The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1893-06-22

SmOth0rS DIS emOtlOnS, SmOthorS his
possibilities of greatness. No one can
write a great book, carry forward a
great reform or achieve any great end,
unless he have it in his heart to do so,
unless he be impelled by a powerful
impulse. Behind every great deed
there is a great purpose and behind
every great purpose there is an intense
feeling. The men who bring to pass
the great events of this world are al
ways men of strong emotions. They
feel deeply, and are thus inspired to
high and noble efforts. Under the
impulse of a mighty desire, the weak
body becomes strong, the mind for
gets to grow weary, and the soul is
filed with an enthusiasm that sweeps
everything before it in the road to
success. When the magnitude of the
sway of emotion over reason and the
will, is fully realized, we may we'll
consider the character of these
emotions.
The expressions, mastered feelings"
controlled passions" "subdued
emotions" are often heard implying
that there powerful sensibilities must
be trampled under foot and possibly
exterminated. One of the most
beautiful of Plato's SMILES represents
the human soul as charioteer drawn
by two winged steeds. One, pure
white, of royal pedigree, seeks always
to ascend. The other, coarse and
misshapen, is bent on descending to
the earth and endeavors to dr4g with
him his noble mate, driver and chariot.
If the baser brute be curbed, the
charJbteer will follow the path of the
gods and will rise to the plane of i'm
mortal beauty, but if the ignoble steed
conquers, all will fall to the earth.
This may fittingly represent two
forces leading the human soul, our
better emotions and our evil passions.
Perpetually do our lower feelings ex-
ercise their tempting arts, and too
often does passion, made stronger by
transient pleasure, prevail, leaving
us Inundated, self-condemned. The
feeling must be mastered, but what of
that? Is it a reproach to any force
that it must be restrained and rightly
directed in order to accomplish the
greatest good? Lightning, when let
loose, devastates and destroys, but
when chained to the wire it becomes
the throbbing nerve, pulsation alike
for England and Japan, uniting the
whole world into one living, SYM
pathetic organism.
Ambition, hatred, jealousy, patriot
ism, love, these are some of the feel
ings that fill mans breast, and lead
him to descend below the brutes or
rise to the exalted station of "child of
God and heir of eternal life"
The value of pure and welltrained
emotions, to a body of individuals, a
community, is as great as to single
individual. History bears witness
that SO long as the hearts of people
are filed with healthy desires and
honorable emotions, their progress is
upward. Success smiles upon their
efforts and happiness beams upon
their civilization.
True moral enthusiasm must be the
motor in every advance movement in
the progress of mankind. No mere
living together, or working together,
or thinking together can make the CIV
lized community. It is the feeling to-
gether that makes society real or
ganism. The relations of individuals
in our modern social systems seem
hard and mechanical, because of sad
want of unselfsh caring for others,
and lack of se]f-sacrifcing devotion
to the cause of humanity in general.
Let mems capacity for feeling to-
gether equal their capacity for living,
working, or thinking together and it
will quickly solve the many perplex-
ing social and industrial problems
that now exist, since in unity of feel
ing, there is unity Of thought, and
consequently must be unity Of actia
Then would individuals be bound by
strong ties of kindliness, pity and
brotherly affection. The oppression
of single laboring-man would rouse
a hundred thousand of his brothers to
united efforts for his relief By the
development of the emotion known as
sympathy, almost endless opportunl
ties for improvements will be present
ed to us. The presence in our own
souls, of the joy or anguish in other
souls will prompt us to deeds OF true
philanthropy. With heart-throb
will be solved, problems over which
gray philosophy and cold human rea-
son have been pulling since the dawn
of time, and within the very hearts OF
the humblest of mankind, will be
placed, truth and sublimity for which
the greatest spirits of the race have
toiled.
Thus we see that humad nature is
impelled to action by affections OF
gratitude. esteem, veneration, joy, not
| to mention various others, which pre-
pare us to be touched and penetrated
by the infinite goodness of God. !
Through the cultivation of these
boundless emotions of ours we may
gain an immovable strength of moral
principle, an unbounded philanthropy
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