The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1889-10-11
The SCHOLAR IN AMERICA.

The SCHOLAR IN AMERICA.
His Real Value Ii Not Appreciated by the
Mass Of the People. sa
In his judgment of the scholar the
average American citizen has usually
only one definite idea-that he is q
dreamer quite out of contact with &C.
tual life. Consider for moment the
genuine amazement and dismay with
which the average citizen regards
serious attempt on the part of educated
men to exert their due infusnce in
the solution OF great political or eco
nomic problem. He seems to look
upon them somewhat as he would
watch group OF monkeys escaped
from their cage and engaged in some
mischief, the effects of which they
cannot be made to comprehend; or,
to substitute smile somewhat more
complimentary, that throng of ex-
cited passengers had attempted to die
tate the management Of a great ocean
steamer.
OF course no such view of scholarly
activity in the political field will be
submitted to. The men who devote
their lives to the study of the records
of human experience as transmitted in
history and literature have not less,
but infinitely more, claim to be heard
on any important subject than those
engaged only in the vulgar scramble
for wealth. Emerson's brief essay on
politics outweighs and will outlast all
the floods Of campaign literature and
selfish demagogic eloquence which
have so often since then deluged the
land.
But is there one of the older civil
lied countries where the organs of the
horde of money getters would dare to
stigmatize the whole class of literally
educated men as visionary theoristsa
Imagine a university education re-
garded in England as disqualified
ton for high public Office! Even in
Germany, where political leaders and
great scholars seem more nearly the
representative men of two distinct
castles, the illustrious double career of
a Mommsen shows that the gap is not
yet impossible. The condition of
things among ourselves is an alarm
ing symptom, indicating how far the
most highly educated and wisest men
have lost their proper leadership in
the national councils and the national
life.
Now, do the colleges, and the limit
ed body of cultivated, reflective and
earnest scholars generally, appeal as
directly and sensibly to the average
American as they could and should9
Among the philosophic few it
is an axiom which one rarely
thinks of ever stating, that wider
knowledge, closer contact with
the wise and good of all ages,
the assimilation of their best
thoughts, the contemplation of their
glorious deeds, are the employments
which ennoble young and old and
make men truly happy.
But the typical American, as Pro
fessor Shaler has clearly set forth, is
only dimly conscious that he ever had
any ancestry at all. That the achieve
ments of other races and peoples in
the past or present have any lesson Of
overwhelming value to teach us he
certainly does not believe. That the
poetry, the architecture, the plastic
arts, can be used to make life more
beautiful, more happy, better worth
living, he understands at best very
imperfectly. Perhaps he is open to
conviction. Is proper effort being
exerted to make him realize all this7
men read to moderate ex-
tent The women of America have
large leisure, liberal share of infu-
ence in home and social life, and
surely, also, lofty consciousness of
their duty as mothers of the race that
IS to be. To them, it may be chiefly,
we may hopefully appeal.
Again, there is widespread feel
ing that American literature is not
holding the height attained in the last
generation. The subject is quite too
arge for reviewer, possibly rather
90 serious for professed optimist.
But if our literature is losing, or in
LANCER of losing, its vital power, its
lold on the national power, may we
1ot find a partial explanation in the
TACT that great body of men, claim
ng, no doubt justly, that they have
knowledge worthy to be
widely disseminated, nevertheless dis
lain to learn and practice the art of
adequate and graceful expressiona-
Monthly.
Dancing with Foreigners.
The French and Austrian men-Of-