Omaha daily bee., 1896-01-22
THE ,NDrrrnnESon OF SENTIMENT.
A Controlling Force in the Annirs of
humanity
st. Louis Globe Democrat.

st. Louis Globe Democrat.
Men often laugh at sentiment" said
Senator Vest in a recent speech, but seuti
ment controls the world" This fact is ap|
to be overlooked In the multiplicity and the
pressure Of practical and sordid manifesto
lions. The battle OF life is so much a mat.
ter Of adjusting stubborn facts to material
uses that we easily lose sight Of the senti-
mental side Of things. and com to believe
that we are entirely emancipated from the
rule Of fancy and emotion. But the truth
is that the influence of sentiment remains,
and we are all subject to II more or less.
consciously or unconsciously. 1t is all very
well TO assert that Imagination Is not a safe
guide, and that the art Of getting there, as
we call 1t, implies strict adherence to the
methods of prose and common sense. Never
theless, sentiment crceps into all Of our cal
c%ulations and stays there, and when the
proper occasion comes 1t asserts its soyer-
e'gn force and has its way in spite OF prac-
tical circumstances We are not given over
to the cold and hard philosophy which shuts
out gracious and tender impulses, and re-
duces life to a monotonous drudgery. In
every interest and activity of society there
is a lurking leaven OF sentiment that may
at any moment suddenly leaven the whole
lump and make it splendid as an i%llustra-
ton of the capacity Of human nature for
finer feeling and better service than is ordi-
nar,ly perceptible.
The cynics who are fond Of declaring with
an accent of exultation that we are proclic
children of a disenchanted age do not see
bsiow the surface aud do not take account
Of facts that clearly refute such a PROPOSE
ton. There Is an impressionable quality
In the public character that quickly responds
to sentimental appeals, as in the case OF a
great misfortune that calls for sympathy, or
a great achievement that calls fer enthusiasm.
The people think they hate poetry" says
Emerson. "ard they are all poets and mys-
tics" II this were not true, there would
be no interest taken in questions which new
command the closest attent on and have the
most important bearing upon the general
welfare and progress. We are always seek
Ing for practical ways of solving intervening
problems, but at the same time there is an
element of Imagination in our motives and
tendencies that S never quite put to sleep.
Even in cur business proceedings, when we
Halter ourselves that we scorn everything
but palpabIc realities, fancies are mingled
with our facts, and that which we regard
as a process of logic is frequently nothing
more than watching for a dream to come
true. This applies in an infinitely larger de
gree, for obvious reasons, to our social insti-
tuticns, our politics aud our religion. The
influence Of sentiment permeates them all,
and is oftener than not the factor that de-
termines the result.
1t is to be remembered that flags and
badges. songs and war cries, have played
a significant part in history. Men have
died for a ribbon" as Senator Vest says;
and armies have won battles by virtue of
a piece Of bunting. Most readers will rec
Offset the case of the regiment that lost its
colors in India. There was a perilous height
to be scaled, and the colonel exclaimed
Men of the Fifty-seventh, your colors lie
on yonder height!' That was all. and that
was enough. Up they went and got them,
rtddled and broken by the fire of the enemy,
but radiant with pride in the repossession.
Similar instances have happened so many
times that on" cannot go amiss Of them
in tho records Of any nation. They teach a
lesson that is beiEE continually repeated,
not always SO pic;rresquely, but always with
the same application. 1t is by sentiment.
and not by the multiplication table, that
deeds of heroism and sacrifice are inspired.
That Is what'we mean when we talk about
patriotism. manliness and unselfsh devotion
to duty. 1t is not a question of figures or
OF any argument, but Of feeling and of
ideallsm. The crust Of conventional habi-
tudas lis broken by. it, and the reserved
strength of the human character finds eff
fective expresSlcn. Thus the energy is pro-
vided that brings to pass the things that
count for most in the story of civilization; /
thus the influence of sentiment rules the
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