The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1884-09-05
THE PRACTICAL AND THE IDEAL.

THE PRACTICAL AND THE IDEAL.
There are two sides of life, the ideal and
the practical. and they have been SO fire.
quently analyzed and set apart so often
even put into antagonism and made to APP
pear like contestants in battle-the tri-
umph of one meaning the defeat of the
| other-that it requires some effort to realize
their true relative position People who
pride themselves upon being eminently prac-
teal are apt to despise ideality, or at any
rate, to esteem it simply as luxury to be
enjoyed in seasons of leisure and dismissed
when the real duties of life claim attention.
Dreams, fancies, longings they say, perform
no labor. accomplish nothing useful, and
only unfit the man who INDUCES in them
for the steadfast discharge OF his obligations.
Let him dismiss them as idle Pigments of the
brain and apply himself to actual life if he
wishes to be power of good to himself or
to others. Now the great mistake which
such persons make is in surprising that real
life can exist without the help of imagina-
ton. No work of human hands is ever done
without picture of it having been first
formedin the mind of the doer The archi-
teet's PLAN the artists picture. the law
yer's plea. the husbandman's harvest exist
in imagination before they do i'll actuality.
and they owe all their excellence and
beauty to the character of these maginings
and to the degree in which they have been
faithfully represented.
So in character-therc is that which IL
and that which ought 10 BE- and the first,
which is practical derives all its worth from
its resemblance to the second, which is
tee before We can he just; mental picture
of truthfulncss or honor or purity or kind
ness before we can be truthful or honor
able or pure or kind. The good man must
be both ideal and practical, and indeed. lie
cannot be the latter in its best sense unless
he is in the former for he cannot bring into
activity virtues of which he has never con-
ceived. The universal admission that men
are not as good or as wise, or as noble as
they might be, is of itself proof that all
have ideals Reckoning and helping them up
ward. No one deliberately upholds wrong
doing. however much he may commit it;
no one condemns right conduct. however
much he may neglect it. Mems ideals are
better than their actions but not better
than themselves. for they are a true and
vital part of themselves.
The thing We long for, that we are,
For one transcendcnt moment.
Could we be shorn of our ideals. character
would rapidly sink, and would show a sor-
rowful record At the best. we could but
repeat the past. for we should see no hand
reckoning MS upward. and hear no voice en-
eouraging us to higher effort We are right
in deploring the distance that exists be-
tween our life as it Is. and as we know it
ought to be, but we should have still
greater cause for sorrow did we find our
conceptions of purity, love, truth and good
ness fading from our minds.
On the other hand. those who simply
hold these ideals in an indolent and self
indulgent way, never Transforming them
into action or infusing them into daily life.
will soon loose them altogether. Their
continuance depends upon the use that is
made of them. They are not simply to be
admired. reverencod and cherished-they
are to be oJeyed If we do not render them
this obedience. they will fit from us, and
leave us poor indeed OF what use is the
mental picture of a valuable invention, if
no persevering energy puts it into form To
help or TO comfort mankind? OF what
value is a theory of education without an
educator. or q dream of beauty that is
never realized? OF what avail is a high
notion of honor To him who stoops to mean
actions. or a glorious vision of love to him
who will sacrifice nothing to the beloved?
! How futile is the noblest scheme Of philan-
thropy to him who never helps fellow
creature. or the kcenest sense of justice to
him who Expresses the poor. Only as the
ideal becomes the practical. is it fulfilling
its mission in the world. Upon this
union all progress depends. If We cherish
our ideals and draw our lives close up
to Them they will rise still higher. and
we shall rise with them. Faithful loyalty
TO our best conceptions is the only path to
practical well-doing. In this way little
by little, character is built up, life is puri-
fled and cnnobled. and the power and the
will for good are strengthened and establish
ed.-Ledger.
GRIT OF a NEWARK GIRL.
/ How She Acted Towards u Midnight