The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1884-03-16

Hgure of speech. when asserted, that
bsreits or injuries descend to pos
terity. " no have to bless the wisdom
and foresight of their progenitors,
or mourn in suffering and diff
Guilty, their excuses anu Gins.
The earliest writings we have
account Of were in the form of
poems. The Book OF Job, said to
have been written before the time
of M ,ses, not by Jew, but by an
Arabian, is the Oldest book that has
descended down to us. 1t is grand,
elevating and sublime in its imag-
cry. filed with the fire OF true
poetry and passion, yet is such as
belongs not to an enlightened Pc
ROD o. civilization, as we
understand it; but belongs to
that in which faint dawn
ings of intellectual progress, exact
ness and prsctica! science sle
visible. 1t is written with q force
direct from generous heart,
warr3e6 " tn the fervid fancy and
glowing imagination of the lonely
wandereT o. the desert; who by day
tended his focks and in the night
passed many Of his solitary hour
tracing the course of toe distant
stars. In this day the exact S fences
were unknown every strange
phenomenon was sui ject OF wolder
and Oosefvstion-the earth, the
glittering stars, the circling pianets,
visible 10 his wondering geZe,
tOkened the p wer aud grandeur OF
! an omniIotent God. But, though
burning with the fire of lofty iu-
spiration, 1t ia that of passion and
poetry, which sobs, and walls and
rises to the majestic heights of
heaven; or sinks to the lowest
depths of sorrow.
Action and reac ion is Observable
throughout universal nature. 1t
affects ard directs every portion of
| human nature and human knOWl-
edge. Homer wrote his immortal
Epic nearly three thousand years
ago, springipg at one bound to the
summit of human excellence in that
depart ment of poetry. What pre-
Gee led him we have but scant means
of kno wing But poetry is less the
child Of educ alton and study than
intellectual excellence in any ether
direction; owing more to nature
than to art, and less to the training
uf schools than to the divine fire of
inspiration 1t belongs not 80 much
to high and advanced state of CIVIL.
lization, as to that dawniDg of intel
lectual life and Vigor that betokens
the pp'Oaching manhood and glory
of q nation. 1t may be written by
rule, have the melCdious jingle OF
verse, be musical in name anC
rhythm, yet be v0id of life, with nc
power to fire the heart. or interest
the judgment.
History and ph 'iosophy follow
poetry, and Herodotus, Tbucidides
Xenopben, Socrates and Plato at
tanned almost u2rivailed heights OF
excellence; yet after Dsmosthenes,
after the fall of Grecian freedom by
force Of Roman arms-what partic-
uiar or preseminent tslent was dis
played by that natio1! a l3ng list
Of statesmen, warriors and Pat, lots
adorned the days Of their liberty,
but fallen under a foreign yoke
there was no longer the same vigor,
nor the same parity and thirst for
lie rning that hal formerly existed
At times something like
ancient vigor would flash
'Orth, but it was only
like the uncertain light Of a 1ame,
to be speedily obscEred by the thick
coming cloud of oppression and SUBJ
servieney. Other nations have I'M
derg0ne similar chaages, some even
more disastrous and energy destroy
ing, and 1t is Unnecessary to swell
the story of their glories, their
crimes and their humiliations
History teaches by example; and
thread of interest and instruction
is perceptible in all these changes.
1t forcibly illustrates the high value
of viTtuOus, moral aud upright
eou sc of c3nGIet, AMI, that no evil
can be wrought without leaving its
csrroding influence upon society. 1t
fogci,ly portrays the alluhements of
pleasure, the inr0ads of ambition
upoD houest and noble principles,
the deb asing effect of love Of power
and slAgish fear, which always pre-
eeGe Aational decay. We see the
bitter struggle of heart assaiied bv
humse falllbiIity and weakness. its
pure yearning for the good and
great. aud, at tlmss. its disastrous
fall its deep remorse therefor and
its earnest efforts to regain the lost |
road Of integrity. LODGED. reality,
life as 1t is seen in history, Is a 70.
nance more wild at times, more In.
teresting in its details and denoue.
ment than the most startling tale
ever evolved from the imssina.
tive brain. 1t ia full Of
error, full of incongruities
and mistakes, full of happiness and
woe, Of conteutment and fierce re-
gret, of joy and AFFECT misery. 1t is
full of contrasts and surprises. We
SEE in every life, national or per-
sonal, two roads branching out from
Its commencement, and as the
choice is wise OF foolish. 80 the life
will be. If that of selfish indiffar-
eDce and sin is cho'en, misery, Ces.
an wee attend it-nos Jack
Of gold. or power, pei haps, but lack
Of every manly purpose and ioy-
giving principle; choose that of 10
r Ioht infaUrifu cipooritr 20