The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1891-11-29
TAILOW GROUND.

There is a very large portion of our patri-
mony still unreclaimed. or else lying fallow.
The great idea of our day is culture or cultiya-
ton. That demonstrating our whole natures.
heart, soul and body, as our estate, the gift Of
God-to clear it. prepare it, plant iii and turn
il TO the best account for the production of
good things. for the manifestation Of beauti-
full things. for the perfection and highest
happiness of our race. and for the glory of the
Creator.
But this process Of culture is itself stage
of progress and humanity, and, like the face
of the earth. presents obstacles and difficult
ties that defy culture. On the latter are
mountains of rock. unfathomable chasms.
arid wastes and pestilential swamps before
which human energy owns its lttleness.
The slow hand Of Heaven prom
ises eventually to redeem all these.
What has been will be- The will
derness and the solitary place shall re-
joice and blossom as the rose, and the habi-
tation of dragons, whore each lay. shall
be grass with reeds and rushes.
And quite answering to this picture of
the earths surface is the face Of
humanity The great professions Of law and
medicine owe their existence and glory to
their efforts to reclaim, redeem ana restore
men from the strange and monstrous mfr
mites, deformities and evils that are scat
tered all over the face of the world. from the
rank growth of evil whose seeds are in every
heart and every body. The misery and de-
pravty of mankind make three-fourths of
the business Of medicine and law. Sup
pose their business could be confined
TO making the laws of nature and Of
right familiar and that Temperance and dis
cretion, justice and good will were established.
then there would be an end of disease and
disorder. of crime and vice health and buoy
ancy, peace and order would prevail All
would be beautiful growth, and all the law
yers and doctors would become priests Of
Natures God and cast down their crowns
before the throne Of heaven.
See. then, what mighty forest and Jungle
what an unrecamed wilderness is represented
by the great and multitudinous professions
of law and medicine. Suppose all their en-
ergies could be spent on the cultivation and
advance Of moral and reclaimed nature
Twill come Courts, law officers, jails and
hospitals are now oil fallow ground.
But in the commonest things Of life. in the
little garden of home in the fields OF social life
how many corners and patches lie waste or
all filed with thorns and briers? They are
nests of reptiles and noxious herbs and va
pors when they might produce deli
cious fruit. Say Tor example. the Odds and
ends of time filed with gossip. with
SANDER. with pickering, with III
manners and all their unlucky conse uences.
Then come the wretcAed substitutes and
apologies for conversation-"c heat"-barren
conveutionatties. heartless platitudes and
society lying. suppose society were TO take
the Central PARK Us its great instructor
What waste was it before the engineer
and horticulturist took hold Of it, And now
all is order and grace and excellence. Instead
OF the thorn has come up the fir tree. and in.
stead of the brier the myrtle tree. Ugliness
has everywhere given way to beauty.
the rough to the smooth. and the
common and plain TO the precious.
Culture as generally accepted is wretched
vanity. 1t means the building of mighty
tower to overawe the earth. or the raising of
golden image of intellect to be worshiped.
Let 1t stoop to the preparing of the soil of
society and the individual: 10 the substitutinp
of fertility for dearth, of life Tor deafness. of
brightness for gloom. of the high and classic
for the vulgar, the low, the vile and the COM
mon place. and what paradise may man be.
come q kingdom of heaven within.