Middletown transcript., 1899-02-11
THE POWER OF ENTHUSIASM.


In the mansions of the blest.
THE POWER OF ENTHUSIASM.
Every great and commanding move
ment in the annals of the world is the
triumph of some enthusiasm. Moth
ing great was ever achieved without 1t.
Emerson.
Nothing else is so contagious as ell
thusiasm; it is the real allegory of the
lutte of Orpheus,-it noveth stones, it
charmeth brutes. Enthusiasm is the
genius Of sincerity, and Truth accom-
plishes no victory without it.--Sr But-
soer Lgttofa.
This world is given as prize for men
in earnest-F. W. Robertson.
Experience shows that success is due
less to ability than to zeal: the winner
is he who gives himself to his work.
body and soul.-Char BUXTON.
success"
NJ GREAT audience sat listening breath
2N lessly to Othello's expression of min
I6 ged grief and remorse at the bedside
of his murdered Desdemona' At the
very climax of the scene, just as Othello
was about to plunge the dagger into his
own breast. the mayor of the town stepped
upon the stage, with paper in bis hand,
and said: Ladies and gentlemen, Lee has
surrendered!" What cared the people for
Othello or Desdemona when they were fair
" transported with enthusiasm
Men are nothing" exclaimed Montaign.
"until they are excited" Like the new and
added power of the young lover to paint in
hues of paradise the ugliest object, enthusi-
asm gives the otherwise dry and uninteres-
ting subject or occupation new meaning.
As the lover has finer sense and more acute
vision, and sees in his object of his attec-
tions a hundred little virtues and charms
which are, of course, invisible to all other
eyes, so a man, permeated with enthusiasm,
has his power of perception heightened and
his vision magnifed, until he sees beauty
and charms others cannot discern, which
compensate for drudgery, privations hard
ships, and even persecution. Dickens says
he was haunted, possessed, spirit-driven by
the plots and characters in his stories, which
would not let him sleep or rest until he had
committed them to paper. On one sketch
he shut himself up for month, and when
he came out, he looked haggard as MUIR
derer. His characters haunted him day
and night.
| ENTHUSIASM is FIRE FROM HEAVEN.
1t was enthusiasm that sent Sheridan
down the Shenandoah Valley. to utterly
rout Jubal Early and his host. Il
The same power enabled the Cubans to
hold out against the policy of tyrannical
government and to finally gain well de-
served freedom.
| Courage recognizes the danger and meets
| it with serene front. Confidence in ones
powers, the thought of the prize to be won,
the love of glory and reputation, knowledge
| of the means at our disposal, and faith in
| fortune are the considerations which give
strength to courage; and if they are mar
shalledin battle array and led by enthusi-
asm, the fears which hover over our path
| will be routed like fiocks of evil boding
vultures.
1t is this most potent factor that is pres
ent in all accomplishment which is of val-
ue Does speaker thrill you with the mag
ic of an eloquence that seems to carry you
out of your ordinary self, and sometimes
to lead your very convictions captive? Be
assured that it is because the speech is vi
talized with the enthusiasm of an earnest
belief which knows no doubt or hesitation.
It enters into every invention, every master
piece of painting or sculpture, every great
poem, essay or novel that holds the world
breathless with admiration,
| It is a spiritual power. 1t has its birth
among the higher potencies. You never
And true enthusiasm in those people who
are always groyeliug in the dirt at the feet
of the senses. In its very nature it is up.
lifting.
ENTHUSIASM GENERATES ELoouEEcE.
Henry Clay, when speaking in the Sem
ate, forgot himself as completely as if he
were father pleading for his children. On
one occasion, in appealing to the President
of the Senate, he became so oblivions of
everybody and everything but his subject,
that he left his place upon the floor of the
Senate chamber, and by gradual steps came
down to the chair of the Vice President,
where he stood appealing to him as If none
but the latter and himself were present,
leaving behind him all his colleagues, who
were Watching him and listening to him in
4 -. L -, lars aIv
1t was enthusiasm that led Patrick Hem
ry to utter those patriotic words so familiar
to every boy and girl, and the same element
made Webster defend right rather than
selfish desire.
It was enthusiasm that enabled Napoleon
to make q campaign in two weeks that it
would have taken another at least year or
more to accomplish. "These Frenchrnsn
are not men. they fly" said the Austrians,
in CONSERVATION. In fifteen days Napoleon,
in his first Italian campaign, had gained six
victories, taken twenty-one standards and
fifty pieces of cannon, had captured fifteen
thousand prisoners, and had conquered
Piedmont After this avalanche. discom-
flied Austrian general said: This young
general knows nothing whatever about the
art Of war. He is perfect ignoramus--
there . no doing anything with him" But
his soldiers followed their Little Corporal
with an enthusiasm that knew no defeat or
disaster
ENrHusIAsM wIas RArrLEs.
! The Maid Of Orleans. with her sacred