The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1890-12-02
SENSE AND SENTIMENT.
Tho Deepest Philosophy and tho Trueat
Poetry Arc Not Far Apart.

uhe Deepcst Philosophy and tho Trueat
Ni Poetry Arc Not Far Apart.
Common senso has been pronounce3
the most uncommon kind of sense; but
that which is common can not be un-
common, and we must define tho dictum
OF its apparent paradox before we can
concede its point Wo must thon define
s the man of common sonse as one whose
Judgment of things is based upon their
evident and universally recognized
qualities and relations, and who discards
from his calculations every thing that Is
fanciful. visionary or speculative. His
philosophy is positive and practical He
is not necessarily devoid Of sentiment;
but no is not Imaginative. He is safe
as far as he goes, and thore is nothing
to fear from his leadership except that
no will not 20 far enough. Tho pro-
found minds of tho world have always
understood that common sense alone can
never touch bottom. For things are not
what they seem, and in our common
thinking wo mistake tho shadow for tho
substance, tho appearance for tho
reality. The deepest philosophy and tho
truest poetry are not far apart. They
do not know tho secret which
eternity keeps from time, but at least
they know that there is u secret-a Sc
cret hidden in tho flower that grows in
the crannind wall. in cvery atom of mat
ter an5 every throb OF force. The last
stop OF oc;auco is arrested ut the margin
OF that mystery. Modern inquiry moves
by observation, rieccd out with specula-
ton, along Il limo of evolution back
wards. AS we follow its march, ciyili-
cation after civilization rocedcs from
view. Wo pass from higher to lower
stages of development, abandoning in
turn this invention and that, leaving
behind us successive styles of architec-
ture and dress, different instruments of
war and husbandry social conventions
and legal codes, phlosophic and relig-
ious, until we come to primitive man,
unkempt and unarmed-but yesterday
IN ape wild in tho forest But even
there we have not enough denuded him.
Wo must follow him back through lower
and even lower animal forms until all
trace of him is lost in the inorganic
rocks. After thatit remains to discover
the crude material and tho builder of
his birthplace = inchoate matter and
unconscious force. That, we say,
is the last stop OF science, for it is
impossible to 70 any further with
out postulatiuG divine mind
eternal and nnsearchable. Evolution
is essentially process going on
and therefore can not account for be-
ginning. ITO me" said Lcibnitz, call
difficult things arc easy, all easy things
arc difficult 1t is not in calculating
cclipscs or in deciphering the hero
glyphics of Il dead civilization that the
human mind doals with its most battling
problems; it is in attempting to explain
those things which common sense takes
for granted A mind trained exclusively
In the realm OF secondary causes is too
apt to be vain-glorious of it's partial tri-
NmphS and to undervaluc the impor-
tance of sentiments inspired by an in
quiry beyond its accustomed horizon.
Poets like Dante, artists like Michael
Angelo, labor to oxpress a higher truth
and 1.-Two in tho oXaltation of noblcr fool
1ngs Their art is not n pastimc, not
merely the play of pleasing fancy, it
is confession OF faith and worship
i tho artist OF to-day would be taken
seriously, no must penetrate tho surface
of existence and focl tho pressure of its
mystery. Painting pretty pictures for
tho decoration of luxurious drawing
rooms, fashioning dainty sonnets to win
the admiration OF dillcttant critics, is
not tho sort Of employment to awaken
in any soul sense OF unseon and
eternal beauty. Much Of what is called
realism, on the other hand, fails because
it has fallen into arid litoralncss. 1t is
untrue because it secs only with its
eyes and hears only with it's ears; bo-
cause it nocds TO be reinforced with in
sight and .sympathy.-N. o. Picayunc.