The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1885-10-24

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! If we make one step in the direction
Of devolution the wonderful portrait is
forever marred, there will exist the
true He'll. The Brain is responsible
for the action of the body; feed it
with the pure thoughts of the divinest
intellects and Christ's plan will come
to its more glorious end feed it with
the vicious conceptions Of this demon
alizing literature and the great portrait
will vanish, as veil before the wind.
The brain shrinks to mere atom with
the strain of thought upon it when the
fact is realized that we as a Universe
of people from infancy to decaying
age car be allured from our position
iii the masters portrait by the bodi-
less webs Romance seeks to entangle
us with. The strife of the multitudes
in the direction of Right may be turned
| by the individual of low desires into
the paths of descending Vice; but
filled with the literature of the Sages,
| the infinite wisdom of the christian
Philosophers, that same multitude
could sweep the individual before it
on its ascending way. 1t is question
for the present moment as to whether
the poison drunk by the individual
from base sources shall be absorbed by
the sponge of mental virtue, or allowed
to grow into torrent that will flood
the universe with its demoralizing IL
quor? "It may have occurred to some
of you," said Artemus Ward once to
an audience, "That time passes"
With the same degree of sarcasm l
may say that it must have occurred to
some of you that we are nation of
men and women, fibrous and muscu-
lar, seeking by practical means to at.
tain material ends. We have not been
placed upon the Globe to act as pol
ished dummies for the imagination of
Fictionists. There are homes to build,
Universities to found, Institutions to
discover, explorations to be made, con-
stitutions to form in fact, the whole
deep tragedy of humanity moves upon
the stage of Time, and we are. all sup
posed to be actors. Degree is the aim
of the American individual. Strife for
the highest place the natural desire of
all creatures. Who, then, would want
to tread the boards of the great Natio-
nal platform as a mere aid, serving as
victim in the plot of novel, when
the place of the great Star awaits him?
where he may serve as mighty pillar
to the palace of Science, while the
crumbling walls of the castle of Fiction
mingle in dust about him. Vein-laden
with the blood of heroes and heroines,
| we must became masculine as Philos-
ophy, not efeminate as Romance. 1t
is the will of the All-Powerful that we
build our foundation of Truth with the
hands of Faith that the heavens may
everlastingly rest upon them, not that
we dig pitfalls of falsity with the tools
Of doubt that the blue dome may
tremble above and fall within. eve
are here in the world without being
consulted and it is the part of wisdom
to get the most out of it." Theolo-
gians and philosophers have asked why
evil should be introduced into the
world, and it still remains the Won
drous problem of the age. The subtle
alchemy of life is to cling to the good
and let the evil go by q; picking up the
golden grains of happiness, cultivating
the power of seeing and approaching
the things about US at our own DOORS
As far as the literary domicile is con
cerned with our question it remains
for you to judge whether or not we
gaze out of its windows upon the snow
white hills of enrolling Science and
lofty Philosophy or upon the wastes Of
Fiction? If 1t Is true, as the poet has
said, that men build the ladders by
which they climb, then, i'll the name o.
the children who have yet to carve the
posts and rungs of their ascending
help, let all rotten timbers, all decay
ing metals be removed from thei
reach. Let no material enter into thu
construction of the ladder up which
they climb, let nothing enter into 1t
make up but the purest of attainablt
knowledge. One romance. one falls,
novel built in the midst of the structur,
will cause its eternal ruin. Thes,
ladders of Intellect are being built b,
all not by a solitary subject. Eacl
and all must be careful lest ever
structure falls at once and the who'll
world feels the shock of the menta
ruin. Romance is beautiful; Fictio
is entertaining but universe of me-
and women and enrequiring foo
drink and clothes cannot exist upo
beauty and amusement. Science i
majestic, Philosophy is lofty, Histor
is sublime, and the mind that is fille'
with their teachings is far more able t
acquire food and raiment than an in
tellect stored with infallable Fairy
tales. do not seek to abolish tina
which has been written of truth. NJ
heart bleeds with the hearts of all 70
Little Nell" and Eva for brav
paul and Virginia - but the sacre
instinct of the soul that breathes with
us prompts us in convicting and con
demning the false novel, the untrue re
nance, to sudden and everlasting e,
lie. AS the slow arm of custom ur