Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1889-01-10
MODERN sHALLowNsss.
1soad-sIouthsd snoerer. xv,o u..
Intellectuai gtora q. D.

A"au-Mouthed snoerers who Have No
intellectual Store In Reserve.
All great minds have large store
In reserve; all wise people know how
70 Keep silent on what they have been
"ia, when speech would be disastrous
70 the peace OF others. Those who
olsplay their whole stock in the front
window are the most disappointing
"arehousemen with whom to deal; for
what should be but samples we find to
De totality, and nothing lies behind
the surface from which to make
better choice. So with those
swallow brilliancies who show all
tney have on an hours acquaint.
ahce, and who dazzle their new com.
panions like shower of sparks from
falling rocket But the end OF that
naming rocket with its dazzling corus-
catlons is charred stick of nothing.
ness. The splendor has burnt itself
out In that one flash, and there is no re-
serve force for renewal or continuance
These are the people who either
DO not go on learning at all,
9or who pick up specifically the
4 topics OF the day, OF which they never
eee the cause nor can define the prin.
slples. Their philosophy dates back
to the time of their youth, and they
nave made NO change since then-no
step forward, no addition, no modifica-
ton. If they are Liberals in politics
their liberality is of the jack-boot
Kind. Waving flags; glancing swords;
an attitude struck on the ramparts; the
cry, Liberty or DEATH" the cause "our
hearts and homes" this is the kind OF
thing that wandcrs about that track
tney call their mind, and they can
compass nothing else. OF the deeper
and more prosaic, because more scien.
tho principles, they know nothing
ana care less. They have never Gre
ated a reserve fund Of thought nor OF
knowledge since the days of their fer
vent youth; and they live on the husks
OF that Immature fruit, and think it
good feeding for their manhood.
Talk to them Of the principles and
sociology-or the truths of political
economy-they answer you back with
acheap sheer at the Dismal Science for
the one; for the other they say: "Tell
me how tree grows, and then shall
believe that you have discovered the
laws of human life" Or, what is even
more pitiable, they catch up the cur
rent phrases set in circulation by the
original thinkers of the day. and use
them as glibly as if they understood
what they really meant and abreast of
the thought which created them. "Op-
portunism"-''the survival of the
fittest"-'the line of least resistance"
THE struggle for existence" zen
vironment"-d we not all know these
phrases-this clipped coin of knowl-
edge-this false coin of ignoranceP
Probe these superficialities-plumb
the depths-dredge up the bottom
and see what is beneath the well-cov-
cred surface of shining specimens-of
many colored fragments. Absolutely
nothing. All the wares are in the
shop windows; all the wealth is on the
surface. These people are retailers OF
~ords and phrases which they use de-
void of meaning. There is no more
vitality in them, no more spiritual fire
or essence than there is in the echo
which filings back my lover or re-
peats the 'Te Deum," because the
waves of sound strike the rock and re-
bound on the ear. So these mere
echoes of the current phrases which
mean principles and are aroused with
out knowledge. They sound well and
are so sonorous and majestic; but they
are merely the tin armor over the
wooden knight. The armor is tin and
the thing it covers is wood, and there
is no more value in the one than the
is life in the other. Home Journal.