New-York tribune., 1900-05-07
GREAT MEN AND FAME.

The eightieth anniversary of Herbert Spen-
GERS birth, which occurred on April -, brought
to the venerable thinker many tributes of ap-
probation and esteem from every civilized coun-
try in the world The press also utilized the Oc-
caslon to review the great service to the world
of scientific thought which has been rendered
by the modern Aristotle" as Spencer has
sometimes been called. But in some cases sur
prise has been expressed that in spite of his
great services his name is almost unknown TO
the general public. There ought not however
TO be any surprise that such is the case WHY
should average people. however intelligent
know anything about Spencer? He has not done
his thinking for the populace, but for a COM
paratvely small number of specialists the men
who are the active leaders in the various de-
partments of applied science It is these men
who have protited by the lifework of Spencer
1t is they, and they alone who are able TO un-
derstand it, and estimate it at its true value
And it is they who, by popuarizing and apply
ing the philosophy of Spencer TO the concrete
facts of life, will make Herbert Spencer a vital
factor in the progressive civilization of the age
Spencer the man could not be a familiar and
popular idol. With the modesty of IA thinker
and student he would shrink from such a recos
milton. 1t is Il great enough fame for him that
he has been leader of thinkers, not always in
fallible, but always inspiring and helpful.
There is a curiously mistaken idea abroad
that the world must always know its great
men. Yet history is full of instances to the
contrary. Moses, perhaps the greatest law
siver that ever lived; Socrates. whose fame to-
day sheds lustre on the very name of ancient
Greece: Shakespeare, whom posterty has i'm
mortalized, and Milton, who was glad to get
to for Paradise Lost We're almost unrecog-
niZed by the general public of their day
| There are, indeed. certain types of greatness
readily recognizable by the public. Among these
! may be mentioned the military and naval hero
and the statesman who has the good luck TO
succeed. Such men are Sure to receive a CON
temporaneous reward in the plaudits of the null
titude But such popular recognition makes no
man great, nor does it insure an immortality
of fame On the contrary, posterity often re-
verses such popular verdicts How many great
men have been acclaimed whose very names
are to-day unknown, How many books have
been hailed with a whirlwind of applause
which have been long a. forgotten in the dust
heap of oblivion How many leaders of great
movements in the past lie buried to-day under
the debris of the movements they led In point
or fact the undiscriminating recognition of the
public may be an actual handicap to a man who
has great work TO do important mes
sage to deliver to the world. Every man who does
anything worth doing must in a measure live
apart from men, that he canSclearly distin-
guish the message that comes to his soul. Who
could Imagine Herbert Spencer or John Rus
kin living in the strdent clamor of the populace
ana bending all his energies to get the good
! opinion of the unthinklng multitude? The thing