The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-01-26
is THE GIFT NEGLECTED ?
DOES IMAGINATION DULL BEFORE
NLIGHIENMENT?

me 1QGd ADVANCED Luds 4 ISL
Thrift and Enterprise Displace 1t.
No Time for Il in This Age of Bus
tie Peoples Minds Trained 10 Art
fitness Education Directed to Ends
Which Defeat It-How 1t was Re-
garded by the Ancients.
MACON, GA, Jan. 24-Does imagination
dull before enlightenment
Does it die out as people become more
civilized
1t is a disputed question.
heard it discussed the other night by a
party of men and women, and the tone Of
the discussion was decidedly in the affirm
alive
1t was resolved that peace, quiet, good
will amongst Deighbors ald easy life con-
duce to healthy imagination. No person
who is barred from these can cultivate the
faculty. Now, it was contended that
the world Of invention and labor, ever
pressing around, crowds these condi-
tions down. There is no peace, no
quiet. no good will or easy life. 1t is COM
petition, rivalry and hard living. There
can be no peace when the busy world is
surging around as it is; there is no quiet
when the engines OF the thousands of enter
prises are started, there is no good will
where neighbors have to trample each other
down to keep on foot themselves; there is
no easy life when tue thoughts of every
man are turned against everybody to save
himself Instead of cultivating a gift,
people divert it by improving their artiul-
ness to enable them to stand against their
felow-man.
PLENTY TIME THEN.
Before the war, when the world rocked
along easily, and people lived slowly, they
cultivated their finer sensibilities. They
had time to let their imaginations run and
play. The whole aim was not then 90 gain
power over your neighbors by amassinR
fortunes in a little while. 1t was not the
idea nor the desire Of any to grow rich at
the expense of others. 1t was not a teach
ing then that the youth should learn to use
their wealth to more and more enrich them
selves by expressing, II occasion required,
the poor or the helpless 1t was day when
the poor might, il way, cultivate their
finer gifts. Merit was then, as it was in
Solon's time, the standard by which men
were measured. All of Croesus' wealth did
not win him wisdom, nor greatness nor
goodness. And when his merit was weighed
In the scales with that of poor, but able
subject, the Grecian philosopher found the
Lydian King wanting Those were days Of
civilization, and to all intents answerable.
1t was thought that the world had attained
its lmineEce, and that those days would be
recorded as forming the most enlightened
period of the world.
But how does il compare with the enlight-
eminent of this days 1t is said that the
world becomes more and more civilized.
Certain it is, that people know more.
There are more inventions, more thrift.
more enterprise, less dreaming, and less
time for study; not SO much opportunity
for careful research, and less preparation.
1t was once the case when all employees in
almost any branch Of labor had 20 show
certificates, diplomas, etc., of competency.
Especially was this true in the old coun-
tries. it is not so now or il so, to limited
extent. The world is too busy. Every
body is afraid somebody else il getting
ahead of them. They cannot sit down and
devote life to one thing.
TENDENCY is TO DISPATCH.
Dickens wrote 'Copperfield" in twelve
months, Bellamy ground out Looking
Backward" ia a month. The whole tendency
is toward dispatch in all things. People
teach that wealth hides a multitude Of
faults. If the young will accumulate they
may afford to be less learned, less capable
less friendly, less humane. It is a doctrine,
well received, that people sharpen their
wits. improve their reason and curb their
imagination. They argue that the imagi-
nation of Virgil, Homer, Milton, Shake
spears. Byron, Moore, Scott aud others will
keep the world a-going. There is, at this
particular time, greater need for men of
dispatch. Men Of fair minds, fairer ideas
of business, full Of vim, push and a banker
ing for power. 1t was argued that the
finer sensibilities, gifts, talents, are out Of
place in this age. Men are not 10 be so
effeminate any more.
HOW 1T ONCE WAS.
II, fba south LONG auo raorIa Exod oIau.
They knew lots. They had imaginations,
and they allowed them to run. Barring the
sweet singers of our own dear state, such
as Lanier and Hayne, men eminent in af-
fairs of state have cultivated their magma
tons. Chief Justice Bleckley of the supreme
court and Gen. Henry r. jackson have
written lines which will outlive them, and
the immortal Stephens found time to "dab-
BILE in poetry"
Times, IL is said, are changing, though.
They are becoming moro enlightened More
new industries are begun, and more new in
ventons have been set on foot. 1t is get
ting down to business. People are waking
up. They are beginning to hustle. There
rs less time for culture; more for scheming
Less communication with neighbors; more
pinohing and screwing to hoard, to avoid
oppression. The day seems to be passed
when mems minds and abilities are put
against each other. The question now is,
winch is the most artful, the most ready
the quickest and shrewdest? The cultiva-
ton OF softer senses is not il keeping with
the age. They are discouraged, and even
held by some in contempt Somebody once
remarked of Whittier, seeing him in an i'm
pecunious condition, if he had made as good
shoes as he had made fine poetry he would
be among the wealthiest men. And yet a
glance over the past, when people were not
80 enlightened, reveals men of imagination
who will live on forever.
In ancient Greece music and poetry were
cultivated with close application. The an
clients ascribed wonderful effects to them
Polybius, grave and serious historian, at
tributes the extreme difference between the
two nations of Arcadia-the one infinitely
beloved and esteemed for the elegance Of
their manners, their benevolent inclina-
tions, humanity to strangers, and piety to
the gods; the other, on the contrary. gen.
orally reproached and hated for their ma
lightly, brutality and irreligion. Continu.
ing. he says: 81 mean, the true and genuine
arts, industri 0usly cultivated by the one
and absolutely neglected by the other
nation"
SOCRATES POSSESSES IT.
Socrates himself was not ashamed OF
learning TO play on the Tyre and enjoying
the other arts. Themlstocles, however oth-
erwise esteemed, was thought deficient in
polite accomplishments, because az an en-
tertainment he could not touch the Tyre and