The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1891-07-03
Intellectual Pursuits.
ADDRESS DELIVERED BY REV. j. II.
REITZEL AT OAKsIDE COMMENCE
MENT EXERCISES.

ADDRESS DELIVERED BY REV. j. II.
REITZEL AT OAKsIDE COMMENCE
MENT EXERCISES.
In his romance of marble Faun," Ma
than!el Hawthorne returns to literary life
after silence of seven or eight years. In
the preface to that work he tells us that
i'm his literary work he toiled through previ-
Gus productions, keeping one ideal person
in mind; fixing his eye upon and responding
to one individual whom he styles 'gentle
reader" 10 this gentle reader, Hawthorne
addresses himself. This ideal person may
once have existed, but whether he existed
then, was not claimed. Yet the author
flung his scrolls ''upon whatever wind was
blowing, in the faith that they would find
him out"
So man, with his fundamental character
istic of intellectual hunger, turns to feed on
nature, on ideas. He rOams into the fields
of art, of science, of literature, of history;
he seeks for thoughts, for actions, for the
fruits of other minds; but in all this pursuit
he finds himself to respond to an inner self,
a something, which bids him go forth; he
also finds himself following someone with
out and above him, leading him on to noble
ness of being, and to final perfection of char
acter.
Intellectual pursuit then is nothing more
than the native going forth of the soul to
meet its natural fellowship in its native
clime-a mind in process of pure activity, as
a spark of deity journeying up to be allied
with those who are in the fellowship of a
fatherhOod.
One of the most helpful thoughts for the
the earlier steps in intellectual endeavors is
this: that it is not toiling to acquire pro-
fessional fitness, preparing oneself for this
occupation, or that profession, or this call
ing. 1t is all that truly, but 1t is Infinitely
more than that.
If professional fitness becomes the sole OBJ
ject toward which intellectual activities
struggle, it becomes a mere menial task
compared with that infinite going forth of
the soul in search and thought as it scars
outward and infinitely on to find its fellow
ship with light and truth.
Preparing to teach, studying to be admit
ted to the bar, taking course in medicine,
or even pursuing divinity studies, all this
often becomes limiting of the true intel
lectual pursuit, an adjusting of grand soul
to the commonplace machinery of some very
narrow scheme.
Most any muscularly organized bped
could take pick, shovel and washing outfit,
and become gold digger in the mountains,
seeing and knowing nothing more than the
hole he may be digging in; but the active
mind, the larger soul in sympathy and touch
with the multtudnous world about him,
finds streams and rocks, birds and flowers,
inspiring scenes and profound wonders all
about him, making some music to which the
toll of muscle responds in ever refreshed ac-
tivity.
So the mind that scars into genuine ac-
/ - Ill .l1Is
| its Joy carries fitness for all things
But the very fact that we call this native
going forth pursuit, supposes the fact that
there is certain cutting loose, a casting
aside.
Man is an earthly animal with large ele-
ments of flesh and bones, strong affinity for
ordinary and very human things, and, as
the Irishman found, to his surprise, that he
| subsidized largely on what he ate, so most of
us are ordinary human beings, taking on the
habits and tastes of mere common individu-
ais. But as soon as the souls in these or
dinary bodies are headed toward intellectual
climeS and activities, so soon there will be a
casting off and shooting forth.
The aerOnaut climbs into his carriage, the
ropes are loOsened, the weights are relieved,
off and up he goes.
The young man or young lady, so soon as
the true elements of intellectualism begin tC
manifest themselves, will limit the common
er life, mere pastime and unmeaning sports
careless habits and Indifferent moods are
overcome and even luxuries are all despised
and the expedition is set forward. The
navigator or the explorer turns away from
home and its immediate comforts for thai
luxury of the gods i'm which strong souls
find their delight
We who sit at home and read and think
of Stanley in Africa or Greeley i'm the Arctic
regions, too often think of them as sharing
only the ills of the forest, or the dangers OF
the sea, we should also think of them as revel-
| ing i'm the profound interests of the expedi-
tiops and feasting OH the hopes being slowly
realized.
Too often the younger student, under the
discipline of earlier years, finds the toll OF
what are called studies. irksome, so much OF
a task thrust upon them by some sort of a
self-cOnstituted task-master.. Cold necessity
often holds young students to the treadmill
of the school, and they receive the impress
sion that intellectual pursuit Is an intellectu-
al conflict; intellectual activity comes i'm the
shape of professional duties; expeditions,
explorations, investigations, inventions, med
itations, and all this may have been ap-
preached by that straight and narrow gate,
made and managed by small minds, known
as examinations. 80 here the young mental
eaglet, in its first native flight, is made to
struggle up against the rocky ledges Of the
Alpine home of the matured bird, instead of
allowing the young wings to unfold for ma
tive use i'm calm, inviting air.
God has made the native air for mans in
tellectual flight, and the atmosphere no more
ministers to the pinions of the bird that lives
to soar than does nature help the flight Of
the thinking mind. Nature has no hostil-
ty; she offers not barriers but stepping stones
to the aspiring mind. Nature has friend
| ly side for her true friends, a deep, tender
secret which she will unbosom to her loving
child. Sympathy and actual help, light,
guidance, refreshing touch, she has for all
her children who come near her to know
her and love her.
Not only nature but the higher fellowship
of man, the divine companionship of noble
spirit does make the course of true learning
a constantly increased delight
History and biography stand open like In
yiting gardens where the intellectual pursu-
er may find coming forth from the ages
those characters who inspire us. Dante, in
his wanderings midst scenes of spirit worlds
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