Year: 1859

on improving the trade of town-ou railroads and
canals to bring merchandise and people t. it and
carry them away from it-but legislators can
scarcely be found willing to take the responsibility
OF expendng few thousands on the penple them
selveS-on the commonest provision for their enjoy
ing the free air, and sitting and walking with their
wives and children round them, in comfort under
meath the blessed open skies. And why is this2-
SIMPLY because as have said over and over, our
thought and our policy and our legislation are of
the tradewe drive and the human creatures that
drlVe 1t. Because we are looking to the money We
make, ana not to ourselves, the poor slaves that
make 1t. Because, like the youth in the Eastern
St"ry, when we go down into the magician's cave
and busy ourselves with the treasures there, the
door OF the cavern closes behind on the beautiful
things OF earth and heaven. Why should we
PROVIDE means OF enjoyment for the leisure of people
VINO have no leisure? Has not Poor Richard said
that "leisure is time for doing something useful


Get all you can, and what you get hold


is the stone that will turn all your lead into god


:, now can man waste time, which is so profta-
Die, IN the mere unbending of his heart and mind
the pait v reireshment of his weary BODY? The
true cause-dsguise it you w-of the absence
OF those occupations which dignity and those re-
iaxatl1ns winch improve and gladden. leisure is
that there is no leisure, to be improved, gladdened
or dignificd. We realize no time but the present.
and that only, in the of what Hood so anti y
calls, F'


''The preset tense of toll"


But after, and in embarrassing connection with





cured-comes always the perplexing auestion-what
Is the cure? 1t is not easy to change the habits of
people-to call halt upon the march which, they
have been taught, is their allotted ournev from, he
arms OF the mother that bore them to The bosnn,
OF the universal mother. But nevertheless :
there Is a point at which all revolutions
begin, and those beginnings are after so small.
that no man who has at heart the good of his
species should alter or despair at findino them an
parently insignificant or hopeless 1t is not from
tne sons OF toll, In the accepted sense of the word
,hat commencement is to be looked for, when the
burden OF that toll is to be lphteped II is not nv
the less educated portion of the commnnity mr. +bo
less rehned that change is to be wrought in favor
OF that leisure which gives scope for education and
the opportunity for refinement. The revolution is
to commence at the summit and not at the base of
society," and it is farce to saw that because tbis is
q republic, society has no base and no Summit
Inc suoordnation of wealth to matured intelligence
cultivated taste, social accomplishments and yir-
tues, and all those qualities and gifts which make
one man better than another-n spite of the Dec
iaratlon of lndependence-and one citizen
wofthler and more valuable to his country
than another-can only be the result of a
movement among the more favored classes them
SERVES IL 1t comes from those who are less fortu-
nate, II VIII incur, and may deserve the reproach
OF envy and hatred, and it must necessarily
antagonlsm, and lose its Influence and effect nv
taxing the shape OF a class revolution 1t is only
sne successful VINO can, without suspicion, cry
aioud against the cxcesses and peril of success II
Is only those who are favored with occupation Or
are ABOVE the need of it, who can, without suspi-
con ask truce in favor of the claims and BLESSINGS
OF leisure and repose 1t is perfectly vain and idle
to expect that the millions who are toiIino mn tho
hill will pause, unless those who have ascended il
before them, will come down and meet them rs
brothers, on the way. IF those to whom Proyi-
dencc has vouchsaed education and liberal studies
ana refining and intellectual Occupation will cast
tnem an INTO the furnace, to vary Macauav's ad-
mrable illustration, so that out of their pold NAV
oe maze a call, which they are content to adore
now can those, with humber opportunities and
!o"er cultivation, he expected to lift themselves
INTO loitler and purer worship? Upon those who
nave won the victories of ile-tO much or LITTLE
purpose-are the responsibilities which boIonp to
thelr position. Men not worthy to be the lead
ers OF society, II they not willing to undertake
us guidance, and enlighten it by their example
One single private life, made noticeable by honara-
pie e1nrt and elevated tOne-dignited in its aborS
by hdellty and moderation, and in its leisure NV
cultivation and true reinement-s, in itself and its
attendant courteSies and charities anobe republican
institution. 1t is among the noblest and worth a
Senate-tull OF demagOgues and wranplers When
| see man, like George Peabody man of plain
intellect and moderate education-who is willing
to take away from the acquisitions of successful
trade, what would make the fortunes of a dozen
men OF moderate desires, and dedicate it to the
advancement OF knowledge and the cultivation of
refining and liberal pursuits and tastes among a
people with whom he has ceased 10 dwell, except
III the fccolleclonS OF early industry and strurule
i recognize 81 irt which tends to reconcile men
to the inequalities o. fortune-which is alive to
the true ends and purposes of labor-which piyes
as well as takes-which in the very trophies of
success the high incumbent duties and the noble
pleasure of a stewardship for others And vet one
such man-in himself-in his life and the cxample
which 1t giyes-is worth tenfold more to a com
munlty than all the benefcence Of which his heart
may make him prOdigal. And in that sense the
humblest of us may be benefactors to society We
have all one gift, at least, we can bestow on it-one
institute we can tound-ourselves-cu cultivated re-
nhed developed, to the extent of SUSCEPTIBLE
ties and faculties. And to this we come back ot
last-that the only political or moral economy.
whose lessons are other than snare is that which
makes the vast workings of trade, and business,
ana protesslon-the struggles, inequalities and
tos OF llfe-subservient to the DEVELOPMENT of man


Let us then endeavor, practically, to dvest our
selves OF the unworthy idea, that we were made to
be the slaves of cur calings and not their masters
Let us strlve-each in his allotted path and with
his influence, much or little-to live down thn
false philosophy which makes unrest and labor the
only attributes OF human duty, and spurns as irno-
bic, contemplation and repose. If ever A country
needed the existence and services of class whose
habits and influence should cnunteract the f.veri
tendency of the whole race to excitement and tbo
frenzy OF gain and competitions ours is that one -
We must cease worshipping men who are merely
rlcil, as heroes. We must cease to regard all life
as stagnant except that whose waters are a whirl-
pool We must quench something of our thirst for
public lie and its eXciements. We must re-create
private life as social institution, hedged around
by the sanclties that belong to it and make it re-
verend. Men must teach their children that tha
private station, if honorablv filled, is indeed the
post OF honor. Public men must be taught By pub
lie opn0n-ln the shape, if need be- ofpublic scorn
that to elevate the people and not to fatter or
corrupt them, is the road of successful ambition
Our m0rallSts must cease their crusades
against innocent amusements, and allow "cakes and
ae TO other people, though they insist on being
vlrtu0us themselves. Our economists must snike
the guns which they have always levelled at the
To all - -
there IS not 4 sign over the door. Those who work
IN their turn, must fOrego their jealousy of those
who rest. Those who have not enough or who be-
eve that they have not or intend to get more whet
er they nave enough or not, must learn that it bad
sense as well as bad taste and bad manners to sneer
at the refining occupations and modest desires of
those, who are willing to 90 upon the retired list
though with but halfpay. The social manifesto,
tons OF wealth, however, must be something more
than line mansions, equpages and upholstery It
must set itself to work to acquire or develop tastes
as well as to buy the products of taste 1t must
hohor ana strive to appreciate art, well as en-
courage artlSts-whlch though excellent, is a
very different thing. 1t must read books as well
as collect them in gothic or Elizabethan book
cases. 1t must live in its houses and open its doors
In sympathy and not in ostentation, to all who de-
serve to come in, and must make them welcome to
the elevating influences which should dwell there


1t must widen the social platform, so that all who
are worthy may have room to stand on it. Men
must be taught, by its encOuragements to feel that
their social position depends upon what they are
not upon what they have-that they can be poor
and yet be priced. There must be an end of the
Illuminating and degrading neutrality-suspicious.
the maxim of the land-that all things worthy of
struggle and ambition are like the mistetoe of the
Druid, to be gathered only with a golden sickle
thus, and not otherwise, can men be induced to
turn aside from their business and its gains to
themselves. Thus alone, can they be tempted to
cultivate the leisure which makes them men, in
stead of sacrificing what is best in them to the toll
which makes them only rich.


Is this Utopia? 1t may be-yet. if it be. Re-
pubhcanism is Utopia likewise-for this, in its es-
sence and its Details is neither more nor less than
practical repubicanism, rescued from the manipula
tions of the theorst and the unclean hands of the
demagogue, and brought back to its legitimate and
simple purpOSe-the advancement of human bap-
plness Ii it is not capable of condescendnp to so
commonplace destiny-if it is


-'too bright and good


For human natures daily food -


If all its paraphernaia of principles and institutions
can bring US nothing better, their consumma-
ton, than national life of turmoil and excitement
to grow powerful, and individual life of toll
and sacrifice, to grow rich-it has fooled the world
and us especially, with a pretended mission and
should be listened to no MORE Better bid it-witb
Bardolphs horses-''set spurs and away, like three
German DEVILS three Doctor Faustuses," in search
ot "the solidarity of the peoples or some similar
viii OF the Wisp! | confess that have a better
opinion Oft and it is because | have, that have
ventured on so earnest an appeal, in its behalE-as
| understand it.


FOREIGN GOSSIP.


Malakoh, in letter to the New York Times da-
ted February l7th, says:


An English fashion in ladies' walking apuareI has
lately been adopted here-that of DRAWING the hot
tom OF the dress up, when it is muddy in festoops
lhls is accomplished by some kind of interior net