The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1906-07-17

.|thc8Fe~ OF government a. related &
the Unborn rights ~ personal lIbert,
OF acton and of conscience, have bee.
the iu plrat;on If the great reform.
er. Ior a century and "A half anu Ia.
degradation Of WHOSE private life ha.
been only questioned by the subllu,
iaudaeity With which NJ himself st,
forth IT'S sluaIid record Rousseau
was frankly a lons-distance -oralIst
lie saw with the eye of j prophet and
the brain IF a statesman both IN.
ts,I;c-Ies Of men against oppression and
tine wen nigh perfect adjustment Of IT,
~dIviduality to necessary restraint anil
control. As i philosopher. he was
bold vet sane. as 4 moraIist. liberal set
itrue almost II tbs point of conventions
aIitS: as q man Il monster Of passion.
greed. se%IfiShness and treachery. The
argument Of AIr, Rods comedy. we are
told. is that there i= up necessary con-
|nection between the work and the pri-
vate life Of IN author, ana taat we
have therefore no right In accuse 4
philosopher Of hypocrisy because ais
actions contradict his teachings In
the play. Rousseau goes with his am
! conventional establishment t. a small
Swiss village, where his love Of nature.
his simplicity and democracy make
him many friends. Then suspicious
arise. Great personages come to SEE
him. Ugly stories crop out about his
life. lie is visited by a delegation Of
Villagers who demand the truth. He
tells it to them, but excuses his views,
defending them from condemnation
as hypocritical because his life does
not four-square With his preaching.
Ills life is wicked, but his beliefs arr
true.
OF course, in the play. the villagers
do not understand his plea and RouS-
seau is driven out. In his case and in
that Of many another the world has
been for centuries trying to under
stand. The feet Of the greatest visions
sometimes seem to stumble into the
most palpable puddlcs. \ man lying
on his back i'll the gutter may be con-
templating the stars. But we'll
adapted as his pose MAY be to the pur-
suit it is difficult to conceive that he is
really indulging it. Matter of fact
people viii continue to accuse ROus-
seau Of being the arch hypocrit, not
W~ithstandinS the fact that he va
Herewith the most astOundinGly frank
spoken man who ever lived; and not
w~ithstanding, also, the truth that
jefferson voiced his doctrines in
the declaration of independence and
tina reformers IF the class of whom
Tolstoy is the peer have followed his
literary method as their lode star.
SO puzzling is the problem in fact
that it tends to Il belief in the indiNid-
ual character of What We vaguely
know as ''artistic sense The mani
festation Of beauty in art does not
seem remotely to depend upon the
of life of the human instru-
ment through which it finds express
sion. This may mean that the sense Of
is a separate function of the
mind, or that uGliness is artificial and
only beauty truth. That is, that no
matter how low or base or bestial the
individual m a be in practice there
remains in and Of him the more or
less s~naslnodic revelation. To h !
ommon run this may appear in the
most v%irtuous of types as at best "a
glow; in the common place Vul-
garian as bat the veriest voiceless
glimmer. But, with a genius h !
Rousseau, it may we'll be questioned
whether it cannot find a perfect ex-
untinged by sordid circum-
stance. In his case at least the mys- |
terry exists only in the contrast Of the
facts. since the hypocrisy-if hypocri-
sy there were-was at any rate uncon-
scious, as any who have read the ;
Confessions will admit.
Given to the world. d mans words
become public property. If they be ;
worthy they are as of the forces Of
lie who gives forth beauty
who sets in motion n of those
profound principles which make their
appeal to human hearts acts
as it were as an agent of the deeper :,
force which rules humanity in the
mass. Such a work is launched as u
which it falls the man is seen who
threw it. In the widening impulse
of its ceaseless motion, the man is for
and the force alone remains.
Words that live are in reality "alive."
They have their own individuality
character. It matters not whence
come. Like the rain from
heaven. drawn from mountain spring
and cess-pool alik 2, they fall and con
tinue to fall again and again to refresh
humanity with their message, pure
and undefiled.
OF what momen now is Rousseau's
personal life? We have it all at his
hands. In the light Of that
story. the miracle of his teachings
gains an emphasis, but loses nothing
in alt save to minds which can
find a denial of truth in the fault Of
him who spoke it.
\ MODEL NOMINATING SPEECH.
There is need Of more men III pub