The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1897-07-21

CCtlof. 10 give q CCilSIStc iI1cSt1tt.Oi'
quote from dogeerel written III the
present year Of grace in memory CT (.
great statesman. Of course the states
man is dead give simply a quatrain.
a homeopathic dose, with allopathic ef-
fects:
When in the great eternity tie truth is fully
told,
It may be that thy soul was too greet for thy
body to hold.
When truth from error Is thoroughly sieved,
It Will be found that thou vast orc CT the
greatest that ever lived.
Unqcestionably this is not poetry. It
is not even rhyme. It is even destitute
Of the conventional jingle, but it is lit
erature-of a kind On the other hanc.
far, far away fro3, this painful langle,
I quote sentence from Richter, tie
stupendous, unapproached Colossus OF
Germany. He is describing a night ram
Bile in one of his beloved German for
ests. Re says: "White night butterflies
fitted, white blossoms futtered, white
stars fell and the white snow powder
hung silvery in the high shadow of the
earth, which reaches beyond the moon,
and which is our night. Then began the
Eolian harp of the creation to tremble
and to sound, blown on from above. and
my immortal soul was q string in that
harp
Literature is vast and varied and its
definition in this general way not diff
fro,,,
'sThere is no uniform standard Of ez-
cellence, either in physical or spiritual
nature; all genuine things are what
they ought to be. The reindeer is good
and beautiful, SO likewise is the ele-
phant. In literature it is the same.
Every man, says Lessing, has style
of his own, like his own nose True,
there are noses Of wonderful dimen-
sions, but no nose can justly be ampu-
tated by the public, not even the nose
of Slawkenbergius himself, so it be
real nose and no wooden one put on for
deception's sake and mere show. .
We see, then, that literature, accord
ing to the masters Of it, is vastly broad,
and even the poor scribbling at which
we laugh would be deemed highly val
liable could it be kept 1000 years and
found by some future antiquary.
The scope Of literature we have seen
in it's definition. It is as inclusive as
the art of writing and printing. It's uses
are not far to seek. We print books.
pamphlets, magazines and papers fer
the simple and single purpose Of con-
veying ideas. These may be raw or ripe,
pure or impure, just CT unjust, true or
false. No what matter their character,
they are to be put into other minds, and
literature is the means, or cne means,
of making the transference.
It's use is to make known the wants,
impressions, ideas, thoughts, hcpes,
fears, joys and sorrows Of enc person to
another. It's highest use may be mere
intensely theological. When we inquire
what is the highest object of life, we
are met with several answers, both
practical and theoretical. Matthew Ar
mold tells us that we are to seek happi-
ness; Carlyle, blessedness; Socrates,
wisdom; Shakespeare, in Wolsey's
monologue, the service of Ccd;" Paul..
'sto do good unto all ruen.
II we look at the seething, surgins
world, we see that there are many OBJ
jects that compel men to activity.
Among them are tie love Of fame,
wealth, luxury, ease and power or in
fuence. Out of this multiplicity ard
complexity we can select the real aim
Of life, and then it will be easy enough
to find the highest object of literature.
Evidently the real purpose Of life is
character development. This does not
exclude other developments, such as
that of the animal and vegetable worlds.
Character is developed only as it aids
in developing all around it. To the
true soal nothing is uninteresting or N
vain. The living soul finds itself in a
living universe, which is its home. and
it learns the nature and mode OF action
of this great living organism. 20 know
this organism, to know ourselves as a
part Of it, to feel its pulsing, thrilling
life, to join heartily and harmoniously
in its work. to move or with it in its
great unfolding, to feel an ever widen
ing knowledge, an ever deepening love,
an ever Frightening hope, an ever in
tenser and more joyous life-this is the
highest object Of endeavor. This may
seem to SAVIOR of egoism overmuch, but
we cannot enter into this more splendid
temple until we have fully dedicated
ourselves to the service Of all who suf-
fer. Remuneration, self surrender, is the
royal road into this Kingdom Of the IL
finite ard eternal. Now, we can clearly
see that the highest use Of literature is
to bring all knowledge, 'hy the help Of
all who love to the service cf all who
suffer"
The modern works Of fiction that
deal with the sociological aid religious
questions Of the hour in a masterfrl
way are to be counted as our present
day classics and placed on the literary
-, 49, Il