The Red Cloud chief., 1897-06-04

sunset stays In heaven" In them we
find c~rystallized the finest examples OF
human action, thought and expression
Though we are ever progressive and
endeavor to keep u faces toward the
coming light, yet at almost every stel
in intellectual advancement we are
compelled to look back over oul
shoulders to catch a CLEAN from the
lights that still shine out from the re
mote ages. We become detached from
our own age and are chained to the
life Of two millenniums ago.
Education follows aud reflects the
great changes of society. II mimics
the last phase Of human activity
Every great scene enacted upon the
stage of life has been but a picture OF
the thought and sentiment of the day
and these following one after another
and copied as they pass, made the
foundations Of our system of education,
The progress of knowledge has been
aptly termed an appropriate shifting
of intellectual scenes.
Judeas' prophet, Greece's philosopher
Rome's orator, priest and soldier of the
middle ages, each in his turn, handed
to the people Of his time q new cur.
riculum, to guide the discipline Of
youth. Each of these has given us,
not simply a temporary picture in a
series of dissolving views, but a fixed
reality that prevades and influences
the thought and lives Of the generations
that follow.
Among the bOasted ornaments Of
ancient Athens were the renowned
temples Of Jupiter and Thesus, which
from their sun.gilt surface proclaimed
to the admiring world the skill and the
wisdom Of the Grecian race. But the
carving tooth Of time has already
wrought its burrows in these structures
and they are crumbling back TO dust.
Yet the principles of philosophy aud
thought, which Oristotle expounded in
a humble editice almost beneath their
shadow, are destined to survive the
ages.
The useful life of Socrates was de.
voted, not merely TO establish the
grounds of moral obligation in opposi.
ton to the false and worldly teachings
Of his day, but To the practice of tenn
pefance, usefulness and patriotism.
His philosophy was not one that dealt
with the shallow and p~erishable things
of time, but the soul and life eternal.
But whatever may have been his pre-.
else aud definite ideas of God, it is clear
that he scared beyond his contempor.
aries in his conception Of Providence
and of duty.
VI all the works of the Grecian race,
nothing else remains to us so endear.
ing as ITS great and wonderful master
pieces of literary composition. Good
literature 10, perhaps, the most endsra.
ing Of all products Of human thought.
In looking over thehistories of nations
We tind that most Of the rulers of the
ancient G spent their time and
energies erecting huge monuments to
immOrtalize their names. But the
nobiest act which historians love to
commemorate, rs the espousal Of the
cause OF Christianity by Constantine.
No emperor since Augustus mad n more
enlightened mind, and no one ever
reigned at Rome who,i in one important
respect, did SO much for the cause of
civilization, as did Constantine the
Great. With him began the enthusiasm
of Christianity, and for one thousa,.d
years, what is most vital ~ European
history is connected with Christian in
situations and doctrines.
In our retrospective vision we can
only pause to notice DemosthcDes,
whose tame as an orator can be- com
pared only with the fame Of Homer as
Il poet. Cicero, of whom 1t is said "He
was doomed by his literary genius to
Immortality" He %bequeathed to the