The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1889-06-02

l0tIilt uDilttN Nlt dNtdNh'N w hh''e
Of value that are not for sale.
Nevertheless there are people who
think that every thing can be
bought for a sufficient consideration.
And there are philosophers who pro
claim that every man has his price.
And they mean thereby that, for a
large enough offer, every man will
break his faith. That proposition is
humilating to men, and wonderful
consolation to mean natures. 1t in
dcates, certainly, that the man who
asserts it or accepts it can be bought.
Men are very weak and very wicked.
But. as in the days Of Elijah, we be-
lieve that there are now many men
who have not bowed the knee to
Baal and who believe that life is not
worth preserving when character ana
selfrespect are gone. We a-e not sure
that. to make up our unbuyable thou
sands, we should consult the pages Oh
history or make our selections FROM
the high places of the earth. Solomon
had profound distrust of quick-made
millionaires. And the later world has
seen no sufficient reason to doubt his
dlctum. An early account Of reliable
men describes them as men Of truth
hating cOvet0usnei F." And lis hardly
t. be questioned that where avarice and
ambition are ruling passions, wealth
and place will determine questions.
Scripture history tells the truth about
Abraham and Jacob and Moses
aud David. And many Of us, who
ignore our own history, think it quite
"A cOndescension for our sanity and
honorable selves to study them; for
getting how the good and honorable
and devout triumphed in them in spite
Of ignorant and semi barbarous sur
Ioundings. Later history is fond of
idealizing. And what an amount of
history and well-known facts has been
hushed and repressed to get up heroes
for history, and make the leading men
of the past even respectable.
Ii is well for mankind that the dis
tinguished dead have had one or two
virtues and been identified with one or |
two leading events for the instruction
aud encouragement Of men. IL is well
for mankind that their private histories
are forgotten. The world knows enough |
of the foremost man Of all the world, |
inc Sisat OdtSdl, Vi AukuStue, VI
Charles the Fifth, of that beast Henry |
tie Eighth, and that vile Frenchman |
Louis the Fourteenth, and the great
Napoleon, TO touch them very dsintily |
for purposes of honorable manhood,
for true ami essential magnanimity.
The world has been scandaliEei and
robbed over and over by tyrants and
great thieves, and historians have pro-
claimed them great.
The thousands who have not bowed
the knee 10 Baal; the thousands who
would be unapproachable by flattery or
bride; the thousands who would dis
dain to take pay for an act Of kindness
generosity, or plain duty; the thou,
sands 10 whom honor and kindness are
life; these are rare on the pages of his
tory; these do not furnish items for the
daily papers or make gossip for the
crowd. They grow in secret; they
gladden. homes; they rear or help good
men and women; they make the real
history OF the world; they
form the bone and sinew OF the State.
The granite foundations Of society, /,
they are the faithful coDservators OF
civilization. TLey are kept sacredly in
he sacred solitudes of their own souls;
IN the privacy Of their own chambers.
They are not for sale. ,