The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1904-06-23
Greek philosophy which taught that

Greek philosophy which taught that
to be practically useful was about
the most useless thing ali enlighten-
ed being could undertake. Macaulay
quotes Seneca as ridiculing the sug-
gestion that the first shoemaker was
a philosopher; and he adds ''For our
own part, if we are forced to make
choice between the first shoemaker
and the author of the three books
on Anger, we pronounce for the
shoemaker. 1t may be worse to be
angry than to be wet. But shoes
have kept millions from being wet;
and we doubt whether Seneca ever
kept anybody from being angry. The
ancient philosophers promised what
was impracticable; they despised
what was practicable. They filled
the world with long words and long
boards; and they left it as wicked
and as ignorant as they found it.
An acre in Meddlesex is better than
q principality in Utopia. The small
est actual good is better than the
most magnificent promises OF i'm
possibilities. The wise man OF the
Stoics would, no doubt, be a grander
object than a steam engine. But
there are steam engines; and the wise
| man OF the Stoics is yet to be born.
A philosophy which should enable a
man to feel perfectly happy while in
agonies of pain would be better than
O. remedy which assuages pain; but
we know that the ancient sages liked
the toothache just as little as their
neighbors.
when we contemplate the fantas-
tic philosophy Of Plato and his Greek
associates and disciples, and the
things they did not do to alleviate
the discomforts Of mankind, and
when we reflect upon the marvellous
fruitage OF the Baconian philosophy
it's installation of utilitarianism as
the chief end of knowledge, and its
insistence upon the inductive system
as the means of arriving at correct
conclusions, we find ourselves quot
| ING again the lustrous eulogy o
Macaulay: "Ask a follower of Ba
con what the new philosophy, as i
was called in time OF Charles IL ha'
effected for manhood, and his answe
is ready: 1T has heightened life; i
has mitigated pain; it has extin
guished disease, it has increased tn
fertility of the soil; it has given ne'
securities to the mariner; it ha
spanned great rivers and estuarie
, with bridges of form unknown t.
our fathers; it has guided the thur
derbolt innocuously to earth;
has lighted up the night with th
splendors of the day; it has extende
the range of human vision; it ha
multiplied the power OF huma
! muscles: it has accelerated motion
. it has annihilated distance; it ha
! facilitated intercourse, correspond
ence, all friendly Offices, all dispatc
OF business. These are but part (
! its fruits and of it's first fruits. FG
it is a philosophy which never rest
o which is never attained, which
4 never mature. Its law is progres
\ A point which yesterday was invis
4 BILE is its goal today, and will be i
n starting-post tomorrow.
! The alumni of this college, tt
e alumni of all colleges, cannot, / We
>, ture to say, spend a goodly portit
% of their time more profitably than
familiarizing themselves with t
y magnificent bequest of learniI
,f II which Lord Bacon left to promo
~ the advancement of the human RAJ
=, The end of all his philosophy was t
n good of mankind, the promotion
>; the welfare OF the human race
had no other purpose. And this
= we mistake not, is the key which
" to unlock the secrets of nature in I
- Twentieth Century.
The functions of an institution
= learning were never before so dive