The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-09

ually into the remaining certainties Of faith.
From the nature OF the case we must turn
centve to % sfsaSe to seenoe especially
natural science. has made two contributions to
the originality or our age. 1t has gwen new,
q most Fascinating and an increasingly 6ene-
nclai neid 1or research and inquiry. Wnen
my friend referred to -Pasteur as his present
exemplihcation of greatness, he had in mind. l
think, quite as; much the benefcence as the
originality of the worn of the great expert
mentor. His exploration Of that third realm
OF nature as the world In which he toiled has
been styled, that populous territory lying
between the animate and inanimate creation,
gives us the nearest approach which we have
yet gained to the mystery of life and death.
But II the beneficence Of science is yet to
pc more nc ss fully established; nothing is want
ing TO snow It's intellectual impulse. NO one
can overestimate the effect Of this opening or
new territory upon an age which had begun
70 lament It's limitations and its barrenness.
Inc power to invade unknown realms OF ma
ture with theory and experiment, to explore
as Wei as discover has given to our time
something OF the adv enturous spirit OF the age
winch uSnered in the modern epoch. Indeed,
we are much more closely related to that age
OF adventure and discovery than to any pre-
cedtng age Of the subtitle metaphysic or Of re-
l1gious mysticism. We feel the enlargement
of the earth and Of the world. The proper
tlon OF the new to the old is increasing, and
though the stage of wonder and bewilderment
mas nearly passed, we are still living in the
pleasurable excitement of expectation.
L nave been very much interested in the
contrast which DR.. Minot of Harvard, drew
in his addresses before the American Society
OF Naturallsts, between the optimism Of science
and the pessimism of the literary man.
The best, he says that we gain from the
pursuit OF research is, believe, our charac-
CerlStlc optimism. We are engaged in achiev-
ing results, and results of the most permanent
ana enduring quality. A business man may
achieve fortune; but time will disspate it.
A statesman may be the savior of nation,
but how long do nations live? knowledge has
no country, belongs to no class but is the
height OF mankind. and it is mightier for
what each of us has DONE We have brought
our stones, and they are built into the edi-
ice and into its grandeur. My stone IL small
one 1t Will certainly be forgotten that it is
mine, nevertheless it will remain in place.
HOW different is the pessimism toward
winch literary men are seen TO tend! Harvard
university lost James Russell Lowell in 1891
and Asa Gray in 1888. The letters Of both of
these eminent men have been published.
Lowers letters grow SAD and discouraged,
and he gives way more and more to the pess-
mlstic spirit. Gray is optimistic steadily and
TO the end. The difference was partly due to
natural temperament, but chiefly think to
the influence of their respective professions.
me subject material OF the literary man is
1amlllar human nature and familiar human
surroundings, and his task is to express the
thoughts and dreams which these suggest
lie must compete with the whole past with
all the genius that has been. There is moth
ing new under the sun, he exclaims But to
US 1t Is a proverbt tceptradicted by our daily
experience"
I cannot accept let me say in passing, this
conclusion. Thereu Is a mistake here as it
seems to me, in ecnteInding the pathos of
literature with pessimism. Literature is the
lnterpret alton of human life. But the progress
OF human life even fE1its most heroic phases
as 1t moves to. divinests ends, is pathetic. The
optimism of science is based on the calcula-
ton OF certainties.= Sceuce takes no back
ward step unless 1t be to retrieve an error
Ihere are none af these fluctuations in it's
career which attend the enthasiasms of men
SOMETIMES guided to the right ends some
tunes misguided or issuing in corresponding
expressions. The attitude of science is con-
tlhually eXpectant The imagination of the
poet, the faith of the seer has nothing to offer
10 ID the way OF newhess at all comparable with
the discoveries Of the scientist.
Science, therefore. free from the fluctuations
lnciaent 10 human progress, untouched by the
pathos of human jt1ifen continually watching
LOT new facts within the realm of fact must
be optimistic up to the last limit of Certainty
There the optimism of science fails. But it
is then that the optimism of literature as
expressing the hope and faith of humanity, be-
GINS. UP to that point it may be the pathos
when Is mistaken for pessimism; then the
GAIN or exultant assurance Of faith. When
the scientist ceases TO tread with firm and
certain step, the poet takes wing.
Acknowledging within it's limits the omit
In3s1n CT science, go on to say that the con-
trloution or science to the originality of our
time is moro marked in the creation of The
scientific spirit. Having first startled, then an
gered the established mind OF the age. it
t sIGn peginse to stimulate and vivify. Some
Inspiration and use. Phe distinction between
these two classes of minds SO differently az
Iected by the scientific spirit, is very sharp
pecaiy VIXEN Wei ffIe 65eeR EerE ybe am4sng
argument, butt each class shows in its own
way the common incentive. ;..a N -
The present fact IS that the scientific shirt
has set everybody to thinking Some were
not prepared for it, some will get, no further
than confusion, some will stick in some kind
OF denial or unbelef, the few will lead the
plo0FPr.
higher and more certain faith and the multi
tude will follow. The tendency is toward
originality, not merely as expressed in in
Vestigation, but in high reasoning and in tbe
assertion OF principles and ideas which will
take root. The age may yet eliminate in
song. When the certainties shall have come
round again with a deeper meaning and the
spiritual shall have regainad the Supremacy
not by reaction but by advance and progress
we may lind amongst US those who can give
US tho vision of the new earth and the new
heaven. So "
But II our times promise originality rather
than illustrate its highest workings much
more than this, think, can be said for that
expression CT greatness which l have termed
authority. L believe that our age is going into
history as one Of the masterful ages, not
merely IN the show of power, but in the
reality or it. Even On the material plane
results nave been achieved. and are being
achieved, which bear the stamp Of the au-
lucrative mind. As has been pointed out by
others. the millionaire is not the man of
painful thrift and misery savings. but the
man Of calculation, of broad plans and equal
ly bold ventures, never reckless, if not ALWAYS
scrupulous. A term has arisen in our day
which covers vast deal of enterprise which
is largely speculatiye,r but which also COW
ers enterprises which have become events-I
refer to the terp promoter or protector
Something over a year ago a picture hung
in the New York chamber Of commerce rep
resenting a meeting CT the promoters of the
Atlantic cable at the heme of Cyrus w Field
in Grammercy park Each of the group there
represented Il,
business or professional life-Peter Cooper
Marshall O. Roberts @David Dudley Field
Moses Taylor, Frof Samuel Morse and Cyrus
W: Field the brain. heart and right hand
OF the daring PROJECT. Measure the work Of
this great promoter by any possible test
which can be oDpIied to the authoritative ele-
menf in greatness and what is lacking: not
faith. nor courage, nor patience not Do1yer
nature. not persuasion over the reluctant
and unassuTed hearts OF men not the dis
cipline Of defeat. rot the greater discipline of
success. The undertaking there commence
rated was characteristic. 1t illustrates the
tremendous compelling force which has
marked the generation. Enterprises which
seemed great in their tnception seem greater
in their accomplishment. They bear the test
of competition with the vaster movements and
combinations to which they have given RISE
Brt there are far nobier forces than those
hidden in nature or exposed in the markets
Of the world. which the master minds of the
generation have dominated and controlled
Few ages have witnessed such uorisings of
strong popular instincts, or such skillful con-
troll and direction of these Instincts when
aroused. as we have had occasion to witness
One instinct has been the passion for ma
tional unity.
Take now aro!I yr popular instinct, deeuer
by far than the craving for unity, and far
more difficult to awaken and guide, the in
stinct Of justice, of which we have the one
unapproachable example in the conduct OF
the American people by Abraham Lincoln
through the civil war, It had been no I'M