The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1892-03-02

need OF educated men IN our public life
but it is the need of educated men with
patriotism. The college graduate may
be, and frequently is, more unpatriotit
and less useful in public affairs than
the man who, with limited education,
has spent the years when opinions are
formed in improving contact with the
world instead of being within college
walls and confined to the study ol
books. If it be true, as is often claimed
that the scholar in politics is generally
failure, it may we'll be due to the fact
that during his formative period, when
lasting impressions are easily received,
his intellect alone has been cultivated
at the expense of wholesome and vel!
regulated sentiment.
THE VALUE OF SENTIMENT.
I speak to-day in advocacy of this
sentiment. If it is not found in extreme
aud exclusive mental culture neither is
il found in the busy marts of trade, nor
in the confusion of bargaining, nor in
the mad rush after wealth. Its home
is in the soul a~d memory of ma 1t
has to do with the moral sense. 1t
reverences traditions, it loves ideas, it
cherishes the names and the deeds of
heroes and it worships at the shrine of
patriotism. I,plead for it because there
is sentiment, which in some features
is distinctively American, that we
should never allow to languish.
When I'VE are told that We are a
practical and common sense people we
are apt to receive the statement with
approval and applause. We are proud
of its truth and naturally proud because
its truth is attributable to the hard
work we have had to DO ever since our
birth as a nation, and because of the
stern labor we still see in our way be-
fore we reach our determined destiny.
There is cause to suspect, however, that
another and less creditaole reason for
our qualification arises from a feeling
that there is something heroically
American in treating with Indifference
or derision all those things which in
our view do not directly and palpably
pertain to what we call with much
satisfaction practical affairs, but which,
if we were entirely frank, we should
confess might be called money-getting
and the betterment Of individual con-
dition. Growing out of this feeling an
increasing disposition is discernible
among our people, which begrudges to
sentiment any time or attention that
might be given to business and which
is apt to crowd dout of mind any thought
not directly related to selfish plans and
purposes.
A little reflection ought to convince
US that this may be carried much too
far. It is mistake to regard senti-
ment as merely something which, if
INDUCED, has tendency to tempt to
idle aud useless contemplation of retro
spection, thus weakening in people
the sturdiness of necessary endeavor
and diluting the capacity for national
achievement.
The elements which make up the
sentiment of people should not be
counted as amiable weaknesses because
they are not at ',all times noisy and
turbulent. The gentleness and lowell
ness of woman do not cause US to forget
that she can inspire men to deeds of
greatness and heroism; that, as wife,
she often makes mans career nobler
and grander, and that, as mother, she
builds and fashions in her sons the
strong pillars of a State. So the senti-
ment Of a people which, in peace and
contentment decks with flowers the
temple of their rule, may, in rage and
fury, thunder at its foundations. Senti-
ment is the cement which keeps in
place the granite blocks of governmental
power, or the destructive agency whose
heaps in ruins their scattered
fragments. The monarch who cares
only for his sovereignty and safety
leads his subjects to forgetfulness Of
by a pretense Of love for
their traditions; and the ruler who
plans encroachments upon the liberties
of his people shrewdly proceeds under
the apparent sanction of their senti-
ment. Appeals to sentiment have led
nations to bloody wars which have
destroyed dynasties and changed the
lines of imperial territory. Such an
appeal summoned our fathers to the
battlefields where American indepen-
dence was won, and such an appeal mas
scattered soldiers graves all over our
land, which mutely give evidence of
the power of our Government and the
perpetuity of our free institutions.
AMERICAN SENTIMENT.
I have thus far spoken of a peoples
sentiment as something which may
exist and be effective, under any
form Of government, and in any ma
tioual condition. But the thought nat
urally follows, that if this sentiment
may be so potent in countries ruled by
Il power originating outside of popular
will, how vital must its existence and
be among our countrymen,
who rule themselves and make and
their own laws. In lands
less free than ours, the control Of the
governed may be more easily main
tanned if those who are set over them
see fit to make concession to their SEN
yet, with or without such
concession the stong hand of force may
still support the power to govern. But
sentiment is the very life blood Of our
potiop 0pr Cova-,,p,op4 ,roe ooo