The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1904-03-25
Live I'm the Present

LIVE IN tHo f~5eSSHt
A ''live" man respects the twentieth
century. He does not think that wis
dom died out when its nineteen prede-
cessors departed. His eyes are not in
the back OF his head. He reads books,
but he studies men. Great poets have,
for the most part, passed their lives in
cities. "Never write page" said the
late Lord Lytton TO young Lon6 "
author. still you have walked fr.s
your room 10 Temple Bar, mingling
with men and reading the human face. F"
The men who make their mark on
the age are those who know it, and
sympathize with its life. A professor in
theological seminary confessed that
for half century he had read more
Latin than English. He failed to i'm
press his students, for he was obsolete,
even while facing them.
Guizot says that Shakespeare's sue
cess is due to his mastery knowledge
of his own age and country. and to the
fact that he wrote in spirit of loyalty
to them both.
Raphael went about ROME and Flor
ence seeking faces and attitudes worth
reproducing upon canvas. Curran
studied law during the day. At night
he studied men in the coffee houses Of
London, selecting those which "Mere
most fertile in game for character
hunter"
Napoleon's boast was, ~ know men. "
He disguised himself that he might
talk with sailors and fishermen. When
he wished to study some great subject,
he would gather about him those who
were authorities on it, and set them ar
guing with each other. When he said,
Good night, gentlemen" he knew all
about all the matter that was worth
knowing.
Walter Scott would talk with anyone
who would talk to him. He visited the
fish market at Billingsgate. in order to
learn the dialect OF the fshwomen. His
novels are read to-day because they are
true to life, though they are called ro-
mances.
Students who confne themselves to
the past are as dead, so far as serving
their generation is concerned, as the
eras they love. They are almost sure
to mourn over the present and to dis
trust the future. The former days are
to them better than these, and the flu
ture is likely to be worse than either.
Professor Phelps, in his instructive
and interesting "Men and Books" tells
a suggestive anecdote about two clergy
men. which illustrates the difference in
character between the-student OF books
and the student of men. The two min
listers, who had been classmates in the
seminary, met after separation OF
twenty years. Each had had a fair
measure of success.
Il have had hard life of lit, but en-
JOY hard life," said, in CHEEKY tone,
he who had lived among his brethren.
''It pays to have hard life. I have
such glorious trust in the future!"
81 have had hard life too," said
said the other, who had lived in the
dead past, speaking in a mournful tone.
st try to endure it patiently, but shall
be glad when it is over. The future
looks dark, very dark to me. Ny chief
satisfaction is in the past"
This man was foot sore from walking
backward. A few years later he was
gathered to his fathers, with whom
his mental life had been buried twenty
years" His friend still lives, enjoying
his hard life, not growing old, but keep
ing his heart young that he may do
good work for the men with whom he
loves to associate.
The past has its uses, but is no place
for man to live in. The apostle OF
Burmah, Adoniram Judson, was an old
man when he died, full of good works.
But his wife, Fanny Forester, thirty
years his junior, said, He was the
Youngest man | ever knew" He kept
himself young by his faith in God and
his hope for man.-Ex,