The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1906-04-17
Shakspcarc'S COunSelS to LacrteS;
by
The Rev. DR.. Newell Dwight Hills.

Dwight Hills, began Il series Oh
&tldIes for young men and women on
''.-elf culture and success The first
-abJect was "Shakesp@are's CounseI1
to Laertes." The text Was Ecclesias-
les kill. "I;emember now thy Crea-
tor in the days Of thy youth Or.
IiiIlis aid
All young men van TO know what
Enakc-DcaT- says - success. II
any man ever knew where lie the
paths that lead to prosperity, share
.nrarc is that man. Wiser counselor
soujh never had. saving only the Man
Of GaIiiIee. Take him oil ia an,
from the viewpoint Of Intellect, shake
sfrart was the greatest thing Eng
land ever did-greater than Watts en-
CINE or Arkwright's loom, greater
than Nelson's Trafalgar, and Infinite
iy greater than york. Minister Of 81
PauIs Cathedral-Engiand's sons
have gone out INTO all the world, but
something binds together Australia
ana New Zealand and Canada and the
United states, and that something Is
not the common heritage in law. or
commerce.. or gold-it is the common
heritage in Shakespeare. lie b.
gucathei to the world intellectual
treasures 50 vast hat in comparison
itDckefeller's wealth seems a miSer'S
hoard Of - Homer and Dante
have tens Of sentences that are quoted,
as the coin Of universal speech, but
Shakespeare hath his hundreds OF
sentences hat bear the mintage OF
his genius.
Mans browning gift is the cOnstruc-
tive imagination that turns paint into
pictures. iron into engines, forest INTO
furniture, rude sounds into symphony.
Literature is not the truth; il is the
truth stamped with beauty ana glorl-
fled with the light of the imagination.
It was given to this man of vision to
expand a single blade of grass into
the tropiC forest; to change q milk
maid into a princess, ana a peasant
boy into an immortal hero, for an
hundred times the great poet lifted
up rude men and and made
theln glorious. Shakespeare waved
his wand. and that WOodman'S son
becomes Orlando. and the peasant girl
becomes Rosalind; the black slave be-
comes a rich prince-Othello-Whll"
stripping away the purple. 10, the
gentleman sinks to the lever OF Il VII
Iaiu-Iago.
Shakespeare lived in The worlds
great E~li2abethan age-When the sum
mer Of genius made great intellectual
fruits native to the soil, Calico was
studying the stars with his new
telescope. CervanteS was writing
his immortal pages in the dungeon Of
Madrid. Drake was returning home
from his first voyage around the
world. Sir Walter Raleigh was in
London Tower, completing his his
tory of the world. and stretching out
his arms to welcome death, that just,
eloquent and mighty friend, who
would soon right all his Ong IN
VentiOn, liberty, discovery, science and
literature, all shared i'm the universal
warmth and glow. so many were
tn, ihtnllant1lol achievements hat the
historian is afraid of overlooking some
great event. But there was one man
who lowered so high above all other
intellectual giants as to make Others
seem commonplace. What the great
tree is to the shrubs beneath it, what
the river is to the streams that empty
into it; what the mountain is to the
foothills that it supports, what the
cathedral is to the hutS that hold
the worshippers that gather beneath
the dome, that Shakespeare's genius
was to the men of his time.
Even now in retrospect, we do not
fully realize that the most precious
proverbs, the pfthiest sayings, the
most brilliant sentences, that have
been, like gold coin, worn thin by
usage, AVE been received by our
fathers at the hands of Shakespeare,
in that model of the P~arthenon at
our Metropolitan Museum, one reads
from the temples and pieces of the
statues of the Acropolis." And the
very fragments of Shakespeare gather
ed up, and built into articles and
books, have lent beauty and worth to
modern literature. for this man was
the father Of the creative epoch in
English poetry and prose.
The Mission of the Great Poet.
We often speak of our guides, phil
%. ~ lpa- -,>l ~ l,., gAI +-,@-
consider. teacher and guide is the man
of vision and insight. At what price
therefore, shal we estimate our debt
to the poet who has the key to the
inncrmOst treasures where intellect
and love keep their jewels safe in
sanctuary? It is the pOet who Write-
the songs with which the youth AND
lover WOO the bride. 1t is the poet
who strikes the note to which the
soldier marches on To victory. 1t is
the poet singing Of God, and home
and native land who supports Tho
heart and arm of men in tent anC
field and forest. Take the songs .;
Robert Burns out of Scotland anG
you have taken the bloom from tn
heather, the from the hills
dignity from the Scythe and sickle
and quenched the fire on the hearth
that burns for the cottar's home
coming. Perhaps it is not too mucl
To say mat we would rather lose al
the rest Of English literature than
lose Shakespeare's songs and dramas
For God gave it to him to feel all thai
other singers have felt. and feel i
more deeply; to see all the sights OF
Ian or sea that others saw, an5
discern them more clearly.
Az thoughts and emotions ana love.
and hates and ambitions II battles
and dylnSS and deaths have marched
in stately procession, before Shake
Epeare'S throne, thare to be baptized
with immortality Of that sweet song
The youth who is b~eWildered does wei
to go TO Shakespeare for a famine
torch in his night. The man who
fronts some problems may we'll ask
What Shakespeare says. \ man is
in proportion as he has beer
taught by this supreme eacher.
Youth h Great Opportunity.
Hamlet represented Shakespeare
mature years and ripest wisdom. j.
the to LaerteS. Shakespear-
gathers W a handful of gold. an(
StuffS it into the purse of youth. H
knew the riches of these young day
when all the gods rain gold. H
knew how many a boy had wasted
his treasure in careless and riotou.
living. He remembered one yOutb