Helena weekly herald., 1881-01-01

Is ldSt UecolIlluS the representative lnan Oh
the aye. OF his type and from his school
come some Of the staunchest, best men of the
country. The very peculiarities and hard
ships of his birth and training imbue his
whole being with an intense love of Repub-
lican ideas and Republican institutions, and
in defense of the land and OF the institutions
which give him the poor privilege OF living,
he is ready to shed his last drop of blood.
Formerly, this small boy, as the type OF Il
class was the offspring of poverty. Cast
upon the world, without home and moral
restraint, he stood alone, away out upon the
frontiers OF the age, boy in years, u Methu-
selah in crime. But now, thousands OF boys
Of better birth, untrammelled by home re-
straints, or breaking over them where they
do exist, are daily going out to join him.
The sterling old New England Puritanism
which they carry with them drive out the
grOssness of this child of nature and fills him
with higher hOlier and purer ambition:
while Oh the other hand their staid old
Puritanism is stripped OF many OF its idiosyn-
crasies, and imbibes from this child OF a
principle q new spirit OF energy and new
life; and thus bya coalition of antagonisms
perfect harmony is produced, and the Average
American character formed and the small
boys Of America as a class instead Of develop
ing into red handed hoary headed criminals,
become i'll reality the representative men OF
the times, who step beyond the narrow boun-
diaries Of the age and establish IN embryo
period Of their own. They are the division
skirmishers, the sappers and miners OF the
present, whose business it is 10 bridge the
gulf between this and the new age; they
grow impatient at the slow movements of
progress and dash away out i'll advance; be-
come the frontieIsmen of civilization gaining
a toOthOld in the field OF adventure and cx-
pertinent, well knowing that the masses will
sooner or later follow them
Let it be remembered that the Average
American is no extremist in any direction.
but is cool, careful, methOdical energetic and
intensely practical, and when the social mar
BILE does come under his hand it is sure to
But, however sad the confession, it must he
made. Socially, the Average American is not
complete success, practically at least, how
ever he may be theoretically. The great
trouble is, he is too busy to be social In
these days of hurry and hustle. when every
thing from a church society on down to-
coffee mill is run Oh the high pressure mile-a-
minute system, man must have snap and
energy and keep moving i'll order to succeed.
And so the Average American promises him
self that some time in the future, when he
shall have accumulated 4 few millions, he
will switch off the track, and devote himself
to social and intellectual culture In the
meantime he plunges headlong into the cur
rent OF investment and speculation; plants
and replants his capital, and watches it, as,
like the school boys snow ball, it grows larger
at every turn Interlardes Il little social chat
with his mastery strokes of business treats
his wife and family to a hurried call at meal
time, and finally his little halI-buIned candle
OF existence is snutfed out and he dies, with
and accounts current
And speaking of meals, where can u more
successful travesty OF sociability be found
than at the average dinner of an average
American hotel? Stoical silence and greedy
haste are its leading characteristics. BY ac-
tual observation, an hotel dinner has been
known to consume seventeen minutes of time:
thirteen minutes OF that passed iii moody
silence waiting for the vituals to be cooked,
and the remaining four occupied i'll swallow
ing them down with the evident intention OF
chewing them afterwards like an OK.
Now the Average American must and will
correct these abuses: he must and will fathOm
the mysterious influence OF stomach upon
brain; he must and will appreciate the worth
Of Seneca's petition for 3 sound mind in
healthy body; he must and will give more
time and attention to the development of the
social qualities, polish up those finer graces
of his being, which will furnish him greater
physical soundness and health, as well as
social culture. One thing the Average Amer
lcan VIII not 90. tie VIII not UuuGIltkc W
establish Utopian era OF universal virtue
and absolute perfection. He is far too prac-
teal for that. But lie will comprehend that
great us the resources Of this nation may be-
wealth alone will not save her. He will re-
collect that all along the highway OF the past
lie the ruins Of nations once as wealthy and
as prosperous as OFT own, but they persisted.
He Will comprehend that great as the tacili-
ties of popular education may be i'll this
country, Il cold unsanctitied intelligence alone
will not save her. Classic Greece lowered
far above us i'll point of philosophy and
science and intellectual polish, and yet desc
lation broods over her monuments Of genius
to-day But he will comprehend that upon
virtuous wisdom and intelligent morality,
more than upon gold and silver and grain
and cattle OH Il thousand hills, depends the
life of this Republic. He will comprehend
that spasmodic, feverish attempts at reform,
,rb;.b ,naroly cinU1a o,,t Como one of the