The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-06-10
A Plea for the Present.

A large audience assembled at the First Pres
byterian Church. this evening, to listen to the
Grafton delivered before the literary societies of
the college by j. Maurice Thompson, of Craw-
ferdsyille. Mr.. Thompson's address is consid
cred as one of the best features of the commence
ment exercises The following is the address
deem it an honor of no uncertain sort to ad-
dress the literary societies of Wabash College
and this large audience this evening 1t is quite
natural that / should acknowledge the atmos-
phere of literary culture and the perspective of
'assical beauty for which this little city and its
G ebrated school are so justly noted, by giving
. literary turn to what l shall venture to say
and hope you will pardon me if | now and
then drop into poetry Poetry is most excel
lent beverage" friend Of mine used &c say, eff
you only keep it from coming too fast"
purpose spending half hour with you in
talking about a new school that have mag
ined Is forming somewhere in the world-a
school to which | should like to belong. This
new school is young school. whose members do
net worship the past-it is entirely devoted to
the present and the future-it is the school that
trains in the morning. AS prelude to what |
shall say to you this evening, wish to read you
some parts of poem by Ben Parker, of Indiana:
MORNING.
had dream of other days
In golden luxury shone the wheat
In tangled greenness shook the maze
The squirrels ran with nimble feet.
And then heard triumphal song.
"aIis morning, and the days are long"
They scattered roses strewed the palms.
And shouted down the pleasant wales;
heard thousand happy psalms,
And laughing Thousand tales
And then again the thrilling song:
" lis morning, and the days are long"
Far winding past the stored town,
The river ran through bosky groves
It's foods sailed vessels down,
Full-freighted with myriad loves
Then down the waters flowed the song
:" IT'S morning, and the day is long!
o. morning when the days are long,
And youth and innocence wed,
And every grove is full of song,
And every pathway void of dread,
Who rightly sings its rightful praise,
Or nightly dreams it 0 er again
When cold and narrow the DAYS,
And shrunken all the hopes of men,
He shall rewaken with his song
The morning when the DAYS are long!
Now. have read this pleasing bit of verse to
you because in its rhy thin and its simple melo-
DIV of phrasing it EN- bodies something of the
dewy freshness and fragrance of morning; be-
cause it contains simple disdain of the elias
steal conventionalites 1t delights me to find
something in literature, once in while, which
gives evidence that its inspiration has been gem
Grated outside the influence of classicism. Of
course / admit that knowledge of what the
masters of literature, science and art have done
must always be the larger element of the SUBJ
stance of mere culture; but | fear that much
marin Is UclflR uoHe our SCuoOS anu CeIl-
tiers of learning By placing too great stress upon
the achievements of those gods of the bygone
Science, it is true has been breaking over the
dead-line of late years and its younger-minded
devotees have been roundly asserting that New
ton, and Leibnitz, and Cuvier and the rest of
the old fellows did not know all or do all; but in
literature and art the barricade is still up
the path of progress. Are not children
trained to unthinkingly accept Homer, Shak-
speare, Dante. Milton and Goethe the ever
lasting leaders of literature? You will attribute
to my weakness of perception the fact that |
fan to find in Shakespeare that tremendous un-
derswell Of moral purpose that lifts the writings
OF Victor Hugo into very pillows of sympathy
with the poor and oppressed. Huges genius
was not universal, as was Shakspeare's, but
he had aims loftier than that of the
playwright; he stood upon a higher plane than
the stage OF theater You will not mistake
what say. | arm not assaultng Shakespeare; I
am simply asking that our own day be not mis-
ludged because it is close to us. I am merely
objecting TO the principle of teaching our chill
dren from their infancy to look into the far dis
liant past for all the horoes all the poets all the
artists and all the statesmen. As proof of the
force of what I suggest, what If should assert
here tonight that Tennyson Is greater poet