Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1922-05-11
THE DREAMER
By Charles Scanlon.

Humanity IS SINiaSa A'O WV P@sS
,.,,;ops WAYS. First there are men
=. uonen. there is the Occident and
..s Orient. almost as different from
.,,b other as night from day, then
...,s are the dreamers and the doors,
.,,b having a tendency to depreciate
and unteryalue the other. The man
:, dreams and visions and ideals crit
;.i,es his brother for being plodder,
,rorhrious. so intensely practical that
=. : mere utilitarian. On the
,,be- hand. the worker charges the
..s,ner with being visionary, imprac-
.;.,l and going with his head in the
sky while he ought to be earning bread
and butter for himself and his family
,,,bs- than chasing rainbows.
Both are right and both are wrong,
., times. What is needed is a more
ms, and understanding evaluation Of
zach other without discounting or
disraraging the practical man or max
i,p undue claims for the worth Of the
dreamer. this is a plea for the latter.
Joseph Of Egypt was dreamer, but
when the time came he had the corn.
The architects who dreamed the plans
,or 81. Peters in Rome, for St. Pauls !
in London, for the great Cathedral at
Milan, for our own Congressional Lii
brary. one of the most sumptuous |
buildings in the world, and for a thous- |
and other marvelously beautiful struc-
lures on all of the continents, were no |
less practical or necessary than the |
men who carried the stone and mortar
10 fashion these dreams into realities.
The mariners compass, the steam
engine, the Atlantic cable, the tele-
rA0ne the telegraph, wireless telegra-
rHv. the airship and thousand other
useful inventions were first of all |
dreams or visions in somebody's mind.
While they were being perfected, those
who cherished these ideals we're often
ritied and scorned and Knocked and |
criticized. but without their dreams,
the world of today would be largely
the world of centuries ago when the
race was the slave of its own needs.
Commerce would be slow and difficult,
communication limited and men re.
strcted largely TO the communities in
which they were born, with constant
suspicion, dis'rust and ignorance Of
their neighbors, resulting in strife and
tlOodshed
The change wrought by modern in
YentlonS and discoveries which are the
product Of dreams, lifts the race to
higher levels, Indefinitely widens its
horizon, gives more time for rest, en-
loyment and culture, removes the
cantaee which blinded our eyes, gives
larger appreciation of the infinite
ski and wisdom and power of an all
wise Creator, uShers in new heaven
AM new earth.
lnink what the printing press, the
'uI'an.zation of India rubber, the now
ef and the reaper, the manufacture of
artificial ice, the discovery of the cause
Of yellow fever and other plaques, the
advances OF surgery, the administra-
"Oh o: anestheiics, the abolition OF
human slavery, the destruction of the !
Ieel4zs5 liquor traffic, the restoring to
women Of their rights of equality in
'esa! matters, mean to the world, and
yet Inc, were all dreams at no distant
tay
The Toe' the sculptor, the artist,
"'e musician, the inventor, the archi-
'e',' the refo7mcr, must all visualize |
|I.F creams before they are made tam |
s..'' VI 'aNe material form, but they
~' s. none the less real and practical,
","' Wey are still visions, and some
"uo are now counted among earth's
. ...I''S' were once despised as imprac-
teal trelmers.