significance to _knowledge gained from books_. A profound acquaintance
with literary lore is often associated with total ignorance of the
actual world, of the laws that govern our moral and intellectual being,
and with an incapacity to discern the Beautiful, the True, the Good.
They only are _educated_, who have acquired that self-knowledge and
self-discipline which inspire a _disinterested love of our
fellow-beings, a reverence for Truth_--in the largest sense of the
term--_and the power of habitually exalting the higher faculties over
the animal propensities of our nature_.
It is only, therefore, when man unites moral discipline with
intellectual culture, that he can be said to be truly educated; and the
most ambitious student of books should always bear in mind the truth
that the _free play of the intellect is promoted by the development of
moral perceptions_, and that mental education, even, does not so much
consist in loading the memory with facts, as in strengthening the
capacity for independent action--for judging, comparing, reflecting.
"The connection between moral and intellectual culture is often
overlooked," says a celebrated ethical writer, "and the former
sacrificed to the latter. The exaltation of talent, as it is called,
above virtue and religion, is the curse of the age. Education is now
chiefly a stimulus to learning, and thus may acquire power without the
principles which alone make it a good. Talent is worshipped, but, if
divorced from rectitude, it will prove more of a demon than a god."
Holding the opinion, then, that a fixed religious belief is the
legitimate result of a thorough cultivation of the mental and moral
endowments, and that their united and co-equal development constitutes
education, you will permit me to impress upon your attention the
importance of securing all the aid afforded by the _best lights_
vouchsafed to us, in the search after Truth. Conscience is a blind
guide, until assisted by discriminating teaching, and honest,
persevering endeavors at self-enlightenment. For myself, my experience,
in this respect, has afforded me no assistance so reliable and efficient
as that to be gathered from the _Life of Jesus Christ_, as recorded by
his various biographers, and collected in the New Testament. I commend
its study, renewedly, to you, not in search of a substantiation of human
doctrines, not to determine the accuracy of particular creeds, but to
possess yourself of simple, intelligible, practicable directions for the
wise regulation of your daily life, and those ceaseless efforts at
self-advancement which should be the highest purpose of
"A being breathing thoughtful breath,
A creature between life and death!"
Accustomed to the standard established by Him who said, "Be ye,
therefore, perfect, even as I am perfect," we will not be deterred from
the steadfast pursuit of right by the imperfect exhibitions, so
frequently made, of its efficacy, in the lives of the professed
followers of the wonderful Nazarine. Conscious of the difficulties, the
temptations and the discomfitures that we ourselves encounter, we will
learn, not only to discriminate between the imperfections of the
disciple and the perfection of the Master, but to exercise that charity
toward others, of which self-examination teaches us the need, in our own
case. Thus, the Golden Rule, which so inclusively epitomizes the _moral
code_ of the Great Teacher, will come to be our guide in determining the
path of practical duty, and the course of self-culture, most essential
to the security of present happiness, and as a preparative for that
eternal state of existence, of which this is but the embryo.
Thus, making God and conscience--which is the voice of God speaking
within us--the arbiter between our better nature and the impulses
excited by the grosser faculties, we shall be less tempted by outward
influences to lower the abstract standard we originally establish, or to
reconcile ourselves to an imperfect conformity to its requisitions. Far
less, will we permit ourselves to indulge the delusion that we are not,
each of us, personally obligated, by our moral responsibilities, _to
develop all the powers with which we are endowed, to their utmost
capacity_:--
"They build too low who build below the skies!"
The most perfect of human beings was also the most humble and
self-sacrificing, so that they who endeavor to follow his example will
not only be devoid of self-righteous assumption, but actively devoted
to the good of their fellow-creatures, and, like Him, pityingly sensible
of the wants and the woes of humanity.
That reverence for the spiritual nature of man, as a direct emanation
from Deity, which all should cherish, is, also, to be regarded as a part
of judicious self-culture. Cultivate an habitual recognition of your
celestial attributes, and strive to elevate your whole being into
congenial association with the divinity within you:--this do for the
benefit of others,
"Be noble! and the nobleness that lies
In other men, sleeping, but never dead,
Will rise, in majesty, to meet thine own!"
With so exalted an aim as I have proposed for your adoption, you will be
slow to tolerate _peccadilloes_, as of little moment, either in a
metaphysical or ethical point of view. Dread such tolerance, as sapping
the foundations of principle; learn to detect the insidious poison
lurking in Burke's celebrated aphorism, and in the infidel philosophy
that assumes the brightest semblances that genius can invent, the more
readily to deceive. Establish fixed principles of benevolence, justice,
truthfulness, religious belief, and adhere steadfastly to them, despite
the allurements of the world, the temptings of ambition, or weariness of
self-conflict.
The _Pursuit of Happiness_ is but concentrated phraseology for the
purposes and endeavors of every human being. May you early learn to
distinguish between the _false_ and the _true_, between _pleasure_ and
_happiness_, early know your duty to yourselves, your country, and your
God!
I will but add to these crude, but heart-engendered, observations, a few
lines, embodying my own sentiments, and in a form much more impressive
than I can command:--
"We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;
In feelings, not in figures on a dial.
We should count time by heart-throbs. _He most lives
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best._"
* * * * *
I have somewhere met with a little bagatelle, somewhat like this:--
Apollo, the god of love, of music, and of eloquence, weary of the
changeless brilliancy of Olympus, determined to descend to earth, and to
secure maintenance and fame, in the guise of a mortal, by _authorship_.
Accordingly, the incognito divinity established himself in an attic,
after the usual fashion of the sons of genius, and commenced inditing a
poem--a long epic poem, plying his pen with the patient industry
inspired by necessity, the best stimulus of human effort. At length, the
task of the god completed, he, with great difficulty, procured the means
of offering it to the world in printed form. The Epic of Apollo, the god
of Poetry, _fell, pre-doomed, from the press_. No commendatory review
had been secured, no fashionable publisher endorsed its merits.
Disgusted with the pursuit of the wealth and honors of earth, Apollo
returned to Olympus, bequeathing to mortals, this advice:--"_Would you
secure earthly celebrity and riches, do not attempt intellectual and
moral culture, but_ INVENT A PILL!"
* * * * *
Instances of the successful _pursuit of knowledge under difficulties_
frequently present themselves in our contemporaneous history, both in
our own country and in foreign lands. Indeed, the history of the human
mind goes far toward proving that, not the pampered scions of rank and
luxury, but the hardy sons of poverty and toil, have been, most
frequently, the benefactors of the race. Well has the poet said:--
"The busy world shoves angrily aside
The man who stands with arms a-kimbo set,
Until occasion tell him what to do;
And he who waits to have his task marked out,
Shall die, and leave his errand unfulfilled."
The _Learned Blacksmith_, as he is popularly called, acquired thirty, or
more, different languages, while daily working at his laborious trade.
He was accustomed to study while taking his meals, and to have an open
book placed upon the anvil, while he worked. A celebrated physiological
writer, alluding to the habits of this persevering devotee of philology,
says, that nothing but his uninterrupted practice of his Vulcan-tasks
preserved his health under the vast amount of mental labor he imposed
upon himself.
Another of our distinguished countrymen, now a prominent popular orator,
is said to have accumulated food for future usefulness, while devoting
the energies of the outer man to the employment of _a wagoner_, amid the
grand scenic influences of the majestic Alleghanies. The early life of
Franklin, of the "Mill-boy of the Slashes," of Webster, and of many
others whose names have become watchwords among us, are, doubtless,
familiar to you, as examples in this respect.
* * * * *
Looking upon the busy active world around me,--as I sometimes like to
do--from behind the screen of my newspaper, seated in the reading-room
of a hotel, I became the auditor of the following conversation, between
two young men, who were stationed near a window, watching the passing
throng of a crowded thoroughfare.
"By George! there's Van K----," exclaimed one, with unusual animation.
"Which one,--where?" eagerly interrogated his companion.
"That's he, this side, with the Byronic nose, and short steps--he's
great! What a fellow he is for making money, though!"
"Does it by his talents, don't he?--nobody like him, in the Bar of this
State, for genius,--that's a fact--carries everything through by the
_force of genius_!"
"Dev'lish clever, no doubt," assented the other, "but he used to study,
I tell you, like a hero, when he was younger."
"Never heard that of him," answered the other youth, "how the deuce
could he? He has always been a _man about town_--real fashionable
fellow--practised always, since he was admitted, and everybody knows no
one dines out, and goes to parties with more of a rush than Van K----,
and he always has."
"That may all be, but my mother, who has known him well for years, was
telling me, the other day, that those who were most charmed with his
wit, and belle-lettre scholarship, when he first came upon the _tapis_,
little knew the pains he took to accomplish himself. '_He exhibited the
result, not the machinery_,' she said, but he _did_ study, and study
hard, when other young fellows were asleep, or raising h----!"
"As for that," interrupted the other, "he always did his full share of
all the deviltry going, or I am shrewdly mistaken!"
"Nobody surpasses him at that, any more than at his regular trade,"
laughed his companion--"oh, but he's rich! Jim Williams was telling me
(Jim studies with S---- and Van K----) how he put down old S---- the
other day. It seems S---- had been laid on the shelf with a
tooth-ache--dev'lish bad--face all swelled up--old fellow real sick, and
no mistake. Well, one morning, after he'd been gone several days, he
managed to pull up, and make his appearance at the office. It was
early--no one there but Van K---- and the boys--Jim and the rest of the
fellows--tearing away at the books and papers. So old S---- dropped down
in an arm-chair by the stove, and began a hifalutin description of his
sorrows and sufferings while he had been sick--quite in the 'pile on the
agony' style! Well, just as the old boy got fairly warmed up, and was
going it smoothly, Van K---- bawled out:--'Y-a-s! Mr. S----! will you
have time, this morning, to look over these papers, in the case of Smith
against Brown?' Jim said he never saw an old rip so cut down in all his
life, and, as soon as he went out, there was a general bust up, at his
expense!"
"How confounded heartless!" exclaimed the elder youth, rising--"by
Heaven, I hope a man needn't set aside the common sympathies and
decencies of humanity, to secure success in his profession, or in
society!" and as he passed me, I caught the flush of manly indignation
that mantled his beardless cheek, and the lightning-flash of youthful
genius that enkindled his large blue eyes.
* * * * *
"What are you doing there, sir?" inquired one of the early Presidents of
our Republic, of his nephew, who was standing before an open
writing-desk, in his private apartment.
"Only getting some paper and pencils, sir," replied the young man.
"That stationery, sir, belongs to the Federal Government!" returned the
American patriot, impressively, and sternly, and resumed his previous
occupation.
* * * * *
Daniel Webster, in conversation with a familiar friend, said:
"From the time that, at my mother's feet, or on my father's knees, I
first learned to lisp verses from the Sacred Writings, they have been my
daily study, and vigilant contemplation. If there be anything in my
style or thoughts worthy to be commended, the credit is due to my kind
parents, in instilling into my early mind a love for the Scriptures."
* * * * *
"How long will it take you," inquired Napoleon, of the young
brother-in-law of Junot, "to acquaint yourself with the Coptic language,
and be prepared to go to Egypt on a secret service?"
"Three months, sire," replied the energetic Frenchman, with scarcely a
perceptible pause for consideration.
"_Bien!_" returned the great Captain, "begin at once." And he moved on
in his briefly-interrupted walk, through the _salon_ of the beautiful
mother of the youth, saying to the Turkish Ambassador, who accompanied
his stroll:--"There is such a son as one might expect from such a
mother!"
Three months from that night there left the private cabinet of Napoleon,
a stripling, of slight form and yet unsunned brow, charged by him who
_knew men by intuition_, with a task of fearful risk and
responsibility; and, on the morrow, he was embarked on the blue waters
of the Mediterranean, speeding toward a land where, from the heights of
the Pyramids, a thousand years would behold his deeds!
* * * * *
"I swear, I'll cut that woman! I'll never call there again, that I am
determined!" cried Paul Duncan, impetuously.
"But why, brother? Don't judge too hastily," replied his sister, gently.
"The whole family have always been so kind to us; for my part, I think
one seldom meets persons of more polished manners, and"----
"Polished manners!" interrupted the irritable man, rudely, "what do you
call _polished manners_? I gave up R---- himself, just because he is so
devilish _un_-polished, long ago. He passed me, once or twice, in
Wall-street, with his head down, and didn't even bow! after that I let
him run!"
"He is so engrossed in his philanthropic schemes that, I suppose, he
really did not see you," interposed his sister, mildly. "But the ladies
are not responsible for his peccadilloes."
"No, they cannot answer for their own, _to me_," retorted the other,
with bitterness. "When I went in, last evening, she and her mother were
both in the room. The old lady rose, civilly enough, but Mrs. R---- kept
her seat, partly behind a table, even when I went to her and shook
hands."
"Dear brother," expostulated his companion, "don't you know that Mrs.
R---- is not well? She has not been out in months."
"What the devil, then, does she make her appearance for, if she can't
observe the common proprieties of life?"
"I doubt whether you would have seen her, had she not been in the room
when you entered. Did she remain during the whole time of your call?"
"Certainly; but the old woman slipped out, when some bustle appeared to
be going on in the hall, and never made her appearance again, at all,
only sending in a servant, just as I was going away, to say that she
'hoped to be excused, as her father had just arrived.'"
"He is very aged, and she always attends upon him herself, when he is
there, even to combing his hair," explained the gentler spirit. "I
remember admiring her devotion to the old man, who is very peculiar, and
somewhat disagreeable to persons generally, when I was staying there a
day or two."
"Well, well; what has that to do with her treatment of me? Couldn't she
trust him with the rest of the family for a few minutes? There is a
tribe of women always on hand there, besides a retinue of servants."
"If you will permit me to say so, without offense, Charley," returned
the lady, with sudden determination of manner, "I fear you did not
display your usual _tact_ on the occasion, and that you, perhaps, took
offense at circumstances resulting from the embarrassment of our
friends, rather than from any intention to be impolite to you. Ladies
are not always equally well, equally self-possessed, equally in
company-mood, or company-dress. I don't know what might not befall any
of us, were we not judged of, by our friends rather by our general
manner to them, than by any little peculiarities, of which we may be
ourselves wholly unconscious at the time."
* * * * *
If you are as much impressed as I was, upon first perusing them, with
the following sentences from Sir Humphrey Davy's pen, you will require
no apology from me, for transcribing them here.
"I envy no quality of mind or intellect in others--not of genius, power,
wit, or fancy; but, if I could choose what would be most delightful,
and, I believe, most useful, to me, I should prefer _a firm religious
belief_, to every other blessing, for it makes life a discipline of
goodness, creates new hope, when earthly hopes vanish, and throws over
the decay, the destruction, of existence, the most gorgeous of all
light; awakens life, even in death, and, from decay, calls up beauty and
divinity; makes an instrument of torture and shame the ladder of ascent
to Paradise; and, far above all combination of earthly hopes, calls up
the most delightful visions--palms and amaranths, the gardens of the
blessed, the security of everlasting joys, where the sensualist and the
skeptic view only gloom, decay, and annihilation."
With these sublime words, my dear nephews, I bid you, affectionately,
Adieu!
HENRY LUNETTES.
LETTER XII.
CHOICE OF COMPANIONS AND FRIENDS--SELECTION OF A PURSUIT IN
LIFE--COURTSHIP--MARRIAGE--HOUSEKEEPING--PECUNIARY MATTERS, ETC.
MY DEAR NEPHEWS:
I think it was Burke who said that those who desire to improve, should
always choose, as companions, persons of more knowledge and virtue than
themselves. He had, however, the happy faculty of eliciting information
from all with whom he came in contact, even as the bee extracts
sweetness from the most insignificant and unattractive flower. It is
said of him, you are aware, that he never took refuge under a projecting
eave for five minutes, to escape a shower, with another man, without
either giving or receiving instruction.
His excellent habit in this respect, nevertheless, in no degree
invalidated the practical wisdom of the remark I have ascribed to this
celebrated statesman. It is not easy to attach too much importance to
the _choice of Companions and Friends_, especially during that period of
life when we are most susceptible to outward influences.
Much enjoyment is derived from association with those whose tastes,
pursuits, and sentiments are similar to our own; but, in making a
selection in this respect, it is better to seek the companionship of
persons whose influence will have the effect to elevate rather than to
depress our own mental and moral standard. Hence, young persons will be
most improved by the example of those whose greater maturity of years
and acquirement give them the advantage of _experience_.
Byron and others of the morbid school to which he belonged, or rather,
perhaps, which he originated, strove to establish as a truth, the
libellous charge that humanity is incapable of true, disinterested
friendship. Happily for the dignity and healthfulness of the youthful
mind, this affected misanthropy, having had its day, is dying the
natural death to which error is doomed, and we are again permitted to
respect our common nature without wholly renouncing our claims to poetic
sensibility!
It seems, to my poor perceptions, that there needs no better test of the
capacities of our fellow-creatures, with regard to the nobler
sentiments, than _our own self-consciousness_! If we know ourselves
capable of lofty aspirations, of self-sacrifice for others' good, of
rejoicing in the happiness of our friends, of deep, enduring affection
for them, by what arrogant right shall we assume ourselves superior to
the race to which we belong?
As the man who habitually rails at the gentler sex must, necessarily,
have been peculiarly unfortunate in his _earliest associations_ with
woman, so he who professes a disbelief in true friendship, may be
presumed, not only to have chosen his associates unwisely, but to be
himself ill-constituted and ill-disciplined. If
----"VIRTUE is more than a shade or a sound,
And man may her voice, in this being, obey,"
then is friendship one of the purest and highest sources of human
enjoyment!
Eschew, then, the debasing, soul-restraining maxims of Byron,
Rochefoucauld, and their imitators, and seek in communion with the
gifted and the good, elevated enjoyment and inspiring incentives to
noble purposes and manly achievements.
But if the old Spanish proverb, "_Show me your friends and I will tell
you what you are_," is applicable to the selection of ordinary
associates, of how much more significance is it in relation to
_confidants_! To require such a friend, pre-supposes the need of
_advice_, and only superiority in age and knowledge of the world and of
the human heart, can qualify any one for the responsibility thus
assumed. Nothing is more frequently volunteered by the inexperienced
than advice, while _they who properly appreciate its importance are the
least likely to give it unasked_.
In connection with the subject of confidences and confidants, ponder
well the concentrated wisdom contained in this brief sentence: "Be
careful _of whom you speak, to whom you speak, and how, and when, and
where_."
If from self-consciousness we draw conclusive proofs of the elevated
powers of our nature, we also learn, with equal certainty, the need that
all have of forbearance, lenity, and forgiveness. They who look for
_perfection_ in human companions, will entail upon themselves a
life-long solitude of spirit. Some one has prettily said that the fault
of a friend is like a flaw in a beautiful china vase; the defect is
remediless; let us overlook it, and dwell only upon what will give us
pleasure.
It is almost useless to attempt to give you any advice with respect to
the choice of an occupation in life. I trust, however, that you need no
argument to convince you that respectability and happiness unitedly
require, let your pecuniary circumstances be what they may, that you
should have such an incentive to the due exercise of your powers of body
and mind.
No consideration is, perhaps, more important than that of _following the
natural inclination_ in making this decision, provided outward
circumstances render it possible to do so; and in this country a man may
almost always overcome obstacles of this kind, by patient perseverance.
The impression, formerly so prevalent, that none but the three learned
professions, as they are called, require a thorough education, as a
prelude, is, I must believe, much less generally entertained, than when
I was a young man. And this is as it should be. There can be no human
employment that is not facilitated by the aid of a cultivated,
disciplined intellect, and our young countrymen, who so frequently make
some temporary and lucrative occupation the stepping-stone to
advancement, should always bear this in mind. One day, America, like
Venice of old, will be a land of merchant princes--but none will take
rank among these self-elevated patricians but they who add the polish,
the refinement and the wealth of intellect, to the power derived from
external circumstances.
The _Physical Sciences_ and the _Inventive_ and _Practical Arts_ are
claiming the attention of our times to a degree never before known; and
these afford new and sufficient avenues for the exercise of talents
tending rather to mechanical than to metaphysical exertion.