Daily Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1882-1893, 1888-12-25

Latter Day Pamphlets, Life Of John
Sterling, Mirabeau, Diamond Neck
lace, and Life Of Frederick the Great
which is usually considered by the
c.itics rs his crowning effort, intellec-
tually rs we'll ss chronologically. II
appeared in 1865. Shortly after the
completion Of this work, after a resi-
dence of more than thirty years in
London, during which time he was
regarded the peer Of the most brill ant
literary lights Of the world, he was
made LordRe:tor Of the University OF
Edinburgh, Of which he was duly in.
stalled April 2, 1866. But his greatest
honor was quickly followed by his
greatest grief. Only q few days after
ward he was called upon TO bury bis
wife, who had been the inspiration of
all his literary efforts. He survived
her fifteen years, died Feb. 5, 1881,
bearing to his grave the highest honors
within the gift of his countrymen, and
transmitting to posterity his name,
not through flesh and blood, but
through mind and spirit. Carlyle was
q man OF many parts, but the most
striking characteristic is his sturdy,
unbending honesty. His clear anal
yses end Penetrating criticisms are
dominated by that unbending princi.
pie not to be blurred or shadowed by
money or position. Measured by this
stsndsrd-honesty-Csrlyle is head
and shoulders above any literary
character OF the nineteenth century
with whom I am acquainted.
On the American side, Emerson, his
staunch personal friend, doubtless
stands next him. In Emerson the
most striking characteristic 10 his in
tellectusl scumen, his penetration
into the hidden secrets Of spiritual
life, his sweep Of thought and dazzling
imagin a;ion-his honesty 10 an after.
thought which crops out like the
Lower Silurian strata, only occasion.
ally as we travel the circuit Of his
work, but enough TO show US that IL Is
under all the plains and mountain
peaks, the placid lakes and ocean
streams Of his intellectual creations
and by going deep enough We are sure
to strike II.
In Beecher we are 30 impressed
by his love and sympathy for hu-
maniiy and his zeal in placing be
tore sll, the essential truths Of higher
life that we have no time to ask con-
c.rniDg his honesty and love Of jus.
tice-these are assumed. Only an an
alytical craze will ever introduce such
elements as reagents In the test of his
character. II all the versatile beauty,
philosophical deductions, generaliza-
tions on all subjects, practical nioraliz
ing from every day events and elegant
comparisons of Holmes, honesty is the
incident. The mans inexhaustible
resources of intellect and changes
without number rung on the same
subject attract our attention aud we
listen, constantly thinking "Whst
next and how will II come?n Wen
dell Phillips, with the white beat OF
truth and lightning flashes Of indigna-
ion and rebuke burns into our souls u
character not only of earnestness snr
honesty but of intense zeal and daunI.
less courage, yet he cannot measur'
with Carlyle except in one dimension
Length, breadth and thickness ar
not there, aud he will go down to pos
terity as a man Of Que idea. But with
Carlyle we are first struck, even from,
u adlstance by an intense, rugged, ms-.
-ive honesty like . Pixies Peak, who's
foundations are immovable and who-,
outline clearly cuts against the szur'
horizon the mountain sweeps Of ideal
thought; and intimate acqusint-
snce only increases Its vastness by un.
folding from seeming unit, an hun
dred mountains, locking in their
rock ribbed sides inexhsu,tible mines
Of purest metals. Indeed II seems to
him an immense lighthouse, out oi
the range OF whose rays his ship l.
never allowed TO 90. although
Il s-ours the seas In every cline.
Aye, may l not say II is the sun OF a
great intellectual system, consistent in
one mind, around which revolve, In
different orbits. new ideal planets Of
biography, pedsgogics, fiction, criti-
cism, politics, literature, history and
social life, having each its satellites.
and all sustained by truth.
From the sphinx we take the fol-
lowing: "What Ia justice ?' AK
many, 10 whom cruel fact alone can
he able 10 prove responsive. Its like
i-sting; PLATE asking what IL truth +?
Testing Pilale had not the smallest
cnance to ascertain what was truth. He
could not have known II had n God
shown II 10 HIM. Thick serene opacity,
thicker than Amaurosis vsiled those