Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1881-11-12
SAD DETERIORATION OF MAN
KIND.
what is the Cause of this Marvel
Oss Failing eff Of EnteIicct?
ICommunicated.)

l. nave lTSIuciltty y iiCssA@ Ah~ 49,
tion asked, what has overtaken our
race of men? What is the cause of
this sad, perceptibIe deterioration
of mankind? What has become OF
the brilliant minds and glowing in
tellects which we proudly boasted
of only few short years ago
THESE questions and others Of like
import you have heard, no doubt,
yourself, and may be have heard
the subject discussed at considerable
length, but perhaps received no
light on the subject.
Intellect is a direct gift from Ma
lures God, capacity being the first
prerequisite, and then it is finished,
to some extent, by application and
cultivation. Itreminds one of the
lonely, stately oak that is picked
out of an immense forest and torn
to atoms by a single stroke of light
ming; while its neighbor, which
grows in the same soil and is nur-
tured and cared for with the same
degree of care, does not even feel
the shock. Or, of mammoth lot
terry where there are a goodly num-
Der of tickets drawn out, but a fear
full prorata of them are entirely
blank and worthless except for the
purpose of 'filling up" There be-
ing some few prizes, it is perfectly
natural that some one will bear off
prize.
America, the freefnan's home, the
paradise of the DiYinity's earthly
creation, the flower garden of this
terrestrial sphere, has produced
some of the most brilliant minds,
some of the most sparkling intel
leets, and gifted portrayers of truth
and fiction, that the world has ever
seen men whose prose and verse
has excited the wonder and admira-
ton of the entire globe, and whose
names and fame will ever remain
fresh and green in the memory OF
an appreciative people. She has
given us a Webster, a Clay, a Cal
houn, Jefferson, Henry, and sew
eral others whose bright and shin
ing lights have long since been ex-
tinguished by the ever active hand
of time, whose glittering stars, one
by one, have sank below life's gild1
ded horizon, but whose fame viii
ever live to adorn the pages OF
American history. They need no
monument to perpetuate their great
names. But, alas who fills their
places Will the illustrious Web
ster ever have an equal? Never.
The soul-stirring and beautiful ad-
dress delivered by him at the lay
ing of the cornerstone of Bunker's
Hill Monument will never be re-
produced. Poe's craven" and
"Annie BELIEF Lee" so much adj
mired, and so full of music and
heart-throbs, have no equal. Long
fellows "Song of Life" which so
penetrates the hearts of ambitious
young men, and lures them on to
drink deep of the crystal fountain,
and which awakens feelings of love
and appreciation for this great man,
has no peer.
These men are no more. 1t seems
that the dread destroyer has made
almost clean sweep. Oh, intellect,
thou art precious jewel. How we
long for thy influence. What pity
this world is not kept full of your
coveted presence. Thy wings have
been folded by some imperceptible
power, and thou hast taken thy
flight to other and unknown climes.
This is sad to contemplate, but new
ertheless, these are facts.
Some one has said, "There is a
destiny that shapes our ends, rough.
hew them as we may" and I feel
the great and living truth of this.
| cannot believe with the gifted po-
ct who says:
| Full many gem of purest ray serene,
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bears
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen'
And waste its sweetness on the desert air
Oh no, not by any manner OF fmeans.
Intellect will grow, and flourish,
and speed on its way. No matter
what restrictions are placed around
it; no matter what inpregnable OBJ
stacles are thrown in the way; no
matter how you confine it; harness
| it down with your iron bands; place
| impediments in the way; encircIe
it with the mantle OF poverty; con
| fine it in the dark recesses of prison |;
build your frail structures of mems
weak hands upon it; weight it down
by every perceptibIe means, and it
will rise, tear your bands asunder,
scatter your impedIments to the
four winds, and will grow, and ex-
pand, and bloom, and flourish, and
force the attention and admiration
of the whole world.
That silvery-tongued orator and
most gifted divine in the universe,
the illustrious Talmage, sees and
feels the lack of 1t in the wide and
ever open field of divinity. He tells
us in plain phraseology that the
powers of mind and brain are not
found in that vast multitude. Is it
possible that mems virtues live after
them? The Good Book tells us that
prophet is without honor in his
own country, but true eloquencei
and oratory, and pathos, notwith-
standing we have some left, is, to
say the least of it, at a very low ebh
indeed.
VennOr's weather for November.