The Cecil Whig., 1885-11-14
IMAGINATION A MORAL FORCE.

IMAGINATION A MORAL FORCE.
People generally consider that the
claims of duty reach to their actions and
speech sometimes they extend them to
their thoughts, but rarely to their ina
gination. That is supposed to be too
light and airy thing to be caught and
tanned, too subtle to be grasped, too in
voluntary to be subjected to law or
guided by will, and too unimportant
generally to be made the subject of con-
scientious duty. In the training of youth
we guard anxiously their words and
deeds, we educate the eye, the car and
the hand; We discipline their mental
powers by vigorous and continuous
study, we cultivate their various facul-
ties and powers by exercise, but their
imaginings, which we call fancies or
dreams, we leave to be developed by the
chance influences of the playground or
the library.
Yet what people image is in some de.
gree the foundation Of what they are,
and the source of what they do and say.
Take the young and enthusiastic boy,
who resolves to become sailor or a
soldier. What is it that infuses into him
such hope and courage, that nerves his
arm and fires his heart, and leads him to
make all sacrifices and endure all hard
ships gladly? 1t is the ideal that his
imagination has formed and clothed with
heroism and glory, and which he longs
to realize. This it is which inspires the
painter, the sculptor, the poet and the
dramatist, and enables them to leave
legacies OF beauty, grace and thought to
the world. This it is that guides the
business man in establishing a commer-
cial enterprise, the architect in planning
a noble edifice, the ship-builder in erect
ing the structure that is to breast the
waves and ride upon the deep. Every
reformer, and every philanthropist sees
in his imagination and improved COM
munity, where poverty is abated, sorrow
comforted, idleness and waste changed
into order, and the vision cheers
him on to effort. Every faithful wife
aud mother holds in her mind an image
of pure and happy home, where chill
dren grow up in an atmosphere of love,
order, peace and goodwill, and finally
become the comfort and prop of their
parents declining years, and she labors
to make her dream reality. Indeed we
may safely say that the Imagination by
the pictures she draws and holds up to
view, leads every faithful toiler to ex-
cellence in his work, whatever it may be.
Then, too, the moral standards men
hold that the conceptions they form of
the characters they desire to attain, are
great mainsprings in their lives. More
important to their characters than any
thing they do or say is what is what they
,cish to be done or said; more even than
what they have actually attained, is that
which they desire to attain.
"The thing we long for, that we arc
For one transcendent moment
and for much more than a moment, if
we sedulously treasure and pursue our
ideals. In discussing speech, Emerson
says: Things said for conversation are
chalk eggs. Don't sag things. What
you are stands over you the while and
thunders so that cannot hear what you
say to the contrary"
Yet ideals are not all worthy and ele-
waiting. Sometimes the fancied dream
of wealth, or position or fame, is so
dazzling, that men are ready to lay
down honor or integrity to gain it; or
that of love is so fascinating and bewil-
dering, that they sacrifice duty to pos.
sess it; or that of public applause is so
attractive, that for its sake they forfeit
their own self-respect. Such imaginings
fostered and pursued, untrue as they
are to the conditions of life and happi-
ness, involve ultimate ruin and misery.
They are as effective in dragging man
down as pure and noble ideals are in
lifting him up. What are our ideals,
then, becomes matter Of no light mo-
ment, but rather of the deepest conse-
quence. 1t is not sufficient to examine
what we are doing or saying; we must
also probe our imaginings and scrutinize
our secret fancies, to see whether they
are leading US upward or downward. If
we are cherishing, ever SO secretly, i'm
pure or unholy desires, or forming con-
ceptions which our better nature would
disown, or even indulging in dreams
which never ought to be realized, it
will be in vain that we try to prune
down our words or regulate our actions
so as to conform them to higher stan
dard. We must purify the fountain if
we would have the waters sweet.
The culture of the imagination is
worthy of more prominent place in the
training of youth than it has ever yet
| received. We must regard it, not
merely or chiefly in its intellectual ca
pacity, or as a promoter of good taste
and refinement, but as moral and
ethical educator. We should take care
that the ideals they form are noble, the
desires they cherish are pure, the exam
Piles they look up to are sound aud true,
the heroes and heroines they admire are
worthy of respect. This can only be
done through loving sympathy and
tender care that provides for, not
crushes, their eager and ardent enthu-
siasms. The examples we set them, the
companions we find for them, the books
we furnish them, the moral atmosphere
in which we place them, should all COM
bine to purify and ennoble their imagin-
ings, and, through them, 20 enrich and
exalt their lives. If we neglect those
things, or leave them to chance influ-
ences, no amount of effort to control
their actions, to regulate their words,
even to form their habits, can compen-
safe. 1t is what each one aspires to be-
come that will form the great motive
power to decide what he may become.