Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1881-02-16

nine there was something sportiul il
tho CLEANS Of the formers irony com
pared with the exooriating strokes oi
tho sarcasm There was something
Joyous, sanguinc, hopeful, in Richter's
glance, as well became one who had
witnessed the upheaval of his nation
under Stein and Hardeuburg, and
watched tho unfolding of that Iliad
whose climax came at Leipsic. Rich.
ter's last years, like Carlyle's, were
chattered and elouded by physical de.
say, and the author of "Tital" can
scarcely be said to have beheld the
pitifnl extinction of the dream which
had promised free Germany.
1t would have been impossible for
Carlyle, had he been naturally less
sombre and splenetic, to have turned
a cheerful and complacent eye on the
England for which he began to write.
When, about 1884, "Sartor Resartus"
was contributed to Frdze'S Magazine,
thecombative period which eliminated
at Waterloo had long been over, and
the industrial period was in tho full
tide Of covetous, accumulative energy.
The reaction against the strain and
outpour, the tremendous sacrifices and
dear.bought glories OF the Napoleonic
era, had then in fact reached its height.
1t was essentially recuperative in.
terval, during which exhausted En-.
gland took account OF stock, but, by
comparison, il looked to the ireiul
vision of the Scotch enthusiast not only
prosaic, but shabby, sordd, lmpo.
tent and despicable ago. With the
aims, sentiments, standards, and arbi.
ters of such a time Carlyle had not a
trace of sympathy. He lifted up his
voice in outcry and reared his arm
against them all he made it the busl.
ness OF his lite to thwack the illuminate
against the philosophy of Bentham and
what be deemed its ignominious out.
come in society and legislation. On
the other hand he strove to probe the
heart and fire the blood by an clio.
quence that often lacked but the form
to rival the master works of epic lofti.
ness and lyric power and eloquence
that seemed TO range through the
whole gamut of emotion, now quiver-
ing with tragic grief now soaring to |
dim heights Of solemn aspiration, and 4
now rioting in grim yet contagious |
raillery. Nor should we forget that
the ideals which may now seem erratic |
and one.sided, but which Carlyle never
wearied of upholding and enforcing by
all the means in his large grasp-by
history, biography, critical essay, and
political pamphlet-were admirably
adapted to control and discredit the
tendencies OF his day. II was as we
have said, an age when men looked
rather to utility than to ideal perfec-
ton, when they thought more of
craft than force, when they cared less
for power than money, when the poor
did not scan too narrowly the instru-
ments Of wealth, and when the rich
were apt to account their work finish.
ed, and to watch the tragic comedy of
life with listless unconcern Neither
was the epoch of the Chartists and the
Corn law agitation the. only modern
period marked by commonplace and
ignoble features. In the world about
us we may recognize not few of the
same traits and while this remains
true, the teachings of Thomas Carlyle,
which smote the ears Of his own age
like clarion, will lose little of their
pertinence and power.
ANnrupn Nnnr u srp,pvrv