The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1908-09-10
USES OF ENTHUSIASM.

The words enthusiast and en-
thusiasm have Jared i'll at differenr
periods of the growth of the Eng
lish language. A cursory exam
ination Of the meanings attached
to them will show that enthusiasm
was at one time a term of reproach.
Enthusiast meant fanatic or crank,
or headlong, discriminating
advocate of something, and often
times the "something" was a
cause which gave disquiet to we'll
regulated minds, content with
society. government and the ex-
listing order.
There is, however, the kind of
enthusiasm which the people of
to-day have in mind when they
use the WOrd-the eXuberant, in
tense interest of the glowing mind
the attitude and temperament
which are due to a lively hope and
an Astounding optimism and the
energetic acts of the sanguine
person which accompany real en-
thusiasm. This sort of attitude
and temperament has been coldly
criticised as unsafe, ineffective
and inferior by the great German
philosopher, Emmanuel Kant:
Enthusiasm is always con-
nected with the senses, whatever
be the object that excites it. The
true strength Of virtue is serenity
of mind, combined with a DELHI
crate and steadfast determination
to execute her laws. That is the
healthful condition of the moral
life; on the other hand, enthusi-
assn, even when excited by rep
RESERVATIONS of goodness, is a
brilliant but feverish glow, which
leaves only exhaustion and Ian
guor behind.'
When Emerson declares of en-
thusiasm that nothing great was
ever accomplished withoutit," and
Seeley says justly that "no virtue
is safe that is not enthusiastic" "
the thought Immediately suggests
itself that the difference between
the notions of the Kantian school
and the admirers of enthusiasm
are chiefly differences in the un-
derstanding of the terms and the
meaning attributed to words. This
difference is clearly brought out
by Carlyle's friend, the accom-
plished Sterling:
''An excess of excitement and
a deficiency of enthusiasm may
easily characterize the same period
or person. Enthusiasm is grave,
inward, self-controlled; mere ex-
element is outward, fantastic,
hysterical, and passing in mo-
ment from tears to laughter, from
one aim to its opposite
The person who is troubled with
an excess of excitement, who
seizes with avidity upon an idea
and embarks upon a course of
action with eagerness, and then
fails to do anything, is merely
excitable. Enthusiasm is the
quality which causes the person
to be eager and sustains his in
terest and energy through the
thick of the actual fight. Some of
the great men of the world have
been of the excitable tempera-
ment, and have also possessed the
enthusiasm which impelled them
to work enthusiastically and to do
heroically. Others who have won
undying fame have been of calm
demeanor, and beneath the self
controlled exterior have concealed
the real quality of enthusiasm,
AN intense and glowing mind"
1.-The vision and faculty divine"
The outward manifestations of
enthusiasm differ in persons of
different temperments, but it is
certain that no great cause was
ever carried to a successful con-
clusion, no great work in the world
was ever done, without a sustained
enthusiasm. One or two cold
garnet philosophers in a century,
a calculating statesman or two
like Cavour in an age, and vari-
Gus persons whose work lies in the