The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1886-02-18

OOhpdoo Iuo SiuOhlHS AoCOlnOtlNe Ohuhucr-
ing along the shining rails. They move
as the crest of wave along the steel-clad
arteries thrown out from the beat of the
commercial heart. We ever wonder at
their power; we ever admire their utility;
we gladly join an enthusiastic world in the
anthem it sings to this triumph of reason.
Yet, as theory must be in advance of
practice, as the rays of headlight must
ever fash ahead of the engine, SO running
ahead of these splendid triumphs of APP
piled science is that diffusion of know
ledge which makes such successes posi-
BILE. But the printing press is pre-emi-
nently the diffuser of knowledge. There
fore, it is logical to place it far above all
other inventions. We must ever take off
our hats to that instrument, the click of
whose revolutions mark the pulsations of
the worlds intellectual heart. The swing
ing wires and the restless locomotive it
subordinates as servants. From one it
EFFORTS at midnight the secrets of day
to lay at our doors when we rise in the
morning. The other it makes a messen-
ger to bear the white sheets to the out
stretched hand of an eager outer-lying
world. Let the grandest anthem be sung
to the last of these three great sisters.
1t has been said that at every fall of
twilight God sends out his angels to light
up the stars. Light is a beautiful en-
blem of knowledge, darkness ignorance.
Are not the printers the worlds star
lighters? 1t is their art that makes the
intellectual consultations sparkle along
our moral zodiac. They attend upon the
birth of thought and deliver it into the
world Of letters. OF what practical value
would an unborn thought be to the
world? Forever, therefore, must the
important by thoughtful men. Their
nimble fingers toss into the worlds in
tellectual sea those pebbles which oratori-
cal, poetical and philosophical lapidaries
have polished-from which ripples of
thought arise from the quiet deep and
ride to the farther shores of human sensi-
bility.
They are the mound builders for the
generations yet remote. They stereotype
the forms of thought and rude idioms
for will not ours be rude to that
other age), for them to unearth and won
der at Their art has rightly been called
the "Art preservative of arts" They
make men immortal. They make men
live in the world after they are dead.
The type-setter is generally intelligent
Literature is his his daily food. Type
setting stands to him as academy, college
and university His composition covers
philosophy, theology and belle lettres
He is an orthographist by trade. His
business is to tear down and build up
words. H. becomes an adept in syntax
by absorption. He must get a sentence
into his head before it will drop from his
fingers into type. He is ever walking
through the halls of human learning. He
is familiar with its every nook and cor
ner. HI nee it is but natural that some OF
the most brilliant stars in the intellectual
galaxy have come from the printers case
l need not mention Greedy, Franklin, anC
hoe of tn RS
The printer is cosmopolite. He is {
thorough man of the world. Contact with
the world gives man a knowledge of thu
most valuable kind. Thousands of mel
who are polished in college till the ename
is worn off, fail from lack of this. Prac
tical knowledge can only be acquired il
the school of experience.
One by one the printer picks the letters
| from the various boxes. The columns
pages and volumns of the worlds grea
| Libraries were thus made. Each letter re
quired a definite and separate volitiol
and consequent faithful obedience o
finger The raindrops fall one by on,
upon the mountain side and broad plat
eaus. Threading their way to common
channel our Niles and Mississippis flow
oceanward. The mighty cities of tn,
world were build stone by stone. The tai
monuments of human skill have climbed
skyward little by little. Thus is the vol
ume of life set up. We are all compost
tors. Day by day we are picking out OF
the worlds boxes virtue or vice to &c
into the great book of life.
Before us are two sets of cases. On the
right are the virtues; on the left the vices
Every man is left free to choose the cases
from which he sets. God has always dealt
with man thus. Such liberty is the foun-
datiOn of moral agency and is essential to
manhood. Why we may not understand
The fact remains. From Eden until now
two trees have been before us, the tree OF
life and the tree of death. Two cases
ever present themselves out of which we
may set virtues or vices into the pages OF
our lives. Shall 1 present specimen
from each set of cases? At random We
strike the ID" boxes. What have wei
DUTY from one; "dissipation" from the
other. Thus we might go through the
whole alphabet.
Habit is the stick into which we set oul
virtues or our vices, In the mold of habit
our actions crystalize. Substract oul
habits and only the bare outlines of mar
remain. We are depleted of ourselves
Water rushing in one direction cuts q
chute. This is only another name for it,
habit. 1t is even said that thoughts pillow
physical track across the brain. Other
thoughts, flowing along the same channel
make our "habits of thought" Tn,
more de1trous use of the right hand il
due only to habit The old adage is true
" We SOW an act and reap habit How
careful, therefore, we should be that only
graces and virtues find their way into the
stick of habit, and thence into the page,
of our lives.
Day after day we are emptyine
thoughts, words, and deeds from the sticl
of habit upon the galley" of character
AS the days go by these columns are
Tightening. AS we step across the lint
from childhood into the realm of respon
sibility we receive white tablet. Subse
quently every evil thought leaves blacl
dot upOn the hitherto pure white AS tn,