martin Luther nor Patrick Henry, nor
Thomas Jefferson. The genius and the dcs-
tiny of America is not sluggard, but Is an
incessant advance, like the hands on the
dial's face and the heavenly boGy by which 1t
is moved The flower of civilization Is the
finished man, the man of sense, of accom-
plishment, of social power-a gentleman 1t
is certain that our civilization is yet incom-
plete 1t is not question of whether there
shall be q multitude of people here that is
settled but shall We be the new nation,
the guide and law-giver of all nations, as
having clearly chosen and firmly held the
simplest and best rule of society. To buy
and import much from England and Europe
does not make us better men. Every town
has its cottages, its fashions, Its church from
England America is provincial. 1t Is mn
immense Halifax Our politics threaten
England, and her manners threaten us. Our
tendency is to make men all alike and eXtin-
.uish the individual. The builders OF Lon
don give YOU your houses, and the bishop OF
London your iaith. Thus We find that often
the passion for Europe casts out the passion
for America These who have maintained III
.ondon and Paris their OWE houses can well
he spared to return to those cities. | can
not only see room for more genius than we
have here but for more than we have III the
world The new times need the new men,
the conn !, mental man, whom plainly tins
mus. bring forth. Morality is the
oil ject Of government We want state OF
things in which crime will not pay state
liberty. compatible with the liberty Of every
ether man | hope America will come to
have its pride in being nation of servants,
not nation of served where every man
can say, Il serve. | apply my faculty TO
IT,, wLolc extent of my power to the service
of mankind in my especial place. He there
by shows IA reason for being in the world,and
that he is not mere encumbrance- But the
helm is given to better guidance than or
own, and seeing how that guidance has rest
ed on this Union thus far | have good CONT
dence for the future. ! feel that IN all diree-
tions the light is breaking that trade and
Government will not lose by the overthrow of
the enemies O: mankind that the useful
and the elegant arts will be exercised within
rs rs n nation that the reason, the noblest
affections and the purest religion will lind
their abiding home IN our institutions.