Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-01-30
The Imagination.

In the January number of the North An
ericaa Rerieac is published an apoxtrophe by
Col. Robt. q. Ingersoll, upon Imagination
from which we extract the following:
The nan of imagination-tha is to say,
of genius-having seen a leaf and drop
of water, can construct the forests, the
rivers, and the seas. In bis presence all the
cataracts fall and foam, the mists rise, the
clouds form and float.
To really know one fact is to know its
kindred and its neighbors. Shakespeare
looking at 2 coat of mail, instantly imagin-
ed the society, the conditions, that produced
it, and what it produced He saw the cas-
tie, the moat, the drawbridge, the lady in
the tower, and the knightly lover squirting
over the plain. Hesaw the bold baron and
the rude retainer, the trampled serf, and all
the glory and the grief of feudal life.
The man of imagination has lived the
life Of all people, of all races He was a
citizen of Athens in the days of Pericles :;
listened to the eager eloquence of the great
orator, and sat upon the cliff, and with the
tragic poet heard " the InultitudinoUs
laughter of the sea-" He saw Socrates
thrust the spear Of question through the
shield and heart of falsehood was present
when the great man drank hemlock and
met the night of death tranquil as a star
meets morning. He has followed the
peripatetic philosophers, and has been
puzzled ty the sophists. He has watched
Phidias as he chisled shapeless stones to
forms of love and awe.
lie has lived by the slow Nile amid the
vast and monstrous He knows the very
thought that wrought the form and feat
ures of the Sphinx. He as heard great
Memnon's morning song-has lain him
down with the embamed and waiting dead,
and felt within their dust the expectation
of another life mingled with cold and suf-
locating doubts-the children born of long
delay
He has walked the ways of mighty
Rome. has seen great Cesar with his
legions in the field, has stood with vast and
motley throngs and watched the triumphs
given TO victorious men, followed by ur-
crowned kings, the captured hosts and all
the spoils Of ruthless war. He has heard
the shout that shook the Coliseum's roofless
walls when from the recling gladiators
hand the short sword fell, while from his
bosom gushed the stream Of wasted life.
He has lived the life Of savage men, has
trod the forests silent depths, and in the
desperate game of life or death has matched
his thought against the instinct Of the beast
He knows all crimes and all regrets all
virtues and their rich rewards. He has
Dteu Nlcllfu anu NlCtDF. i'uISuef ana lgul-
sued, Guteast aud king-has heard the APP
plause and curses Of the world, and on his
heart have fallen all the nights and moons
of failure and Success.
He knows the unspoken thoughts, the
dumb desires, the wants and ways OF beasts
He has felt the crouching tigers thrill the
| terror of ambushed prey, and with the
eagles ne has shared the ecstasy of flight
and poise and swoop, and he has lain with
sluggish serpents on the barren rocks, I'M
coiling slowly in the heat Of noon.
He has knelt with awe and dread at every
shrine has offered every sacrifice and every
prayer, has felt the consolation and the
sbuddering fear, has seen all devils, has
| Knocked and worshiped all the gods-en-
joyed all heavens and felt the pangs of
every hell
He has lived all lives, and through his
blood and brain have crept the shadow and
the chill Of every death, and his soul, Ma
zeppa-like, has been dashed naked to the
wild horse of every fear and love and hate.
The Imagination hath a stage within the
brain, whereon he sets all scenes that lie
between the morn of laughter and the
night of tears, and where his players body
! forth the false and true, the Joys and griefs,
the careless shadows and the tragic deeps
of every life