The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1888-01-25
INFLUENCE OF LITERATURE.

INFLUENCE OF LITERATURE.
Literature Is speech, snatcbed from
oblivion aud crowned with immOrtali-
ty. The delicate moss Is preserved In
the golden aromatic amber, but more
securely are the departed kings OF
learning, the pioneers of thought, the
founders.of intellectual kingdoms pre-
served and embalmed In literature.
The very dust of these intellectual
planets IL guarded in fame's magnifi-
cent mausOleum. Literature IL the ev-
olution Of intellect, imaginstion aud
genius. Language is the pearly portal
of the soul. Language enables us to
catch "a view Of the soul. When the
soul is "a pure as the glory Of unequal
ed dawn aud becomes transparent with
lofty thought what IA river Of harlDbny
rolls away Literature j. All ocean
made up OF streams from The brains
and souls of men. 1t deals with every
conceivable form of comp ,sition from
the passionate pleadings and love songs
of the mother to the lOftiest soaring of
the epic, the GRAFTON, the ode and the
drama. 1t climbs the mountain nights
with the poet, and commentaries with
the historian. 1t shines in the scenic
entertainments Of the dramatist, and
sparkles the well-constructed plot of
the novelist. The literatures OF nations
are the monuments to resist the raw
ages of time and change. A mOnu-
ment built out Of literature that appears
in the productions Of science, turns 10
solemn glory in epic poems, its
pictures representing the kingly honor
of Integrity and excellence, and the
9 iOw-white purity of lives-such a
monument will Outlive the ages and
outshine the sun.
Ifmusic painting and architecture be-
literature is the crownJewel OF the
group. II is the brightest star in that
galaxy. Music refiues and spritualizes
our natures and the soul revels IN har-
mony as an insect revels in sunbeam;
the eye Is RECALLED with beauty Ia the
stem and flower, marble depths and
stellar heights, in the sky painted with
saffron and crimson, aud charmed with
symmetry of form and elegance of
shape, but literature emancipates the
imprisoned mind, and il comes forth
from its invisible shrine wearing "a
crown and swayiug sceptre. Paint
ing music and architecture can only
represent certain qualities Of the soul,
but literature Is greater because II comes
nearer expressing the peerless greatness
of the soul and the grandeur of its in
born genius. That which can give ex-
preston to subtle shades of thought and
feeling, to the lyrical poems of the
he!rt, to ponderings and fancying. must
he greater than aud Oratoria of Handle,
mass of Mozart, or necrOmantic
symphony of Beethoven aud must over
shadow the princely paintings Of
Reubens, Coreggio and Raphael. Lit
erature will remain when works of art
are destroyed. There was a time when
the arts aud sciences furnished in
Egypt, Babylon and Neneveh, and
then monuments of genius adorned the
soil of Greece. Lights of unusual
brightness clustered in consultations and
shOne around the thrones of the
Caesars. Time rolled on aud all the
glories of Egypt, Syria and the far east
centralized in Rome. But there came
n cloud, which broke in the fiery VEN
geance on the head Of Rome. From
the wild regions of Northern Europe,
millions of barbaTians merciful as vul-
lures, aud savage as tigers swUOped
down upon the city, and her glory de-
parted. Her marble palaces, luxurious
residences, majestic temples, gorgeous
basilicas. stately Obelisks, triumphsl
arches, statues of silver aud gold, the
magnificent fame of Jupiter CapitOli-
nus-a mass Of snowy marble, rooted
with glittering gold together with other
nameless wonders wefe pile of
ruins. But while these works of art
were destroyed, literature to some ex-
tent survived the inaddened hordes OF
AttiIa. II books or manuscripts were
burnt, there were men and women OF
that period who carry the contents in
their heads. There were men who
could repeat Homer aud Virgil by heart,
they were familiar with the ancient
classics aud the monks (be II said TO
their honor preserved for us the Bible.
Thus literature unlike temple or an
Obelisk has an immortality. A blow
from hammer may shatter q statue,
All earthquake sink whole Pantheon
of Gods aud goddesses, and fire can
make ashes out " the frescoes and mo-
sans VI aftists out spthCboW
survives. You cannot destroy the i'm
passioned beauties and lyrical passages
of the mothers heart as she watches her
undeveloped child.
Milton became blind to the GU ter
world, but the inner was one OF light.
Earth, though shrouded In darkness,
yet his imperial imagination was un-
touched, and his soul reveled in poetic
vision. Beethoven was deaf to the
loudest crash of the organ, and the
most powerful orchestra was to him 81
lent. Yet his soul swan In an ocean
of harmony, and even when the emily
sweats OF death were upon him, he
wrote some of his grandest symphonies.
No maladies however prevalent and
sweeping could affect these princely
souls, and no desolation however great
eau assassinate the soul OF literature.
1t comes down to US untouched