The St. Louis Republic., 1900-12-31

greatest seer has probably been our own
ltalph Waldo Emerson. In lit"ratur" II has
h.td its poetry even IL not its men of genius
It's Tenny son and Browning. aud most or
all tn" new poetry uf nature. starting with
Wordsworth. And 1t has carried the Eng
liSh novel % the highest point of its
achievements, beyond which probably it will
n,l"r 20. ia p'ch"ns and iiawt hurn'. Ccuri,.
Eliot and Thuckrrdy
1T Las given us liz. scholarship Of Ger
many. the commercial genius of tn" ETi'Ish
empire ANA the colossal WORK in th, ap-
J He'd or incentive arts uf our own country.
f~S'' ntiIilE ~ Viii rank. | a--IIuI" ~ all
int'If" uinc. a. the great ~" % d"iuu'ia"N.
W. IN iruIE say that -thi. Democracy il
what lts u;,sH.- p"S-ihi.. ne, .ti.f.sri.u such
H$ y 'uS;'r. Gladstone. ~ "a Hi-rnI:-. r. |;
has h""' time. Therefore. rp' nf 'r,.
'i:i'-. hut "f ,hr t,iIrTs. \ british en-
l'li- ANA ~" rinpir- sf - united ,:srIraHg
nav" only com" because tn" people were.
hchi.id II ~ Ho~i "i al. II has given uS.
WIN ~: r''"t and wi side. th,. new in
an rial sEai"'n. n Factories. m, c.-
'ht' 90. ~" aI'it 81 i--r and the labor
pi""''''a. Nj thiS cors t"a,rtit"r And out
"i T. h'- ''''ra- Ii. OH. uuhloSt .uurriHu' ion
of nr- century. In The. ,..u-.. If mutual -
st'"I,~ iniiitv '"r th" S.,-si conditions of Tho
''N'l@'d hn' hn'iyiiiz'd world N.y"r ia all
PAST ages ms This ih"G-ut for an instant
- taken hold Of man as in the last hundred
%''IS. WIN the '"urictirn: I am NV
brothers k-rper.' And this Is tn. ON. seed
S"NiHS thou%ht or work + nur CENTURY 10
Ia" handed down to fHt5r- ages. Tn. human
$"uI Il 80 be saved not only FOR heaven. bat
new science OF s1cioiocv
ihe century has h'cn the age of all
ages In rank nv ~" rnul.isstS made oyer
nature. II would .linnS' seem as il I-.t
Mef" left on this Srnra fur man - achieve
! ne work of on. century has told BY is
mass rather thIn 10y tn. work of iSplated
men OF grri.ss. In physics and chemistry.
w hi'I"HE and medicine" In arts and archi-
lecture. IN philosophy and history I'm g.nI-
ofy and In srgineering. In education. polit-
Teal dnd religion. for every ten nt v..rt in
70 mud
at work in :his. 1t has been th.. ag. of the
coral Insects building an island of enligh,sn-
mont.
with the miscroscope ard the .eIescope
with IN" steam engine and with electricity.
with IN" new chemistry and the new arts
IN" forces of nature have been harucssed
Ana yet. though 1t has been the are nf
tniS'lienment and of achievement some
now think of IT akin to the dark ages
"A blightnr Influence. The greatest con-
Intuition of antiquity to tho world was the
distinction between body and spirit but
We seem 10 he forgetting II and have almost
gone mad I'm the worship of The body and
In a devotion To physical comfort Never
p"rhalS in 2ol" years has the human race
talked so much about religion and studied
~ as IN our ace. Yet never. perhaps has
tht re been n century so dominated by jr-
Ieligion. Our conguests over nature have
ddZzlcd is and made us forget. Eack once
more comes the eternal charge which
sEouid mean more to-day than in any age,
ior the last six centuries: What shall it
i'''al - man ~ GsIl lDt Nnb!p world and
lose his Sou!? The work of the next con-
fury must he 10 build up on the inside. 10
restore the old distinction between the body
and spirit. TO save the spiritual life There
i a lasting SuggestiveneSs in those. lines of
Mrs. browning:
For We throw out acclama;icns Of self-.hanlng.
-elI -adpiIlIc
With =. Every mile run faster-O wondrous.
WHuirpus age
Ldti!e thinking If We work sonis as nobiy as
cur iron.
Or " angels VIII commend US at the goal of
pilgrimage.
THE bells will soon be telling out the
'nu OF the century, and tomorrow night
ringing III the new time OF the Twentieth
century TO come. But it is only an aroi-
trary distinction. They will not toll out
dhe seifshness. the vice and the crime
ihey VIII not ring in justice and the mil
lenniuni The same old fight must go on
the same oil battle in which each one must
contribute bis share. If i'm the distant ages,
truth, justice" and the right are TO triumph