The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1893-09-27

human being in the plastic age ni
childhood. Mark how a child bears
himself towards his playmates, and
how he treats the household lets
you will find there intimations of the
character of the future man.
We do not duly appreciate the vast
possibilities of human life. We are
too apt to regard a truly great man as
one who became such by snme fortui-
tous circumstance, in some mysterious
way, suddenly and without any effort
Oh his part, or on the part of others;
whereas, in truth, he has been mould
ed to that end; he has been prepared
for his work; otherwise he could not
perform it. Life is, at every stage, a
grand and stupendous poten tiality. Its
primordial powers are almost infinite.
But they are, for the most part, hidden,
and require earnest and constant labor
to be revealed, and thorough prepara-
tion to be fully realized. The great
poet, the illustrious statesman, the
learned jurist, the valiant general may
now be digging in some field near at
hand, or may come from the humble
cottage Of your neightor. Who can
tell? It is said that Socrates saw in a
dream a beautiful white swan fly from
the altar of Venus and coming towards
him finally lighted in his lap. 1t re-
mained there only a few moments, then,
spreading its wings, the bird rose into
the air and disappeared in the clear
sky. The next day, while the philoso-
pher was relating the dream to his
pupils, Aristo came, leading his son
Plato by the hand. Socrates, fixing his
eyes upon the bright faced lad, survey
ing his broad, high forehead and look.
ing into his wondrous deep and clear
eye, suddenly exclaimed in rapture:
behold the swan of my school!m From
that day he took the boy into his
school and trained him with parental
care and pride. The swan of the school
became even greater than his teacher,
and has left the impress of bis mind
upon the literature of the world.
In the last address which Daniel
Webster delivered in Faneuil Hall, he
uttered the following noble sentiments:
awe seek to educate the people, we
seek to improve mems moral and reli-
gious condition. In short, we seek to
work upon mind as we'll as matter,
and in working on mind it enlarges
the human intellect and the human
heart. We know when we work upon
materials immortal and imperishahle,
that they will bear the impress which
we place upon them throug endless
ages to come. If We work upon brass,
time will eface it; if we rear temples,
they will crumble to the dust; but if
we work Oh mems immortal minds,
if we imbue them with high principles,
with the just fear Of God and of their
fellow men, we engrave on those tab
lets something which no time can
efface, but which will brighten and
brighten to all eternity"
In speaking of the defective educa-
tion of the youth of England, and in
urging a more evenly balanced and
thorough system, by which character
might be moulded and stimulated, Mr..
Ruskin thus continues: We once
taught our youths to make Latin
verses, and called them educated; now
we teach them to leap and to row, to
hit-a BAH with bat, and call them
educated. Can they plow, can they
SOW, can they plant at the right time,
or build with a steady hand? Is it the
effort of their lives to be chaste, knight
ly, faithful, holy in thought, lovely in
word and deed? The strength and the
hope of England is in those who are so
striving"
Keeping good company and reading
good books are two most helpful slim
ulants and valuable guides and incen-
tives to character building. A mans
companions have u wonderful inhu-
ence upon his character; so much so,
that it is sufficient explanation to the
world to say of any one who has COM
mitted crime, she fell into bad COM
pany." Thackeray wisely advises:
Might give counsel to any young
man, I would say to him, try to fre-
quent the company of your betters. In
books and in life, that is the most
wholesome society; learn to admire
rightly; the great pleasure of life is that.
Note what great men admired; they
admired great things; narrow spirits
admire basely and worship meauly."
Emerson truly says that it is natural
for US to believe in great men; actually
or ideally we live in their atmosphere.
We celebrate their birthdays; we
study their lives; we commemorate
their achievements. We name our
children for them; we call cities and
rivers by their names; we perpetuate
their memory. The great men of the
world embody the great ideas of the
world. Their biographies are the epit-
ONES of the worlds history-their
characters the credit, the wealth and
the mainstay of their race. Biographies
of great, but especially of good men
are therefore particularly valuable as
guides in building up character, for
they furnish striking instances of what
can be accomplished by high aims,
steady purpose, earnest resolve and
constant labor. Great men have come
from every rank in life, many having
"glorified the lot of poverty by their
labors;" and all gained individual ex-
cellence by strenuous application and
earnest effort. Says a great writer,
''The genius of humanity is the real
subject whose biography is written in
our annals. No man, in all the pro-
cession of famous men, is reason, OF
illumination, or that essence we were
looking for; but is an exhibition, in
some quarter, of new possibilities. d"
Men stand for ideas. Their character
and works illustrate principles. No
epoch in the worlds history is without
its representative man. Every impor-
tant step in the worlds progress has
been taken first by man, then by the
nation. In every country, in every age
there are heroes. The mighty van
guards of the army of civilization ad-
vance to the tread of leader, and at
every critical point in their march for
ward, some man is left to identify the
spot and to mark the progress. Thus
are great men not only monuments of
the worlds achievements, and mark
ing stones along the way of its ad-
vanceruent, but they are also inspira-
tions to the human race. They must
of necessity be known, for, as Emerson
quantity expresses it, mature never
sends great man into the planet, with
out confiding the secret to another
SOUL" Says Dean Stanley, ''it is the
delight of well stored library that it
brings US into direct intercourse with
the great characters of the past; and it