Morning journal and courier., 1884-02-28
An Interesting Talk.


 MT. Charles Dudley Warner on the Re-
 Iation of Literature to Life-Address at
 North Sheffield Hall.
 The annual course of lectures to mechan- ics was most auspiciously opened Tuesday evening by MT. Charles Dudley Warner, whose address on the "Relat1on of Literature to Life" was made interesting. Half an hour before the appointed time persons began to assemble, and at o'clock all the seats and some of the aisles were filled. President Porter introduced the lecturer, who spoke substantially as follows: I once had a vision of stream flowing through an endless land, with generations of men on it's banks always passing away and being renewed. All were busy in the construction of ships and filled with anxiety to build such as would float down to other generations. Many of these vessels sank at once, others hoated short distance from the shore, and few kept afoa' for any length of time. One fate came to most of them and the strand was strevn with wrecks. Here and there foated a black old hulk which had come down from ages past, and which stood as a model to present builders. These builders were au- thors, these ships were books. There is popular but incorrect conception that lisera- ture and life are far apart. Literature and art are the streams that flow on through the ages ennobling and reviving the feeting generations. The aim of mankind seems to be to accumulate wealth. During age after age the world labors for this result like busy colony of ants. If there were poet capable of putting this spirit into an epic, what an epic that would be. It is surely a grand thing to stimu- late the ambition and energy of men. If your world has been in
 books, this pursuit assumes supreme importance in your mind.
 Your scheme of life develops the idea into action You have strong sympathy with
 the spirit of work. Yet the men engaged in
 this struggle for wealth have no sense of the influence of your work on their lives. Go
 out of your library into this world of trade
 and manufacture and politics, you will learn
 how little thought is taken here of those
 pursuits in which your life is bound up. All around are marvellous exhibitions of what
 energy and capital can do. This is life, this is doing something. These men are adding
 to the material wealth of the world,
 to it's luxury and sensuous enjoyment We find here.the popalar judgment of the insigni6cance of life of letters- The ma iority of men have no conception of the pow CT which it exerts in their affairs. The most potent and lasting influence in the civiliza- tion of generations is literature. Under this name all books must not be included, but it is enduring and universal thought It re- quires not oRly fact, but the record of feeling and emotion. These of most value in the lives of men, whether they are aware of it not. They answer to a want of the human soul higher than for mere facts, or for wealth and pleasure. A strong contrast is drawn between the man of trade and the devotse of letters The life of different in- terests is bounded by narrow horizons. The seeker of material good has strong natural contempt for him who pursues literature. Yet if these are divorced they are ruined. | The production of poetry Is necessary to the r well-being of mankind. Yet poet is regard l ed generally as a sort of inspired idiot. If a | man is known only a poet he suffers | in our respect, and it is only after he ! has passed away, when only his work ' remains to save his name from oblivion, that we call him grea'. This popular ssti ! mate extends to all producers of literature. Yet poetry has been the universal solace of all people who have been lifted from barbar ' ism. It allsviates poverty. It supplies 8 | want higher then the want of food. The ma I jority of men live mostly in imagination. It ! lifts them above the hard miseries of life. A ! crowd of poor wretches gathered around an
 Arab are moved to laughter or tears as the \ imagery. A realm such this not I all the wealth of Vanderbilt can ! buy. It lifts them from the cares ! and sorrows of life to an ideal of enjoyment.
 Scarcely can we find peasants in Europe ! whose misery has not been alleViated by \ nd bo ahod opio l more benefit from it than the cultivated gen { tleman. It keeps before him the idea that he is man Over the sordId conditions of his life is difused the light of poem, tale f of pathos, line of a Psalm or the relation of some emotion. The hard conditions of
 the early settlement of New England would \ have been unendurable without the ! boundless realm of fancy and the ' wonderland of the Bible. It was I more than a religious guide. It was an unfailing atorehouse of tales touching life ! in all it's phases. It had courage for the I warrior, sentiment for the tender-hearted ! maiden, comfort for the afflicted In looking \ back at the past we can see the advantage of literature to life. Spain did and does still | exert great influence on history. but the
 most valuable thing which the world has re- I ceived from Spain is the romance of Don Quixote. Which has conferred ' the greatest born on mankind, the wonderful statesmanship and brilliant diplomacy of Bismarck or the writings of Goethe? Gladstone is the greatest English
 man of bis age, one of the most powerful leaders and moulders of English action. He
 has marvellous powers in debate and finance. There is scarcely subject on which he has
 not discourSed with ability. Yet he has never produced page of literature. After
 the passage of many years the sum total will not be of as much avail as that simple book
 of Dr. John Browns, 'Rab and His Friends
 Nothing moro than page with poem writ
 ten on it may affect the destiny of all sue
 ceeding ages. It is gone all the world over and is adopted into the life of every people
 It is sung in the camp or lonely cottage, rais- ing and beautifying life. Yet literature should not be devoted to utilitarian pur-
 pose. It must be sought for itself It should
 stimulate the higher nature of man, not his grosser or sensual side. Compared with literature everything else is trivial Which has most of reality in it, the conversation of men seeking only material good or of those de- voted to letters? Science and literature go hand in hand, both ninistering to the elsva- tion and nurture of the human soul When we pursue knowledge for the sake of gain we are neglecting that higher life.