The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-05-25
IsIMAG1NAr1oN DEADe

It is q noteworthy and undenlable
fact that the increase Of education and
civilization among any people is accom-
panied by decrease Of imagination-in
other words, the imaginative power OF a
community is in the inverse ratio to it's
educational requirements. We shall
cease to wonder at this phenomenon
when we consider that education i'm
plies more extended knowledge and q
keener appreciation Of what, from the
narrow standpoint of the almighty dol
lar,' we frequently call the desirable
things Of life. In this number magma
ton certainly takes no high place; in the
busy rush of a busting world the
dreamer is elbowed and jerked
from pillar to post, his dreams as a gen.
eral rule are not profitable from the
monetary point Of view, and as natural
consequence the imaginative growth is
checked and stunted from lack Of nour-
ishment. For the knowledge and ap-
probation we have spoken of result in a
strong desire and earnest struggle for
possession, struggle that implies labor,
competition, lack Of leisure and desire
to erase from the mind all studies and
lnclinations that are not subservient to
the proposed end, all that is not in tune
with the hum of the workaday world,
all that is not intensely and even
severely practical What is there in it?
has become our test of success of life,
and imagination has but too frequently
to answer, bread and butter-sometimes
not that.
To savage man all nature is one great
world Of wonders. The trees that bow
their heads and whisper softly to each
other as the breeze caresses them, the
brook that sings and prattles as il
bounds on it's way to pour it's fond heart
into the distant sea, the dark storm
clouds that mutter and groan above his
head, the moan of the ocean as its rest
less bosom heaves and losses, the feecy
clouds that float through the vault O
heaven-these and thousand other &C
currences of everyday nature are to hin
each and all instinct with life and beini
like his own. His imagination, unfet
tered by the bonds of knowledge, roam
at will; into every bush and rock ant
tree he breathes the breath of life, ane
to him it becomes, it is, living soul.
But to the civilized man all this il
forbidden. Such dreams cannot ant
must not be his. The bicycle is grea
improvement on the speed of the old
time pedestrian; he will keep to tn
bicycle. True, it is not adapted TO
climbing the fences that border the high
way, but what of that? What is ther
to be coined from the trackless regio
beyond the beaten road anyhow? Fo
HIM the road is world enough, for it cor
tains all that he desires-wealth, amuse
ment, society and everything else neet
full. From wandering, ungoverned far
cies his common sense revolts; his il
stincts have lost all bent in this dire,
ton, and all the training and educatio
he has received induce him to quietl
thrust such vagrant thoughts aside,
they do intrude upon his moments {
leisure, as utterly valueless and utterl
impractical. There is no need for r.
nance about the wind-let us discus
it's impurities and some plan for reno
ing them; water-well, water power
extremely valuable; how many inch'
are there Of it? It is matter OF Apr,
hension that in the continued and er
FILTERED struggle for existence imagin
ton may become lost accomplishing
and poetry lost art.