The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-04-25
AMONG THE BEST.
Authors Who Have Given Us Our
BiEeSt Ideal of Life.

4 BiEeSt Ideal of Life
| To the Club--According to his own in
depreciation Of the authors he has read
each reader forms a conception OF
| ideal This may differ in individuals
who have read the same book. but as
| an ideal is a model or standard of per
! lection the writer will recognize as the
! highest ideal of life the best possible
| standard of excellence and goodness as
! applied 10 ones conduct and actions in
| his intercourse with his fellow men.
| A great many authors have given US
| high ideals. 1t would not do 10 restrict
| the number, for the inspired writer's, the
authors of ancient time. and modern
/ authors among whom may be mentioned
/ Milton, Shakespeare Dante, Tennyson.
| Carlyle. LOngfellow. Emerson and
| Lowell, have each left their message
/ with it's divine breath Of inspiration.
| With their deep and earnest thought
| they have poured forth i'm song, and
| epic. and story. and drama such wealth
! of beautiful truths that the reader seizes
/ upon them as divine and recognizes that
| life has something more than common
| interest in it, and that a high ideal is
worth striving for. The truths they con-
vey cause men 10 turn from the sordld
and selfish aims of life to the recognition
| of the beautiful and true. and to recog-
! nize and obey the promptings of that
| inward monitor that calls TO higher and
| nobler living
Milton i'm his matchless Paradise
| Lost and Paradise Regained. Dante
/ in mis- Divine Commedia,' Shakespeare
| I'm his dramas. Carlyle in his Heroes
| and Hero Worship Longfellow in his
| beautiful poems, Emerson IN MS
Essays and Lowell in his poems and
| other writings have placed before US the
! best Thought and the highest ideal. To
| hare read these authors or only few
| of them, and that thoroughly. is to have
| become acquainted with an ennobling
! current of thought. and TO nave con-
| sciously or unconsciously formed a high
| ideal of life.
The greatest message that comes To
us from any author is the one that calls
forth answering inspiration and causes
| the soul to look forward to the mist
enshrouded future with longing and as
pira ton That author is truly great who
has the power to call forth the best eff
| fort and endeavOr that lies within the
heart of heaven.
To cause the earnest soul to peer be
| ycnd the narrow confines of the pres
ent, to make that soul not only long Tor
the beautiful and the good. but also 10
resolve TO attain the best possible de
velopment. to make of life something
more than .'feeting dream, surely TINS
is the noblest and highest mission OF
the author. When he does this. whether
in prose or rhyme, he places before US
the true meaning and purpose of hfe
flcm which we may derive our highest
ideal.
THE poet" says James Russell Lowell
in his lecture on The Function or the
Poet is he who can best see and best
say what is ijeal-what belongs TO the
world of soul and beauty. Whether he
celebrate the brave and good man or the
gods: or the beautiful as il appears in
man or nature, something OF religious
character still clings TO him: he is the
revealer of Deity. He may be uncon-
scious of his mission; he may be false
to it: but in proportion as he is great
poet he rises to the level of Ii the more
often He does not always rebuke what
is bad and base but indirectly by max
ing us feel what delight there is in the
good and fair. If he besieges evil, 1t Is
with such beautiful engines OF war tas
Piutarch tells us of Demetrius) that the
besieged themselves are charmed with
them Whoever reads the great poets
cannot but be made better by ii, for
they always introduce him to a higher
society to a greater style of manners
and of thinking. Whoever learns to love
what is beautiful is made incapable of
the low and mean and bad. A
great poet is something more than
an Interpreter between man and nature;
he is also an interpreter between man
and his own nature. 1t is he that gives
us those keywOrds. the possession of
which makes us masters of all the unsus-
pected treasure-caverns of thought and
dusty path of our daily life"
Surely this mission is fulfilled when the
poet or prose-writer produces within the
reader feeling of longing that is un-
satisfied, that turns not away unques-
tiOning but stops and considers the
purpose of life, and straightway begins,
however humble. TO seek for the ideal;
that is not satisfied with mere theories.
but attempts with all the enthusiasm Of
an enlightened soul to find this ideal, to
strive, and toll. and work without ceas-
ing. To arouse this intricate human
soul to provide for ii a message that
sheds a reckoning radiance that leads
toward the purer atmosphere of thought
and feeling, hat should be the pur-
pose of him who creates an ideal.
The mission of the man Of letters
says William Winter, in one of his
happiest veins. is to teach the heart; to
kindle the imagination; TO ennoble the
mind. He is the interpreter between the
spirit of beauty that is in nature and the
general intelligence and Sensibility of
mankind. He sets to music the pageantry
and the pathoS Of human life and he
keeps alive in the soul the holy en-
thusiasm of devotion to the ideal. He
honors and perpetuates heroic conduct
and he teaches, by many devices of art
by story, and poem, and parable, and
essay, and drama-purity of life. in
tegrity to man, and faith I'm God. He is
continually causing you to see what OBJ
u liOOllNN your lie duOIQSs
continually delighting you with high
thoughts and beautiful pictures. He does
not preach TO you. He does not attempt
to regulate your specific actions. He
does not assail you with the hysterical
scream of the refOrmer. He does not
carp. and vex and NEEDLE. He whispers
to you in your silent hours of love and
heroism and holiness and Immortality,
and you are refreshed and strong and
come forth into the world smiling at
fortune and bearing blessings IN your
hands"
This is indeed the mission u the au-
thor When ne does not achieve this
standard, he cannot hope to grow or
continue in favor with mankind. Unless
he reaches this high mark. the rolling
years will soon consign his works and
livion. The author who does not create
ideals for us or strengthen those already
formed has failed of his purpose in life.
Unless the truths he enunciates teach us
to make the most of this, our present life,
to use and not abuse each talent, to
brighten the pathway of others less
fortunately situated, to improve each OPP
portunity as IL is presented. then has
he 1abored in vain. The quarries of the
mind which he has not touched contain
the brightest gems and richest stores.
and for some other and happier genius
they must await.
But Milton and Shakespeare and Dante
and Tennyson and Emerson and the