The Rugbeian. (Rugby, Morgan Co., Tenn.) 1881-1882, 1882-09-23
THE LAUNDERING OF THE
WISE MEN,,
OR THE BEGINNING OF HISTORY.

| need not say in what age, or in what
country the wise men lived. All countries and
all times have produced wise men. In some
cases the number was seven. The deeds of wise
men were not always wise. At times they
were otherwise. Once upon time, very long
ago, wise man from some strange land
where there were no streams in the interior
of the strange continent Of Africa, went on a
long Journey. When he had Travelled far, 10
the great Nile stretched across his path; far
as the eye could reach, on either hand it
stretched. The traveller could not cross the
swift river, but he was a wise man, so he took
note of the passing water and saw that it ran
very swiftly. He communed with himself
and said, at will soon pass BY" So he sat
down to wait for that event. That wise man
reasoned well, but, as SAID, that was a long
time ago, and the Nile has not passed yet
The wise man did not understand all of the
causes that produced that great river.
When wise lien blunder History is born.
She is born Of Chaos-is evolved out OF a
tempest of events that rush past the calcu-
lations of the wise men. like the river of Egypt
dashes past the stone gols of Abou-smbel.
Then the man of history appears. He is
always absurd. He was fool ill the way the
wise men went, and might have remained one,
but for their laundering. He is called Genius.
Use men calculate events Genius sees them.
He is seer but hath no honor in his own
times.
WE'LL why should not wise men found a
colony? What so laudablep what so tamous9
Did not the wise Greeks found colonies on the
farther shore of tbs blue EgeanP Did not
the Roman masters of the world leave broken
stones and smooth gliding names in the rude
forests of Germany "Yes," say the wise
men, 1--WE will found colony, and men will
bless and remember US. We will go where
Nature sits upon her ancient throne; where
the wild is still virgin and all is undevled.
We will call On those who are cramped and
oppressed by the exigencies of the times, to
cast off their load of cares, even like a bundle
of rags, and come and battle in the pure, free
air of the mountains; come and admire the
long avenue of pines; the curve of the far
blue mountain chain; and the glitter of the
| bounding river come and sit Under the rhodo-
dendrons, and watch the soft clouds of summer
sail over the clouds of blossoms come and till
the virgin soil sit under their own fig tree,
and enjoy the pure sweet fruits Of nature"
And they come and they sit and look, but do
no; see. They grow uneasy Each one
brought bundle-the one that was not laid
down. The bundle is not labeled; if it was.
it would be labeled all over, but prejudice
would be in italics, They do not dig, but begin
to nudge one another and whisper, when are
they going to perform the miracle of the loaves
and fshesp Why don't they smte the rock p''
And they murmur against their leaders.
But their leaders show them the beauties OF
nature and exclaim, "See, how glorious -
Then the multitude grow irreverent, and even
angry. and cry out, "We don't see it" and they
do not For what does man seep That that
existsp Nay, of all that exists, he sees only
what his soul mirrors The rays of beauty
pass through the unasthetic soul like the sun
beam through unslvered glass.
Man is ever less and greater than he is
measured. The wise men have no line with
with which to mete him. The wise man in his
contemplation of that potential force, mankind
stands like the traveller before Chimborazo
its base is sunk in sunless night; its brow
covered with the cloud. The wise man cannot
dive to the depth of scoundrelsm, nor soar t.
the grandeur of heroism. >undered from ole
ties and old associations, man becomes knavt
or hero.
The colony fails-did not the wise men fai
to see Alright fails-because the colonists were
not angels-only men !!
Then wise men in all parts wag their head'
and poke the dirt with their canes, and say
81 told you So"
But the colony only fails to become thu
finely cut, gaudily painted gew-gaw betrappet
doll the projectors saw in their dreams. Il
wrestled with destiny and was cast to the dust
but arose again, uncouth it may be, and dir
begrimed, but with the glory of heroism on 1T
brow; crowned with the Immortality of history
And the historyp 1t is the history of the race
eptomized the old, old story written again
Man runs back to the still remembered gate o
Eden, again to be met by the flaming sword
again to hear the fiat, by the sweat of thy
brow shalt thou earn thy bread" But tn,
image of God still moulds his lineaments; h,
gathers strength while listening to the curse
and turns on nature in his desperation, t,
wrench an Eden from her grasp. And nature
yields to the puny conqueror; not the Eden o
old. but the Eden won by toll and suffering.