Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1882-06-14


June morning, that old mother Eve must
look and sigh over what might have been,
had Paradise been fixed by the waters of
the Conestoga. To many of you that
time seems far in the past, and even to me
it is only known by the tradition of elder
brothers. To others here to-day it will
Seem but as yesterday when, with the en-
thusiasuI of youth, the faith that moves
mountains and the energy that levels them,
they set to work to build the first Goethe
an and DiagnOthean halls. A little more
than a decade saw their halls deserted.
The soul that tenanted them migrated
to this place, where others with like hero
ism and devotion builded new temples.
This hall as it was twenty-five years ago
was the second stage in the developments
of the society. This hall as it is to-day,
renovated improved and beautified through
the exertion of the students of to- day, is
evidence that the life Of old Marshall,
strengthened by the migrating Of Frank
lin, is vigorous and fresh, and about to de-
velop into higher and purer forms.
This society was founded at time of
great intellectual activity. There had been
q renaissance in literature. Every
department Of literature developed the
most extraordinary talents, = \. Pa
tient investigation and criticism were un-
earthing the history and learning of the
past and translating its hieroglyphics. 1t
was an age which promised to solve the
great problems of the human race. But
side by side with this great movement the
human mind was developing in another
direction, and soon turned the thoughts
and activity of man to more selfish ends.
Science was accomplishing for man the
promise of God that he should subdue the
earth and have dominion over it; within
the life time of the middle-aged man the
whole face and life of the earth were
changed. There never was and never can
be again such woodworking, as that of
the past fifty years.
The effect of this great scientific physi-
cal and material development manifested
itself in countless ways. 1t made educa-
ton hurried and one-sided. The news
paper, filled with the daily doings of the
world, with exaggerated ard superficial dis
cussion of events, supplied tho people with
reading. Tie demand of the hour was for
an education and literature suited to this
and the riches science had created, and
they would have their sons taught it, as \
means of obtaining wealth. Colleges were
compelled to establish scientific depart
mcnts. 1t was deemed time wasted to
study the classics. All knowledge that led
not to wealth was vanity and vexatiOn of
spirit. The youth who left college full of
enthusiasm for the development of litera-
ture, aesthetics and philosophy, who believ-
ed that man had some higher part to play in
life than simply to toll and spin, that he
might eat and drink and have wherewithal
to be clothed, and then die as the beast dies,
was soon seized by the spirit prevailing
around him, allured into gold worship, and
in the turmoil, competition, struggles and
strife of a busy life, he found no time to
"knOw himself" nor to study man. ThOus-
ands there are who see the vanity of all this
| when once it becomes the all absorbing and
controlling power of the worlds life, and
| they have doubtless longed for the time
when in tho quiet and seciusion of home
with friends and books, they could feast
upon the treasures of literature, study the
beautiful in nature and art, and strive more
and more to apprehend the truth. All !
me! 1t is with them as was the promised
land to the Jews. The Jordan of this
busy life rolls between the great European
wars and superadded to all this was tho
great political struggle of this nation, with
its agitation and excitement; the marshall
ling of armies greater than Xerxes COM
manded, the fighting of mighty battles
the emancipation of an inferior race, and
its elevation to citizenship, the rcconstruc-
ton of states the arrangement of finan-
ces; the era of reckless speculation conse
quent upon an inflated paper currency, fol-
lowed by financial panic and its attendent
evils.
This combination Of Extraordinary causes
produced 4 marked era in the history OF
civilization, which, if not inimical, was at
least not conducive to the development OF
literature and the study of the higher
problems of life and society. All OF the
substantial progress made has been
through the genius and talent of men de-
veloped by the literary period which pre-.
cedcd, whose lives and labOrs have con-
tinued down to this time, as witnesses to
writers, poets, philosophers and statesmen
pass away, there rises none to take his
place. Bryant and Lonsfellow are gone
Bret Harte and Walt. Whitman arc their
successors Could volumes more aptly
illustrate or enforce the thought ? Per-
haps the sum of all that is bad in this era
is comprehcnded in it's want of reverence.
This is too pregnant topic to venture on
o.day. But contrast the nation in song
and story. the exiles who sought freedom
to worship God in a new continent and
founded great republic in which Chris
tianity was made part Of the common law,
with the nation of to day represented by
her president and great military chieftains
crowding the greatest hall of her greatest
city on day set apart by law in memory
of our heroic dead, to listen to ono who
for gold blackguar,ls Jehovah and cor
rupts the youth of the land, rs Fagin did
the boys of London, speak to the people
over the reopened graves OF their beloved
dead, and you will see at a glance how
reverence for God, for the traditions of Il
nation, for tho opinions of the living, for
the memory of the dead, and for common
decency itself, has departed from the na
tion.
Do not understand me as coudemning
by the wholesale. have the greatest re.
spcct and highest admiration for the work
of tho past fifty years. 1t has been an age
on ages telling. With much that is evil,
there has been much more of good. 1t
has produced scientists, inventors, military
chieftains, merchant princes, railroad
kings, and added much-very much-to
our knowledge, to the wealth Of the nation
and the physical comfort of the race. But
it is manifest that the world cannot for
ever move on IN such one sided develop.
ment. 1t is altogether of the earth
earthly. Thelc must soon como to the
front other forces and movements having
within themselves power to lay hold Of
this great knowledge, activity, energy,
wealth and progress, and shape, mould
| and uSe them to the intellectual and