Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1891-06-01
DECORATED eaAvm


III de. but aave cone hint Of her immofssi
sraoe. and never doee che appear 10 man
fvice in the sane dress. Some part Of hef
has passed into the quiet farm scene, into
he cous. III. flocis, the waving grain. The
..frciic srchi' ecsurs Of the SNOW and ffoss
sneak Of her, along brook and river she
walks beside u, and the CLEAN from foun-
hin and from falling waters 10 hers. Our
fyievless envelope Of air becomes blue and
beautiful with distsnce, and with wafer
evssyvhers she makes especial holiday
The v,ysids weed 10 - dainty = the rose
Ia common rock or marble the statue
dreams, and waits the masters hand to
wake il into life Even the sfsgnant pool,
when touched With light, breaks into colofs
and proclaims it, kirship with the faiabow.
So true 10 II OF nature. every where aud
always, even - the poet ssys;
"Thy csnst not wave thy stat in sk
Or dip thy paddle in the lake.
But il curves the bow Of beauty there
And the ripples in rhymes the oar forsake.'
And the principle of il all is that beauty
and the love Of it 10 one OF the great
primal realities Of the world, one OF the
deep things on which the world ard the
spirit Of man are built and whatsoever
Dor sssss it becomes roysl, aud in whatever
object We fnd ii we are in ecstasy, and faii
down before il and worship it - sovereign.
So, too, when we pass from
nature to man and the events OF
history. there are certain great primal and
pefpe.usl forces which underlie everything,
which have lived since the world began,
and have been working for the betfefment
of man. Like the great forces OF nature
time neither adds TO, nor takes from. their
strength. They know no waste from use,
no increase from exercise. They were
from the beginning, and their sum then
was the came ~ il is now. Conserved IKE
force, their r.nifesia. ons change. their
nature and sovereignty never. There Is 10
the affairs Of men, . certain moral beauty,
fi'ness, right--cs'l it what you will-makipg
itself manifest to men and to nations ~
truth, justice, freedom. Sometimes o. all
these and more, and these are the kingly
things, these are the things That move men,
the only things realiy worth the having j.
In all times and in ali lands, the effort OF
ssifishness, Of greed, of corruption, OF
tyranny, has been to stop the way Of these
irresistible forces. The pages of history
are red with srch attempts aud sometimes
they have seened to be successful. For
generations, Dsy tor centuries, men have
shut their eyes and stopped their ears
against them. and only here and there,
brave ard lonely soul has fed the torch. and
passed it on to 'he after generations. but
whenever humanity has once termed its face
towards them, they have shown themselves
to be God like. and have filed the souls OF
men with the divine ecstasy. Once having
them, men will never let 90 their hold upon
them, bat will give up all else for them.
Strip themselves OF werth, Of home, or
friends, to have them; if need be, they will
| 9 sbt for them, 40 you did, gallant wesrers
Of the Blue, nay, will even die for them,
as did they, who proudly sleep in yonder
cemetery, and we VINO live to enjoy what
they have given US, will bless their memory
for it forever.
1t is with reference to these great and
enduring things That The acts of men and
nations are to be judged. No act done in
| their furtberance can remsin ignobe, no
shaver in that act, however humble, can
ever be base or mem, for the stream Of
| this great moral force has poured through
him, he has become for the time co-worker
with God himself and somewhat of the
Divine must ever after wrap him round. All
| that man ever does rat is worth the doing,
be does by drawing - himself these unseen
powers and losing himself in their resistless
Currents. When he does this, the aeon
becomes memorable, strange grace invests
him, aud he speaks and acts Is if inspired
BY God.
So IL it with the thinker. Socrates stood
for whole days and nights together in one
| spot, motionless, vnheedful of weather,
without food, without sleep, communins
viii himself. listening, as be said, TO the
voice of'he God within.
Emerson says. "When watch that flow
| ing river Of thought. which out Of regions
see not. pours for a season its e.-eam into
me, see that all n pensioner; not cause,
but surprised spectator of this ethere Il
water; that desire and look up and put
my self in the attitude of reception, but
| from some alien energy the visions come.
| All deep thinking is lorely, rare as well,
and The reward of vigis. Feed the soul
only with the greatest thiugs, with the sea,
with the stars, with the streaming wind,
| with truth, then be patent and the God will
come.
The life Of the religious ascetic, Of the
hermit in his cave of StyIites upon his pill
| lsr, is their homage paid to the same great
law, a misdirec.ed eff1rs, by isolation from
all little things, to get closer to the great
| things of earth, the heart of nature ami the
heart of man
| So the poet may sing sweetly enough on
common themes, but it is only when he
catcher the great under-hsrmonies Of nature
gives up his verse and himself to these
wonderful world voices, letting them pipe
| thr ough him, that he becomes indeed the
wind harp of heaven and like
emusic by the night wind sent
Through strings of some sweet instrument
his verse arrests US, our very hearts dance
to bis piping, and we will leave ali, forge,
all, aud follow his divine song to the earth
end,
| "Across the hills and far away, beyond their
utmost purple RIM
nay. like the tabled Eurydice to whom
Orphsus piped. back even from immor-
tally.
| So Of the reformer, whose thought il
| stirred by the wrongs Of bis fellov-men,
and who goes forth to uproot ancient evils.
| Invisible forces feed and nourish him, deer
and secret springs of power are his, and
| wesponed thus, he dares to speak the brave
word today, though he face death for il
| tomorrow.
Before the monstrous wrong he sets him down.
One man asa'nst-a stone walled CITY Of sin,
/ o. centu rs those wal $ I'VE been a.building;
nooth porphyry. they s'ope and coldly glass
Tda Tying storm and VIII eling sun. No chink,
| No crtvoe lets the thipnest arrow in
| He fights aone, ard fiom the cloudy rampats
thousani EVIL fa~es gibe and 'er him.
| Ler him lie dowl end DE; what Ia the light
And where Is the jut tice, in n world like ths5
Eu. by and by, earth sh3 kes herself impatient,
And down. in one great roar of ruio crash
Wftch-tower ar citadel and battle ,nentt.
when the red 3 st has cleared. the lonely soldier
Stsnds IN str Ige thoughts beneath the flie ndly
Stars"
| So with the orsto-. 1t is only ia those
| sublime moments when he sets his theme
deep in tie under fl w of the silent world
forces, ru'h, JUS ce, liberty, that what he
says is worth the bea..ug. and his words
move irresislibly. Then only does he for
get himself and let BIZ, metssge to men
speak through him; all mere rhetoric
drops away from him, sll tricks to gain ar
plause are justly despi.ei. and then xll
things do his biddiog all the deep moral
forces that were from the beginning. and
surge and PLAY unseen about Us, stream
through the speech like music through the
pipe; then, indeed, bis utterance is golden,
bis Language becomes picture, one and notl J.
his gesture fiS, his thought crystalline and
imperial, bis whole speech Lyrical and
sweet and universal. like the rising Of the
wind
How wonderful would be that memorial
orator. who could so open his mind to the
associations Of bis theme as to speak
nothing Of himself, but, governing
only here and there on stop or pedal,
should let the Nigh j organ music OF the
day. wirh ell its hsllowed memories and
hints Of glory, roll, uphinterei, through
hi. lips.
Such man the i'm agination should en-