Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1889-06-07
WHAT SHALL WE READ?



Social Life. His style is rough, jagged
more like the down-rushing Of mountain
torrent over precipitous rocks than the
smooth on.flowing of river of the plains !;
his words are more like the heavy blows of
a batteaxe, falling thick and fast in the
very centre of the raging conflict than the
studied formulas, breathed in silvery tones,
OF the obsequious courtier. Each has chosen
well his forms of speech. The fastidious
ears of the court may not endure the jarring
accents of faithfulness, sincerity, justice, but
will tolerate only flattery, hypocrisy and de-
ception. The apostle of truth must needs
speak to stupid, deceived and deceiving
world in tones which shall awaken though
they may fail to effectuate reform. Carlyle
almost never fails to convince; in passible
cases will not fail TO persuade. He is the
impacable foe of every kind of stana, po-
litcal, social, religious; the constant de-
fender and eulogist of every form of truth,
honesty and reality. He not only "shoots
folly as it flies" but never misses chance
for killing sitting shot. Superficial read
ers have thought they discovered in him q
skeptical, jeering tone when religious sub.
iects were his theme. They have not dis
eliminated between the fierce hatred of n.y.
pocrisy and the profound reverence for true
religion which is the very Utmost soul fibre
of the man. A devout believer in true
God; fearless and uncompromising idol.
breaker A warm lover OF men an intense
hater OF the sembance of men. A very
limited number of extracts may serve part
ly to disclose the mans nature and thought.
Take this from Sart0r Resdrtus !: "Happy
is he who can look through the clothes of II
man, woven and feshly, and bank paper,
and state paper clothes,) into the man him
self, and discern, it may be, in this or the
other dread potentate more or less incom-
petent digestive apparatus, yet also an in
scrutable mystery in the meanest tinker that
sees with eyesl" Here his counsel, if car
ried out, would operate to the disadvantage
of the dude, but would reveal the instincts
and actions of the gentleman in some whose
hands are hard and their raiment coarse
What could better describe the brute in man
than this: "They were boys, mostly rude
boys, and obeyed the impulse of nature,
which bids the deer-herd fall upon any
stricken hart, the duck fowl put to death
any broken winged brother or sister, and on
all hands the strong tyrannize over the
weak Qbid) Again, he shows how thought
is inimical to darkness "Truly, a thinking
man is the worst enemy the Prince of Dark.
ness can have; every time such u one an :
nounces himself | doubt not there runs
shudder through the Neither Empire, and
new cmssaries are trained with nett tactics
to, II possible, entrap him, and h49Sdwink
and handcuff him." Qbid) Before the read :
er is one.quarter through the book he will
conclude that the title-"The Tailor Patch
eds compact syllabus.
The following, appealing for sincerity as
the prime force, is from Heroes and Hero
Worstsp! "a deep, great, genuine sincerity
is the first characteristic OF all men in any
way heroic. The greatest of
faults, | should say, is to be conscious of
none. The deadliest sin, say, were that
same supercili0uS consciousness of no sin :;
that is death; the heart so divorced from
sincerity, humility and fact, is dead it is
pure as dead dry sand is pure" Was there
ever more scathlng criticism on the Phar
isee and the modern perfectionist condensed
into so small aspace Was there ever more
terrible blow to the impertinent sauce. box
who has forgotten more than his father ever
knew; who always was right, is right now,
always will be right, and with whom wis
dom will go down to the grave in company |
But to cite all the excelencies of this
great author would require copying nearly
the whole of the eleven large volumes. His
Life Of John Sterling is as superior to the
LITE by Archbishop Hare as day is to night
The reason is that Carlyle went to his work
with reverence mingled with piety, and per
formed itcon amore. He saw the reason of
all Sterling's restlessness, incertitude, de-
preston, and consequent unfruitfuness.-
He was not called to the ministry, and be-
cause 2'0rtd nadscitar, non fit, he could never
attain to great distinction by forcing pro.
duct where nature had planted no Seed
Yet his friend had many excellencies which
shone through all the sorrows of wretched
health, poverty, bereavement, change and
disappointment These Carlyle lovingly,
teariully elevated, till smaller sun is seen
shining Adore the dark and dripping clouds |
Carlyle's French Repotutton reads like a
tragedy, as, indeed, it was the cruelest blood.
lest tragedy in all the annals of time. The
scenes and actors stand out SO clearly, seem
SO near you, you may almost touch and re-
alize their presence. That proud reply of
Louis XIV, ~ Etat c'est nsot'-the State? |
am the State-has its answer in Sans.cul-
lotism and the dreadful horrors when the
sixteenth Louis laid his irresolute head upon
the block, and Marie Antoinette ended her
short widowh0od under the cleaning knife.
From the luxury and splender of the Oeil
dc Boely to the straitness Of the royal pris.
on. The sulen, stified roar of the COM
mune, the procession, the cry "to arms !"
down with the Bastile |" the instruction
Of women, the forced royal journey from
Versailles to the Tuileres, the "Feast of
Pixies" the flight of royalty, the capture
and return, the mock trial and murder,
Robespierre and DantOn, Marat and Cor.
day, atheism and butchery, night and-Na-
poleon! Other histories of the same period
are more easily forgotten; it will be hard
not to remember this.
Then, his Fredorick tie Great holds the
attention like romance, and stamps the
genius, the sincerity, the earnest purpose of
the powerful mind upon every page and
every line. Though you may dissent from
his views of Oliver Cromwell, and deem
him rather regicide than reformer, yet
you must admire and wonder at the force
and zeal with which he defends and almost
apotheosizes this noted figure in England's
modern history.
| would love to speak of his Early Kings
Of N0I9ody, his Goethe, Latter Ddg Pam.
phtets-these latter among the most tren-
chant, merciless structures upon political
and reformatory methods of forty years ago
some of them borrowed from England
and still in use in this country-but most re.
luctantly lay down my pen. If you pro-
pose to read Carlyle, get ready note book
OF good size, and keep pencil in hand, for
you will be compelled to use them, both to
set down his thoughts and record your own
as they rush tumultuous upon you. Ten
pages an hour, two hours day; your head
will ache, then: Rest your brain on lighter
studies Return to him again, and yet
again; among other weighty reasons for
that assigned in these, his words: "We-
come the beggarlest truth, so it be one, in
exchange for the royallest sham Truth
II any kind breeds ever new and better
ruth; thus hard granite rock will crumble
Town into soil under the blessed skyey in
luences; and cover itselfwith verdure, with
ruitage and umbrage. But as for False
rood, which, in like contrary manner, grows
ver talser-what can it or what should it
10 but decease, being ripe; decompose itself,
emily, or even violently, and return to the |
father OF it-teo probably 10 flames of fire ?" !