Smyrna times. [volume] (Smyrna, Del.) 1854-1987, 1880-11-17
Idealisn.
EY REV. T. o. AYREs.
For the Smyrna Times.


TO my old friend w. II. c., of Smyrna.
You ask me to tell you what make Of the |
following:
THAT low man seeks little thing to do,
Sees it and does it:
This high man, with great thing to pursue
Dies ere he knowsit
That low man goes on adding one to one,
His hundreds soon hit
ms ,i hign man NM aiming at Million
The terms chit and "miss" are used to |
express two facts that are we'll settled, |
namely: that some persons's measures and |
things do succeed, and that other persons's |
measures and things do fail. Man in his |
hunt for truth has tried to find the causes
Tor success and failures. Having found |
that causes do underie the facts he has
seen the necessity of aftixing names to the |
causes, so that they may be known and
spoken of by names. The investigation
has lead to the fact that the cause of sue
cess or failure is an innate quality inherent
in the thing itself; c. g., we can warm our
houses by burning OF coal, and that. we
cannot warm them by burning sand.
When we look for the facts in the case we
discover that the causes lie in the facts that
coal contains something that the sand
| does not. We send an unarmed man to
| fight with an elephant, and the man is
| killed. Why? Because the elephant pos
| sesses measure of physical power that the
man does not possess.
| Now drop the physical and enter into
| the department Of human intellect or
mind, and we discover the same fact, that one
man can succeed where another has failed
| or in other words one man can do what
another man cannot do. The reason is the
same as in the physical illustration, namely
one man possesses measure of intellec
tual power that the other man does not
possess. The man who succeeds sees what
can be done, what he can do, and does it;
the other men sees what he cannot do, but
he thinks he can do it,-tries it and failes.
Now in order to make out clear cases
the success on the one hand and the failure
on the other must be of sufficient extent TO
make up rule in the cases in order to
place the one man under the head of sac.
cess, and the other man under the head Of
future. 1t must be readily seen that thus
far have used only the words success and
failure and tried to find the reasons for
their use.
We now call up the fact that certain
old term which has undergone several
changes of meaning, has been brought
forward and used to express the character
of the habitual failure, and that word is
idealiSm. Hense the man whose mind
originates schemes and plans that he can
not carry out, is called an idealist. Now,
if we understand the author of the verses,
then his "hgh man" is an idealist in the
sense in which the term is herein used l.
e., one whose mind originates plan and
schemes that he has not the power to ex.
ecute. If, however, his thigh man" is an
idealist after tie pattern of an artist who
sees the picture in his mind before he puts
it on the canvass or the architect who
see the house before he builds it, or as the
orator who sees his thought before he hears
it, Then our thoughts on his position
would go in quite another direction, for
these "hit," while his "high man" misses.
Idealism is used to express state of
mind into which young persons frequently
fall. Many young men are crippled for
years, if not for life by an over dose OF
idealsm administered at college. Their
minds are over charged with the profes.
sion and professional dignity. Young doc
tors of medicine and young preachers oil
the Gospel suffer most of this trouble
Young lawyers are better taught; the re-
suit of going to practical school. Young
doctors and young preachers too often
leave college half asleep and dreaming oil
greatness. The practical world determins
to knock the dreaminess out of them OF
knock their heads off of them.
pity the young man who catches slip
pers and gown l feel for the young doctor
- who dreams Of a host of sick folks coming
up on the left hand land a host Of well
folks going down from tho right hand
while fortune and fame are coming up al
about him. 1t were better for him tC
dream of himself as grooming his OWL
horse. pity the young preacher who
| h. II, I'LL av,l as,A
Sc admiring audience. 1t were better for hin
eeTT to hear the wall Of the dying and see the
ee wretched, starving poor perishing in thu
i, sin and filth of the alley or in the lonely
n neglect Of a country place. A great dream
d. er terminated as follows I" Let all thu
- ends thou aimest at be thy country's thu
ok Gods and truths"
This speech of Woolsey's remind us o
lo Brutus, or rather of the criticisms which
have been made upon him. In the intro
duction to Julius Cesar, it is said of Brutu
that, +" lie acts as an ideatiSt and theorize
might, with no eye for the actual bearing o
facts" and in the Introduction to Hamlet
Brutus is disqualified for action by hi
, moral ideaiSm." The point against him il
10 history is about the same.
shall not soon forget painting say
in the Academy of Fine Arts in Philade
phia,--it was "age correcting youth" Al
old man was represented as holding a DO
4 across his knee and spanking him. Ag
y spanks us oil, except the fools.
As we see the great question Of life
stands about as follows: !. One party {
&C. men have small ideas, small desires, sma
wants and are easy to satisfy. Their mind
s-tf are small but sound. "Homley fare on
- hoddn gray" suits them.
@ Another party or class, have largS
A oarirntiopa -tta fra in thai honaa The
see more, have larger capacity, and can d
,e, more than the first class They see th
size Of the task, know the amount of wor
that is to be done and go at it. Stick at
toll on and succeed.
8. The third class have large aspiration
See double, see the grand things in Ii