Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1882-06-17


reassert themselves, possessing all
the practical results, wrought by
this material age along with those
contributed by the past ages. Such
is the general tendency OF the hu-
man race in this era.
The people of the South are about 70 nnd
in their interest yenrnlng auer
material triumphs ut time when the ma
terial tendency of the world ~ at its helght
or perhaps just turning towaru the IurtneI
sIope of n sure reaction. From years spent
i'm Gaining "A standing place ana a vantage
ground in the wilderness we are ABOUT 70
I'm bibe the spirit of the age and turn 70 lol-
low the tendency OF the world. we are
ahout To expend intensest thought and se-
YereSt labor upon every form OF materiai
progress, to acquire and use every materfal
appliance, developed by Ine r luNSn',.e nv, nv.
cessities. such are our relations WIN 'he
tendencies of the world around us.
The southern people Will share IN IN, sne
benefits and encounter the dangers incl
dent TO this universal tendency. our easy,
simple, natural and, in the main, pure me,
is for us no more. We are iauncned lnt9
the whirl and hustle, into the follles ana
vices artificialtieS and hoilowncSs, the
good and ill of a material age.
This tendency appears for us Mt time
when our own necessities impel us TO press
remain forever laggards in the race OF lie.
The new course viii be ertefed upon win
all the ardOr, zeal ana tendency 70 eX
tremes, of new converts. IN any event I ~
would be our fate TO incur all the dangers
Incident everywhere to this material ten
dency, to find Lie becoming hard and cold,
men growing selfish, shrewd, ready anu anu
Gallons as they press ON in the 'de1l TAX
the hin'most" pursuit OF the externals ana
accidents of life. We shall find the poetry
of life dispeIled, faith turned To hard doubt
or harder disbelief, the selfish principle eN-
aqgerated at the very time when the asso-
ciative principle is most potent ana con-
straining, forms of beauty multiplied when
the spirit of beauty is most Denum1eui arl
nrolific only in sterile, odorless flowers.
This would be our portion merely as p,r pars
of the world, pursuing the unlVersal path.
This tendency is likely 70 De eNagsseI egs ~.
mighty convulsion and by overwhelInlns 9
necessities, impelled to turn as one people
away from an old NE 70 new ,arint tr1s
unphs and material greatness ana gtofy'
When our teachers are all teachlns uun1
tartan philosophy, our puDhc men .ass niiSu iissl
cussing ways and means to supremacy IN
commerce, manufacturing, mining, hSIls
culture, the useful arts, ana every I1ril VI
material progress, when our schooIs, col-
leges and universities are preparing tle'
southern youth for their new nelds when
the minds of all our people are held IN one
intense concentration upon now pes. W ~
transmute clay TO gold, how best TO harness
the material forces 10 the car ol PIoSIsasS
now TO mould mind and soul INTO mhterlai
forms, the south will have reache,I Cns NE, sH hf
fortunate for us II our very rellgloh 0e @ no'
| a new worship OF the golden caliY hapRs
shall we be IT, for time ~ least ~,
| and life left hard, dry ana barren, ai. pSi
| solely upon a miserly gathering up trlnei
for their own sake and pursuit OF ihnteri. ~ rii !.
| glory as an end in itself when IL IN Only
| worthy as @ means to higher anu noDiel
| spiritual and intellectual life. WIN tll'
! opening of this tendency we can alreslul
| see the danger creeping on as lts attenuah
shadow. The press Is opening full cry np0i
] the track of material progress, our pun
| lie men begin to address themselves less y
sentimental issues, less 70 tde ai,'SiiI
| Ting less to political distractions anu NOR
Y to tile practical necessities OF the time; Ol
institutions Of learning are aaaPndhs pun sennIie og
| sciences and deVoting themselves iloIe i @ en'
more to training the youth ior thelI hsl .il
duties in new fields. Alreany, s AZ AZ ,ac M,
| with the perils of the change from tne oi q,
TO the new. Already, with deslraDl
duickening the old pace after mucn heeu
ed shaking up and jostting OUT OF tne oN
grooves, we find life growing harder an
colder and more unSympathetc. IN th
long, quick stride the man VINO loses sIe
| is trodden under loot and there is less Z
regret and kindly help. Unbeliet is exhiL
| itin0 its ugly features, not as the Wnolt
some doubt whiclheDquires freely, tests
and settles down into trust ana hiS nS,a %n5
tnnca and isnorance and takes in the so
| emn truth that the highest knowledge Is
know that we. know nodthiing. dn ny nowie. Tor Ia
of Ignorance and leads to sweet falth IN ~ ~
moral order and moral government oi ~
universe, we can see already the uesPss,,Iih s,
a0nostlcisn of modern material phllos'
, | DIty Already, where simple fattn ono
held supreme sway and denial OF all a.
thority was absent or silent, we can see VI
growth of that philosophy wnich IeJeeiS ot ~ q
ages, obliterates history and the Ties VIM VIM
bind men to men, which reVeres nolnlh
shuts out the soltened p dlght pi ioht ie ot nj n
future and finds the beginning the emu
> | life for man in his brief earthly eNisten'
and cuts him off from an e9nie1.ilp ni'e,. MI
with his race as to leave life 10 mover III ~
a. dead ''star between two worlds" the pa
: and the future conneotea WIN heae,io ia,ro
The tendency TO radleallsnl, uPnsaf" PrSar
change destruction of the social ofueT,
an imminent peril and such throusho'
, the world is the tendency OF thts haleri"
ism in philosophy and in HE. ,,,,
} w nateVer the faults OF southern ilie
| the mast il was generous, simple hnu hH
urai. 1t was marked by faith IN me pa
, and hope for the future. II was hoI % Dou !, y :
cd by this hour of jostilng, Pusnln,s ~. ~
! | STRUGGLING. 1t aimed ut no radical chanY
| | unheayai, new casting of social ana poil
l ioal orders. We are 10 eNpecl thuss ~ ~
ideas, the sure concomltahts oi iaI ~ s
: ism in philosophy and the materlai 70
2 dcncics in practical life. The tendeh'
r | NAV be here exaggerated because we
about to drink to the very ranaSts maaess OF S III
7 | spirit with which the rest OF Lle Wofiu II
: | slowly filed Itself. .,.I "A
| Twenty years ago our siinpie, hate.1, hatei"i a., -
D had its faults and its vices Dut soclhilhs -
: | was unknown, radicaliSm unneafu Oi ~
= babbling disbelief had not learned 10 Ia u,
! its stand upon the granite mountain i,la
v whose base is the eternal past anu Mhu
q apex Is the present, to deny all DehehIh ~
the vaulted heavens overhead; we ~
:. already see the outcropp1ngso OF Lhese L'th az
: and begin to prepare for all thilt Is " M a.,
:. from radicalfsm, communism, soclalis
labor riots and the grinding oppreSsi,o :,
r which produce these. Already the shilis !.
n braWler seats himself securely upon
u rock-ribbed and firm fabric OF history
II solid and eternal past, anu most iIipg ,go !
II denies the existence OF the granite obst
meath him and sweeps away. WIZ W, !,
fiat. the eunconstrUcted future the past u
e niles as its sure consequent. There Is gre
n danger that in our newborn utllitarlanls
and pursuit of the material We sliali
= temporarily deadened, benumneu ~
Lt Turned to material philosophy ana All y
implies and produces In POLITICAL, soci
> Industrial and all practical life, an.
l. What must be done 10 PREVENT 5il
we then forego this material deVelopmel
=; BY all means, no. Preach IL ratheT ~ eys ~
IS valley, upon every hlll TOP 70 eYe,riy ,i, l0H M
% hold, in palace and mover. Op43il ",io, ha,,s,
4 ali its tenn porary evils and perlis, depel
"a our future spiritual, moral ana lnteilect'
Is life. This is but laying the founaatlohs 3
,e n true and genuine progress. Let our ~ p'
y lie men catch the key note, the press tes
u IL. our schools, colleges and unlVeTsl'
is guido and direct the movement, prep
I | ing the southern youth for iheir hsM fnHO
~ | ties Let them toaoh the skilled hiD1
a. | and the artisan to acquire that ~
a. | which exists when trained minus anu Ju
ment direct the muscles ana inc nerve
Ol nerves not the skill OF the European ~
" san which resembles the quality OF instl
n and depends upon habit and inherlted '
va dencieS but that which reason anu ~
ne ment confer; that which mas aireany 9., ~
\ foremost place In the markets oIIne Wo
u, We must lay here, in strict onedlence
er the material spirit OF the age, the nlhte y,
O. foundations for n glorious moral anu III
q" lectual fabric. We must lay mere the
eS rock OF a socIal order which will be reno
e. ed IN art, and morally grand ana lnteil III
uaIIy glorious, precisely as we labor NJ
To- uousiy and rightly i'm these prelllniLi
aSS Steps Come evil or come good there ~
Of escaping tins duty. BE IL ever our cai
see that good and not evil comes Oh II,
ch When we have dlgged out and used
as metallic riches of our hills, the gra
- from our mountains, the marbles rom
He sIopes brought our timbers into use,
nv our norts with the fuming smoke-stach
,,,r | n busy commerce., Improved anu COW
'"i with boats and barges our rivers, che'lu
our rcountrywith ~ !, !,
MI the world and laid the world under nn
a.: contribution, sending our own pfodnel
liz every cline in free exchange wien
re- have cemented all America Dy IsN.,, Close
nC, into one great family OF closely united
hS tinns when we have our lnnds cuIllN
i'll by Intelligent, educated, scientific faril
d in diversified crops, raised by inteli
- labor compelling machinery anu
AS forces of nature to the drudgcry OF
OBJ when manufacturing nourishes all owe
10 south and the industrial order, ~ the
w cial order, is one compact texture Oh y
not woven Interests, the South ana not
the South alone, will have built firmly
az foundations of glorious spiritual, N
VIII and intellectual development, the en-
am which all this tends as means; II TINS us,
in not be attalhea ~ tnSa %i'o naterai forces il