The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-12-26

| soul, the feelings, the hopes, the Idilh'
| And here history beglns
The race, therefore, may prosper
from the first written word TO the
last records that tell Of a mastery
when the human mind dared TO COM
| prehend the Great l Am. II lays
the open book before the world ana
| points to records OF ana CON
duct and deSiSnateS exactly WneIe
the word was changed. n mentions
only a few names out Of the many
millions that have been permitted
to live. In history the individual
is not immortal. The soul OF n IN
dividual is merged into the soul OF
the race, and the deeds Of all, not
one, are immortal. Thus sayeth the
records of this world. Even the
names thai live in history are not
human beings, individual beings apart
from the race. n race speaks
through them. It is said that Homer
was many men, and SO was Moses.
Even Washington was giving expires
sions to the thoughts Of the many;
and so was Lee. Read what contem-
poraries say of Washington and read
the eulogies today and see how the
Individual is gradually disappearing.
Individual Immortality is a hope, a
faith.
A people may have a thousand
years Of existence and no history save
a picture, a tracing on a stone, an
implement. A student may collect
these meageT effects and by cO'npar1-
son with what is written Of the
weaker people measure the spirit
level Of the forgotten race. The dark
ages Of Europe began when the Uni
versity of Athens was closed. That
is. when the written word was lost.
All hat had been written and pre-
served-history, poetry, philosophy
the drama, science OF government,
knowledge Of nature, all passed out
CT Europe, ana how easily custom,
menta habits, forms of government,
and even conceptions of mans rela-
ton to the divine degenerate when
the written word is no longer present
to guide the thoughts of the race,
A thousand years of darkness and
then light! The old written word OF
Greece, Rome, and Alexandria, after
wandering for so man centuries
among the wise men of Arabia and
Africa, appeared again in Europe.
Each word though more than a thou
sand years old gave a new light and
it was multiplied until the night Of
the middle ages disappeared. But
what is recorded in his period of
val " yCd1o z y
the mind works in darkness? Strange
vagaries and stranger records!
Grisly forest kings are fighting with
give ~utterances to divine commands,
the bones Of the saints have re
markable healing power for the body
and soul. Angelic spirits in human
form comfort holy men in u~nsanitary
dungeons, heather and Christian
divinities fight in the sight of man,
and the grail Of Aramathea trails a
holy light from man to God. The
meager chronicles of kings and
bishops give an imperfect framework
on which to hang this recorded word
Of the soul. But the few letters and
notes found here and there, like the
Rosetta stone of a later period serve
to interpret the whole.
But the old Greek and Roman
words are restored. A new adjust
ment is made: a new era begins; and
this middle period when only the
vagaries Of the mind were recorded
passed away into the night; for it was
wanting in the ght that comes from
the complete written word.
Count the stages from this middle
period to the present time. Observe
the steps up which civilization has
climbed to it's present height. Each
step is a new word and mankind will
never again lose the achievements IF
the race. The first step is a new
faith based on the open Bible, and
the priest can lever again ~tyrannize
owe the human mind. The next is
the Bill Of Rights and the Declara-
ton Of Independence and se1f-gov-
eminent is begun and the race may
look back upon absolutism in self
government. Another step is the dis
cCveries in science and the race will
never again see less in nature. The
Damascus Blade was lost to the world
because no record was made of the
processes of working in steel, and
both Skill and science were lost in
the night of the middle period. Higher
up is the word Humanity" On this
plane the living word burns with a
nerce heat, Tor mans inhurnanity to
man started a fame that swept over