Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-08-18

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These unrefec,ing saunterers on the beaten
track are clogs 10 progress. In vain does
nature hold out its kindly hand and accent
uate its Instructive truths, unobservsnt and
unbearing these obstructives plod Cd, get
poorer, grumble, but learn nothing that ID
new and forget nothing that is obsolete.
They blunder Oh, looking backward. In
politics, religion, law, journalism, and in
their workshops and on their farms, they
totter sud stumble when they should bound
forward actively 10 the race. They shrink
from change, they dread progrss', they hate
to think, they will not experiment, they
! venerate ignorance, and they are suspicious
of those who investigate. Speaking Of these
make.weights of society, our contemporary
says: "We deeply admire the veneration
of this class Of our fellow-citizens,
but would never go TO them for aid
or encouragement in pushing any pro-
gressive movement TO succets. They are al
ways the Bourbons in politics, fanatics in re-
Iigion, sticklers in law, old fogits in Journal
ism, and dull copyis,s and imitators in the
workshops and corn.f .lds. These are uni
versally noble:hearted and honest %citizens,
commanding the respect and confidence Of
their fellow-men; but they serve only as
pleasant memories of bygones to old men
and as amusing wonderment OF what has
been to youth. They are not actors in the
living present." To the youth of Tennessee,
TO the vigorous boys and hard working girls
OF the day, who have missed much of the
~benumbing influences of the dead past, we
must look for the hands and minds that
shall act nergstioAllyLand Jhorghtfnlly-
casting of prejudice and the routine of GUS
tom, and that look around them with
their own eyes and do their own
t~hinking-to these we must look for the in
teliigent men and the forecastipg women
GUS resources nature spreads out before them
in Tennessee. Ia nearly the words Of that
vigorous opponent CT old-fogyisml and
Bourbonism, St. Pau, it is they whom we
should urge TO forget those things that are
behind, and reaching forth unto those things
that are before, to press onward. Forward"
thanks 10 81. Paul for the word; forward our
young people must be impelled until the
pillow, directed with an intelligent brain as
well "a a skillful hand, plunges deep into the
bosom Of mother earth and plucks thence the
rich reward, so that teeming harvests shall
ell homes with plenty and clear the heart ct
the weight that debt imposes upon it. For
ward" TO where the mine holds its treasures
for them wis search. Forward" until the
hill sides are dotted with sheep and echo the
lowing of the cattle in the valleys. For |
ward" by stream and steep, by factory and
commerce and the busy hum OF the
market. "Forward" above all-because
the usherer-in of all the rest-by the
echoolhouse, the book - learn TO talk in
their tones with the worlds sages, To win a
love for nature by catching sparks from the
poets FIRE, to comprehend from the vest
sources of science the secrets of the world
that is around u. With minds trained 10
TO reason, and TO observe, self-energy
Is attained, and the shackles Of custom, the
unthinking blindness that treads the uL-
changing rut, and the slavishness that sur
renders self-direction and bends TO the B9ur-
bon yoke, will be cast of, and reverence 10
false gods, to spurious patriotism, 10 the
fetishes that held back our fathers and kept
our Stale from reaching the very front, will
be cast sside with the false notions and tie
narrow views that for centuries obstructed
the progress OF truth ard good, and have
cursed men with the bitterness Of error.
Awake, youths and maideps Of TENNESSEE 1t
is now full day, the mists are dispelled, the
clouds are gone, thsblue, free, unobstructed
heavens ere above you, and the time is come
to shake of the shsckles of past generations,
and to forget those things that are behind,
and reaching forth to the things that are be-
fore, to press f1rward.