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 A, »' • « » J
 
 X
 
 ECHOES FROM 
 
 Caruthers Hall. 
 
 NINE LECTURES DELIVERED BY MEMBERS OF 
 CUMBERLAND UNIVERSITY FACULTY. 
 
 WITH A SUPPLEMENT: 
 
 "THE OLD GUARD," 
 
 By CHANCELLOR NATHAN GREEN, LL.D. 
 
 (ILLUSTRATED.) 
 
 NASHVILLE, TENN.: 
 CmiBKRLAND PRESBYTERIAN PrBLISHlNG HOXJSE. 
 
 W. J. DAEBY, D.D., General Manager. 
 1889. 
 
 ^
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1889, by the 
 
 Board of Publication of the Cumbeki^nd Peesbyterian Church, 
 
 In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
 
 t^' 
 
 v?p.u oc/S^c||(5^ 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 The publication of this volume has been planned for the 
 purpose of bringing before the public the best thoughts of 
 the honored and eminent men who compose the Faculty of" 
 Cumberland University. Chancellor Green, who, at the sug- 
 gestion and request of representatives of the Board of Pub- 
 lication, selected these lectures and obtained permission from 
 their several authors to publish them, gives the following 
 account of their origin : 
 
 " It has been the habit of the members of the Faculty of 
 Cumberland University to deliver lectures occasionally upon 
 subjects of a popular scientific or literary character, and in 
 regard to other matters calculated to benefit the young men 
 of our day. These lectures were designed primarily for the 
 students, but as they were delivered of evenings in Caruthers 
 Hall, the college chapel, many of the citizens of Lebanon 
 have attended them, kindly saying that they have been in- 
 structed and entertained. 
 
 "At the suggestion of partial friends, a few of these lectures 
 are presented to the public with the hope that they may do 
 good. There is also appended a very brief sketch of some 
 of the noble men who inaugurated and fostered the Univer- 
 sity, and who ai^ now asleep. The matter contained in this 
 volume has been committed to the representatives of the 
 Board of Publication, and the}^ alone are responsible for its 
 arrangement and the order in which the lectures appear." 
 
 It is well that these lectures should have a wider audience 
 
 (iii)
 
 iv Preface. 
 
 than that which heard them when they were first delivered, 
 and well that the people should have an opportunity to look 
 in upon these toilers as they patiently do their work in study 
 and lecture hall. No class of workers do more valuable serv- 
 ice, and none deserve higher appreciation. To cultivate their 
 acquaintance is to come nearer the centers of influence where- 
 by the generations are uplifted and character made better. 
 
 All former students of Cumberland University will welcome 
 this volume by reason of the precious associations of other 
 3'ears, and also for the merit of the lectures themselves. The 
 faces of " The Old Guard " will be a joy and an inspiration to 
 those who have sat at their feet and learned wisdom. They 
 were indeed giants in their day, and by their fruits they are 
 known and still remembered. Many others who have not 
 attended the University, but have known the authors of 
 these lectures or the characters described in the Supplement, 
 will welcome a volume which will help to a better knowl- 
 edgfe of them, and will bring the unfoldifigs of truth on the 
 several topics discussed. The general reader will also accept 
 this volume as a meritorious contribution to the literature 
 of the day, and will give due honor to the source which 
 has produced it. 
 
 The Board of Publication is glad to serve as the channel 
 through which the public may receive these scholarly pro- 
 ductions whose influence might otherwise have been limited 
 to the narrow circle that heard them from the platform. We, 
 its representatives, have experienced peculiar pleasure in 
 bringing this volume through the press, and trust that mul- 
 titudes of readers will be equally delighted as these reverber- 
 ations from Caruthers Hall shall reach them through these 
 printed pages. W. J. DARBY, General Manager. 
 
 J. ISI. HOWARD, Book Editor.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Government, i 
 
 By Nathai' Green, LL.D., Chancellor and Professor of Law. 
 
 What Is It? 26 
 
 By S. G. Burney. D.D., LL.D.. Professor of Systematic Theology. 
 
 Morality of the Ancient Romans, .... 35 
 
 By W. D. McLaughlin, A.m., Professor of Latin and Greek. 
 
 Some Types of Civilization, 49 
 
 By R. V. Foster, D.D., Professor of Hebrew and New Testament Greek. 
 
 What Is Over Our Heads ? 66 
 
 By a. H. Buchanan, LL.D., Professor of Mathematics and Civil Engineering. 
 
 IGNORANTIA LEGIS NEMINEM ExCUSAT, . . . HO 
 
 . By Andrew B. Martin, LL.D., Professor of Law. 
 
 Laughing and Crying, 134 
 
 By J. I. D. Hinds, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry. 
 
 Superstition, 160 
 
 By J. D. Kirkpatrick, D.D., Munlock Professor of Church History. 
 
 Our English Ancestors, 185 
 
 By E. E. Weir, A.M.. Professor of Belles-Lettres and Mental and Moral 
 Science. 
 
 THE OLD GUARD. 
 
 By Chancellor Nathan Green, LL.D. 
 
 Robert Looney Caruthers, LL.D., .... 201 
 
 Franceway Rann.\ Cossitt, D.D., .... 204 
 
 Thomas C. Anderson, D.D., 206 
 
 Benjamin W. McDonnold, D.D., LL.D., . . . 209 
 
 Nathan Lawrence Lindsley, LL.D., . . . 212 
 
 Abraham Caruthers, LL.D., 214 
 
 Richard Beard, D.D., 217 
 
 Nathan Green, LL.D., 220 
 
 (V)
 
 oovKRisrivrKNT. 
 
 By NATHAN GREEN, LL.D., 
 
 Chancellor and Professor of Law. 
 
 The family is the great laboratory of society. Here 
 it is that government begins. Let us begin with it. 
 
 I am persuaded that too little is said and written of 
 the importance of this Heaven-ordained institution. 
 I say Heaven-ordained, for no one can doubt that this 
 little government is in the order of nature directly, 
 and we Christians firmly believe that the almighty 
 Father of our race organized it. 
 
 In all countries and among all peoples, whether 
 savage or civilized, the family exists. There are re- 
 publics and despotisms and mild monarchies to gov- 
 ern tribes and nations, but within all these the family 
 government prevails unmolested. Republics become 
 empires, and monarchies are o\«rthrown and repub- 
 lics established in their stead; but amid all these 
 changes and great upheavals the family remains the 
 same. 
 
 Laws are passed by parliaments and legislatures and 
 decrees issued by princes to control and direct individ- 
 uals, but never do these statutes undertake to destroj'' 
 the family. So universal is its immunity from inter- 
 ference that it ma}' be said to exist by a sort of Jus 
 gentium. It seems as though the great Author of 
 men and worlds had laid his restraining hand on prin- 
 
 (i)
 
 2 - Government. 
 
 cipalities and parliaments, saying: "You may form 
 what governments 5^011 like for nations, but touch not 
 the family, for it is of my own ordaining." .And this 
 is well, because the families are the constituent ele- 
 ments of the State as well as its foundation. 
 
 Seeing the wondej-ful liberty this little government 
 enjoys, we shall further see its momentous responsi- 
 bility and importance. As the materials in the edifice 
 will afford strength or weakness to the building, so 
 the durability, purity, virtue, and value of all society 
 and every government will depend upon the quality 
 of the families of which it is composed, because only 
 from families come individuals, and an aggregation 
 of individuals makes society and governments. Is it 
 not true then that the family is the great laboratory? 
 
 The family is small. It is within one curtilage-. Its 
 members are under one roof. The laws of this gov- 
 ernment are easily promulgated, and they may be 
 readily repeated and as often as necessity may require. 
 The association of the members is constant and inti- 
 mate. The confidence as well as the affection is such 
 as exists nowhere else on earth. The authorit}- of the 
 parents is undisputed. Their jurisdiction is exclusive, 
 and from their judgments there is no appeal. Of 
 course we are assuming that the parents violate none 
 of the criminal laws of the State. 
 
 The parents have this extraordinary advantage and 
 great power over their offspring at a period of incal- 
 culable importance. And I hesitate not to say that 
 their highest duty before God and the world is the 
 proper care, culture, and training of their children. 
 The natural and undying affection which is implanted 
 in our hearts toward our little ones will secure them 
 against physical want and suffering. Alas! for the
 
 Government. . 3 
 
 children, and alas ! for the world, man}' parents care 
 ta» go but little further. The brute will provide for 
 its young. Are we but brutes? We act no better 
 p^rt if we look only to the food and clothing and bod- 
 ily comfort of our progeny. 
 
 Every parent has upon him the responsibility of 
 the intellectual and moral welfare of his children. 
 By as much as the immortal mind is superior to the 
 mortal body, by so much is the duty of providing for 
 the wants of the one greater than the other. How 
 careful is the mother to see that improper food shall 
 not be given to her child! How watchful that the 
 little one taking its first steps shall not fall into the 
 fire or down the stairway ! How she will labor till 
 late in the night to provi;ie suitable and comely gar- 
 ments ! How she will wrap it with woolens and furs, 
 if need be, to protect it against the cold winds ! All 
 this is right. But still more care, more watchfulness, 
 more pains, more efibrt should be bestowed upon the 
 disposition, temper, mind, and soul of the child. It 
 is impossible for parents to escape their accountability 
 in this regard. Society, government among men, and 
 God himself will require these things of them. If 
 all parents would always use even the same energy 
 and care to produce in their children wholesome mor- 
 als that they do to build up healthy bodies, what 
 a vast change would be wrought in societ}' even in 
 one generation ! 
 
 So much depends on the proper attention of the 
 parents that it may be truthfully asserted that at their 
 door lies the sin, to a great extent, of the drunkenness, 
 fraud, lying, and violence with which the country 
 abounds. As a rule, the child becomes the man that 
 his father and mother make him. The flour which we
 
 4 Government. * 
 
 make into bread is good or bad, according to the care 
 and diligence of the miller who made it. If he failed 
 in any part of his duty while it was in the process of 
 making, whether that failure were mere neglect or 
 willfulness, the bread is injured, or, it may be, ruined. 
 So with every other manufactured article. As the • 
 potter can give any shape to the future vessel while 
 the clay is yet soft, so, as a general rule, the parent 
 can produce any kind of character he may choose, 
 depending on* the manner in which he manipulates 
 the tender material in its formative period. Wherever 
 we may open our eyes we see abundant evidences of 
 the truth of this proposition. • History abounds with 
 instances in point. 
 
 I have in my hands a book on "Character," by 
 Samuel Smiles, from which I desire to present a few 
 extracts pertinent to the subject I have undertaken. 
 in these the writer states the special influence of the 
 mother. 
 
 "While homes,'-' says the author, "which are the 
 nurseries of character, may be the best schools, they 
 may be also the worst. *' Between childhood and man- 
 hood, how incalculable the mischief which ignorance 
 in the home has the power to cause! Between the 
 drawing of the first breath and the last, how vast is 
 the moral suffering and disease occasioned by incom- 
 petent mothers and nurses! Commit a child to the 
 care of a worthless, ignorant woman, and no culture, 
 in after life will remedy the evil you have done. Let 
 the mother be idle, vicious, and a slattern; let her 
 home be pervaded by caviling, petulance, and discon- 
 tent, and it will become a dwelling of miserj' — a place 
 to fly from rather than to fly to; and the children 
 whose misfortune it is to be brought up there will be
 
 Government. 5 
 
 morally dwarfed and deformed — the cause of misery 
 to themselves and to others." 
 
 Quoting from Joseph de Maistre, the same author 
 continues, speaking of mothers, "The}^ have written 
 .no 'Iliad,' nor 'Jerusalem Delivered,' nor Hamlet,' 
 nor 'Paradise Lost;' they have designed no Church 
 of St. Peter, composed no ' Messiah,' carved no 'Apollo 
 Belvidere,' painted no 'Last Judgment;' they have 
 inv^ented neither algebra nor telescopes nor steam- 
 engines, but they have done something far better and 
 greater than all this, for it 13 at their knees that upright 
 and virtuous men and women have been trained — the 
 most excellent productions in the world." 
 
 That is beautifully said, and is a deser^'ing tribute 
 to that most potent factor in the creation of character 
 — the mother. The influence which the mother of 
 our own Washington had upon him is well known. 
 He was left without a father at the age of eleven vears, 
 and ou that noble woman, his mother, was devolved 
 the duty of giving tone and turn to the great charac- 
 ter which has been the admiration of the whole world, 
 and will be as long as historv shall be read. To these 
 same ennobling and precious hohie influences are re- 
 ferable the characters and achievements of Napoleon, 
 Wellington, John Newton, and Cromwell. The same 
 is true of Lord Chancellors Bacon, Erskine, and 
 Brougham, and of Canning, Curran, and President 
 Adams — of Paley and Wesley. 
 
 John Quincy Adams delivered an address before a 
 Boston audience on one occasion, in which he said: 
 "As a child I enjoyed the greatest blessing that can 
 be bestowed on man — that of a mother who was anx- 
 ious and capable to form the characters of her chil- 
 dren rightly. From her I derived whatever instruc-
 
 6 Government. 
 
 tion (religious, especially, and moral) has pervaded a 
 long life. I will not say perfectly, or as it ought to 
 be; but I will say, because it is only justice to the 
 memory of her I revere, that in the course of that life, 
 whatever imperfection there has been, or deviation . 
 from what she taught me, the fault is mine and not 
 hers." And thus I might proceed to fill a volume 
 drawn from the biographies of great men, all going 
 to show that they received their bent, their impulse 
 upward, in the early years of life and in the sacred 
 family circle. 
 
 On the other hand, it is equally true that the men 
 w^ho have cursed and disgusted societj^ and disgraced 
 the image of God have received their bad impressions, 
 have taken the first steps down the declivity, directly 
 under the home roof. It would be cruel to say that 
 it is, ordinarily, the wish of any parent that the child 
 of love should become a bad man and a monster ; such 
 is rarely the case. The great evil is generall}- the 
 result of inattention, failure, neglect. It is a sin of 
 omission, but none the less a sin on that account. 
 Negligence is Often a crime. The negligence of the 
 dispatcher to announce to the trains on his road the 
 proper time for stopping and running often results in 
 the most terrible destruction of life and property, for 
 which he is accountable criminally. Our failure to 
 pay otw taxes will result in a sale of our property 
 and, it maj" be, in the loss of a home. And those 
 who merely neglect the "great salvation" provided in 
 the gospel for sinful men will lose a home of infinitely 
 more importance; so that it is no extenuation of the 
 crime to say that it is a mere want of action, a mere 
 negligence, for it is not so regarded in the laws of 
 men or in the laws of God.
 
 Government. 7 
 
 If any one should ask me, " How shall I make a 
 child good, so that he may become a good man?" I 
 would answer by saying. First, be good yourself. This 
 is no doubt the most important of all influences in the 
 family — parental example. The child is an apprentice 
 in the art of life. He will learn, and learns more from 
 example than he does from precept. His trusting 
 heart and credulous mind can not be convinced that 
 any thing is wrong which he sees his parents do. On 
 the contrary, he thinks it is right. Would a master 
 workman, training his apprentice, give him for imita- 
 tion a wretched, faulty, disjointed pattern, and direct 
 him, by looking at that, to produce a perfect speci- 
 men of the particular art ? How absurd ! He would 
 rather supply him with the best, even a perfect pat- 
 tern. Would the school-master, teaching his pupil to 
 write, give him an awkward scrawl for a copy ? The 
 learner would surely imitate it. In the family, the 
 very young child is helpless in this regard. He sees 
 no one else, scarcely, and is shut up to an observation 
 and a consequent imitation of the conduct of his par- 
 ents. How careful, how circumspect, should parents 
 be at all times, for the counterpart of their words and 
 actions will be as inevitably reproduced in the lives 
 of their children as are the physical features of the 
 one stamped upon the countenances of the others. 
 
 In the next place, I would say, to make a good child, 
 exercise the greatest watchfulness in correcting natu- 
 ral evil tendencies, and in stimulating the little one 
 to do right because it is right. A great statesman has 
 said, " The price of liberty is eternal vigilance." Most 
 emphaticall}" can this sentiment be applied to the con- 
 duct of parents. The price of a good child is a pure 
 example, self-denial, suifering, watchfulness — nay,
 
 8 Government. 
 
 eternal vigilance. This involves, of course, a humble 
 trust in God and much earnest and tearful supplication. 
 
 Now, if one should ask me how to make a child 
 who will become, when grown, a pest and a nuisance 
 to society, I would answer. First, set a bad example. 
 He will follow it. If j^ou drink whisky, so will he. 
 If you swear, he will also. If you lie and cheat and 
 abuse and slander the neighbors, your child will. If 
 the parent withdraws from all that is good and associ- 
 ates with the bad, so will the child. 
 
 In the next place, to secure a bad child, and ulti- 
 mately a bad citizen, let him alone — I say, only let 
 him alone. Let him have his own sweet vv'ill about 
 every thing. Never "cross" him; never restrain 
 him; never instruct him in his duty. Let him go 
 when, where, and with whom he may choose. When 
 the teacher corrects him, denounce the teacher; when 
 the preacher chides him, ridicule the preacher; when 
 the neighbors report him, abuse the neighbors. If 
 this course does not succeed in making the child bad 
 and the future man a monster, then there is nothing 
 in human obser\^ation and experience. 
 
 Another phase of niH' subject is that of compulsory 
 education. Shall the State compel parents to send 
 their children to school and compel children to attend? 
 This is a grave suljject. It is one for the politician, 
 or rather for the statesman ; and although it is new in 
 this country, it has for some time been under consid- 
 eration in Europe, and has been acted upon by some 
 of the more advanced continental States. In Prussia, 
 for example, education, to a limited extent, is abso- 
 lutely required by the State, and there are intimations 
 that such will be soon the case in other nations, and 
 in some of the States of our own country.
 
 Government. 9 
 
 Some of the greatest minds in America have already 
 advocated the adoption of this system nvith us, and it 
 is rapidly gaining friends. Indeed, the arguments put 
 forth to sustain the principle are exceedingly plausi- 
 ble and perhaps can not be refuted. It is said that 
 ignorance, being the mother of vice, the State ought 
 to exert its power in dispelling and removing this 
 great cause of evil, and this applies with great force 
 in a country like ours, where the right of suffrage is 
 universal and the people are the governing power. 
 
 It is argued that upon the virtue and intelligence 
 of our people depends the perpetuity of our free insti- 
 tutions, and that the State should spare no effort to 
 promote those qualities among the masses so neces- 
 sary to the existence of the government. 
 
 A distinguished writer has lately- said he did not 
 fear the ballot if it should come through the school- 
 house, and he insists that the State has as good a right 
 to compel the children who are to make the men who 
 are to cast the ballots to become educated men as it 
 has to compel the j-oung man to come to the relief of 
 his country in time of war. He insists that in both 
 cases the life of the nation may be involved. If our 
 young men may be forced to undergo the drilling 
 needed to make them soldiers, why may they not be 
 compelled to submit to the school-master long enough 
 to be prepared as voters? 
 
 This is the argument, and it is ingenious, but to my 
 own mind not conclusive. In making up our minds 
 on this interesting que.stion we must remember that 
 we are not Europeans but Americans. Manj^ propo- 
 sitions and many schemes would be admissible in such 
 a government as Prussia which would be wholly out 
 of place here.
 
 lo Government, 
 
 Among European monarchies the State is in the 
 habit of interfering with the subject in matters of 
 religion, dictating in some cases how one shall wor- 
 ship God, while with us it is one of the highest points 
 of our civilization that every man shall worship God 
 according to the mode which may suit him. 
 
 We think nothing of governmental interference in 
 France or Germany in many things which we would 
 not endure in our own country. Because, therefore, 
 certain arbitrary acts of these foreign governments 
 are submitted to, and even have the appearance of 
 working well, we must not suppose similar laws in 
 our own States would be submitted to or would be 
 right. Cotton will not grow in Alaska, nor will Ice- 
 land moss thrive in Central America. There is a 
 great disposition to follow an}' thing hew, especially 
 if it comes from abroad. Let us remember that we 
 are "a peculiar people, a chosen generation." Let us 
 not forget that we of America have taken a new 
 departure in human liberty and human civilization, 
 and that having so recently and by such a mighty 
 effort shaken off European excrescences, we can not 
 now afford to graft upon our young tree twigs which 
 have come of their old stocks. 
 
 It is a fundamental principle in the common law 
 that the parent has the right to the services of his 
 child during minority. This doctrine has its origin in 
 that great commandment issued by the Chief of law- 
 givers from Sinai : " Honor thy father and thy mother, 
 that thou mayest live long in the land which the Lord 
 thy God giveth thee." It is therefore the perfection 
 of wisdom from which there can be no appeal. This 
 makes the family a government, and the parent is 
 placed at the head of that government. It is the only
 
 Government. ii 
 
 human government which was organized by the Crea- 
 ator. In pursuance of this wise mandate the common 
 law has been careful to uphold the right of the parent, 
 and never to interfere except in cases of absolute 
 necessity. Its policy has been non-intervention ; and 
 so sacred are the rights of the parent regarded, that 
 his power to inflict chastisement is never challenged 
 except where it amounts to brutality. He may, even, 
 in his discretion, leave at his death all his property to 
 strangers, by will, to the utter exclusion of his chil- 
 dren; and he has many other extraordinary powers 
 which we need not stop here' to enumerate. This 
 right to the child's services rests in part, no doubt, 
 upon the circumstance that on the parent is devolved 
 the care and support of the child, during all its tender 
 years. And none but a parent can appreciate the 
 great anxiety and suffering of mind and body to be 
 endured in the proper attentions to these helpless ones 
 whom God has given him. 
 
 Happily, the Almighty has implanted in our hearts 
 an undying love for our offspring, which is in general 
 a sure guaranty against any abuse of our power or 
 our sacred trust. By the divine law and by the mu- 
 nicipal law, every father has a vested right in the 
 services of his child. He may command him to labor 
 in his shop, store, or field, or he may command him 
 to labor in the field of another, and take the wages of 
 his son for his own or for the general maintenance of 
 the family. During the period of minority the parent 
 has as perfect a right to the services and wages of his 
 child as formerly the master had to the services and 
 wages of his slave, or, as we now have, to the services or 
 wages earned by a domestic animal. The services of the 
 child, in very many instances, constitute .the parents'
 
 12 Government. 
 
 whole estate. The banker owns his stocks and the 
 farmer owns his lands, and from the interest on the 
 one and rents from the other an income and a support 
 is made; but the parent who has no stocks and no 
 lands must often depend on his children's labor for 
 his own support and theirs. In that case he may say 
 truly of his children: "These are my jewels;" these 
 are ni}- all. * 
 
 Our Federal Constitution declares that no property 
 of any citizen shall in any case be taken from him, 
 nor shall he be deprived of its use without just com- 
 pensation. That wise clause would protect the banker 
 in the enjoyment of his bonds and the farmer in the 
 enjoyment of his lands. Shall it not by fair interpre- 
 tation be extended to the case of the parent who has 
 neither, but relies wholly on the earnings of his chil- 
 dren? If we admit the right of the State to pass a 
 law b}- which officers shall be sent to invade his sacred 
 little family government and take his children away, 
 whether opportunely or not, and compel them to go to 
 a school not of his own choice perhaps, and deprive 
 him of their services, which constitute his own and 
 their support, is it not a breaking down of the spirit 
 if not the letter of the constitutional provision? Edu- 
 cation is important, but bread and meat are indispen- 
 sable. Learning is good, but clothing and food and 
 shelter are of paramount importance. We must look 
 at this subject practically. If all men were bankers 
 and land holders a compulsory law to educate might 
 be well ; but such is not the case. The great masses 
 are poor, and thousands of men could not afford to 
 relinquisli their children's services without great suf- 
 fering to both. Laws must be made for society as it 
 is — for the many and not for the few.
 
 Government. 13 
 
 If the child must go to school by law, of course he 
 must go at stated times, when the teacher is there and 
 when the other scholars are there. The parent and 
 child are made to accommodate themselves to the 
 school, and the officer of the law and not the parent 
 must judge of the matter. The law, to be effective, 
 must operate alike on all. No discretion must be 
 allowed the parent. Any such clause in the law 
 would be the knife by which the law itself would be 
 emasculated. 
 
 Should the law allow that even the teacher or some 
 officer might suspend its penalties in extreme cases, 
 see what a state of things we should have! These 
 extreme cases must be investigated. The private 
 affairs of the family, its distresses, its privations, its 
 necessities, all those sacred things we may now keep 
 to ourselves, would be paraded before some tribunal, to 
 be known and heard and perhaps laughed at by a gap- 
 ing crowd. Should a compulsory law prevail, it must 
 have a sanction, or otherwise it would be worthless. 
 
 A set of officers in every school district would be 
 required — some to compel the attendance of scholars 
 * and some to judge of the infractions of the law — for 
 the law would certainly be violated, and that, too, 
 very often. These officers, to be efficient, must be 
 paid, probably by a hue vipon the delinquent, the in- 
 former to receive one half and the government the 
 other, after the manner of a qui tarn action.' Can any 
 one doubt that all this would lead to a system of 
 espionage, to petty despotism, to feuds, and often to 
 bloodshed? No American citizen will submit to inter- 
 meddling in the private affairs of his household; and 
 this interference is equally offensive, whether it comes 
 from an officer of the law or a private person. I am
 
 14 Government. 
 
 opposed to compulsory education, because it conflicts 
 with the right given to the parent by the law of God 
 and the fundamental law of the land. I am opposed 
 to it because if effectively carried out it would neces- 
 sarily operate with great hardship upon thousands of 
 poor citizens, by depriving them often of their only 
 means of support, or putting them to the greatest 
 inconvenience. I am opposed to it because it would 
 lead to an invasion of the family — that holy place — 
 by strangers. I am opposed to it because the natural 
 affection which parents have for their children will 
 prompt them generally to advance them to the extent 
 of their ability. If the State will provide the schools 
 by suitable taxation, the great majority of parents 
 will gladly avail themselves of the advantages offered. 
 
 Lastly, I am opposed to it, because it would soon 
 result in strife between the different, sects of Chris- 
 tians, free-thinkers, and those who reject the Script- 
 ures in whole or in part. 
 
 Some would insist, as they now do, upon teaching 
 the Bible in the public schools and others would 
 oppose it. Protestants, if in the majority, would have 
 King James' or the late English version, while the -* 
 Catholics would insist on their own version, and the 
 Jews would urge that only the Old Scriptures should 
 be read, and the atheist that there should be none at 
 all. Thus the dominant sects would control the legis- 
 lation, and the other sects, with equal rights of con- 
 science, would be forced to pay taxes to support 
 schools they hated, and possibly to send their children* 
 to schools whose teachings they despised. If the State 
 must legislate on this subject, let it use incentives 
 other than force. Let it require a certain degree of 
 learning to entitle one to the ballot.
 
 Government. 15 
 
 But even this much might be unjust and inexpedi" 
 ent. Indeed, after much thought, my own humble 
 opinion is that the less we are interfered with in our 
 family affairs, the control and education of our chil- 
 dren, by the State, the better it will be for the State 
 itself, the children, and the parents. But I dismiss 
 this most fruitful topic and proceed to another branch 
 of my subject. 
 
 - Government should begin in the family; and it is 
 but a step from the faniih' to the school-room. If 
 the government in the first has been proper, the 
 task of the teacher is eas}-. Unfortunately, how- 
 ever, the master can not alwa^^s relj^ on family sup- 
 port. He must therefore formulate and exercise a 
 government of his own as if he had no help else- 
 where. He must not only instruct, but he must gov- 
 ern. And the two are so intimately blended that the 
 one can not be separated from the other. Thus the 
 teacher who can not instruct well can not govern, and 
 he who can not govern successfully can not instruct 
 effectually. Whenever we talk of government we 
 think at once of punishment. Government implies 
 law, and law is a nullity without a sanction. And in 
 municipal law that sanction consists in a fine or some 
 torture of the body. 
 
 Following this the school-master seems to think the 
 rod is an indispensable factor in his administration, 
 and in days past he used it with more frequency than 
 discrimination. I do not say the rod or other corporal 
 punishment should be entirely ignored, but I do say 
 it should be the extreme medicine of the administra- 
 tion rather than its daily food. It should be seldom 
 displayed, but should rather be kept out of sight, and 
 better and higher inducements should be presented
 
 i6 Government. 
 
 to the child than the fear of a castigation by brute 
 force. How many sad mistakes have been made just 
 here ! How many children have been ruined by the 
 improper and intemperate use of force often impelled 
 by anger ! 
 
 As the physician in days gone by often destroyed 
 the life of his patient by the terrible mistake of with- 
 holding water, and instead thereof administering some 
 nauseating drug, so the teacher has often embittered 
 and discouraged the vvhole life of his pupil by the use 
 of stern force, where a sweet, cheery word, with kind- 
 ness and hope expressed, would have been a complete 
 specific. The day has been, but is now passing away, 
 when to tame the ox or the horse ropes and staves 
 were used. The animal was forced to submit at the 
 outset. He had no alternative. He was not consulted. 
 He knew nothing but force. Fear made him obey. 
 His disposition in many cases was spoiled, and he was 
 never to be trusted. Now men have adopted toward 
 these useful animals entirely different and opposite 
 methods. The creature is taught to love his master. 
 All fear is removed. He hears only words of kind- 
 ness ,and even of affection. His work becomes actu- 
 ally a- work of love. He will do any thing for his 
 master, -.knowing that he will be rewarded in due time 
 with kindness and cprn. Thus treated, he does not 
 kick or break away. He will stand or move at the 
 word, and when he draws he will draw willingly, and 
 draw with might and main. 
 
 Our Savior said to his followers, "the children of 
 this world are wiser in their generation than the chil- 
 dren of light." Shall it be said that the keeper of 
 the .stud and the dairy are wiser in their methods with 
 the dumb creatures in their control than ourselves and
 
 ^^^PRC©ssiimO>.0^
 
 Government. 17 
 
 those like us, who have in our training those who 
 think and reason — members of our immortal race? 
 How much better is the child than the horse ! How 
 much more can he be influenced by better motives ! 
 How much deeper and more susceptible are his aflfec- 
 tions ! How much higher and nobler are his aspirations. 
 
 The horse has no conscience, but the child has. 
 The well-weaned horse does not love his mother ; the 
 child does. The horse does not care what other horses 
 think of him. He does not expect to be. rich or great. 
 He does not think one day of being in the pulpit, at 
 the bar, or in Congress, or even in the seat of the ped- 
 agogue. He is not influenced by the feats of Buceph- 
 alus, who bore the great Macedonian conqueror, nor 
 has he heard of the achievements of Dexter or Maud 
 S. or Spokane of modern times. He has no anticipa- 
 tions of death, and does not expect to get to heaven. 
 How few then are the motives that would influence 
 the brute on the one hand and how infinite those 
 which would induce the child on the other! The 
 horse is controlled by pressure upon two reins, but 
 the teacher may touch a thousand cords to which the 
 child nature will respond. It should be his study to 
 acquaint himself with these, so as to manipulate them 
 with skill. Thus acting, he will find little use for the 
 rod. 
 
 There will be found now and then a child in whose 
 heart folly is so bound up that nothing short of the rod 
 of correction will bring it out. But when this becomes 
 the necessary resort the punishment should be admin- 
 istered without passion. Anger begets anger, just as 
 mirth begets mirth. Correction, administered kindly 
 and even affectionately, is far more effective and last- 
 ing than when delivered in a fret or a rage. 
 2
 
 i8 Government. 
 
 Ill the next place, I must be permitted here to de- 
 nounce the manner of punishment sometimes given. 
 I have seen a teacher who had discovered two small 
 boys talking in study hours approach noiselessly from 
 behind them, seize each by the hair, and then bring 
 their heads together with a violent thud — enough to 
 produce concussion of the brain. That teacher was 
 a preacher of the gospel, but he deserved to be ex- 
 pelled from his church and indicted and punished in 
 the courts. Allow me to suggest that if the body 
 must be tortured, the head and face, the seat of the 
 brain and so many of the senses, should at least be 
 exempt. Nature is abundant in her provisions. Ver- 
 biini sat sapiejiti. 
 
 The punishment should be graduated to the offense. 
 Better too little than too much. Here, if. ever, we 
 should err on the safe side. Ordinarily, censure be- 
 fore the school, private reproof, a bad mark, a letter 
 to parents, detention of the pupil after school hours, 
 will suffice. In the next place, I wish to say that the 
 human mind can entertain but one thought at the 
 same time. If, therefore, the teacher can keep the 
 mind of his pupil interested in the work before him, 
 there will be little need of other government. To 
 effect this children should not be kept confined long 
 upon one subject or on uncomfortable seats. Recesses 
 should be frequent and each task very short. 
 
 The teacher and the parent should remember that 
 the whole of life is before the child. When the house 
 is hastily built the great weight of the superstructure 
 upon the unhardened cement beneath produces a wall 
 cranky and unsafe. The wall should go up slowly. 
 One brick must be carefully laid at a time, giving 
 opportunity for the cement to become dry and adhe-
 
 Government. 19 
 
 sive. Then the wall will be solid and capable of sup- 
 porting an indefinite pressure from above. 
 
 If the teacher can fasten in the mind but one or two 
 thoughts in a whole day he has done well — well for 
 himself, well for the child. I speak of this here be- 
 cause the plan I suggest will make eas\^ work for the 
 teacher in governing, and eas}" and delightful work 
 for the 3'oung learner. The school will become at- 
 tractive to the child. He will rejoice at the privilege 
 of going rather than look upon it with dread and 
 terror. I am aware that while most intelligent teach- 
 ers will agree with me in all this, thej' will refer to 
 the very foolish notion which exists among many of 
 their patrons and, unhappily, among many of our 
 school boards and school directors, that the children 
 should go to school early and come home late, and 
 remain at work all the time. But the teachers of the 
 country should control in this matter, just as the phy- 
 sician and the lawyer control the patient and the cli- . 
 ent. The great question is, "What is best for the 
 pupil? " And the teacher should decide it. 
 
 I now come to speak of laws for the government 
 of schools and colleges ; and I set out with the prop- 
 osition that the fewer the rules, the shorter the code, 
 the better for all. 
 
 There is in human nature a disposition to resent 
 restraint of any sort, to resent coercion, even when 
 the thing commanded is right and of easy perform- 
 ance. This is well illustrated by Shakespeare, where 
 Prince Hal commanded the doughty Falstaff to give 
 his reasons, and the latter replied that if reasons were 
 as thick as blackberries he would not give them upon 
 compulsion. The case of Sliimei is also in point. In 
 David's weakness and distress Shimei had cursed him.
 
 20 Government. 
 
 David told Solomon that when he should ascend the 
 throne he desired him to remember Shimei's offense. 
 Solomon afterward called Shimei and reminded him 
 of the indignity to his father, and commanded him 
 that he should never cross the brook Kidron, saying 
 that in the day he crossed that stream he should for- 
 feit his life. 
 
 Here was the command. Had it not been issued 
 the probability is the man would never have thought 
 of crossing the brook, but no doubt an instantaneous 
 desire seized upon him to go over, just because it had 
 been forbidden, and he never rested until he did it. 
 This was just what the wise king expected and de- 
 sired, as it afforded him the opj^ortunity of avenging 
 the insult to his father. 
 
 It may be difficult to account for the disposition in 
 our race to which I refer, but we must all admit that it 
 does exist. It may arise from an innate sense of free- 
 dom or an innate inclination to rebel against author- 
 ity. However this may be, it becomes us to recog- 
 nize it and adjust our administration with reference 
 to it. Hence, I repeat, the laws and rules in the gov- 
 ernment of students should be exceedingly few and 
 very short. 
 
 There is a principle to which I advert, a knowledge 
 of which will greatly aid us in the management of 
 schools. President Johnson, during the days of Re- 
 construction, announced it as the proper plan for the 
 government of the Southern States. Said he, "The 
 people must be trusted." 
 
 Every body likes to be trusted — the child, the serv- 
 ant, the friend, the wife, the husband, the student, 
 and — I speak it with reverence — our heaA'enly Father 
 above is included in this remark, for "without faith it
 
 Government. 21 
 
 is impossible to please God." He has made us like 
 himself; we are, in some sense, his express image. 
 Many a thief has been made for the want of a knowl- 
 edge of this principle. The housewife who counts 
 the potatoes and the loaves of bread, and watches the 
 cook to see what goes out and exactly what comes in, 
 will inevitabl}' beget in the ser^-ant a disposition to 
 steal, which will be carried out the first opportunity. 
 
 My little son asked me one Sundaj- if he might sit 
 in a certain part of the church during service with 
 another boy. "Certainly," said I ; "my son, I know 
 that wherever you sit in the church you will behave 
 like a gentleman." And so he did. Nothing could 
 have induced that boy to have misbehaved. He felt 
 that the responsibility was thrown upon him — that he 
 was trusted. 
 
 It is a great mistake for us to assume that the young 
 men and women who come to our institutions of learn- 
 ing are all bad — all determined to do wrong. It is a 
 great mistake for us to assume that we, their teachers, 
 are better than they are, for such is not the fact. As 
 a rule they have been reared in good families; they 
 have been taught politeness, reverence, right and 
 wrong; they have conscience, respect for themselves, 
 and a due regard to public opinion. Besides this, the 
 great mass of them have a desire to learn, and are 
 willing to submit to all reasonable requirements for 
 that purpose. Now, I say, to thrust into the faces of 
 such young men a voluminous and exacting code of 
 laws, regulating their hours of study, their behavior 
 to their instructors, to the citizens, and to one another, 
 prescribing a time to rise up and a time to lie down, a 
 time to walk and a time to talk, a time to recreate and 
 a time to pray, is calculated to raise a feeling of resent-
 
 22 Government. 
 
 ment, to beget in the matriculate the spirit of rebell- 
 ion. I trust I may be pardoned, in closing what I 
 have to say, to refer to m}' own experience and obser- 
 vation. 
 
 When I became connected with Cumberland Uni- 
 versity as a trustee and then as a teacher, more than 
 thirty years ago, there was a formidable code of laws 
 in force. It was not so large a book as the municipal 
 code of Tennessee, but it was divided into chapters 
 and sections, and related to every possible situation 
 and condition of the student. In fact, it was such a 
 set of laws as I have heretofore indicated. This code 
 was presented to the student immediately after his 
 matriculation. It was itself a study, and a much more 
 difficult and objectionable one than many of the text- 
 books in the regular curriculum. It provided for 
 monitors and tutors, who had power to invade the 
 students' rooms. It recognized a detestable system 
 of espionage. It exacted certain marks of respect 
 to the professors. Throughout it assumed that the 
 professors were exalted beings and far removed from 
 the students, and that the latter were not only inferior 
 persons, but that they would violate every enactment 
 of those sacred by-laws if the opportunity occurred. 
 It prescribed hours of devotion; it regulated' and 
 restrained young men even in their liberty of locomo- 
 tion. And for a violation of these and scores of other 
 laws various penalties were affixed. The result was 
 that the faculty found it necessary to hold a regular 
 court one day in each week to try offenders. Satur- 
 day was state's day. Before this awful tribunal scores 
 of culprits were formally summoned each week to 
 appear. 
 
 Absence from class, absence from pra^^ers, tardiness
 
 Government. 23 
 
 three minutes and a half, walking out at the wrong 
 time, visiting a fellow-student's room in study hours, 
 and scores of othe'r lighter and heavier crimes were 
 on the trial docket. 
 
 It would not be safe for me to estimate at this dis- 
 tance the number of lies perpetrated on such occa- 
 sions, for, contrary to the rule of common law, the 
 offender was put on the witness stand and asked to 
 testify against himself, which generally he was loth to 
 do. It would hardly be respectful to the memory of 
 those who sat in judgment to tell some of the penal- 
 ties inflicted. Among others, however, I remember 
 that some were required in the presence of the assem- 
 bled faculty and students to make most humiliating 
 confessions of sin and earnest promises of future good 
 conduct, and especially begging the pardon of some 
 particular teacher whose dignity had been offended. 
 
 It is easy to imagine what a state of things all this 
 would bring about. Resentment and spite toward the 
 by-laws and the professors, bickerings, and hard feel- 
 ings among students who were witnesses against their 
 fellows, looseness of conscience and want of reverence 
 for the truth, consumption of valuable time, dissatis- 
 faction among patrons, and an eternal worry and em- 
 barrassment for the professors. It was not to be 
 endured. 
 
 The war between the States, which broke up the 
 Union, broke up the college. That war which over- 
 whelmed so much that was good buried also forever 
 out of our sight much that was evil, and I am happy 
 to say. among other things, the by-laws of Cumber- 
 land University. Upon re-opening in 1865 no copy 
 of them could be found. I have much desired a copy 
 for a long time as a curiosity, but can find none. So
 
 24 Government. 
 
 we began without laws, and seeing it worked well, 
 have continued without laws. Our whole code is com- 
 prehended in this one phrase: '^Semper proesens, sem- 
 per paratiis" — always present at the class and always 
 ready to recite. As is our Savior's formula of the 
 moral law, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
 all thy heart, soul, and strength, and thy neighbor as 
 thj'self," so is semper proesens, semper paratus a com- 
 plete expression of college law. 
 
 We find that every 3-oung man brings a law with 
 him. He learned it from his mother and his father. 
 He imbibed it from the community in which he was 
 reared. He has it in his heart and conscience; in 
 short, he is a law unto himself. We now assume that 
 he knows as well as we do what is right and what is 
 wrong. We assume that the family and the commu- 
 nity in which he was bred is as good as ours. We 
 assume that he will do his dut5^ We recognize the 
 fact, heretofore ignored, that students have rights as 
 well as teachers. We meet him as a gentleman ; we 
 treat him as a gentleman both in the class-room and 
 upon the streets. We throw upon him the responsi- 
 bility of a gentleman and he rarely disappoints us. 
 We have no spies. W^e never invade his private 
 apartments except to visit him when he is sick and 
 offer him our aid and our sympathies. We do not con- 
 cern ourselves as to when or where he shall walk or 
 ride or hunt or visit. All this is none of our business. 
 We do not coerce him in matters of religion. While 
 we advise him to attend church, all our religious ex- 
 ercises are purely voluntary. We do not believe there 
 is any virtue in compulson,' prayers. We insist upon 
 nothing except that he shall demean himself as a gen- 
 tleman, obey the laws of the land like other citizens,
 
 Government. 25 
 
 and that he shall be always present at his class and 
 always prepared to recite. 
 
 What has been the result? Astonishingly good. 
 For twenty years we have administered the affairs of 
 our institution upon these liberal principles. I can 
 not say that in all that time we have had no disorder 
 whatever. No government is perfect. But I will say 
 there is a vast difference in favor of our modern code. 
 As a rule our students have been deferential, punctual, 
 sober, and studious ; and we would not on any account 
 return to the old method. 
 
 I hope it will be understood that in all that has been 
 said no reflection is intended upon the government of 
 other schools or colleges. I have only meant to com- 
 pare the two systems adopted first and last by the 
 corporation with which I am myself connected, and 
 by no means to criticise others. 
 
 Lastly, let me say to ^'ou, my friends and colabora- 
 tors: Of our subjects we must be perfect masters; we 
 must interest the minds of our students; we must 
 teach with energy, teach with enthusiasm ; then, as to 
 the government bearing upon our pupils, the yoke 
 will be easy and the burden will be light.
 
 What Is It? 
 
 By S. G. BURNEY, D.D., LL.D., 
 
 Professor of Systematic Theology. 
 
 This to you, yoimg gentlemen of the graduating 
 class, is a happy, a proud day— a day that crowns your 
 years of self-denial and patient, persistent toil with 
 coveted baccalaureate honors. It is, moreover, a day 
 of joyous congratulations on the part of your kindred 
 — fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters; also on the part 
 of numerous warm, personal friends. 
 
 Aside from the noble self-complacency consequent 
 upon the honorable completion of your respective 
 scholastic duties, you have the pleasing assurance of 
 the possession of intellectual and moral ability to form 
 and execute purposes honorable in themselves and 
 beneficent in their results. One hard battle gallantly 
 won gives valuable experience, gives more self-reli- 
 ance, and more courage for other conflicts, and gener- 
 ally presages other and greater victories. 
 
 But another source of self-felicitation open to you 
 to-day is the power of self-control which you have 
 acquired during these years of ardent and patient toil. 
 " He that ruleth his own spirit is better than he that 
 taketh a city." Perhaps the most difficult thing men 
 are ever required to govern is self. He that can gov- 
 ern himself can govern every thing else that it is 
 
 *An address to the graduating Classes in Cumberland University, delivered 
 on Commencement Day, 1884. 
 (26)
 
 What Is It ? 27 
 
 properly his province to control. He that can not 
 govern himself can govern nothing well, not even 
 irrational animals, much less men and schools and 
 armies and nations and churches. On the contrary, 
 the power of self-control surpasses in value all other 
 human powers, because without this faculty all other 
 powers, however varied or brilliant, are sure to be 
 neglected or abused or prostituted to useless or igno- 
 ble ends. But the faculties of self-denial, patience, 
 and endurance fit a man for any duty or position to 
 which his natural capacity and education are adequate, 
 and give a guaranty of success which nothing else can 
 give. 
 
 The fact that j'ou are to-day accepted as worthy 
 candidates for baccalaureate honors demonstrates that 
 you possess in a commendable degree that laudable 
 power of patient and persistent self-denial and integ- 
 rity of purpose which harbinger success. 
 
 Under the inspiration given by earnest endeavor in 
 your college course you go forth to-day with the high 
 resolve to achieve other and greater conquests in other 
 and more perilous fields of labor. Be self-reliant, but 
 expect success, not as a thing of chance, but as the 
 legitimate reward of well-directed and persistent labor. 
 
 It is supererogatory to say in a formal way that you 
 carry with you the hearty (^ood-ivill of all the faculty, 
 trustees, and a mixed multitude of others who sin- 
 cerely desire your eminent success in every laudable 
 enterprise in which you may engage. 
 
 But you have had enough in this line of thought, at 
 least for the present. Too little of a good thing sharp- 
 ens the appetite, gives a keener relish for more, but 
 leaves us hungry and not in the best humor. Too 
 much of a good thing oversatiates and leads to disgust
 
 28 What Is It? 
 
 — possibly to something worse. For five consecutive 
 days has been set before you a literary feast sufficient 
 in quantity, quality, and variety to satisfy the most 
 cormorant-like and also the most fastidious literary 
 epicure. During this time about forty literary per- 
 formances have been had in this hall. Of course your 
 appetites are pretty well satiated, and are becoming a 
 little fastidious ; still, I am required to inflict on you 
 another performance. 
 
 It is common for speakers to announce their subject 
 and then make the speech. This gives the audience 
 the advantage of the speaker, enabling them to antic- 
 ipate him ; and as men generall}' are more interested 
 in their own thoughts than in those of others, and of 
 course better pleased with their own, they are liable 
 to lose interest in the speaker, and not unfrequently 
 deem the happiest passage in his performance his pas- 
 sage from the platform or pulpit to his seat. Unwill- 
 ing to be put at any such disadvantage, I shall reverse 
 this rhetorical canon, and instead of first announcing 
 my subject and then making my speech, I shall first 
 make my speech and then announce my subject. 
 
 I am on single duty, having nothing to do but to 
 make my speech. But yon are on double duty, hav- 
 ing both to attend to the facts as I present them, and 
 also to determine from those facts what I am talking 
 about. This last duty will afford you a fair opportu- 
 nity for the exercise of your skill in inductive logic. 
 
 There is of course a limit to human acquirements. 
 Many things, however covetable, are impossible of 
 attainment by us, by all finite beings. These 3^ou can 
 readily enumerate for j^ourselves ; still, human possi- 
 bilities are great. Numerous and invaluable acquisi- 
 tions lie within the range of human possibility. This
 
 What Is It? 29 
 
 fact you, young gentlemen, have already actually ver- 
 ified in a praiseworthy manner, and it is believed you 
 will in the coming years continue to verify it. But I 
 wish on this occasion, so prolific of diverse emotion — 
 joyful, yet sad — to commend to your most earnest and 
 favorable consideration a possible acquisition which 
 is an indispensable factor in every truly successful 
 and happy life. Blessed with it no life, however hum- 
 ble, obscure, or uneventful, or void of romance, can be 
 really unhappy or an ignominious failure ; without it 
 no life, however dazzling or brilliant or richly crowned 
 with other gifts and graces, can be justly accounted a 
 truly successful or happy one. As a philosophical 
 truth, the only truly successful life is the life made 
 happy by benefactions to others. Those that bestow 
 are more blessed than those that receive. 
 
 The acquisition which I commend to-day, however, 
 is not always an object of eager and persistent desire. 
 Many estimate it far less than they do gold and worldly 
 pomp and power ; some estimate it less than they do 
 genius and literary distinction. This failure of proper 
 estimation is because its true value is not properly 
 known. 
 
 But the fact that many are ignorant of its value 
 does not make its possession less really a blessing, 
 nor destitution of it less a calamity. Many a golden 
 treasure which was once within my reach has been 
 lost because I did not know its worth. But my igno- 
 rance affected my interests alone and in no sense the 
 value of the treasure. It was my calamity not to 
 know its worth — not to desire and appropriate it. 
 
 This acquisition that I commend to you is not in 
 itself a veritable nondescript, at least not more so 
 than many other mentionable things ; still, it is in the
 
 30 What Is It? 
 
 highest degree unique — sui generis — a genuine none- 
 such. Yet, as we shall see, it is in some of its charac- 
 teristics like many other familiar things. This is lit- 
 erally true, though there is nothing wholly like it in 
 the realms of matter or of mind, of facts or of fiction, 
 of entities or of phenomena. It is neither an entity 
 nor a myth, yet it is a sensible reality, as real as the 
 light of day. It is not void of vitality or force, but 
 is a living, irrepressible power. We may predicate 
 of it individuality as distinct from personality, or 
 personality as distinct from individuality, or- one, or 
 both, or neither at will. As an individuality it is sim- 
 ply a fact as distinct from other facts ; as a personality 
 it is void of conscioiisness and of freedom— the ordi- 
 nary characteristics of personality. 
 
 We rightfully predicate of it action, powerful action ; 
 but its actions are not those of deliberate purpose but 
 of pure spontaneit}', not of freedom but of sheer ne- 
 cessity, lyike the rainbow it has succession, but only 
 a relative identity — is never the same to a plurality 
 of individuals nor to the .same person for the mill- 
 ionth part of a second. Unlike the rainbow, it may 
 have perpetual continuity. Like time, it may have 
 an endless efflux, but like life, it never returns to the 
 point of its departure. Like the infant earth, it is 
 without form, but unlike the infant earth, it is not 
 void. It is without dimensions, yet fills a place all 
 its own. In itself a distinct reality, it may neverthe- 
 less be metamorphosed into its contradictory. It is 
 acquirable by all, but the crown jewels of the world 
 can not purchase it. It is retainable by all, but only 
 by the utmost fidelity. "Eternal vigilance" is the 
 price of its retention. It may be bartered for other 
 things, but nothing in heaven or earth can substitute
 
 What It Is? 
 
 31 
 
 it. When lost it maj^ sometimes be regained, but, like 
 a pretty face badly burned, is thereby despoiled of 
 some of its former beauty. Unlike a pearl or dia- 
 mond, its possession by one person is not its exclusion 
 from others. 
 
 Its essential characteristics are everywhere and al- 
 waj'S the same, yet its incidental qualities are as 
 diverse and contradictory as the forms, features, and 
 fancies of its possessors. Without eyes or ears or 
 taste or olfactory nerve, it, like the mimosa piidica, or 
 sensitive plant, has exquisite sentient and perceptive 
 power. lyike persons of culture and taste, it discreetly 
 commends and applauds the beautiful and the good, but 
 unlike serpents and geese and other goose-like sibi- 
 lants, it never hisses at performances vrhich it has no 
 capacity to appreciate. Unlike the discursive judg- 
 ment, it never thinks or reasons, never doubts or hes- 
 itates, but, like instinct, leaps swift as the electric 
 spark to its object when perceived. 
 
 lyike the custodians of the Eleusinian Mysteries, its 
 possessors form a peculiar class, yet within that class 
 are included every variety and contrariety of con- 
 dition, culture, and opinion — the learned, the less 
 learned, and the unlearned, the rich, the less rich, and 
 the extremely poor. It is the exclusive possession 
 of no one age, but of all ages, of no one nation, but 
 of all nations, of no one religion, but of all religions 
 — of pagans, Mohammedans, Jews, and Christians. It 
 is common to conservatives, liberals, fanatics, and 
 the superstitious. Nor is it the peculiar treasure of 
 the wise and prudent, the pious and the good, but is 
 often the boasted possession of the indiscreet and the 
 foolish, of the ruthless tyrant and the remorseless 
 persecutor for opinion's sake.
 
 32 What Is It? 
 
 Men, blindly impelled by selfishness, jealousy, envy, 
 and malice, often mistake these vile passions for the 
 behests of its authoritative voice, and in its imperial 
 name perpetrate infernal deeds. In its name and with 
 its concurrence most unjust and cruel wars have been 
 waged and tragic deeds of darkness perpetrated. lyike 
 a faithful and well-drilled soldier, it is ever true to its 
 leader, and always does valiant service, sometimes in 
 a good and sometimes in a bad cause. It. is strictly 
 law-abiding, but knows no law but the subjective, and 
 no authority but that of its possessor. As an individ- 
 ual possession, what it approves in one it approves in 
 all, and conversely, as a common possession of A and 
 B, what it approves in one it often condemns in others. 
 
 Like human nature, it has many defects; but like 
 human nature, it has many noble qualities and some 
 grand possibilities. This will appear from the fol- 
 lowing statements. Like every thing else entitive 
 or phenomenal, it has its mission, and functions suited 
 to that mission. Its office, in large measure, is to hold 
 in check wanton willfulness and maintain the reign 
 of harmony and peace within all the realm of the 
 human soul, to guard its possessor against all self- 
 imposable evil and to facilitate the acquisition of every 
 available good. Unlike the sychophant, it never flat- 
 ters ; unlike the false friend, it never deceives. Like 
 a true friend, it approves and cheers when recognized 
 duty has been done, and when temptation is near and 
 danger threatens, it whispers, in the graphic words of 
 the prisoner to his jailer, " Do thj^self no harm." 
 
 It is an ever-present benefactor to its possessor, his 
 faithful guardian angel by day and by night, the con- 
 servator of good health, muscular vigor, personal 
 beauty, dignity, and grace. It is a preventive of
 
 What Is It? 33 
 
 guilty and tragic dreams which are often more fright- 
 ful than horrid nightmare. It has talismanic power 
 against domestic infelicities. It inspires courage in 
 danger and fortitude in the severest calamities. The 
 path of its possessor may not be strewn with pearls or 
 diamonds of high commercial value, but it is in itself a 
 pearl of far greater price. It is the light of the soul's 
 inner world, whose perfection invests the outer world 
 with a radiance and beauty which seem divine. 
 
 Who has it has what neither heaven nor earth can 
 give ; who has it not had best not been born. It has 
 a correlative that bears the same surname, but whose 
 cognomen is bad. There is a striking family likeness 
 between them, but like Isaac and Ishmael their hands 
 are against each other. 
 
 As the world can not endure two suns, nor Persia 
 two kings, so no man can endure the presence of these 
 antithetical correlatives. Like light and darkness, the 
 presence of the one is the exclusion of the other. Bad 
 in infancy was as fair and as lovely as its relative, but 
 its development was under adverse conditions, and 
 like Ivucifer, falling as lightning from heaven, it be- 
 came a psychological and moral monstrosit}', whose 
 supreme delight seems to be to torment mankind. 
 
 In early childhood its fair and radiant features were 
 suggestive of angelic innocence and beauty, but in 
 perverse old age, suggestive of the guilt and moral 
 deformity of diabolos. It is not a deity, nor is it un- 
 conditioned, but the conditions given, it is omnipo- 
 tent in its own sphere of action. Like Tantalus, its 
 delight seems to be to tantalize those in its power. 
 Like the adder it is armed with a remorseful sting, 
 whose virus is a living death. 
 
 It is the high prerogative of every rational creature 
 3
 
 34 What Is It? 
 
 to choose between these two antithetical correlatives — 
 one or the other is inevitable to all — one is the high- 
 est attainable good, the other the prince of subjective 
 evils. 
 
 I sincerely hope that you, young gentlemen, will 
 all carry away from your Alma Mater, and sedulously 
 foster with scrupulous care through all the conflicts 
 of long and prosperous lives, this priceless jewel — a 
 GOOD CONSCIENCE, and never writhe under the scor- 
 pion-like stings of a bad conscience.* 
 
 . *A11 the statements in this paper, it is believed, are in har- 
 mony with the true theory of conscience, but some of them 
 are in conflict with the popular theory. Some of the terms, 
 however, require to be taken in. a tropical sense.
 
 MORALITY OF THE ANCIENT ROMANS. 
 
 By w. d. Mclaughlin, a.m., 
 
 Professor of Latin aud Greek. 
 
 We have before us this evening the morality of the 
 Romans at the time of the introduction of Chris- 
 tianity. This subject could be treated as an ancient 
 Irish worthy once treated the subject: "Snakes in 
 Ireland." After several weeks of careful, patient, 
 and laborious investigation, he finally expressed the 
 whole body of his essay in language about as concise 
 as his subject, to wit: "In Ireland there are no 
 snakes." So we can say in general terms, at the 
 introduction of Christianity, the Romans had no 
 morality. 
 
 As we are to deal with the Roman Empire during 
 the time of its decadence, it may not be unprofitable 
 to consider the main cause of its downfall and the 
 downfall of other nations. I am well aware that I 
 am treading upon ground traversed by sages, philos- 
 ophers, historians, statesmen, and poets, as Avell as 
 seniors, sophomores, sub-freshmen, and almost all 
 who can read and write. 
 
 In Jewish history, both national and individual, we 
 find that obedience to the divine law insured success, 
 and, on the other hand, disobedience thereto was 
 followed by misfortune. The rewards and punish* 
 ments, however, were not always contemporaneous 
 with the acts themselves. The flood was sent by 
 
 (35)
 
 36 Morality of the Ancient Romans. 
 
 reason of the wickedness of the world, Noah was 
 preserved because he " was a just man." Faithful 
 Abraham became involved in trouble by telling the 
 truth, though not the whole truth, his purpose being 
 to deceive only just "a little. Moses, the servant 
 of the Lord, was not permitted to enter the promised 
 land, the divine voice proclaiming the reason: "Be- 
 cause ye trespassed against me among the children 
 of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh in the 
 wilderness of Zin ; because ye sanctified me not in 
 the midst of the children of Israel." 
 
 Joshua was successful ^at Jericho, but by reason 
 of Achan's transgression, the Israelites under him 
 were defeated at Ai. They were made servants of 
 the king of Mesopotamia for eight years, because, 
 by communion with the neighboring tribes, they 
 descended to idol worship. The Philistines sorely 
 defeated them once because of the laxity of mor- 
 als on the part of the high-priest, and of general 
 dereliction of duty on the part of the people. 
 David's successes and reverses, both as individual and 
 king, are measured by his virtues and vices. The 
 subsequent history of the Jewish kings and people 
 follows precisely the same rules. 
 
 In view of these facts we can appreciate Solomon's 
 maxim: "Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin 
 is a reproach to any people." Now is this true of all 
 nations? I answer, with some emphasis, that it is 
 true not only of people collectively but of individ- 
 uals. Righteousness or upright conduct is con- 
 formity to divine law, and sin or immoral conduct 
 and immoral habits carry in themselves the seed 
 of destruction. « As poisonous substances received 
 into man's physical system impair and destroy, so,
 
 Morality of the Ancient Romans. 37 
 
 just as surel}', do immoral habits and thoughts impair 
 and destroy the moral man. It requires no logic to 
 prove this; we see it taking place around us — and 
 perhaps within us — every day. The man who steals 
 or lies or contravenes anj- of the laws of moral 
 conduct, impairs his moral powers, just as a stab 
 from a dagger would injure him physically. It re- 
 quires, therefore, no special act of Providence to 
 consummate the destruction of a people or individ- 
 uals after basely immoral habits have entered. After 
 the commission of great sins we look for the smoke 
 and fire of Sodom and Gomorrah. But let us remem- 
 ber that sin is itself a destroyer, that the wages 
 of sin is death — slow death as well as speedy death — 
 and that retrogression as surely follows it as effect 
 follows cause. You will find that the cause of the 
 downfall of nations as given in biblical history finds 
 its solution in accordance with this general law, 
 namely, that morality builds up and immorality 
 destroys. 
 
 Now there are two elements that enter as factors 
 into every civilization. These factors are intellect- 
 uality and morality. The intellectual forces are 
 radical — tending to subvert the established order 
 of things, while the moral forces are conservative. 
 A declination in either the one or the other of these 
 will be followed by a corresponding declination in 
 the general product. The two when developed si- 
 multaneously and kept in a sort of harmonious 
 equipoise will produce the highest order of civiliza- 
 tion. I know it is usual to ascribe to genius, knowl- 
 edge, science, diplomacy, and the like, the glory of 
 successful revolutions, while the moral forces con- 
 nected therewith are, in part, or wholly ignored.
 
 38 MORAI^ITY OF THE AnCIENT RoMANS. 
 
 We are all ready to laud to the skies the astute 
 diplomacy of a Bismarck or Beaconsfield, to extol the 
 scientific discoveries of a Tyndall or Huxley, and to 
 magnify the skill and knowledge that have produced 
 such beneficent results in the political, scientific, and 
 industrial world, but we forget that silent conserva- 
 tive force without which the utilization of these 
 products of mind would be hopelessly paralyzed. 
 The strongest support of individual, social, or. 
 national character is morality. And the highest type 
 of morality is that which follbws closest in the wake 
 of Christianity. No device of mind, or shrewdness 
 of intellect, or brilliancy of genius can supply its 
 place. It is, most emphatically, a sme qua noii to 
 every enterprise or institution that has worthy ends 
 and permanence of existence in view. 
 
 There is prevalent, a vague and loose idea about 
 sin, that it is a convenient term used principally by 
 preachers to scare people with; that it is applicable 
 almost solely to outrageous acts, such as murder, 
 arson, and the like, and, if connected at all \yith little 
 misdoings, the effects of it somehow or other can be 
 dodged. A little advantage taken in a horse swap 
 is only an indication of superiority of wit, a little too 
 much toddy is simply a mistake of judgment. No 
 penalty attaches to such little things. That is to say, 
 if I cut my finger just a little" or pull only a few 
 hairs out of my head there will be no pain. Now 
 when it is understood that natural and revealed or 
 moral laws are equally divine in that they have the 
 same Author, and are equally imperative in their 
 several fields of operation, then it will be seen that 
 the willful misrepresentation of a fact, or the harbor- 
 ing of an impure thought will make a' moral cripple,
 
 Morality of the Ancient Romans. 39 
 
 just as a leap from a two-story window will make a 
 physical cripple. Sin is nothing more than want 
 of conformity to law, and its penalties are nothing 
 more nor less than the natural results that flow 
 therefrom. If you can dodge or thwart the pain or 
 inconveniences that result from a dislocated member, 
 you may indulge in immorality with impunity. 
 
 What is true of individual life is true also of 
 national life, the latter being only the sum total of the 
 former, and consequently all national growth or 
 degeneration are simply the index of the individual 
 status. And I am not so sure but that the Sunday- 
 school superintendant and the preacher are our best 
 statesmen after all. 
 
 France once tried the experiment of enthroning 
 reason to the exclusion of virtue, and with what 
 disastrous results you are all doubtless familiar. 
 The intellectual vigor of Demosthenes and his com- 
 patriots could not rescue their beloved Athens from 
 downfall, when, to use his own expression, the whole 
 country was full of traitors and men that were the 
 enemies of the gods and their fellow-men- And it 
 is a significant fact that Rome was hurrying to ruin 
 with accelerated momentum at the time of her great- 
 est intellectual splendor. It was the halo that was 
 shed around her by such historians as Livy and 
 Tacitus, by such poets as Horace and Virgil, by such 
 philosophers as Paetea and Seneca, that makes her 
 grand even in her dissolution. 
 
 You may take our own country, which is in the 
 van of civilization, with all her improved means 
 of travel and communication, with her labor-saving 
 machines of all kinds, with all her conveniences and 
 luxuries of physical and intellectual life ; and then
 
 40 Morality op the Ancient Romans. , 
 
 suppose every man devoid of principle and a corres- 
 ponding degradation on the part of women, and 
 convert our churches into drinking saloons, our intel- 
 lectual vigor remaining the same, and it is easy to 
 see that the wheels of progress would be immedi- 
 ately reversed, and that our greatness would not last 
 a decade. 
 
 I have dwelt somewhat at length on this part 
 of the subject because the j^oung gentlemen of the 
 University are all more or less interested in the 
 subject of History, and are doubtless so captivated by 
 the brilliant thoughts and deeds of great men in 
 great revolution^ that they are in danger of quite 
 forgetting that silent underlying principle so tersely 
 expressed by the wise man, " Righteousness exalteth 
 a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." 
 
 A brief summary of Roman History, authentic and 
 legendary, is about as follows : Romulus sometime 
 in the past, say eight hundred years B.C., was ordered 
 to be drowned, but the Fates preserving him, he was 
 nurtured by a wolf, or by a woman named Wolf As 
 he grew up and a restless ambition began to betray the 
 royal blood in his veins, he led a band of adventur- 
 ers to the banks of the Tiber and there founded a city. 
 He fortified his town with walls. His twin brother, 
 Remus, who had some fun in him as well as royal 
 blood, jumped over the walls in mockery. Romulus 
 killed him. After suitable police regulations had 
 been established, and a legislative body composed 
 of one hundred senators had been appointed, it 
 occurred to Romulus and his band, as there were 
 none of the opposite sex in their new city, that it was 
 not good for man to be alone. So he sent embassies 
 among the neighboring tribes to ask permission for
 
 Morality of the Ancient Romans. 41 
 
 the Roman youths to call on their daughters with a 
 view to marriage. The ambassadors, as the historian 
 states, were nowhere kindly received, but they were 
 met with the universal response that no young men, 
 until they had established a character, could call 
 on their daughters. It is stated that Romulus was 
 very despondent on the receipt of this news, and. I 
 presume, the j'oung men were too. Determined not 
 to be foiled in a matter of such vital importance, and 
 being pretty well acquainted with human nature, 
 he got up a big show — a circus — and had posters sent 
 out for many miles around. On the appointed day — 
 sure enough — here they came in -great crowds, big, 
 little, old and young, and among them a great many 
 pretty Sabine girls. It thus incidentally appears that 
 in those days the girls were fond of going to circuses. 
 The signal being given, says the historian, the 
 Roman ^-ouths each seized a girl — stole her. Now 
 that was a very wicked procedure, but all will admit 
 that there were some mitigating circumstances con- 
 nected with it. It is a warning, however, to girls not 
 to go to circuses. I will also add that this custom 
 of stealing virgins instituted by the old Romans 
 has not been wholly abandoned up to this good day. 
 
 How much truth there is in this legendary narra- 
 tive concerning the origin of Rome and of her social 
 and civil polity is not known. The traditional state- 
 ments have too much the air of fiction to justify any 
 reliable conclusions as to the morality of the times. 
 The whole story as given by the ancient historian 
 sounds ver}' much like the Mother Goose stories 
 of the present day. The, history of Romulus was 
 doubtless told by nurses and grandmothers to amuse 
 the children.
 
 42 MORAI^ITY OF THE AnCIENT ROMANS. 
 
 The regal government remained for nearly two 
 hundred years, but was abolished on account of the 
 wickedness of Tarquinius Superbus. Then followed 
 the consular government of about five hundred years' 
 duration, interrupted once by the decemviral govern- 
 ment and by two triumvirates, the last of which re- 
 sulted in Augustus Caesar being proclaimed Emperor. 
 As an evidence of the rigid morality of the Romans 
 during this whole time, up to at least the time of 
 Marius, we are told that no enterprise of a public nat- 
 ure, whether in peace or war, was undertaken with- 
 out first consulting the auspices. If the omens were 
 favorable, the enterprise was undertaken ; if unfavor- 
 able, it was deferred. We would call this superstition, 
 but it shows a religious feeling, a recognition of a 
 power superior to themselves, to which they gave 
 reverential obedience. The family life was sacred, 
 and for over five hundred years divorce was unknown 
 among them. 
 
 Whatever else may be said to have contributed in 
 these early days to the strength of Rome, it can not 
 be denied that the peculiar organization and discipline 
 of the family were valuable promoters of it.' The 
 father of a family, or pater familias, was absolute king 
 of the household as long as he lived. There was no 
 "sweet ane-and-twenty for the Roman Tam." The 
 grown-up son might establis^i a separate household, 
 but in law all that the son acquired, whether in his 
 father's household or his own, remained the father's 
 property. In relation to the father, all in the house- 
 hold were devoid of legal rights, wife and children 
 included. In the worst cases of abuse, religion, it is 
 true,, pronounced its anathemas; but the gods are 
 slow, as lictors or constables, to execute the judgments 
 
 .t>^
 
 Morality of the Ancient Romans. 43 
 
 of men. This power of the husband and father, 
 though doubtless often repressive of the pleasures of 
 the women and children, yet assured to the children a 
 wise guardianship up to an average of forty j-ears. If 
 the child is trained for that period of time in the way 
 in which he should go, he will not be ver}^ apt to de- 
 part therefrom in his after years. If the parental 
 authority now were a little more rigorously adminis- 
 tered and continued a little longer, I believe a better 
 citizenship would be insured. 
 
 It must not be understood, however, that the Roman 
 father was a tyrant, for "the moral obligations of par- 
 ents toward their children were deeply felt by the 
 Roman nation; " and it was reckoned a heinous offense 
 if a father neglected or corrupted his child, or if he 
 even squandered his property to his child's detriment. 
 
 It was here in the family that the Roman 5'outh 
 learned and practiced that obedience to authority 
 which trained him to respect those in power, and rev- 
 erence the laws, and made him well-nigh invincible on 
 the field of battle. There was no theme more delight- 
 ful to the later Roman writers than the rigid morality 
 of their forefathers and the dutiful obedience of their 
 children. 
 
 At the accession of Tiberius to the imperial throne, 
 in the 3^ear of the Christian era 14, the Roman em- 
 pire embraced nearly all Europe, all of the then 
 known Africa, including Carthage and Egypt, and 
 Asia as far as the Euphrates. It contained not less 
 than one hundred million inhabitants, of whom not 
 less than sixty millions were slaves. Cicero informs 
 us that of the one million two hundred thousand in- 
 habitants of the city of Rome, in his daj^ there were 
 not more than two thousand proprietors.
 
 44 Morality of the Ancient Romans. 
 
 At the lowest extreme of the social scale were the 
 slaves, without family, without religion, without pos- 
 sessions, without any recognized rights, passing from 
 a childhood of degradation to unpitied neglect- in old 
 age. Many eminent senators advocated the brutal 
 law that when a master was murdered his slaves, how- 
 ever numerous, should be put to death. Only a little 
 above the slaves were the lower classes who formed 
 the vast majority of the free-born inhabitants of the 
 Roman empire. They were, for the most part, beggars 
 and idlers. Despising honest labor, they asked only 
 for bread and the games of the circus, and were ready 
 to support any government that would furnish them 
 these. They were delighted with the polluted plays 
 of the theater and the ghastly scenes of the arena, 
 where criminals and slaves were compelled to fight 
 with wild beasts. " Their life, as described by their 
 contemporaries, was made up of squalor, misery, and 
 vice. 
 
 Immeasurably removed from these were the con- 
 stantly diminishing crowds of the wealthy and the 
 noble. "Every age, in its decline," says a writer, 
 "has exhibited the spectacle of selfish luxury side by 
 side with abject poverty, but nowhere were these con- 
 trasts so startling as they were in imperial Rome." 
 The great majority might be on the point of starva- 
 tion while the rich were spending a fortune at a single 
 banquet. Many of the free-born were so poor that 
 they could afford onh' one garment even in winter. 
 Pliny tells us that he saw Paulina dressed for a be- 
 trothal feast in a robe Avhich cost, in our money, 
 ■ two million doUafs. Debauchery, gluttony, and ex- 
 travagance rioted in the heart of a society which 
 had no higher aspirations than the gratification of
 
 Morality of the Ancient Romans. 45 
 
 the animal propensities. A poet has thus summed 
 up the life of a Roman noble : 
 
 " On that hard pagan world disgust 
 
 And secret loathing fell ; 
 Deep weariness and sated lust 
 
 Made human life a hell. 
 In his cool hall, with haggard eyes, 
 
 The Roman noble lay, 
 He drove abroad in furious guise 
 
 Along the Appian Way ; 
 He made a feast, drank fierce and fast, 
 
 And crowned his head with flowers — 
 No easier nor no quicker passed 
 
 The impracticable hours." 
 
 At the summit of this rotten social system stood 
 the Emperor, who, in most cases, was king in vice as 
 well as king of men. He had absorbed all the powers 
 and functions of government. The Senate, it is true, 
 still held its sessions, but their decrees were always in 
 conformity with the will of the Emperor. As Gibbon 
 very justly observes, he was at once priest, atheist, 
 and god. 
 
 Among the first acts of Tiberius, in whose reign 
 Christ was crucified, was to have murdered all whose 
 talents would fit them for imperial honors, or whose 
 aspirations seemed to be in that direction. By the law 
 of high treason, not merely actions, but words, looks, 
 and gestures were construed as offenses against the 
 majest}^ of the prince. The suspected were presumed 
 to be guilty, judges were found to condemn them, and 
 soon followed confiscations and executions. He was 
 a man of reserA-ed character, of great dissimulation, 
 suspicious, revengeful, and confiding in no one except 
 his prime minister, Sejanus, who was equally aban- 
 doned in character as himself. Sejanus at length fell
 
 46 Morality of the Ancient Romans. 
 
 under his suspicion, and he and all his friends and rel- 
 atives were massacred. Tiberius, after a long career 
 of crime, was smothered at the instigation of his suc- 
 cessor, Caligula. 
 
 Caligula ascended the throne A.D. 37. Not content 
 with murder, he ordered all the prisoners in Rome 
 and numbers of tlie aged and infirm to be thrown to 
 wild beasts. He claimed diA'ine honors, erected a 
 temple, and instituted a college of priests to superin- 
 tend his own worship. For his favorite horse, In- 
 citatus, he built a stable of marble and a manger of 
 ivory, and frequentl}^ invited him to the imperial table. 
 In derision of republican government, he conferred 
 upon this horse the honors of consulship, and in 
 mockery of religion he appointed him high-priest. 
 After a four years' reign he was murdered by his own 
 guards. 
 
 He was succeeded by the imbecile Claudius. Though 
 deficient in judgment Claudius was not destitute of 
 good nature, and he was impelled to the commission 
 of many crimes by his abandoned favorites. His dis- 
 solute wife, Messalina, ruled him at pleasure, but she 
 was finally put to death by the Emperor for her 
 shameless crimes. He then married his niece, Agrip- 
 pina, the infamous mother of the infamous Nero, who 
 caused him to be poisoned by his phj-sician. 
 
 Next came Nero, in whose reign St. Paul came to 
 Rome, at which time we may reckon the introduction 
 of Christianity. To rehearse even a few of the crimes 
 of this monster would be sickening. I will mention 
 only one. In the year A.D. 64, one year after St. 
 Paul's arrival, there was a great conflagration in Rome 
 and the greater part of the city was destroyed. Sus- 
 picion had fastened on Nero as the author. Historians
 
 Morality of the Ancient Romans. 47 
 
 are divided as to the justness of the suspicion. At 
 any rate, to remove it from himself, he charged the 
 Christians as being the incendiaries and had them 
 slaughtered indiscriminately. Tacitus, who was an 
 inveterate hater of the Christians, thus describes the 
 massacre : 
 
 "Various forms of mockery were added to enhance 
 their dying agonies. Covered with the skins of wild 
 beasts, they were doomed to die by the mangling of . 
 dogs, or by being nailed to crosses, or to be set on fire 
 and burnt — after twilight, by way of nightly illumina- 
 tion. Nero offered his own gardens for this show, and 
 gave a chariot race, mingling with the mob in the 
 dress of a charioteer, or actually driving about among 
 them." 
 
 Surely, " When the righteous are in authority the 
 people rejoice; but when the wicked beareth rule the 
 people mourn." 
 
 In justice to Nero it should be said that he was held 
 in great esteem by the boys — the ignobile vulgus. He 
 did many things to the detriment of the better class 
 for their gratification. That his tomb was decked for 
 m.any years with spring and summer flowers is evi- 
 dence that he lived in the hearts of some of his coun- 
 trymen. 
 
 Thus far I have said nothing of the part that the 
 women played in this polluting and polluted drama. 
 It is best, if you can not say something good of the 
 fair sex, to say nothing at all. I will follow this rule, 
 save to add one .statement of a contemporary writer, 
 and that is that women married in order to be di- 
 vorced and were divorced in order to marry, and that 
 noble Roman matrons counted the years not by the 
 consuls, but by their discarded or discarding husbands.
 
 48 MOR^vLITY OF THK AnCIENT RoMANS. 
 
 On this vast moral waste of misery, squalor, pov- 
 erty, voluptuousness, debauchery, envy, and murder, 
 there were, it is true, some just persons. The image 
 of Justice was still left, but the goddess herself had 
 taken wings and flown away. A few Burrhuses and 
 Senecas were still striving for the pristine virtue and 
 morality of their forefathers, bu^^ the tide of evil was 
 so great that they were overwhelmed and finally killed. 
 
 The outlook for the human family at this time was 
 peculiarly gloomy. Rome had hitherto been the con- 
 servator and promoter of a measurably healthy civ- 
 ilization, but had by her vices lost that prerogative, 
 and, what was more lamentable, there appeared no 
 people upon the whole face of the earth of sufficient 
 moral worth to whom this charge could be intrusted. 
 Athens, with her broadly liberal republicanism, and 
 with her philosophy almost divine, could not rescue 
 her people from ruin occasioned by their vices, and 
 Rome, with her strongly centralized government and 
 her admirable system of laws, had made a most signal 
 failure in the same direction. The Spaniards and the 
 Celts of Gaul, as dependents of Rome, had become 
 involved in her degeneration. The old monarchies of 
 Egypt, Persia, and Babylon had long ago lost their 
 civilizing power and intellectual hegemony. Our fore- 
 fathers in Northern Europe had not yet attained that 
 condition that could be called civilization even. 
 
 But man's extremity is God's opportunity. "The 
 fullness of time " had come and Christ was born, upon 
 whom all healthy civilizations in the future were to be 
 founded, and his distinctive appellation was Jesus: 
 " For he shall save his people from their sins."
 
 ^UffiiEMiyNDsiiBUJ^
 
 SOME TYPES OF CIVILIZATION. 
 
 By R. V. FOSTER, 
 Professor of Hebrew and Isew Testament Greek. 
 
 What is civilization ? Like many other questions, 
 this one also has been variously answered. Civiliza- 
 tion has been taken to be merely the multiplication 
 of artificial wants and of the means and refinements 
 of ph5'sical enjoyments. In this sense it is an evil 
 rather than a good, and is scarcely preferable to bar- 
 barism. It has been taken also to signify both a state 
 of physical well-being and a state of superior intel- 
 lectual and moral culture. That is better, and is more 
 coincident with the sense in which I shall use the term 
 on this occasion. You see that it is a relative term, 
 its antithesis being barbarism; and, as there have al- 
 ways been degrees of barbarism, so there have always 
 been degrees of civilization, the lowest degree of the 
 latter being somewhere in the neighborhood of the 
 highest degree of the former. The one shades off by 
 imperceptible gradations into the other, so that no 
 man can tell exactly where the one begins and the 
 other ends. 
 
 Various tests have been employed. The Greek used 
 a literary, or, perhaps more strictl)', a linguistic test. 
 He was proud of his language, and indeed it was 
 something to be proud of He it was who invented 
 the word "barbarian," which I have said is the an- 
 tithesis of "civilized." With him every man who 
 
 (49)
 
 'L^ 
 
 50 Some Types of CiviLizATiON. 
 
 could not use the Greek language with facility was a 
 barbarian ; or, in other terms, he was a stammerer, 
 one who could not half talk, as the word is said by 
 some literally to mean. But you could not adopt such 
 a test, for the sublime egotism of the Greek is no 
 longer regarded as the polite and proper thing. The 
 German has just as good a right to affirm that his 
 language is the only classical one as the Englishman 
 has to affirm it of the English, and he has as much 
 ability to make good his claim. And if you should 
 venture to call every Englishman or American a bar- 
 barian who introduces barbarisms into his use of the 
 English language you would diminish th^ ranks of 
 the civilized quite rapidly. 
 
 On the other hand, the Roman's test was a social 
 one. If a man or a people were not Roman citizens * 
 either by birth or by adoption they were not civilized ; 
 the}^ were barbarians. At least this was the general 
 test. 
 
 With the Hebrew the test was a religious or eccle- 
 siastical one. Whoever did not belong to the theoc- 
 racy was a Gentile, and "Gentile" and "heathen" 
 were with him s5-nonyms. This test has not entirely 
 disappeared, as you are very apt, some. of you, to rate 
 him highest who is a member of your own church, 
 and we are still more liable to call a Japanese or China- 
 man a barbarian merely because his religion is not 
 ours; or the Mohammedan, merely because he is a 
 Mohammedan, though there is truly a pre-eminent 
 Christian civilization. 
 
 The religion of a people does have a marlced influ- 
 ence on the civilization of that people, but I am not 
 aware that the religion inculcated in the New Testa- 
 ment has a more marked influence on modern civiliza-
 
 Some Types of Civilization. 51 
 
 tion than the same religion as presented in the Old 
 Testament was intended to have upon the ancient 
 civilization. The chief difference in the two cases 
 arises, I apprehend, from the fact that the church of 
 the New Testament dispensation understands and ex- 
 ecutes its mission better than the church of the Old 
 understood and executed its mission. On this point I 
 may add that some members of the present church 
 who disbelieve in foreign missions would have been 
 more at home and more congenially associated had 
 they been born twenty-five hundred years ago and 
 held their membership in some pre-Christian He- 
 brew s3magogue. The Hebrew civilization derived a 
 marked characteristic from the fact that the Hebrew 
 thought no man had any share in or right to the Mes- 
 sianic privileges except himself. The Hebrews were 
 orientals, and the characteristic of their civilization 
 just alluded to was not altogether peculiar to them. 
 The Chinese call themselves the Celestials to this 
 day, and you all know how impenetrable to foreign 
 intrusion the Chinese empire has always been until 
 comparatively a recent period. The Japanese civil- 
 ization has always been equally exclusive until still 
 more recently, and the Corean also. 
 
 I mentioned the Greek civilization just now and 
 said that one of its characteristics was exclusiveness. 
 But I may add that this exclusiveness was not based 
 altogether on literary and aesthetic culture. It was 
 doubtless based to some extent on the Grgek doctrine 
 of autoothony. Some of you are doubtless aware that 
 the Greeks did not believe in the unity of the human 
 race. The Greek, and the Greek alone, was made out 
 of Greek dust, which, in his estimation, was much 
 better soil than that out of which any body else was
 
 52 Some Types of CiviiyizATiON. 
 
 made. The national and intense assertion of this 
 doctrine gave more or less character to the Greek civ- 
 ilization; and we may be sure that the Athenians 
 pricked up their eai's and turned up their noses when 
 Paul, in his address before them,* stated that God had 
 made of one blood all the nations of the earth. It 
 was as much as to say to Paul : You need not try to 
 insinuate yourself into.our favor and your religion 
 upon our notice by claiming kin with us. We do not 
 know you. And thereupon they got up and walked 
 out, and left Paul speaking to the empty benches. It 
 was uncivil, from our point of view, in the Athenians 
 to treat Paul in that way, but it was just like them to 
 do it, especially when touched upon that point. You 
 have probably met with a few people in your day who 
 believed that they were made out of better earth than 
 the rest of mankind, though they are not sufficiently 
 encouraged in the belief to make it a peculiarity of 
 our civilization, as it was with the Greek. But I 
 should do Greek civilization scant}^ justice if I were 
 to fail to sa}^ that its military genius and statesman- 
 ship was not sufficiently dominant to produce a dis- 
 tinct type of civilization, though its literary and 
 artistic genius was. Greece produced no statesman 
 whose wisdom has influenced succeeding ages. We 
 look not thither for law and clean-cut exhibits of 
 man's social and political relations and duties to man. 
 When Greece is mentioned we think not of govern- 
 ment and legislative codes, but of philosophers, and 
 poets, and sculptors, and painters. These are the dead 
 though sceptered sovereigns whose spirits' from their 
 urns still rule us. The genius of Demosthenes, the 
 orator, was the genius of an artist rather than of a 
 statesman ; and there was but one Pericles, and the
 
 Some Types of Civilization. 53 
 
 glory which he gave to Greece was not a typical civ- 
 ilization, but the flash of a meteor. But the philos- 
 ophers and artists had their schools. Rome is our law 
 school and our military academy. As he who would 
 be an artist or a philosopher must know about Prax- 
 itilles or Plato, so he who would be distinguished in 
 war or law must know about Caesar or the Twelve 
 Tables. 
 
 There are other ancient civilizations which recent 
 research has brought into too great prominence to 
 justify me in leaving them quite unmentioned here — 
 the Assyrian or Chaldean, for instance, which mani- 
 fests itself in Assyrian architecture and art, and in the 
 military, domestic, and religious affairs of kings and 
 people. The Assj-rians were not barbarians — far from 
 it — though as to whether their civilization would fall 
 under M. Guizot's first, second, third, or fourth hy- 
 pothesis it is impossible to say ; possibly neither. In 
 the first place, there was society; and, in the second 
 place, society into which the individual was not wholly 
 sunken. But, so far as known to us, its ruling idea 
 was military conqziest. Abraham, before his divine 
 call, was a representative of the Accadian phase of 
 this civilization. He was born and brought up in 
 lower Chaldea, and spent the first sevent}' years of his 
 life under the influence of the elaborate and powerful 
 sy.stem of idolatry introduced about the time of his 
 birth by King Sargon I. But Abraham's soul re- 
 mained "pure as a white lily in muddy waters" amid 
 the seductive influences which won over even Terah, 
 his father, and perhaps all his brothers and kinsmen. 
 Terah was not only an idolater, as the Scripture in- 
 forms us, but, as Jewish tradition says, his business 
 was that of a manufacturer of idols. Abraham re-
 
 54 Some Types of Civilization. 
 
 mained faithful to the God of Noah, called him by no 
 new name, and worshiped him not under the form 
 of any image. 
 
 In the days of Abraham the Accadians already lived 
 in solid houses of brick, whose walls were made very 
 thick to protect the inmates from the southern heat. 
 The windows were high up and small. Trees were 
 planted around for the purpose of shade. Hand-made 
 pottery of many kinds abounded, and their embroid- 
 ered garments and tessellated cushions of tapestry 
 were famous far from home. Sun-dials marked the 
 hours of the day, which had already been divided as 
 we now have them. The smith and the jeweler fur- 
 nished field and camp and house and the person with 
 a long list of implements, weapons, and ornaments in 
 various metals. There were combs, and head-dresses, 
 and mirrors ; and music on guitars, drums, tambour- 
 ines, harps, etc.; and wine cups and drunken feasts, 
 very much as with us; and large trade was carried on 
 with other nations in blue clothes and broidered work, 
 _in chests of rich apparel, and ivory, gems, cedar, and 
 ^pearls. Drainage and irrigation converted the mar.shy 
 flats of the south and the dry, dusty stretches of the 
 north country into gardens of exceeding beauty and 
 richness, and the palm-trees, burdened with dates, 
 grew on the banks of the streams in such luxuriance as 
 to render the people unmindful of the absence of fig, 
 or olive, or vine. The most beautiful of trees — the 
 palm — was also the most varied in usefulness. Its 
 fruit, hanging in clusters of amber or gold, is at once 
 pleasant to the eye, delicious, and nourishing — the 
 food of the poor and the luxury of the rich. The 
 crushed kernels of it fed the goats and sheep, and the 
 gashed stem or trunk yielded a drink which took the
 
 Some Types of Civilization. 55 
 
 place of wine. The tuft or crown which grew from 
 the top and the inner fiber and pith were boiled for 
 food. Mats and baskets were made from the leaves, 
 while the trunk furnished pillars for houses, and roof- 
 ing, and furniture. The whole district in Abraham's 
 day was exceedingly fertile and highly cultivated; 
 shady with palm 5, tamarisks, aifd acacias, rich in 
 pomegranates, and golden with fields of the finest 
 wheat. Millet and sesame grew to a fabulous height, 
 and all kinds of corn plants produced two and three 
 hundred-fold. Such was the civilization and such the 
 enchanted land in the midst of which' Abraham spent 
 the .first seventy years of his life, and which at the 
 call of God he was to exchange for Canaan. 
 
 Canaan — and the mention of that name reminds me 
 of another early civilization of which I should be 
 glad to speak if I had time — Canaan was the land of 
 settled population, with towns and governments long 
 antedating Abraham's day ; a land of corn fields, figs, 
 vineyards, and fortresses; a land of which an authority 
 earlier than the patriarch speaks as abounding in wine 
 more than water; a land in which all the trees were > 
 fruit-bearing, and that yielded barley and wheat, and 
 that had no end of cattle ; a land over which a pro- 
 found moral corruption had already spread when the 
 patriarch entered it ; where human sacrifices marked 
 the worship of the gods, and where unnatural sins so 
 abounded as to receive their name from Sodom. 
 
 I say- it would be interesting to dwell more at 
 length on this early civilization and the neighboring 
 Phoenician and Egyptian, but I must hasten on to the 
 final and the chief inquiry of this lecture: To what, 
 extent does Christianity influence civilization, and 
 what is the character of that influence? This leads
 
 56 Some Types, of Civilization. 
 
 me to remind you that the term civilization is a social 
 term, and if analyzed would be equal to some sort of 
 social organization, plus certain manners and customs. 
 There can be no civilization where there is no state 
 or government. To what extent does Christianity in- 
 fluence social organization, and manners, and cus- 
 toms? That it does do so every body admits, as is 
 evident in the universal use of the phrase Christian 
 civilization. 
 
 Our modern European civilization (in which I 
 include the North American) is made up, we may say, 
 of ten essential elements. Six of these elements are 
 not peculiar to it. They are common to otlier civili- 
 zations, ancient and modern. The difference between 
 the two consists in part at least in the other four 
 elements. How is the presence of these four ele- 
 ments in our civilization to be accounted for? They 
 are due in part to Christianity, but not entirely. 
 They are partly attributable to the very genius or 
 spirit of the Caucasian races. Christianity could 
 scarcely make an Aryan or Indo-European out of a 
 Semite, or vice versa. It was not intended that it 
 should do so. Our civilization for instance is being 
 influenced largely by our extensive and increasing 
 railroad systems. But Christianity of itself could 
 scarcely have taught the Semitic and Kamitic peoples 
 to build railroads. The Caucasian races are charac- 
 terized by a spirit of restless enterprise and progress 
 which has always been wanting to the sons of Shem 
 and Ham, and consequently the civilization of the 
 former has always differed from that of the latter, 
 and always will, until race distinctions shall have 
 diappeared. Western Asia had the gospel either in 
 its Old or New Testament forms long before Europe
 
 Some Types of Civilization. 57 
 
 and America, and so far they had greatl}' the advan- 
 tage, but it is true that Europe and America have 
 long been sending the gospel and a better civilization 
 back to Western Asia. The Asiatics have never had 
 the power that the sons of Japheth have, to re- 
 sist the downward tendency. They have had their 
 city builders and warrior heroes, but they have fur- 
 nished modern times but little to talk about and 
 write about except rutins — no science, no philosophy, 
 no literature, no law ; and though they were the first 
 to receive the gospel, they were also the first to lose 
 it. To the sons of Japheth, for some reason or other, 
 has passed the responsibility and the honor of being 
 the world's teacher. Truly they are dwelling in the 
 tents of Shem. If I fail as a teacher for a want 
 of intellect or will power or disposition or acquire- 
 ment, I must be supplanted by another and more 
 efficient teacher. The world must be educated. 
 And I should like to say here, at least in parenthesis, 
 that when we as a government, or as a people, cease 
 to fulfill our function as a teacher in the broad and 
 truest sense the world will no longer have any use 
 for us, and we will cease to be. That, I think, is 
 certain. There is a vast deal more than mere pro- 
 fessional zeal in the missionary entreaties of such 
 men as our Dr. Bell and our Hails. There is in the 
 matter a deep philosophy, and if you will not miscon- 
 strue m}^ use of the term I will also say a deep divine 
 decree. It is an entreaty which comes not merel}' to 
 our church or to any church, but to our nation and 
 to our civilization, and woe be to our nation and to 
 our civilization when the chief end of our national 
 political parties shall become a question of mere 
 " ins and outs " — a mere question of personal and
 
 58 SoMK Types op Civilization. 
 
 selfish greed. The age of lyouis XIV. was the most 
 brilliant age in French history, but it was also the 
 age in which the least amount of good accrued to the 
 people, a fact wdiich the king mourned in his last 
 days. But here and now the people make the gov- 
 ernment and the people make the civilization, and do 
 not let us forget that people in the aggregate have 
 missions to fulfill as well as people in their individual 
 capacity. Ours is an educational one. 
 
 But I digress too far. I was saying that one 
 reason why the Caucasian civilization differs from 
 some ancient and modern civilizations lies in the 
 very genius or spirit of the people. Another cause 
 lies in geographical and climatic influences. The 
 civilization of South America, for example, can never 
 be of quite the same type as that of North America; 
 and the civilization of Northern Europe can never 
 be quite the same as that of Southern Europe. 
 Geographical, and climatic surroundings influence 
 the literature and habits of a people, and these influ- 
 ence to a marked degree the civilization of that 
 people. 
 
 But the cause of difference with which we are 
 chiefly concerned lies in Christianity. But here 
 if we should enter into a minute di.scussion of thi.s 
 phase of the subject, the necessity of additional 
 analysis would immediately confront us; for while in 
 their general features the Roman Catholic and Pro- 
 testant civilizations are the same, it is obvious that in 
 many important particulars they widely differ. The 
 civilization of the middle ages of European history 
 was Roman Catholic, but it was widely different from 
 the Protestant civilization of the eighteenth and 
 nineteenth centuries — widely different indeed from
 
 Some Types of Civilization. 59 
 
 the modern Roman Catholic civilization in countries 
 where Protestantism has had little opportunity to 
 influence it. The civilization of the Mexico of to- 
 day is Roman Catholic civilization, so also is that 
 of several of the South American States ; but it is 
 scarcely worth while for me to remind you that the 
 civilization of these countries is radically different 
 from and exceedingly lower than the type which 
 obtains in this and some other Protestant countries. 
 The strength of Roman Catholicism, if we may 
 judge it from its history, consists for the most part in 
 the solidity of its organization, and the emphasis 
 which it places on the doctrine of obedience. Hence, 
 it comes naturall}' to be the handmaid of despotic 
 government, and puts a clog on the wheels of all 
 progress; for is it not an obvious fact, notwithstand- 
 ing occasional apparent exceptions, that the arts and 
 sciences of civilization do never find congenial soil in 
 despotic countries? Look at Ireland; look at Italy; 
 look at Spain. And the only reason why the Roman 
 Catholicism of the United States is not similiarly 
 deleterious is because of the restraining and neu- 
 tralizing influence of our Protestantism. Roman 
 Catholicism, I say, is the handmaid of despotism 
 and clogs the wheel of all progress. Its tendency is — 
 and this is the tendency of every degree of Episcopacy 
 — to elevate society, whether ecclesiastical or civil, at 
 the expense of the individual. Its only cry is the 
 church, the church, the church, while, so far as it 
 cares, the indfvidual can sink lo\Ver into ignorance 
 and sin, and go to ruin if he wants to. 
 
 But the tendency of Protestantism, especially of 
 Republican Protestantism, is to elevate the indi- 
 vidual. It is the handmaid of liberty and progress.
 
 6o Some Types of Civilization. 
 
 It remembers that society, organization, church, state 
 were made for man and not man for the church or 
 state, and it elevates the type of civihzation accord- 
 ingly. I said to you just now that the age of Louis 
 XIV. was one of the most brilliant in French history. 
 So it was so far as the government was concerned; 
 but it was one of the darkest so far as the people 
 were concerned. When the form is a more or less 
 stringent despotism, there is a vast difference be- 
 tween having a fine government and a fine people. 
 When the form is a more or less stringent prelacy, 
 there is a great difference between a fine church and 
 a fine membership. The one does not necessarily 
 imply the other. That which does most for the 
 connection, or the societ}^, or the organization, or the 
 state, or whatever it may be called, is not the best 
 unless it also at the same time does the most for the 
 individual. And the converse of this proposition is 
 also true. 
 
 The broad difference then between Roman Cath- 
 olicism and despotic civilization on the one hand, 
 and Protestant and Republican civilization on the 
 other, is that the latter produces a free and healthy 
 individualism, while the former does not, but destroys 
 it wherever it finds it. A striking illustration of this 
 is furnished even in the matter of proper names. 
 Under the dominancy of the old Roman Catholic 
 despotism it was by no means the rule for men to 
 have more than one name. It was simply Jones, or 
 Smith, or Brown. It was only under the humanistic, 
 the elevating, the liberalizing influence of Protestant- 
 ism that men generally came to be called Paul Jones, 
 or John vSmith, etc. It is a tribute to the importance 
 of the individual, and to that extent at least a confes-
 
 Some Types of Civilization. 6i 
 
 sion of the influence which Protestant Christianity 
 directly or indirectly has on our civilization. 
 
 But let us drop the adjectives Roman Catholic and 
 Protestant, and in order to appreciate the more 
 keenly the influence of Christianity upon the world- 
 civilization, let us look, at least briefly, at the 
 highest type of it, presented, not in the Semitic or 
 Hamitic races, but in the Japhetic Greeks and 
 Romans, and thereby give the world-civilization in 
 the absence of Christianity the best advantage possi- 
 ble in the argument. 
 
 The two prominent characteristics of the civiliza- 
 tion of Rome during its golden age were heartless 
 cruelty and unfathomable corruption. Being past 
 feeling it gav^ itself tip to lasciviousness to work all 
 manner of uncleanness with greediness; filled with 
 all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, ma- 
 liciousness, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity; 
 insolent, haughty, without natural affection, unmer- 
 ciful, etc. These are terms applied to it by a con- 
 temporary writer. There was never an age, says 
 another historian, which stands so instantly con- 
 demned by the bare mention of its rulers as that 
 which recalls the successive names of Tiberius, 
 Gains, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, 
 and which after a brief gleam of better examples 
 under Vespasian and Titus, sank at last under the 
 hideous tyranny of Domitian. More writers than 
 one speak of the enormous wealth of this period side 
 by side with most revolting poverty ; " its unbounded 
 self-indulgence ; its coarse and tasteless luxury ; its 
 greedy avarice; its sense of insecurity and terror; 
 its apathy, debauchery, and cruelty; its hopeless 
 fatalism ; and its unspeakable sadness and weariness
 
 62 • SoMK Types of Civilization. 
 
 and despair." Tacitus, with all his resources of words, 
 finds it difficult to vary his language in describing so 
 many suicides. At the lowest extreme of the social 
 scale during the golden days of the Roman civilization 
 were sixty million of slaves, "without family, with- 
 out religion, without possessions, without recognized 
 rights, and toward whom none had any recognized 
 duties, passing from a childhood of degradation to a 
 manhood of hardship and an old age of unpitied 
 neglect." Masters had the right by law to put them 
 to death at their pleasure ; and .when they were 
 beaten by way of punishment the custom was to 
 swing them with weights tied to their feet to prevent 
 them from moving. When punished capitally they 
 were either crucified or burned alive, and if a master 
 of a family happened to be killed in his house and 
 the murderer could not be discovered the rule was to 
 hold the slaves responsible. Tacitus relates that in 
 one instance four hundred were put to death on this 
 account, and many eminent senators openly advo- 
 cated the brutal law. It was not unusual for the 
 •master to put the aged and useless slave to perish in 
 an island in the Tiber ; and some there were who 
 would drown them as food for the fish in their ponds. 
 Only a little higher in the scale were the common 
 people, by far the larger body of the citizens of the 
 empire. They were beggars and idlers, familiar with 
 the grossest indignities of an unscrupulous depend- 
 ence. Among the twelve hundred thousand inhabit- 
 ants of Rome in Cicero's time, there were scarcely two 
 thousand who owned any property. Out of about 
 sixty thousand dwelling-houses in Rome only one 
 thousand seven hundred and eighty were what we 
 would call famil}' residences ; the rest were tenement
 
 Some Types of Civilization. - 63 
 
 houses. According to public sentiment trade and 
 manufacture were servile employments, and hence 
 the common people spent their mornings in lounging 
 about the court-house and other public places, or 
 in dancing fawning attendance at the levees of rich 
 patrons for a share in whose bounty they daily 
 struggled. Their afternoons and evenings were spent 
 in idly gossiping at the public baths, or in listlessly 
 enjoying the polluted plays of the theater, or looking 
 with fierce thrills of delighted horror at the bloody 
 sports of the gladiatorial arena. All that they asked 
 of the state was bread and the games of the circus, 
 and they were ready to support any administration, 
 however despotic, if it would only supply these 
 needs. 
 
 Trajan, on one occasion, by w^ay of celebrating one 
 of his victories, set ten thousand men to fighting in 
 the arena, with one another and with wild beasts, and 
 for purposes of such barbarous amusement hundreds 
 of thousands of gladiators were supported at the 
 expense of the government. And when the patri- 
 cians w'ished to give what we call private entertain- 
 ments the fashionable rule was to engage a hundred 
 pairs of the gladiators and set them to butchering 
 each other. Titus Flamininus even celebrated his 
 father's funeral by a three days' fight of seventy-four 
 gladiators, and this also was the patrician custom; 
 and so popular were these barbarous sports that there 
 was not a town in the Roman Empire from Britain to 
 Syria that could not boast of an arena ; and it was 
 not until Christianity had been preached two hundred 
 years that an edict was passed forbidding even 
 women to fight. This is Roman civilization of which 
 I am speaking. The strangest thing perhaps is not
 
 64 Some; Types of Civilization. 
 
 that such things were so common, but that they were 
 actually approved by such enlightened sages as Cicero 
 and Titus. 
 
 An ancient and well-known writer informs us that 
 they were without natural affection; and in proof 
 of this statement other historians tell us. that the 
 murder of new-born infants was not only practiced, 
 but was an allowed practice in all the states of 
 Greece. Even in polite and shall I say civilized, 
 Athens, the abandonment of children by their parents 
 to wild beasts was permitted without blame or censure ; 
 and yet the Athenians called every body barbarians 
 but themselves. When king Attains murdered his 
 own children in order to leave his crown to his 
 brother even the humane Plutarch applauds the act 
 as a merit. Even the wise and virtuous Solon gave 
 patents permission by law to kill their children. 
 And philosophers supported the custom by argu- 
 ment. Aristotle thought they should not only be 
 permitted but even encouraged to do so, and Plato 
 was of the same opinion ; and later in Italy the crime 
 was daily perpetrated, and the soil of the empire 
 from one end to the other was stained with the blood 
 of murdered infants. This was the civilization of 
 Greece and Rome. 
 
 As to the lowest and nameless grades of inde- 
 cency, it may not be a matter of surprise that they 
 were generally practiced, but it is remarkable that 
 they should have been sanctioned both by public law 
 and social opinion. Neither Seneca, nor Xenophon, 
 nor Plato, nor Aristotle, nor Socrates, nor Cato, is 
 excepted from the revolting account of such writers 
 as Plutarch and Ouintillian. Plato and vSocrates even 
 went so far as to hand their wives over to their 
 
 >•'■
 
 Some Types of Civilization. 65 
 
 friends, or in other words, to procure their unchas- 
 tity, an evil so prominent in Paul's day that he finds 
 it necessary to bring to bear against it inspired 
 legislation in his second epistle to the Thessalonians. 
 And this is the boasted civilization of Greece and 
 Rome of which I am speaking. 
 
 But the tale is too long. Some time ago I prepared 
 an address in which I compared ancient pagan and 
 Christian civilization in respect to the matter of pub- 
 lic and private charities. So the comparison might 
 be continued in detail in respect to various other 
 things. But the tale, I say, is too long, and in many 
 respects too revolting. View the great mountain in 
 'the dim distance, as some one has said, and it seems 
 clothed in an azure hue of beauty ; but come near it, 
 and the azure hue of beauty has faded away and we 
 see nothing but giant crags and unfathomable abysses 
 of darkness. So we see pagan civilization for the 
 most part at a distance. View it more nearly and 
 the blackness of its abysses of corruption become 
 visible to us. Christian civilization has its defects, 
 and it migiit be profitable to point them out, but 
 whether so or not, it is infinitely better than civiliza- 
 tion without Christianity, 
 
 5
 
 WHAT IS OVER OUR HEADS? 
 
 A. H. BUCHANAN, LL.D., 
 Professor of Mathematics aud Civil Engineering. 
 
 Who will decide what is over our heads when 
 "above is below and below is above," when "depth is 
 swallowed up in height insurmountable and height is 
 swallowed up in depth unfathomable?" When the 
 direction up twelve hours later is down, what is there 
 over head which is not under foot ? 
 
 Those who have not made astronomical magnitudes 
 and distances a special study rarely ever accept them 
 with the confidence they do distances from place to 
 place on the earth's surface. They consider their de- 
 termination based upon principles vague and uncer- 
 taiUi or, if not, at least beyond the comprehension of 
 all save the practical astronomer; and he is usually 
 believed to draw very largely upon his imagination. 
 When such persons enter an observatory, and see 
 the apparently complicated instruments they usually 
 leave it feeling that the science which requires the 
 use of all these appliances is utterly be\'ond the com- 
 prehension of the. common mind. There is no suffi- 
 cient reason for this incredulitj' and misconception ; 
 but the man is rarely ever moved who surrenders to 
 the common prejudices against the conclusions of as- 
 tronomical science, and encases himself in the narrow 
 theory which makes the earth the central and the 
 largest thing in this universe. 
 
 The surveyor measures a line along the bank of a 
 river, and from its extremities the angles to a tree on 
 (66)
 
 What is Over Our Heads? 67 
 
 the opposite bank, and with these data jSnds the dis- 
 tance to the tree ; or he measures very carefully a base 
 line five miles in length, and from its extremities the 
 angles to signals on hills on each side of it ten miles 
 apart, and thence to others from twenty to forty miles, 
 thus covering your State with a nc^\vork of triangles, 
 whose sides he computes, and th is determines the 
 distances from your capital to Knc._r/ile, to intermedi- 
 ate places, and to places from onr e r.d of your State" 
 to the other. No one hesitates to accept his results 
 as strictly correct, while perhaps not more than one in 
 ten would comprehend without difficulty the methods 
 by which he reaches them. Now, why should his re- 
 sults be accepted without question and the astron- 
 omer's rejected? Is the latter more visionary or does 
 he deal with things less real? As a rule, practical as- 
 tronomers are the most cautious of all men in ex- 
 pressing an opinion. Their reputation depends upon 
 scrupulous accuracy ; without it they become the jest 
 of their profession. For instance, no one is so guarded 
 in what he says of the physical constitution of the 
 sun as he who has made that his life-time study. 
 Lecturers often pick up what they say, enlarge and 
 amplify, until the original is not only unrecognized, 
 but absolutely perverted. If they are not practical 
 astronomers it is well to accept their assertions with 
 caution. 
 
 The fundamental principles of practical astronomy 
 are not different from those of theodolite survej'ing. 
 In finding the tree's distance, or that of Knoxville 
 from Nashville, essentially the same methods are em- 
 ployed as those used by the astronomer to obtain the 
 distance to the moon, to a planet, to the sun, to a star. 
 
 The instruments of an observ'atory are less compli-
 
 68 What is Over Our Heads? 
 
 cated than the steam engine ; any one familiar with 
 the details of either readily understands all the pe- 
 culiar manipulations. In our national observatory is 
 a common laborer, without education, whose duty it is 
 to assist in moving and pointing the great twenty-six- 
 inch instrument. This man, while engaged in his 
 special work, has discovered several double stars be- 
 fore unknown. Professor Swift, of the Rochester 
 Observatory, has a little son who, when only thirteen 
 years of age, discovered several new nebulae. 
 
 A few days' experience teaches you how a surveyor 
 gets his results, and also how worthy they are of con- 
 fidence. So in astronomy you can transform more 
 from the ideal to the real during one evening in an 
 observatory with a practical man than by studying a 
 fortnight. Like surveying, it can not be taught to 
 purpose without practice, being no exception to the 
 adage, "Any thing is simple enough when j'ou know 
 how it is done." Methods are resolved into a long 
 succession of steps, it is true, but each is based upon 
 the most simple principles, and when the last is taken 
 you look down from an eminence over an easy flight, 
 though it may be difficult to see the connection be- 
 tween the first vStandard measure and the astonishing 
 result. Difficulties in this branch of knowledge, if 
 not unreal, are at least much exaggerated. There is 
 no other science of which so many fundamental prin- 
 ciples may be learned with the naked eye, and it is 
 almost incredible how much can be and has been done 
 with instruments of less than a three-inch object glass. 
 Often you hear of one who, by self-denial, has se- 
 cured a small instrument and made a start on the 
 road to eminence. You have one to-day from your 
 capital (now of the "I,ick Observatory") who began
 
 What is Over Our Heads? 69 
 
 in this way, and is now better known in Europe than 
 among yourselves. Some who could purchase only 
 the object and eye-glasses have made of these their 
 own instruments. The last transit of Venus devel- 
 oped so many amateurs that one astronomer remarked, 
 " This country is one great observatory." Whose fault 
 is it that we are not all astronomers in some sense? 
 Do we lack instruments? We have but to step out 
 any clear evening with an upturned face and truth- 
 loving heart to study the heavens by a celestial globe 
 that can not be surpassed but by its infinite Artisan. 
 Our opera glasses will serve us better than many of 
 the best instruments of the ancient astronomers. If 
 we wish to go further, for a mere pittance we can fur- 
 ni.sh ourselves with a better telescope than Tycho 
 Brahe's. Were there as much money looming in the 
 distance as there is in the field of the mechanic, the 
 physician, or the lawyer, eminent astronomers would 
 be as numerous as noted men in other departments of 
 life ; and the appalling distances and magnitudes of this 
 science would be as familiar and as universally ac- 
 cepted as distances over sea and land. 
 
 Difficulties there are, it is true, but the novice in 
 any thing retraces his steps over and over again, re-ex- 
 amining his premises, doubting and returning for more 
 assurance, before he finally triumphs. If one would 
 master the field of astronomy, he must enter its sacred 
 precincts armed and equipped with the highest style 
 of mathematical analysis. His road to eminence, 
 however, is no more exacting than that to distinction 
 elsewhere. Because we may not all be Newtons, La 
 Places, Herschels, or Leverriers, will we be nothing, 
 reject the life work of such minds, and balance our 
 opinions, without study, against their logical demon-
 
 70 What is Over Our Heads? 
 
 strations? The common prejudices against their over- 
 . whelming results are without a true basis, and while 
 these are entertained we can not get the idea of God's 
 greatness which he intended that we should receive 
 from his works and word. 
 
 As already intimated, astronomy, like surveying, 
 has its base lines, of which the first to be measured is 
 the earth's radius or semi-diameter. The difficulty of 
 measuring a line accurately perhaps rarely occurs to 
 any one, while science has really been taxed as much 
 for this as for any thing else— perhaps more than for 
 any thing else. Nothing can be had to measure with 
 that will continue of the same length. If a rod of 
 iron, wood, glass, or any thing is cut an exact 5'ard or 
 meter long, when it gets warmer or colder it is not 
 the same length. The standard unit, then, is such 
 only at a given temperature, and since we can not use 
 it and preserve this temperature constant, we must 
 find how much it varies for a change of one degree, 
 note its actual temperature every time it is applied to 
 a line, and correct for the difference from an assumed 
 standard temperature. With such an ever-varying 
 standard length the exact distance from the earth's 
 center to the circumference of its equator must be 
 found by measurements made upon its surface in a 
 great number of different localities. . These are made 
 by the methods of geodetic surveying, and consist 
 first of a base line from four to ten miles, whose 
 length is so carefully determined that it is known to 
 be correct to within half an inch. Next a chain of 
 triangles based upon it is located, extending north 
 and south for hundreds of miles, all of whose angles 
 are measured with the greatest scientific accuracy, 
 and then all their sides are just as carefully computed.
 
 What is Over Our Heads? 71 
 
 From these results, with the exact directions of the 
 various lines, the length of a north and south line 
 extending through the entire chain is computed. The 
 difference of the latitude of its termini are found by 
 astronomical observations, and thus the length of an 
 arc of a terrestrial meridian intercepting several de- 
 grees in that particular locality is found. Every civ- , 
 ilized nation strives in this way to contribute the 
 length of a meridian arc, and also that of an arc of a 
 parallel of latitude, as extensive as possible. With 
 the data thus furnished the dimensions of the earth 
 as known at present have been determined. The 
 principal of these arcs were the combined French and 
 English of twenty-two degrees and nine minutes, the 
 Russian of twenty-five degrees and twenty minutes, 
 and the Indian of twenty-one degrees and twenty-one 
 minutes. Several other smaller arcs were used which 
 influenced the result to .some extent. Colonel Clarke, 
 of England, with all such data available, a few years 
 ago found the equatorial radius of the earth to be 
 3.96317 miles and the polar nearly 3,950. After a few 
 years the additional data of an arc of latitude of about 
 forty-seven degrees, resulting from the connection of 
 the geodetic surveys in North Africa with those of 
 Western Europe by the great quadrilateral spanning 
 the Mediterranean Sea, and the arc of a parallel of lat- 
 itude in the United States extending from the Atlantic 
 to the Pacific with the arc of a meridian reaching 
 from the Gulf of Mexico to the lakes, will enable a 
 still more accurate result to be determined. Future 
 computations based upon these ever-accumulating 
 data will perhaps change but very little this — the 
 first astronomical base line— from 3,9631^ miles, and 
 with it the distance to the moon may now be deter-
 
 72 What is Over Our Heads? 
 
 mined ; and the methods will prove it to be our near- 
 est heavenly body. 
 
 When the moon is in either quarter, only one half 
 of its illuminated surface being visible, the earth 
 must obviously be at right angles to the line joining 
 it to the sun. At such a time measure the angular dis- 
 tance between the moon and sun. If no angular instru- 
 ment is at hand, take a pair of compasses or a folding 
 foot-ruler, point one arm at the moon and open the 
 other out until it points to the sun at the same time. 
 Now, if the opening between these two arms were 
 five sixths of one right angle, the sun would be about 
 four times as distant as the moon ; or, if eight 
 ninths of a right angle, it would be six times as dis- 
 tant. In fact, the actual opening between the arms 
 of the compasses will be so near a right angle 
 that the difference from it will be inappreciable with 
 ordinary instruments. In this way Aristarchus proved 
 the sun's distance many times greater than that of the 
 moon. Now, to find the distance from the center of the 
 earth to the moon, place two men on the same north 
 and south line, one as near the north and the other 
 the south pole as possible, with the necessary instru- 
 ments, and when the moon is crossing the meridian 
 of each let him measure carefully the angle between 
 a vertical line and the line from himself to the moon. 
 Then let each observer find his latitude and longitude 
 very carefully by observations upon a few stars, with 
 which and the known dimensions of the earth the 
 exact distance and direction of a straight line through 
 the earth from one to the other can be determined. 
 These data, with the distance of each from the earth's 
 center which is easily found, are all that must be 
 known to find all the parts of the four-sided figure
 
 What is Over Our Heads? 73 
 
 formed by lines from each observer, one to the moon 
 and one to the earth's center, one diagonal of which 
 is the distance from the earth's center to that of the 
 moon. The computation of this quadrilateral by 
 simple trigonometric methods is just such a problem 
 as the surveyor is often required to make. The dis- 
 tance to the moon has been determined several times 
 by this method, and is very accurately known. This 
 work is simple and easily enough understood, yet the 
 observations are laborious and require great care, and 
 the computations of the parts deprending upon the 
 earth's dimensions are difficult and tedious. 
 
 The parallax, as it is called, of a body in the solar 
 system is the angle between two lines -drawn from it, 
 one to the earth's center and the other just touching 
 its surface at the equator. For illustration, suspend a 
 ball two feet in diameter at a distance of fifty-seven 
 and three tenths feet, draw one line from the eye to 
 its center and one just touching its surface, and the 
 angle between these lines will be just one degree. If 
 this ball's radius is one mile instead of one foot its 
 distance would have to be fifty-seven and three tenths 
 miles to subtend the same angle of one degree. Again, 
 in order that the earth's radius — 3,9^3to rniles — may 
 subtend the same angle its distance must be fifty- 
 seven and three tenths times 3,963y\. or about 227,000 
 miles. But the moon's mean distance is 238,868 miles, 
 so it must be still farther away, and the angle sub- 
 tended by the earth's radius at this distance is fifty- 
 seven minutes and two and one third seconds — less 
 than one degree — and is called the moon's mean equa- 
 torial horizontal parallax. Hence, if the parallax of a 
 body is known its distance from the earth is an easy 
 arithmetical problem, and vice versa.
 
 74 What is Over Our Heads? 
 
 The moon's mean distance now being known, her 
 diameter can be easily found by measuring the angle 
 between two lines drawn from the eye to opposite 
 sides of the moon when at its mean distance and tak- 
 ing one half of it, which will be the angle subtended 
 by the moon's radius. This angle is fifteen minutes 
 and thirty-five seconds, or about three elevenths of the 
 moon's parallax, and hence the moon's diameter is 
 about three elevenths of that of the earth, or 2,160 
 miles. 
 
 The next distance to be determined, which is also 
 the second astronomical base line, is that of the sun, 
 and it, too, must be found from his equatorial hori- 
 zontal parallax. The problem of the sun's parallax 
 is the capital one in astronomy. The method used in 
 findinsf that of the moon is far too inaccurate to be 
 used in computing that of the sun on account of his 
 much greater distance. From the definition and illus- 
 tration just given we understand that what is wanted 
 is the angle at the sun formed by two lines drawn 
 from his center, one to the earth's center and the other 
 so as just to touch its surface at a point on the 
 equator — in other words, it is the largest angle at the 
 sun when at his mean distance that a line 3,963xV 
 miles long can subtend. 
 
 By observations made hundreds of years ago Kep- 
 ler discovered the law: The squares of the times in 
 which the planets revolve about the sun are propor- 
 tional to the cubes of their mean distances from him. 
 These periodic times may be observed by any one, 
 and are all known with great accuracy. By means of 
 this law the astronomer knows with the same accuracy 
 the relative distances of the planets from the sun — 
 that is, their distances compared with that of the earth
 
 What is Over Our Heads? 75 
 
 taken as one or the unit and called the astronomical 
 unit. The problem now before us is to find these ab- 
 solute distances in miles by first finding the length in 
 miles of the astronomical unit by means of the sun's 
 parallax. 
 
 Halley's method deduces it by means of the differ- 
 ence between the parallax of the sun and Venus dur- 
 ing her transit over his face, and may be illustrated 
 by supposing two persons, one sitting and the other 
 standing, to observe the line traced out upon the wall 
 of a building in front of them by the head of a third 
 passing between them and it and at a distance from 
 them of about one fourth that of the wall. Knowing 
 the distance in feet between the two observers, the 
 angular distance between the lines traced by the head 
 of the third person, and the relative distances of each 
 from the other and the wall, the absolute distances in 
 feet between the same may be obtaned by a simple 
 arithmetical calculation. So two observers stationed 
 at different points on the earth see the planet Venus 
 pass across the sun's face at different distances from 
 the sun's center, and in an indirect way measure 
 them with considerable accuracy. These differences 
 of distance due to the positions of the observers are 
 proportional to the difference of parallax of the two 
 bodies, and, while both change their directions, Venus 
 changes the faster, and thus seems to move past the 
 sun from east to west. At the time of the last transit 
 (December, 1882) the sun's distance was about three 
 and seventy-eight hundredths times that of Venus, 
 making, therefore, the parallax of the latter three and 
 seventy-eight hundredths times that of the former, 
 and the difference of these two and seventy-eight 
 hundredths times that of' the sun ; so, when this dif-
 
 76 What is Over Our Heads? 
 
 ference has been made out from the observations 
 taken, we have but to divide it by two and seventy- 
 eight hundredths to get the parallax of the sun. Fig- 
 ure I illustrates the method. 
 
 Let one observer be at A, as far to the north as pos- 
 sible, who will see Venus come on the sun's face at F, 
 and will observe very carefully when she just touches 
 it on the outside and again when she just touches it 
 on the inside or gets entirely on the sun. He will 
 see Venus pass across on the line F G, and must ob- 
 serve the time when she gets to the sun's edge at G and 
 when she gets entirely off. These observations will 
 enable him to tell how long the center of Venus is in 
 crossing the sun. Another observer, as far south as 
 possible, at B sees the sun cross on the line C D, and 
 makes a similar set of observations, by which he finds 
 the time the planet's center was crossing on his line. 
 It must be remarked that it is impossible for any ob- 
 server to get the times of the several phases to greater 
 accuracy than within five seconds of time, which 
 yields an error in the required distance of one mile in 
 four hundred miles. In the transit of 1S82 some of 
 the best observers at the same station difiered in their 
 times by ten seconds. The time Venus would be in 
 describing the diameter of the sun being known by 
 means of the times of transiting the lines F G and
 
 What is Over Our Heads? 77 
 
 C D, their lengths as compared with it are also known, 
 and thence their distances from the sun's center, the 
 difference between which furnishes the length (P Q) 
 of the perpendicular to them in seconds of arc. But 
 P Q in seconds is in the same ratio to the difference of 
 the parallaxes of the sun and Venus as the known 
 distance in miles between the observers A and B is to 
 the earth's radius. The differences of parallaxes thus 
 becomes known, which, divided by two and seventy- 
 eight hundredths, gives the sun's parallax. The line 
 A B in this proportion becomes known from the earth's 
 dimensions and the two observers' latitudes and lon- 
 gitudes. 
 
 Another method, called the Delislean, separates the 
 observers as widely as possible in longitude, while 
 they should be as nearly as possible in a line parallel 
 to the planet's motion, and the geographical position 
 of each should be known with great accuracy. Each 
 observes the several phases as in Halley's method, and 
 the differences of time for the respective places as 
 observed by each, with the known relative positions 
 of the observers, furnish the data by which the paral- 
 lax is deduced in a manner similar to the one just 
 given. Figure 2 illustrates the method. 
 
 The observer at E notes the times of external and 
 internal contacts at P when Venus is at Vi, after which 
 the observer at W makes the same observations when
 
 78 
 
 What is Ovkr Our Heads? 
 
 she is at V2. By the similar triangles, E W P and 
 V1V2P, the angle E P W is easily found, and thence the 
 sun's parallax. 
 
 The photographic method was used chiefly by the 
 American observers in the last transit. In this the 
 object is to get as many photographs of Venus on the 
 sun's face as possible. The apparatus is illustrated 
 by figure 3. 
 
 Tig. 3. ^/'/i^^v^ 
 Sun' s Rays ^e. 
 
 S9 Fl 
 
 Two hollow cylinders (A and B) of iron, four feet 
 high and one foot in diameter, are set firmly in the 
 ground, in an exact north and south line, about thirty- 
 nine feet apart, with their tops on the same level. A 
 large lens (E) is mounted on B, and behind it on the 
 same cap-plate rests a heliostat turned by the clock- 
 work supported by the stand (C) just behind B. The 
 clock-work turns an unsilvered polished glass re- 
 flector (D) of the instrument, which throws the light 
 of the sun through the lens E to the plate F on top 
 of the cylinder A, called the plate-holder. The re- 
 flector D is so turned as to keep a steady pencil of 
 sunlight in the direction to F. The accurate polish- 
 ing of this plate is the most diificult and delicate task 
 in the construction of the apparatus; a small defect 
 in its surface makes the work worthless. The plate- 
 holder is inclosed in a dark room (not shown in the
 
 What is Over Our Heads? 79 
 
 jBgure), with just enough light admitted through a 
 small window glazed with j^ellow glass to enable the 
 party to see how to work. An opening through the 
 wall of this dark room is made opposite to the plate- 
 holder, which is opened and closed by a sliding piece 
 called the target, in which there is a round opening 
 that admits the light to the plate F when the target is 
 moved back and forth across the opening "in the wall. 
 The glass plates on which the photographs are taken 
 are all prepared, before the day of transit, with the 
 sensitized coating, and dried, numbered, packed, and 
 sealed up in boxes so as to exclude all light. When 
 the hour arrives to begin work the chief astronomer 
 stands with his hand on the target, and, at a signal 
 from the photographer when a plate is adjusted, passes 
 the target rapidly across the opening, exposing the 
 plate to the light about one tenth of a second. Just 
 as the opening in the target is opposite the plate a 
 point projecting from the lower edge presses a spring 
 that breaks a current of electricity going througli a 
 chronometer, which is connected with a cronograph 
 recording the beats of its seconds on a sheet of paper, 
 thereby recording with them the exact instant the ex- 
 posure was made. One photograph can be taken 
 about every minute. In front of the sensitized plate 
 is suspended a plumb line of very fine silver thread, 
 which is photographed on every plate with the sun 
 and exactly through its center. By means of this 
 image of the plumb line the angle can be measured 
 with precision, which is made by a line joining the 
 centers of the sun and Venus with the meridian. TTie 
 diameters of these photographs are about four inches. 
 The position of the center of the image of Venus with 
 reference to that of the sun and its north point has to
 
 8o What is Over Our Heads? 
 
 be very carefully measured for every photograph, and 
 such is the care required in this work that with the 
 one measuring engine two years will be occupied in 
 measuring the 750 photographs taken by the various 
 parties during the last transit. 
 
 When these measurements are completed the re- 
 sults for each plate are introduced into complicated 
 formulae, the solutions of which give small corrections 
 to be applied to the tabulated values of the parallaxes 
 of the sun and Venus for the same instant at which 
 the photograph was taken, such tabulated values being 
 made from the best mean values now known. Thus 
 each photograph is made to furnish its own new 
 value for these quantities, and the mean of all is 
 taken as the final result. These are the essentials of 
 the photographic method. But the methods by the 
 transit of Venus were decided before the last transit 
 (1882) to be inferior to others, and little benefit is ex- 
 pected to be derived from them. This method can 
 not give a result with a less probable error than one 
 mile within four hundred and seventy miles, or the 
 sun's distance within two hundred thousand miles. 
 
 Another method of the problem of the solar distance 
 is based upon the difference in the attraction of the 
 sun upon the earth and moon due to their difference 
 in distance from him caused by the moon's rotation 
 around the earth. The moon's distance being accu- 
 rately known, and the difference in the sun's gravi- 
 tating force upon it and the earth due to this distance 
 being determined, the ratio of the moon's distance to 
 that of the sun's must result, and from this the lat- 
 ter's distance. It promises a more accurate result 
 than the transits, and will therefore receive much 
 attention in future from practical astronomers.
 
 What is Over Our Heads? 8i 
 
 One of the best methods of solving this problem 
 consists in making measurements on the planet Mars, 
 at the time of rising and setting, when he is nearest 
 to the earth and therefore opposite to the sun. This 
 method is illustrated by figure 4. 
 
 J1C.4. 
 
 Suppose Mars (M) in the position just mentioned, 
 when seen from the center of the earth should appear 
 almost in the same direction as some fixed star (S): to 
 an observer (P) on the equator at the time of rising 
 he would appear farther east than the star by the 
 angle S P Mi, because the star is so far away it would 
 appear exactly in the same direction from P or C. At 
 setting the observer will be at Q, and Mars then will 
 appear farther west than the star by the angle S Q M2. 
 Now, if both these angles are accuratel}' measured, 
 one half of their sum will be the sun's parallax. 
 
 Another method, and the one which will be the best 
 after accurate observations through a few hundred 
 years, is by the perturbations produced by the earth 
 upon the planets Venus and Mars. This, of course, 
 can not be illustrated, and is only mentioned. 
 
 The last methods that will be mentioned here are 
 those by the velocity of light, and by the constant ab- 
 erration of light which depends upon this velocity 
 and that of the earth in its orbit. These are practi- 
 cally the same. They are equally as good as any now 
 available. It is found V)y observations on the eclipses 
 of the moons of Jupiter that it takes light just four 
 hundred and ninety-nine seconds to traverse the mean 
 6
 
 82 What is Over Our Heads? 
 
 distance from the sun to the earth. The velocity of 
 light has been carefully measured by Foucault, Mich- 
 aelson, Newcomb, and others and found to be 186,330 
 miles per second. This multiplied by four hundred 
 and ninety-nine will give the sun's distance, from 
 which his parallax may be deduced. 
 
 After combining the results from all the best meth- 
 ods now available the solar parallax is found to be 
 eight and eight tenths seconds (8.8"), which perhaps 
 can not be in error either way by as much as the one 
 hundredth of a second. Now, returning to the illus- 
 tration already given, in the case of a ball of one mile 
 radius at the distance of fifty-seven and three tenths — 
 or, more accurately, 57.29578 — miles, we have seen the 
 angle formed by two lines drawn, one to the center 
 and the other just touching its surface, is one degree. 
 To subtend an angle of eight and eight tenths degrees 
 it is evident it would have to be removed 3,600 seconds, 
 divided by eight and eight tenths seconds, or four 
 hundred and nine and one eleventh times as far, or 
 23.439tV niiles. Then if its radius be increased to 
 that of the earth, this distance would have to be in- 
 creased 3,963y\ times to subtend the same angle, and 
 this brings us to the sun's distance, equal to about 
 92,896,000 miles, or the round number of ninety-three 
 millions of miles. This, then, is the adopted length 
 of our second astronomical base line — the mean dis- 
 tance of the earth from the sun, or the foot-ruler of the 
 universe — and its length is perhaps not in error over 
 one hundred thousand miles. 
 
 The importance of this distance justifies the fore- 
 going lengthy details of the methods of deducing it, 
 since when established in so many independent ways, 
 its accuracy is demonstrated and its great length may
 
 What is Over Our Heads? 83 
 
 and must be insisted upon ; and furthermore, by it all 
 other astronomical distances and magnitudes are fixed. 
 If its probable error of one hundred thousand miles 
 is thought to be too great to allow it to be styled 
 accurate, what would be said of an error of one and 
 one half inches in the measurement of a building fifty 
 feet long? It would be regarded as of no consequence, 
 and yet it would be greater in proportion than the 
 other. This distance is far more accurately known 
 than that from your Capitol to the court-house of any 
 town in its vicinity, though it may have been meas- 
 ured and traveled over, which is not true of the sun's 
 distance. The distances between the station points 
 in a geodetic survey, some of which are over fifty 
 miles apart, are known to within a few inches and are 
 verified by several independent determinations, and 
 yet they were never measured, and can not be to any 
 such accuracy over such hills, valleys, and streams as 
 intervene. 
 
 The most skeptical may test the greatness of this 
 distance for himself without instruments, without 
 transits, without mathematics, by observing the dura- 
 tion of a central total eclipse of the moon. The rec- 
 ords give this at over three hours, which is one two 
 hundred and twentieth part of the time required for 
 the moon to go around the earth. If then the objector 
 considers " the earth the largest thing in the universe," 
 he must have its shadow where the moon crosses it 
 of at least the same diameter as the earth itself, 
 though it is really much less. So the whole orbit of 
 the moon must be two hundred and twenty times the 
 diameter of the earth, or half of it must be that many 
 times the easth's radius ; and this last divided by three 
 and one seventh would give the moon's distance from
 
 84 What is Over Our Heads? 
 
 the earth about 280,000 miles. Then by the method 
 already suggested he can- prove with a pair of dividers 
 that the sun is more than three hundred and fifty times 
 as far away as the moon, which more than makes the 
 great distance. 
 
 The 93,000,000 mil^s can not be evaded, and hun- 
 dreds of things are accepted as facts on far less evi- 
 dence. Our standard length, the foot-ruler, as used 
 in every-day life, is less accuratel}' fixed than is this — 
 the foot-ruler of the universe. With the one is meas- 
 ured the great earth, with the other the astronomer 
 measures the great universe. We would be at sea 
 without ours;" he can tell us nothing of the great 
 structure he tries to grasp without his, so we must 
 allow him to have it. 
 
 The relative distances of all the planets having been 
 determined long ago in that of the earth from the sun 
 as unity, their distances in.m.iles are now easily ob- 
 tained b}^ multiphang by 93,000,000. These being 
 known in miles, magnitudes of the planets are easily 
 determined in the same unit. As already stated, the 
 parallax of the sun, S.8", means the earth's radius 
 subtends that angle at the sun, or its diameter 17.6". 
 But the diameter of the sun — and an}' one can meas- 
 ure it — as seen from the earth, is about 32', or 1920", 
 and is therefore nearly 1 10 times the diameter of the 
 earth, or about 866,500 miles. To help us get some 
 conception of this we are told to imagine the sun's 
 center placed to coincide with the earth's, and its sur- 
 face everywhere will extend more than 200,000 miles 
 beyond the monthly orbit of the moon. How can we 
 grasp the illustration? It is too big for finite minds, 
 as is almost every thing in the great universe. Who 
 then will estimate the power of the Hand that holds
 
 What is Over Our Heads? 85 
 
 and guides that fiery ball througli the trackless ocean 
 of space? Yet we shall see it as a small body and as 
 much lost among the myriads of others as a small 
 star among'the rest. 
 
 Their distances and diameters being known, the 
 dimensions of all the planets and their satellites large 
 enough to show a disk may be determined by a method 
 the same as those used in computing the dimensions 
 of the sun. Then the laws of gravitation enable the 
 masses of these bodies to be found, those having 
 moons by means of the attractions between the moon 
 and primary, those without, by means of the disturb- 
 ances each produces in the motions of one or more 
 others. By measuring these attraction's and disturb- 
 ances, and knowing the distances of the attracting 
 and disturbing bodies, the relative masses are made 
 out, and from their relative masses to the mass of the 
 earth, whose absolute mass is known, their absolute 
 masses are determined by a simple multiplication. 
 
 Calling the density of water i, that of the earth is 
 5.6, of the sun 1.4, of Mercury 12.5 (nearly that of 
 mercury), of Venus 4.S, of Mars 4.0, of Jupiter 1.3, of 
 Saturn 0.7, or about that of seasoned wood, of Ura- 
 nus 1.2, and of Neptune i.i. These present a strange 
 variety. When the diameters of the heavenly bodies 
 are found, their volumes, by the principles of geome- 
 try, are known to be proportional to the cubes of these 
 diameters. The volume of the sun is thus found to 
 be more than one and one third million times greater 
 than the volume of the earth. But since his density 
 is only one fourth that of the earth, his mass is only 
 about 332,000 times that of the earth ; so the masses 
 are very different from their volumes. If we divide 
 the mass of the sun into one million equal parts and
 
 86 What is Over Our Heads? 
 
 take one of these as the unit, the masses of the plan- 
 ets will be: Mercury, 3; Mars, 3^^^ ; Venus, 23^-^; 
 Earth, 30^; Uranus, 442)^; Neptune, 516; Saturn, 
 2,856; Jupiter, 9,543; Sun, 1,000,000. 
 
 Besides these major planets there are now known 
 about 250 smaller ones, called planetoids, with diame- 
 ters varying between ten and four hundred miles, and 
 their mass combined less perhaps than that of Mars. 
 From two to six of these little blocks are discovered 
 every year, but are so insignificant that little attention 
 is bestowed on them. All their orbits are between 
 those of Mars and Jupiter, and most of them can be 
 seen only with the large telescopes. 
 
 Of the secondary bodies called moons, or satellites, 
 twenty are now known, some of which are larger than 
 the primaries, Mercury and Mars. Our moon is nearly 
 as large as Mercury, and one in each of the groups of 
 Jupiter and Saturn are nearly as large as Mars. To 
 this class of bodies belong also the rings of Saturn, 
 as they consist of great belts of moons so close to- 
 gether as to appear like a continuous ring of matter. 
 These, with his eight moons, make Saturn one of the 
 most interesting objects in the whole heavens. 
 
 Still another class of bodies called comets are seen 
 occasionally. Some of them are of vast dimensions, 
 though of insignificant masses. They struggle across 
 the heavens in a lawless, jack-o'-lantern-like way to 
 the great admiration of the few and the terror of the 
 many. These bodies defy all attempts to discover 
 what and how they are and do, little being known of 
 them. With the exception of a few that have con- 
 sented to their periods of return being made out, 
 which vary from three and a quarter to thousands of 
 years, they seem to delight to show themselves when
 
 What is Over Our Heads? 87 
 
 least expected, to stalk across the heavens in perfect 
 contempt for the laws and rules of routes and ways 
 observed bythe more dignified members of the solar 
 family, and sometimes defiantly to rub around and 
 switch their tails in the very face of the day-king, and 
 then dart away into space as if his gravity clutches 
 could take no hold upon them. They change their 
 form, figure, and dimensions with such disregard to 
 studied and well-digested theories as to what they are 
 and what they should be and do, as to confine all 
 remarks of the astronomer to what they have done 
 and how they look, leaving the prophecies of their 
 future and the conjectures concerning their past to 
 those having less at stake. What are they ? Why do 
 they seem to obey some of dame nature's prescribed 
 laws and defy others? These are still unanswered 
 queries. The spectroscope in reply to the first indi- 
 cates in an uncertain way hydrocarbon, sodium, and 
 magnesium without defining their condition. Kepler 
 says: "They are as numerous as the fish in the sea, 
 while, however, the great number of them are too 
 small for the powers of the telescope." Perhaps many 
 of them have always belonged to the solar system ; 
 many, no doubt, while wandering through space have 
 been captured by our sun or one of his subjects, and 
 have been tamed into willing citizenship, while others 
 coming to us on parabolic or hyperbolic orbits, as they 
 sometimes seem to do, are only transient visitors, .since 
 if they go out from us as they came, they go upon a 
 track that never returns uppn itself, and must there- 
 fore continue out and out until the boundary line be- 
 tween the territory of this and some other sun is 
 crossed. 
 
 Still another set of bodies called meteors should be
 
 88 What is Over Our Heads? 
 
 mentioned, "whose name also is legion." They vary 
 in size from a few ounces to a few hundred pounds. 
 It is estimated that about four hundred millions of 
 these are picked up by the earth during every twenty- 
 four hours. Most of them give us no notice of their 
 arrival except by a long, narrow streak of light which 
 evinces their reduction to gases that fall ultimately 
 as dust to the earth. The zodiacal light is supposed 
 to be the sunlight reflected from a great, dense ring 
 of these, of which each little member, as if aping the 
 planets, travels around the sun in as perfect obedience 
 ■ to Kepler's laws as if it filled a" place as important as 
 that of the great Jupiter. As to how these myriads 
 of little things came to be where they are, and what 
 their destiny is, perhaps there can be but one conject- 
 ure — some are the debris, the chips and spalls left 
 over in the manufacture of their far greater and more 
 honored kinsmen, the planets, and their destiny is to 
 be ultimately gathered up bj- the planets. There is 
 also conclusive evidence that some are the cold, dead 
 fragments of dying and decaying comets. 
 
 Having now noticed all the various classes of bod- 
 ies in the solar system, and their variety in magnitude, 
 condition, and character, it is just as wonderful to 
 contemplate the vast space through which they are 
 distributed and the variety in their movements. Since 
 the mass of the sun is so many times .greater than all 
 the rest of the system, it would be absurd to claim 
 that any other body could be the center around which 
 all the rest revolve. It would indeed be a fertile 
 imagination that could conceive by what magic 
 power the earth could sway around its center the sun 
 three hundred and thirty-two thousand times its own 
 mass.
 
 What is Over Our Heads? 89 
 
 The Copernican system, making the sun the great 
 center around which all the rest with their S3-stems 
 of moons revolve, follows as a necessity if the relative 
 dimensions of the sun and the planets are rightly 
 appreciated, Avhatever the appearances may be to the 
 contrary. If a model should be made of the system, 
 representing the sun by a globe two feet in diameter 
 and reducing all dimensions by the same scale, a circle 
 five miles in diameter would be required in which to 
 set it up. Some of the bodies would be smaller than 
 grains of sand, and even Jupiter would be a ball onl)^ 
 two inches in diameter. If the model were set up in 
 an open plane on the earth and started upon move- 
 ments of the same character, and with periods propor- 
 tional to those of the heavenly bodies, the whole sj'S- 
 tem would doubtless be as long in being discovered as 
 the actual one has been. And if there was nothing 
 else besides the representatives of the system in the 
 circle of five miles, it would seem absolutely vacant. 
 Now conceive the model sun expanded into the real, 
 and all else enlarged to the dimensions of the actual 
 system, would the real space occupied be less vacant 
 in proportion? It is absurd to talk of the waste of 
 space, however, when its dimensions are infinite. 
 
 Starting from the sun, which turns on its axis once 
 in twenty-five or twenty-seven days, we find the order, 
 distances, and periods as follows : 
 
 Velocity. 
 30 miles. 
 23 " 
 
 15 " 
 
 8 
 6 
 
 4>^ " 
 
 riaiiet. 
 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Period. 
 
 Mercun-, 
 
 36 
 
 millions. 
 
 88 days. 
 
 Venus, 
 
 67 
 
 n 
 
 225 '' 
 
 Earth, 
 
 93 
 
 tt 
 
 365 " 
 
 Mars, 
 
 141 
 
 (< 
 
 6S7 " 
 
 Jupiter, 
 
 4S3 
 
 1( 
 
 11.86 vears, 
 
 Saturn, 
 
 886 
 
 ii 
 
 29>^ " 
 
 Uranus, 
 
 i,Soo 
 
 (( 
 
 84 " 
 
 Neptune, 
 
 2,800 
 
 ti 
 
 164 "
 
 90 What is Over Our Heads? 
 
 From Mercury the sun would appear in diameter 
 two and one half times as great as at the earth, while 
 his heat in an atmosphere like ours would be nearly 
 seven times as great, but at the other extreme to Nej)- 
 tune the sun appears only one thirtieth of his diam- 
 eter to us and his heat is only one nine hundredth as 
 great as ours. 
 
 The great central, God-appointed king of day dwarfs 
 every thing else in the solar system. Concentrate all 
 the planets, moons, planetoids, comets, and meteors 
 of the solar system except the sun in one single body, 
 and it would make onl}^ one seven hundredth part of 
 the sun's mass, while Jupiter is about two and one 
 half times as great as all other bodies together except 
 the sun. All the worlds under the sway of this " bride- 
 groom coming out of his chamber and rejoicing as a 
 strong man to run a race," are no more hinderance or 
 burden to his march through space than would be a 
 four-ounce weight to the contestant on the race-course. 
 His light so far exceeds that from any artificial source 
 that all except one appear absolutely dark when held 
 between him and the eye. If the atmosphere was out 
 of the way and a sheet of ice held so that his rays 
 would fall upon it perpendicularly and be all absorbed, 
 the^^ would melt a thicknes^ of fourteen and one half 
 feet in one day. With the atmosphere, the obliquity 
 of his rays, and the fact that he is half the time below 
 the hori.7on, his heat is sufficient to melt a thickness 
 of one hundred feet per year. The temperature of 
 his surface exceeds many times that of our hottest fur- 
 naces, and his interior must be at a still higher tem- 
 perature. Short-sighted humanity regards him as 
 made solely to bless earth and its life-peopled surface 
 with his light and heat, and yet very few ever think
 
 What is Over Our Heads? 91 
 
 how much is derived from the sun. .The fires that 
 drive our engines owe their euergj^ to him. The 
 strength of the animals that work for us, the waters 
 of our springs, the food we eat, all the things that 
 make physical life what it is, come either directly or 
 indirectly from the fires of the sun. Is the warning 
 strange then: " Take therefore good heed . . . lest 
 thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou 
 seest the sun and the moon and the stars . . . thou 
 shouldst be driven to worship them." The Bible 
 symbol of a calamity is, "The sun was obscured," 
 etc. Let the hand that made the sun lock out his 
 light and heat from earth but a few days, and the 
 frosty fingers of death would lock every pulse of life 
 in icy fetters forever. 
 
 An exceedingly puzzling question is : ** How is this 
 supply of heat kept up?" If by combustion, where 
 does the fuel come from? The impossibility of this 
 theory is evident before the question is finished. If 
 the fall of meteors into the sun is suggested, their 
 number can not possibly be suflBcient, otherwise their 
 presence in sufficient numbers would be manifested 
 by disturbing the planets Mercury and Venus in their 
 orbits. The one theory that is at all tenable is that 
 the contraction of the sun under the action of its own 
 weight is the only adequate source of the requisite 
 supply of heat. The calculation has been made and 
 it is found that two hundred and twenty feet annual 
 diminution of its diameter is sufficient. This rate in 
 the age of the human race would diminish the diame- 
 ter so little that it would scarcely be perceptible. 
 
 Think how little of this light and heat is caught by 
 the vvMdely scattered members of the solar family. If all 
 they have received for hundreds of years were instantly
 
 92 What is Over Our Heads? 
 
 thrown back into the sun, perhaps we w^ould hardly 
 recognize any increase in his temperature. What must 
 be said of this great apparent waste? Or first, rather 
 who will undertake to prove there is anj^ waste ? Even 
 of those light-raj's that reach the earth only an infini- 
 tesimal part are utilized by the eyes of the animal king- 
 dom. Are the others reaching it lost? It would be a 
 very narrow and selfish view of the economy of the 
 heavens to say that great fire-ball. is a mere hearth- 
 stone and lantern for this earth and her sister planets. 
 The earth's one two thousand millionth part of his 
 light and heat would scarcely be missed by him. Not 
 more than one two hundred millionth part of his 
 influences even starts out toward the entire solar fam- 
 ily. Is the rest lost? These influences go out in 
 straight lines forever, and therefore can never return 
 to replenish his wasting energies. As the light and 
 heat of the stars, so his are ever tracking the same 
 course on which they started until they reach their 
 destination. Even some rays which strike us and 
 earth do not end their mission here, but are reflected 
 off again into space. We read some of the history of 
 the stars through these winged messengers, and why 
 may not intelligences of keener eye and swifter and 
 more ethereal movements, by watching ahead of these 
 reflected rays, be reading the whole drama of human 
 history as it is now coming up to them? Is it impos- 
 sible that we may some day be among these same 
 intelligences, reading over again our honorable or 
 shameful part in this drama? 
 
 How science fails us when we would strain our 
 strength to know these things and follow out the hints 
 thus thrust at us! She tells us of the iron grip of 
 gravity, of the dazzling brilliancy, gaud}^ hues, and
 
 What is Over Our Heads? 93 
 
 the chemical properties of the glorious sunlight, of 
 the life-giving cheer of his heat ra3's, and of the mys- 
 tical electric thrills that come form the fire-ball king , 
 of day, and is this all that can be told? Can two or 
 three little blunted, feeble, finite senses of a still more 
 feeble, finite being perceive all the various influences 
 scattered from that seething, tossing vulcan-shop ? 
 Impossible ! We know comparatively nothing of what 
 is under our feet, though we may handle and turn it 
 in every phase ; and how can we pretend to know of 
 that which dwarfs earth to nothingness and is millions 
 of miles above our heads. 
 
 Thus far only an imperfect outline of some of the 
 leading features and characteristics of the solar s^-stem 
 — its distances and magnitudes — have been consid- 
 ered, and if these are regarded too great, what will be 
 said of the distances to the stars? To the natural eye 
 observations the so-called fixed stars seem always 
 to occupy exactly the same relative positions, and 
 indeed such observers of a thousand years ago if pres- 
 ent now would see the stars sensibl}^ as thej^ saw them 
 then. The refined methods of astronomj^, however, 
 in our day have proved that the stars are really in 
 motion — so slight though that it would require thou- 
 sands of years to make such changes in their relative 
 positions as could be detected by the unassisted eye. 
 The positions of the stars are designated in star cata- 
 logues by what is called right ascensions and declina- 
 tions, which are exactly analogous to longitudes and 
 latitudes of places upon the earth. Observations from 
 time to time upon the stars show that these co-ordi 
 nates are changing a very little every year, some more 
 and some less,, some in one direction and some in 
 another. The greatest of these annual changes is
 
 94 What is Over Our Heads? 
 
 seven seconds of arc. Many change only a small 
 fraction of a second. 
 
 As a rule the brighter stars are found to have the 
 greatest proper motions ; there are so many exceptions 
 to this, however, that it can hardly be called a rule. 
 The greater proper motions of some stars were sup- 
 posed to be due only to apparent proximity to us, and 
 hence astronomers have made observations on some 
 of this class to ascertain the fact. 
 
 The star a. Centauri, beyond all reasonable doubt, 
 has been found b}' such observ^ations to be by far the 
 nearest fixed star to our solar system. This is a star, 
 or rather a binary star, of the southern hemisphere, 
 so far south that it does not rise above the horizon of 
 our latitude, so if we wished a view of our nearest 
 star neighbor we would need to go several hundred 
 miles farther south. 
 
 The distance of a star is ascertained by w^hat is 
 called its stellar parallax, which differs from the par- 
 allaxes of the solar system. In the latter the earth's 
 radius is the unit ; in the former the mean radius of 
 the earth's orbit or the mean distance to the sun is 
 the unit — that is, the parallax of a star is the angle at 
 the star between two lines drawn from it, one to the 
 sun and the other to the earth, when the line joining 
 them is at right angles to either of these lines. We 
 measure our houses with a foot-ruler and distances 
 over our State in miles, but there is a far greater rela- 
 tive difference in the Unit of length used in our astro- 
 nomical home — the solar system — and that used to 
 express its distance from the stars or other suns. 
 
 There are two methods of deducing stellar paral- 
 laxes which need to be understood to appreciate the 
 results flowing from them. Station an astronomer
 
 What is Over Our Heads? 95 
 
 at the observatory near the Cape of Good Hope, from 
 which the star a Ceiitauri can be observed, and let 
 him measure with the best instruments very carefully 
 on several nights in succession the exact distance the 
 star crosses the meridian, or north and south line, 
 from the point directly over his head, called its zenith 
 distance. This he can get to within one hundredth 
 of a second by taking the mean of several measure- 
 ments. Six months afterward, or when the earth is 
 on the other side of its orbit and in exactly the oppo- 
 site direction from the sun, let him make a similar set 
 of measurements on the same star and take their 
 mean. One of these sets of course will have to be 
 made in the day-time, and both should be made in the 
 times of the year when the line from the earth to the 
 sun is perpendicular to that from the sun to the star, 
 which times are easily determined. Now the differ- 
 ence between the two measurements divided by two 
 will be the stellar parallax of that star — that is, it will 
 be the angle at the star made bv two lines drawn from 
 it, one to the sun and one to the earth. 
 
 The other method of this problem is : Find if possible 
 a star near enough to that whose parallax is desired 
 to be in the same field of view of the telescope with it 
 and yet known to be immensely beyond it, and meas- 
 ure their distances apart every time they can be seen 
 during one year. Find from these measurements the 
 greatest difference of their directions and divide it by 
 two for the stellar parallax. These are mere outlines 
 of the \\<io methods; the details and reductions must 
 all be omitted. 
 
 There have been thirteen different determinations 
 of the parallax of a Centauri by one or the other of 
 these methods, made by some of the best astronomers
 
 96 What is Over Our Heads? 
 
 of tlie world, and the mean of their measurements is 
 0.93" — less than one second — which means a line 93,- 
 000,000 miles long subtends an angle at this star less 
 than one second. A recent determination, considered 
 more accurate than any before made, makes it 0.75." 
 
 Returning to our illustration of the ball, whose 
 radius of one mile was found to subtend an angle of 
 one degree at the distance of 57.29578 miles, if we 
 remove it 3,600 times as far, or 206,265 miles, it will 
 subtend an angle of but one second. Now if we 
 make its radius 93,000,000 of miles long, it will 
 have to be removed 93,000,000 times yet farther, or 
 over nineteen and one fifth millions of millions of 
 miles awa}' to subtend still an angle of but one sec- 
 ond. But the parallax of a. Centauri is 0.93", or less 
 than one second, which requires it to be still farther 
 av/ay, or nearly twent}' and one half millions of mill- 
 ions of miles distant from us, and // can not be less. If 
 in error at all, this calculation is on the safe side. The 
 child can do the "ciphering" in this arithmetical 
 problem as well and as intelligently' as the astrono- 
 mer, and both will reach the same result. Perhaps it 
 may be denominated incomprehensible and therefore 
 absurd. If that word stakes out the boundary line of 
 our creed in any thing, its field will have one virtue — 
 any one can survey it. One million of miles is incom- 
 prehensible ; so is a million of any thing to us — except 
 perhaps a million of dollars. You may call it non- 
 sense — call it any thing you please — but the man does 
 not live and never has who can make any impression 
 • upon the bulwark of logic surrounding and support- 
 ing it. "Two and two make four " rests upon no bet- 
 ter basis. 
 
 This is not only the nearest .star to us, but so far
 
 What is Over Our Heads? 97 
 
 the nearest that no other is known to be within nearly 
 double its distance. From all the work of the great 
 astronomers in this direction only between twenty 
 and thirty stars have been shown to have any paral- 
 lax, and of these about a dozen or fifteen are visible 
 in our latitude. Of these the next nearest to us are 
 61 Cygni of the fifth magnitude and one without a 
 name in the constellation of the Great Bear. Their 
 parallaxes are about 0.51", and hence their distances 
 are about thirty-eight millions of millions of miles. 
 
 Castor and that bright star Sirius have parallaxes 
 less than one fifth of a second, and their distances 
 therefore are about one hundred millions of millions 
 of miles, a Lyrae, or the bright star Vega; is distant 
 one hundred and twenty millions of millions of miles 
 and the Pole star two hundred and fifty millions of 
 millions of miles. The remainder of the dozen are 
 not so well determined and are less important. 
 
 The average distance of all the stars of the first 
 magnitude — about twenty in number — is still not 
 known, but the estimated parallax of at least half of 
 them is less than one tenth of a second, which cor- 
 responds to a distance of about one hundred and 
 ninety-two millions of millions of miles. Of the thir- 
 teen of this class visible in our latitude, more than 
 one half have been found to have no measurable par- 
 allax with the best instruments and most accurate 
 modes of observation. There are more than twenty 
 or thirty stars that have a sensible parallax, but only 
 about that number have been discovered and meas- 
 ured. Of all the millions of stars visible through the 
 best telescopes, it is estimated that not one hundred 
 will ever be found to have a measurable parallax. 
 This means that the, stars are so far away that the 
 7
 
 98 What is Over Our Heads? 
 
 whole orbit of the earth appears to them only as a 
 point, and to the great mass of them a sphere the size 
 of the whole solar system, vast as it is to us, is utterly 
 inappreciable. Ovtr long measuring line has failed us 
 very soon. Having carried us out to only about 
 twenty or thirty stars it leaves us to conjecture other 
 and vaster distances by contrasting the relative bright- 
 ness of these few known stars with the others. Were 
 all the stars of the same magnitude and of the same 
 intrinsic brightness, and their apparent differences of 
 magnitudes the result only of their different dis- 
 tances, then these could be determined approximately. 
 But they are known to be very different in these re- 
 spects. Of the few whose distances have been deter- 
 mined, some of the smallest are much nearer than the 
 largest and brightest. 
 
 It does not follow, however, that we may not form 
 some idea of their relative distances from their mag- 
 nitudes, as it is reasonable to suppose that the aver- 
 age of these for the stars of any magnitude bears 
 some proportion to the number by which it is desig- 
 nated. It is customary to express these vast distances 
 in the time it takes light to pass over them. Light 
 moves at the rate of 186,330 miles per second. Hence, 
 of the stars whose distances have been determined, 
 from Centauri, the nearest to us, light is over three 
 and one half years coming to us, while from the most 
 distant, a Draconis, it requires one hundred and thirty 
 years. lyight requires thirty-five years to traverse the 
 mean distance of stars of the first magnitude, and 
 seven hundred years for that of stars of the eighth 
 magnitude. That wonderful man, Herschel, who pen- 
 etrated farther into creation than man had ever done 
 before, estimated seven thousand years as the time
 
 What is Over Our Heads? 99 
 
 required for light to reach us from the extreme bound- 
 aries of the universe. 
 
 ' The dimensions of the universe are so great, the 
 light coming to us from its overwhelming distances is 
 so dim, and our ideas of the style of its architecture 
 so imperfect, that the great astronomers can not pre- 
 tend to give more than a rough outline of it. Some 
 features they can describe with a near approach to 
 certainty, others only with a greater or less degree of 
 probability, while others are presented with no better 
 basis than inferences and conjectures. These outlines 
 by Professor Newcomb are substantially as follows : 
 
 I St. The great mass of stars is spread out in or near 
 a widely extended plane passing through the Milky 
 Way, in outline like a flat disk, with diameter eight or 
 ten times its thickness. 
 
 2d. The stars in this space are collected into irregu- 
 lar clusters numbering from tw.o to many thousands, 
 with vacant spaces between and no definite outline. 
 
 3d. Our sun, with its planets, is near the center of 
 this star-bed, so that we see nearly the same number 
 of stars in opposite directions, more or less as these 
 coincide more or less with its plane. 
 
 4th. The stars seen by the naked eye are scattered 
 in space nearly uniformly, except a few clusters — 
 Pleiades, Coma Berenices, etc. 
 
 5th. Without definite boundaries and full of clus- 
 ters and vacant places, it is as impossible to assign 
 definite limits to the star-bed as it would be to a cloud 
 of dust. 
 
 6th. On each side of the star-bed the boundaries are 
 ju.st as impossible to be defined as its edges, from ig- 
 norance of distances and from a gradual diminution 
 of density.
 
 loo What is Over Our Heads? 
 
 7th. The nebular regions are on each side of the 
 star-bed, and very few nebulas are found near and 
 within it. 
 
 A criticism on the third of these conclusions sug- 
 gests itself to any one. We can not conclude that the 
 sun occupies the center simply because our telescopes 
 can see the same distance in all directions. But these 
 are the results of the life-work of such astronomers 
 as Herschel, Struve, and others, and are infinitely 
 more easily criticized than improved. 
 
 As to nebulae little is known. They are irregular 
 masses of cloud-like or diffused light distributed 
 through the heavens. Some, by the aid of the tele- 
 scope and spectroscope, are proved to be only masses 
 of gas ; others, by the very large telescopes, are seen 
 to be clusters of stars, while others, by the highest 
 powers of the telescope, appear as gases, but by the 
 spectroscope seem to be star-clusters, and, if so, of 
 numbers overwhelming. Their forms are various, 
 and the question still open is whether those known to 
 be star-clusters really belong to our stellar system, or^ 
 whether they constitute other stellar systems like ours 
 and entirely separated from it. The latter is the pop- 
 ular idea, especialh' with the lecturers. One serious 
 objection, however, is if they were other galaxies or 
 universes outside of ours they should be found as 
 abundant in one direction as another, which' is not 
 the fact, and therefore the astronomers favor the for- 
 mer idea. 
 
 A specially interesting inquiry has been, How does 
 our sun compare in magnitude with the stars? The 
 curious result is that he is a star less than the aver- 
 age, and if placed at the distance of the stars would 
 twinkle with as little significance as those of the
 
 What is Over Our Heads? ioi 
 
 third or fourth magnitvides. What an overwhelming 
 thought this thrusts upon us — that all the thirty or ' 
 fifty millions of stars are suns, each with his system 
 of planets like ours, and each isolated from all the 
 rest in the same way! This doubtless is the true 
 idea. Indeed, some of these systems are shown by 
 the great telescopes to be systems of suns, as in the 
 case of binary stars, the smaller revolving around the 
 larger; and a significant fact is that the two stars near- 
 est to us are of this class. No doubt this was the case 
 with our solar system in its earlier history, when 
 Jupiter was a small sun giving forth his own light 
 and heat. 
 
 The solar system is so orderly and beautiful a struct- 
 ure, every member keeping so accurately its own 
 orbit through countless revolutions by a constant bal- 
 ancing of the gravitational and centrifugal velocities 
 that analogy suggests the natural query. Do these 
 millions of suns and clusters scattered through space 
 constitute a great and grand system of a like orderly 
 structure, and, if so, what is it? This is the broadest 
 question the study of the stars can suggest. Is our 
 system, which is but one among unnumbered millions, 
 a model of this structure? Some astronomers and di- 
 vines have thought so, and have tried to point out the 
 position of the great center around which all else is 
 made to circle forever, and find in it the throne of 
 God and heaven; and "the idea is a grand and capti- 
 vating one." All the careful researches of Kant, 
 Lambert, the Herschels, and all their illustrious suc- 
 cessors have never reached even an approximate so- 
 lution of the problem. In every direction we are 
 brought face to face with "the infinite in space and 
 time." " It is not known what the universe is to-day,
 
 fb2 What is Over Our Heads? 
 
 nor what causes are modifying it from age to age, and 
 all the light on it are some faint glimmerings through 
 boundless darkness." Generation after generation 
 adds a little more to the insufficient store of informa- 
 tion, but the question is without doubt beyond the 
 ken of the too finite inhabitant of this planet. As 
 already stated, the stars move, and in a period of ten 
 thousand of j^ears quite a number of the brighter ones 
 would be seen to have changed their places very con- 
 siderably, but it would take one hundred thousand 
 years to change materially the aspect of the constella- 
 tions, so slow is the relative rate. As far as the mo- 
 tions have been observed, and as far as they can be for 
 centuries, they take place, and will continue to take 
 place, in perfectly straight lines. Hence, if each star 
 is moving on some orbit, it is .so immense that no 
 curvature has been discovered since' the time accurate 
 measurements for the positions of the stars began to 
 be made. Not the slightest weight of evidence can be 
 given from the whole range of astronomical research 
 to prove that Alcyone, of the seven stars, is the great 
 center, as suggested by one. From the true point of 
 view this is entirely a baseless speculation. If there 
 is any regularity in the motions of the stars as to di- 
 rection or rate, observations with accurate instruments 
 and methods are confined to far too short a period to 
 discover it. By a kind of average of directions it is 
 found that the sun moves toward a point in the con- 
 stellation Hercules, and at the rate of about one third 
 of a second every year. There are instances of mo- 
 tions of clusters and groups in a general direction in- 
 dependent of their relative motions, which Mr. Proctor 
 calls "star drift," and he gives as examples the Great 
 Bear and the Pleiades.
 
 What is Over Our Heads? 103 
 
 One of the most wonderful cases illustrating irregu- 
 larity and rate of motion is that of the star 1830 
 Groombridge, which moves every j^ear over seven 
 seconds. Its parallax being one tenth of a second, its 
 motion every year is therefore seventy times the dis- 
 tance of the earth from the sun, if its motion is at 
 right angles to the line in which we see it, but if ob- 
 lique it is greater. Its velocity, then, is over two 
 hundred miles per second. A fair estimate of the 
 gravitating force of the fifty millions of stars in the 
 universe has been made by Professor Newcomb, and 
 to allow its full effect upon this star he estimated the 
 whole force to have been exerted upon it from a point 
 at an infinite distance all the way to the center of the 
 sj'steni, and the velocity it could impress he finds to 
 be only twenty-five miles per second; and, vice versa, 
 if a body were projected from this center with that 
 velocity all the stars in the universe could not stop it, 
 but it would fly off into infinite space, never to re- 
 turn. This velocity, however, is only one eighth of 
 that of 1830 Groombridge, and by the law of veloci- 
 ties from gravity its rate must arise from a mass sixty- 
 four times as great as that of our universe. Where, 
 then, did it get its break-neck speed? Not in our uni- 
 verse, nor can it belong to it if what we see of it is 
 all ; since it is impossible for that visible to us to stop 
 it or bend it from its course before it will have passed 
 beyond its limit. It is called the " runaway star," now 
 passing through our system for the first and last time. 
 Arcturus, having a velocity of fifty miles per second, 
 is in a similar condition. These and similar stars 
 settle Ihe question of the center of the universe by 
 showing that if it has one it must be far beyond the 
 reach of the greatest telescopes, and so, if all the stars
 
 I04 What is Over Our Heads? 
 
 belong to one system or universe, the part we see of 
 it with the same telescopes is a very small fraction of 
 the whole. 
 
 As to the present or future extent of our knowledge 
 of the universe of God or of his universes, if we must 
 so speak, it or they will ever be to us practically in- 
 finite in magnitude as he is infinite in greatness. 
 Furthermore, is it possible to think of infinite creative 
 power without thinking of an infinite creation in evi- 
 dence of it ? Every increase of power thus far in the 
 telescope simply extends the visible limits of the in- 
 visible limitless; therefore, if we could go to the ap- 
 parent utmost boundary in any direction, would not 
 the same infinity surround as when we started? "The 
 spirit of man acheth with this infinity. Insufierable is 
 the glory of God. Let me lie down in the grave and 
 hide me from the persecution of the infinite, for end 
 I see there is none. End there is none to the universe 
 of God! Lo! there is no beginning." "Canst thou 
 by searching find out God? Can'st thou find out the 
 Almighty to perfection? It is as *high as heaven. 
 What canst thou do? Deeper than hell. What, canst 
 thou know?" 
 
 The enthusiast sometimes says man's wonderful 
 knowledge has mastered all the secrets of the universe 
 overhead, and with the microscope has completely ex- 
 plored the other universe beneath our feet, which is 
 about as far from the actual facts as are the conclu- 
 sions of the dignified insect swaying in the wind on 
 the tallest weed of his ten-acre meadow -when he 
 sings, "What I see and know of earth is all there is 
 to know." Man's presumption has even attempted 
 to build up out of nothingness, by spontaneous gen- 
 erations and evolutions, both these universes with
 
 What is Over Our Heads? 105 
 
 their peopling millions, and thus has tried in vain to 
 eliminate the Great Evolutionist. Job made as fool- 
 ish a mistake once, and God said to him: "Gird up 
 now thy loins like a man, for I will demand of thee, 
 and answer me. Where wast thou when I laid the 
 foundations of the earth? Declare if thou hast under- 
 standing Who laid the corner-stone thereof, 
 
 when the morning stars sang together and all the sons 
 of God shouted for joy? Hast thou perceived the 
 breadth of the earth ? Declare if thou knowest it all. 
 •Where is the way where light dwelleth? And as for 
 darkness, where is the place thereof, .... that 
 thou shouldst know the paths to the house thereof? 
 Canst thou bind the sweet influence of Pleiades, or 
 loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth 
 Mazzaroth in his season ? Canst thou guide Arcturus 
 and his sons? Knowest thou the ordinances of 
 heaven? Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the 
 earth? Will thou fill the appetite of the young lions? 
 Who provideth the raven his food when his young 
 ones cry unto God? Shall he that contendeth with 
 the Almighty instruct him? He that reproveth God 
 let him answer it." 
 
 But the utilitarian query meets one here as else- 
 where. What profit in all these brain-puzzling in- 
 quiries? Much every way, but the Bible shall answer: 
 " The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firma- 
 ment showeth his handiwork." There is perhaps no 
 more reason for claiming that " the undevout astron- 
 omer is niad" than for saying this of other men. At 
 any rate, the Bible prohibits one from insulting an in- 
 telligent audience wjjth an argument to prove the ex- 
 istence of God, in that it has specified the class who 
 deny the fact. Yet it is our duty to make every thing
 
 io6 What is Over Our Heads? 
 
 contribute to a correct idea of his infinite greatness 
 and goodness in the study of his works. The Bible 
 is full of hints and suggestions drawn from these won- 
 derful heavens. How often the heavens and the stars, 
 the heavenly bodies and spaces are mentioned ! A 
 proper conception of their greatness is necessary in 
 order to get the full meaning of the first clause in the 
 Lord's Prayer. The Bible, by reference to them, over- 
 whelms us with our nothingness and again with our 
 greatness, thus: ''When I consider thy heavens, the 
 work of thy fingers (not right arm, but as a little 
 thing), the moon and the stars, which thou hast or- 
 dained, what is man, that thou art mindful of him? 
 and the son of man, that thou visitest him?" Thus 
 again he is elevated infinitely: "They (the heavens) 
 shall perish, but thou shalt endure ; yea, all of them 
 shall wax old like a garment, ... . but the chil- 
 dren of thy serv^ants shall continue." Let us not fail 
 to get the argument here. To aid us, taking Professor 
 Newcomb's estimate that, f^om the present rate at 
 which the sun parts with his light and heat, our solar 
 system must have been about eighteen millions of 
 years in attaining its present condition, who can tell 
 the years yet to pass before the fires of the stars shall 
 go out, and " they wax old and perish? " Yet at that 
 time, when it comes, those called " children " shall 
 still be in the eternal bloom of youth. This helps us 
 to see one reason why God bowed the very heavens 
 to give its King for man: something in man is like 
 him. Was it not the same thing we call human 
 nature, making us brothers after regeneration? 
 
 When we look up at the stars let us remember, if 
 Christians, that the hand that made and upholds them 
 belongs to that right arm underneath us on which all
 
 What is Over Our Heads ? 107 
 
 our hopes depend. " Who, then, can be against us? " 
 If not Christians, let us remember against that same 
 hand and arm, absurd as it is, our little puny powers 
 are raised in defiance, and who, then, can be for us ? 
 
 Will the cares of a universe ' cause God to forget 
 us ? If but a little child at his mother's knee from his 
 heart repeat his " Now I lay me down to sleep," were 
 it necessary, God would hush " the music of the 
 spheres " to hear it. And in that other prayer for the 
 older children — " Our Father who art in heaven " — 
 why were we not taught to say " Great God of the 
 heavens ? " That would not have meant half so much. 
 He is just as infinitely great in parental tenderness as 
 in the workmanship "of his hands over our heads and 
 under our feet. Who is this " Our Father? " Can we 
 give or comprehend an answer? Every flower under 
 our feet whispers. He is my breath ; every sparrow 
 splits his throat to tell, He is my song; every hill and 
 mountain of earth pointing through the clouds signals 
 back, He is my support ; every star in the universe 
 twinkles down, He is my light ; but every Christian 
 heart cries out. He is my breath, my song, my sup- 
 port, my life, my light, my all. 
 
 What is the Christian's relationship to the great 
 Son of this great family, " without whom there was 
 not any thing made that was made." Though he is 
 " King of kings and Lord of lords," he yet calls them 
 brethren and promises, " They shall be kings and 
 priests unto God," and " they shall be like him;" 
 kings perhaps in the realms into which we have been 
 peering ; certainly no less a king than that. Who will 
 say what that sense of sight will be that shall "see 
 him as he is," or that knowledge that shall " know 
 even as we are known ? " But how can it be less than
 
 io8 What is Over Our Heads? 
 
 the sight and knowledge with which the " Elder 
 Brother" sees and knows his works? We only peep 
 with a twenty-six-inch telescope. Think of seeing 
 Saturn and his rings and knowing them as we see and 
 know the beauties of a landscape ! But we can not 
 imagine. 
 
 Can it enter into the heart of man to conceive what 
 shall be the home life of that great family of kings 
 and priests and workers that shall take rooms in " that 
 house of many mansions" — "that house not made 
 with hands eternal in the heavens? " The theologian 
 will be there comparing notes with Elijah and Paul 
 on foreknowledge and decrees, and looking into the 
 mystery that the angels bent over the battlements of 
 heaven to see. The lawyer will be there, and along 
 with Chancellors Moses and Kent will admire the 
 beauties of the constitution and code of heaven, and 
 review the many cases lost and won by the Great Ad- 
 vocate, to find in each a greater mystery than in "the 
 rule in Shelly's case."^ The physician will be there 
 reading up on the "balm of Gilead " from the library 
 of the " Great Physician there." The astronomer will 
 be there admiring the history and destiny of an infin- 
 ite universe from its incipiency, when " God said let 
 there be light," unto the time when it shall have 
 grown old and perished. The scientist will be there 
 realizing how wonderfully every fact points to the 
 great truth, "There is one God, and science is the 
 knowledge of him." The poor man, unknowing and 
 unknown, will be there, who saved but "one soul 
 from death," wearing a star in his crown eclipsing the 
 great Sirius. The musician will be there, and such 
 music ! Every body shall be in the choir, with God- 
 built organs, harps, hearts and voices that shall never
 
 What is Over Our Heads ? 109 
 
 grow old, while millions of angels shall join the 
 chorus. 
 
 What a family gathering that will be ! Will you 
 and I be there? is a question outweighing this uni- 
 verse. 
 
 "Praise ye the Lord; praise him, sun and moon ; 
 praise him, all ye stars of light. Let every thing that 
 hath breath praise the Lord."
 
 IGNORANTIA LEGIS NEMINEM EXCUSAT. 
 
 BY ANDREW B. MARTIN, LL.D., 
 Professor of Law. 
 
 All human knowledge, in so far as it is the certain 
 perception of truth, is simply acquaintance with law. 
 Law, in its most abstract and comprehensive significa- 
 tion, is defined to be that system of rules to which the 
 intellectual and physical world are subjected, by which 
 the existence, rest, motion, and conduct of all created 
 and uncreated entities are regulated, and on the due 
 observance of which their being or happiness respect- 
 ively depends. 
 
 It is impossible to conceive of any place where law 
 is not, and equally impossible to conceive of any creat- 
 ure that is not subject to it. It pervades and controls 
 all existence. It requires obedience, and punishes dis- 
 obedience, and from the one — obedience — flows all 
 human happiness, and from the other — disobedience 
 — all human misery. There are many of the require- 
 ments of the universal law which men perform invol- 
 untarily, as those of breathing and sleeping ; and oth- 
 ers, again, to which we are impelled by irresistible 
 desires implanted within our being, as eating and 
 drinking, actions involuntary and irresistible, which 
 belong alike to all animated nature. But law, as ad- 
 dressed to intellectual beings, declares an infinite va- 
 riety of moral duties, touching which man's obedience 
 or disobedience is voluntary, and it is in respect of 
 (no)
 
 IGNORANTIA LEGIS NEMINEM ExCUSAT. Ill 
 
 these duties that men need constantly to be reminded 
 that obedience is the condition precedent of human 
 happiness. But if I do not know this law how shall 
 I obey it? and if I blindly violate its requirements 
 will my ignorance shield me from its penalties ? 
 
 To show in some degree the extent to which the 
 maxim selected as the subject of this lecture is ap- 
 plied in such cases, and to present incentives to a more 
 thorough study of the law of God and of man is the 
 object of this address. 
 
 I separate law into three grand divisions : 
 
 1. The law of nature, and by this I mean the moral 
 law of God in its relation to man's soul. 
 
 2. The physical law, by which God controls all 
 matter. 
 
 3. Municipal law, by which is meant human law 
 made for the control of human society. 
 
 The moral law, or the law of nature, as I have 
 termed it, is the dictate of right reason whereby man 
 determines any action to be morally good or bad. 
 Lord Coke, in alluding to this great system of rational 
 and immutable law\ says it is that which God, at the 
 time of the creation of man, infused into his heart for 
 his preservation and direction. It is distinctly as- 
 serted by many writers on the subject, and such is 
 practically the declaration of Lord Coke, that a knowl- 
 edge of this law is communicated through the human 
 heart and understanding, and that independently of 
 all revelation and divine positive law, the conscience 
 and reason of man arc alone sufficient to discover to 
 him its every dictate. 
 
 It is certainly true, whether it be the result of senti- 
 ment or reason, or of both, that man is possessed of a 
 quick and lively faculty, by means of which he is en-
 
 112 Ignorantia Legis Neminem Excusat. 
 
 abled to know instantly good and evil. Numberless 
 illustrations of this fact may be given. The pains of 
 others excite our compassion, we abhor murder, we 
 condemn ingratitude, we love our benefactors, we ven- 
 erate age, love our parents and our children, we ad- 
 mire and praise, though we may not practice, sincer- 
 ity, honesty, virtue. These conclusions of approval 
 or disapproval are quick, instantaneous in almost ev- 
 ery case. Indeed, the existence in man of this faculty 
 is verified by his consciousness and. by his every-day 
 experience, though he may be able to give no other 
 account of it than that God has chosen so to form 
 him. 
 
 It must follow, as a consequence of these views, 
 that a knowledge of natural or moral law is as uni- 
 versal as human nature, unless it be true that human 
 nature is one thing at one place and in one age of the 
 world and anotheTat a different place and in a different 
 age ; and upon this question I entertain no doubt. 
 Mankind has undergone no change in nature since 
 mother Eve beguiled with forbidden fruit the repre- 
 sentative man of the race. Adam, in his fall, acquired 
 and had impressed upon his degenerate nature a 
 knowledge of good and evil, an ineffaceable knowl- 
 edge that has been transmitted from sire to son 
 through all the mutations of time, until it has reached 
 your bosom and mine. 
 
 It is not only a law universally known, but it is of 
 universal obligation, binding upon all men every- 
 where. The Christian and the heathen do not differ 
 in their accountability to God under this law. In the 
 beginning all men were placed upon a common level, 
 both in respect of their knowledge and capacity to ac- 
 quire a knowledge of the will of God ; and if, in the
 
 tQ^mmm^^
 
 IGNORAXTIA LeGIS NEMINEM ExCUSAT. II3 
 
 progress of the race, some have advanced to higher 
 ground and have appeared to be peculiarly favored of 
 God, the only effect has been to, heighten their obliga- 
 tions while those of the others have remained un- 
 changed. In other words, I believe it to be true that 
 man can not, in his accountability to God, sink below 
 the common level fixed by natural law so as to escape 
 its penalties, but that he may, by reason of illumina- 
 tions outside of the law of his being, be enabled to have 
 a more perfect knowledge of the will of God, and ac- 
 cordingly be held to a stricter accountability. The 
 law of nature, of which I am speaking, must not be 
 confounded with the positive law of God. There is a 
 wide difference between l^he two, not that they are es- 
 tablished b)^ different authority, for the same God who 
 made the one law made also the other. But the dif- 
 ference lies in the nature of the duties required, and 
 the extent of obligation imposed by the one and the 
 other law. 
 
 The law of nature enjoins all those actions which 
 are morally good — that is, such as are in their nature 
 essentially and positively good, such as fear, reverence, 
 and love of God, temperance, charity, benevolence, 
 virtue, peace. These virtues are all dictated by the 
 law of nature, and would be the common practice of 
 mankind if the voice of that law were heeded. So 
 also the same law forbids all these things that are mor- 
 ally bad — that is, that are in themselves essentially and 
 positively evil, or, as the law-writers say, mahan in se. 
 Such are irreverence, blasphemy, hatred, malice, re- 
 venge, envy, covetousness, h'ing, stealing, burning, 
 killing, and all dishonest dealing. These vices are all 
 forbidden by the law of nature, and, sitting as a judgQ 
 in our very being, for every duty neglected which it 
 8
 
 114 Ignorantia IvEGis Neminem Kxcusat. 
 
 requires, and for every vice conceived or enacted 
 which it forbids, it silently but certainly pronounces 
 its judgment of condemnation in every human heart. 
 Upon the other hand the positive law of God com- 
 mands or forbids the doing of certain things indiflfer- 
 ent and not in themselves of evil nature, and which 
 only become evil by reason of the disobedience of the 
 law that may be involved in the act or omission. Of 
 such laws we can have no intuitive knowledge, and a 
 positive revelation is necessary to make us coriscious 
 of guilt in their violation. 
 
 I may more distinctly present the difference in nat- 
 ural and positive law by the use of an illustration : 
 Thou shalt not kill is a law of nature. The fact that 
 God has made it a positive law to all who have a 
 knowledge of the Bible, does not make it any the less 
 natural law. It is difficult to reason about a thing of 
 simple consciousness, but self-preservation is said, by- 
 way of pre-eminence, to be the first law of nature, and 
 in some way I have a sense that it is my right and 
 duty to defend and prolong my life. I put on it a 
 priceless value, and I concede to no human being the 
 right to take it away. This sense of right and duty is 
 not received from the teachings or example of men, 
 nor from human laws, nor the laws of Moses or the 
 prophets, or from any part of the Scriptures. It is a 
 part of my being, impressed upon it by the natural 
 law. I am not unlike other men, or rather all other 
 men are just as I am, impressed with a sense of the 
 right and duty of self-preservation. So that each, by 
 the law of his nature, is proclaiming to every other, 
 " Thou shalt not kill." 
 
 Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy is a 
 positive law of God and not a natural law. There is
 
 Ignorantia lyEGis Neminem Excusat. 115 
 
 nothing in my nature that tells me one day is holier 
 than another. Man is a religious animal by nature, 
 but there was nothing in him that set apart one holy 
 day from the seven until the positive law of God 
 revealed it to him. 
 
 Recognizing the true difference between natural 
 and positive law to be what I have attempted to show, 
 it follows that murder committed b}' any reasonable 
 creature, no matter where or when, is a conscious 
 crime against the natural law of God, while, on the 
 other hand, no one can be held a Sabbath-breaker 
 who knows nothing of a Sabbath. In other words, 
 the natural law is of universal knowledge and obliga- 
 tion, while positive law is binding only so far as it is 
 or should be known. This proposition is not so start- 
 ling after all. It does not follow that God has one 
 law for one part of the world and another and differ- 
 ent law for another part, nor that he has put a pre- 
 mium on ignorance. The Scriptures, in so far as they 
 are now received as a guide to men's actions, contain 
 but few positive laws, but are largely an iteration and 
 illumination of natural law. 
 
 The ceremonial and civil laws of the Old Dispen- 
 sation were ordained alone for the Jews and passed 
 away at the dawn of the spiritual kingdom under the 
 New. So the inspired word of God, as now addressed 
 to man, teaches but few lessons which have not with- 
 out it found lodgment in the mind and heart of man. 
 These remarks must not be construed as an intima- 
 tion that the Scriptures are unnecessary. On the con- 
 trary, they contain the words of God and he speaks noth- 
 ing in vain. They are God's instrumentality for the 
 redemption of the race. They enlighten men's minds 
 as to the truth, they teach us our whole duty to God,
 
 ii6 Ignorantia IvEgis Neminem Excusat. 
 
 they help our dull reason and quicken our consciences, 
 and with the greater light which they give, enable us 
 to carry the illuminated truth into distant regions that 
 lie in darkness. 
 
 • Ignorance of God's inspired word, which results 
 from neglect of opportunities, or simply following the 
 dim light of natural law, if God has placed within 
 possible reach a clearer revelation of his will touching 
 us, is a sin for which men in Christian and heathen 
 lands alike will be held accountable. 
 
 But I can not further pursue this branch of my sub- 
 ject. It is evident under natural law that no man is 
 punished except for conscious sins, and that in respect 
 of such sins the maxim, ignorantia legis nemiiiem 
 excusat, can have no application. In the grand assize 
 of heaven no man can say of himself, I knew not the 
 wall of God, but each will stand condemned under 
 the law of his being, which is also the law of God. 
 
 The second division of the law which I have denom- 
 inated physical law, consists of those inexorable rules 
 of God, by which he controls the world of matter. 
 
 Of this system of laws, man in the beginning of 
 life has no knowledge whatever. He is blinder than 
 the beast. The untutored child will walk off the 
 precipice; the beast knows better than this. The 
 cowboy is caught oftener than his herd by the cyclone, 
 and man was nearly six thousand years old before he 
 understood the delicate processes of incubation, 
 though it was " familiar science " with the barn-yard 
 hen before the flood. 
 
 But however dense may have been the ignorance 
 of man in the past of these laws, and no matter how 
 little we may now know of them, they are binding 
 alike upon all everywhere and under all conditions,
 
 . Ignorantia Legis Neminem Excusat. 117 
 
 upon the learned and unlearned, the old and the j-oung 
 alike. It is literal truth that ignorance of these laws 
 excuses no one. Their decrees are certain and irrev- 
 ocable, their penalties inevitable and merciless. De- 
 sert of punishment, as a rule, is unknown. When the 
 train goes crashing through the bridge it carries the 
 veriest villain the world ever saw and the prattling 
 babe to the same inevitable doom. The executioner 
 did no more for Guiteau than Guiteau did for Garfield. 
 In these cases physical laws were violated and phys- 
 ical death followed alike in each, and in neither 
 would repentance have healed the wound or brought 
 back the life. 
 
 Why is it that God impresses upon man's mind and 
 heart a sense of the requirements of his moral law 
 and not of his physical laws? Why is it man may 
 escape through repentance the penalties for the viola- 
 tion of the one and not of the other ? God's ways are 
 past finding out, but they are absolutely just. There 
 is a reason for this distinction and a just one. I may 
 not understand it, but it exists and accords with eter- 
 nal right. Dimly outlined in my mind is this answer. 
 Man never could have known the will of God without 
 the revelation of divine impressions on his mind and 
 heart. Through his unaided reason he might demand 
 a cause for the things that exist, and upon observing 
 the order of the world about him and its adaptation 
 to life, he might reach the conclusion that there is an 
 intelligent cause, but the morality of that cause he 
 could never know. He could never know it had com- 
 passion, mercy, love; that it enjoined the practice of 
 these virtues and also those of chastity, sincerity, hon- 
 esty, ben,evolence. Indeed, these emotions or thoughts 
 touching the moral qualities of an original cause, or
 
 Il8 IGNORANTIA lyEGIS NemINEM ExCUSAT. . 
 
 of man's social and religious duties, could not be con- 
 ceived through his reason alone. On the other hand, 
 he may search out a knowledge of the physical laws. 
 So it may be a correct answer to say that God im- 
 presses the mind and heart of man with the require- 
 ments of his moral law and does not with those of his 
 phj'sical law, because a revelation in the one case is 
 necessary and in the other it is not. 
 
 Again, physical law exists alone in a world of mat- 
 ter, and through the operation of its unchangeable 
 rules, results follow wholly independent of man's voli- 
 tion. He may, by a trespass committed on another's 
 land, interrupt the course of one physical law, as the 
 growth of a tree, and set in motion another physical 
 law — that of decay. He may escape punishment for 
 the trespass, but he can not avert its consequences. 
 The tree will die. With a sharp instrument a human 
 artery may be laid open, so that the blood will not 
 be returned to the heart. The interruption of the 
 physical law will at once put in motion others — death 
 and decomposition. The wrong-doer may never be 
 punished for the homicide, but the inevitable conse- 
 quences of violated physical law exist nevertheless. 
 The victim will die. 
 
 The death of the body as the necessary consequence 
 of violence is one thing, the act of violence producing 
 the death is another. The former is a physical con- 
 sequence, the other is a moral sin. The relation of 
 the moral wrong and the physical result is neither 
 compensatory nor punitive, even though they unite 
 in one and the same person and are self-imposed. The 
 physical death of the suicide is neither compensation 
 nor punishment for the act which produced it. Phys- 
 ical results flowing from violated physical laws can
 
 IGNORANTIA LEGIS NEMINEM ExCUSAT. II9 
 
 in no sense be deemed punishment, for they apply 
 themselves to conditions irrespective of the agencies 
 producing the conditions, and fall alike in every case 
 upon sentient and non-sentient matter. And as the 
 moral and emotional nature of man can neither aggra- 
 vate nor mitigate the consequences of violated phys- 
 ical law, so neither can repentance restore its unity 
 when once it is broken. This maybe a satisfactory 
 answer to the question, and an acceptable explanation 
 of the reason why repentance may save,»us from the 
 penalties of the moral law of God, but not from those 
 of his physical laws. 
 
 But, returning again to man's knowledge of physical 
 laws, if it be true that man can not plead his igno- 
 rance in extenuation of the direful results of their in- 
 fraction, nor escape them through the gateway of 
 repentance, does it not seem that every consideration 
 of prudence, self-interest, and common weal admon- 
 ishes us to acquaint ourselves with their intricate and 
 delicate processes. The fact that the perpetuity and 
 happiness of the human family, the overshadowing 
 end of life here, depend upon the observance of 
 these laws addresses itself to the human intelligence 
 as the highest incentive to earnest investigation into 
 their hidden truths. God has endowed us with reason 
 above the beasts, and given us the earth to subdue ; 
 hence, a knowledge of the physical laws by which he 
 controls it is as necessary for the happiness and full 
 development of man in this life as is a knowledge of 
 spiritual law for the next. 
 
 Physics, in its most extended meaning, and as dis- 
 tinguished from metaphysics, comprehends the study 
 and knowledge of the material world, of the relations 
 and .properties and uses of every thing that can be
 
 I20 Ignorantia L/EGis Neminem Excusat. 
 
 seen and felt, as well as the laws of its creation and 
 government. What an infinitude of labor presented 
 itself to man as he came from the hand of God, and 
 how intensely interesting should be his researches 
 when he remembers that God pronounced every thing 
 good that was made, and over all established the do- 
 minion of man. Physical science, in the broad sense 
 in which I use the term, covers almost the entire field 
 of useful knowledge in this life. It directs the inves- 
 tigations and labors of men into fields that yield the 
 greatest blessings to the race. It discloses the infiuite 
 wisdom and mercy of God. It would be exceedingly 
 interesting to pursue with some detail this last 
 thought, and show, what has often been shown by 
 others, how true it is that one's faith in the existence 
 and in the infinite wisdom and goodness of God is in- 
 creased by a knowledge of the physical sciences. But 
 I have neither the time nor the accuracy of learning 
 necessary for such a labor. Applied mathematics 
 which is casting its angles beyond the stars, and in 
 the eternity of distance measuring height and depth, 
 length and breadth, has built a stairway to the throne 
 of God, from whom all order proceeds. 
 
 Geology and botany have laid bare the frame-work 
 of this old world, and in the chaos of preadamic ages 
 have evolved the grim outline of foundation-stones 
 laid in the eternity of the' past, and in the awful 
 silence under the mountains have found the support- 
 ing columns marked with the leaf and vine of a verd- 
 ure that is dead. 
 
 Chemistry, physiology, and materia medica, hand 
 in hand, are averting the dangers that swarm along 
 the pathway of life, and are fast finding out the secret 
 places of the seeds of death. Pain is assuaged, fever 
 
 4
 
 IGNORANTIA LEGIS NEMINEM ExCUSAT. 121 
 
 abated, the blind are made to see, the halt to walk, the 
 maimed and broken are mended and spliced and 
 braced, and we have seen the drawn curtain loosed, 
 the shut blind opened, and sunshine let into the dark- 
 ened home where the dying have been brought back 
 to life. I believe an investigation into these hidden 
 truths is laid upon man as a duty. I so believe 
 because each new revelation of scientific truth con- 
 tributes in one way or another to the physical, or in- 
 tellectual, or moral elevation of the race. Study of 
 the Scriptures is a conceded Christian duty. But God 
 has written his law everywhere — in the depths of the 
 sea, upon the hill, the rock, the tree. We see it in the 
 lightning flash, we hear it in the thunder, we see it in 
 the flower and blade of grass at our feet, we know it 
 is in the silent spaces above our heads. It is in the 
 strength of these limbs, I feel it in the throb of my 
 heart, I see it in the eyes of my children. - It is writ- 
 ten everywhere, upon every thing, upon all life and 
 all death. 
 
 It can not be true that God has made any thing un- 
 wisely or without a purpose, and it must be true that 
 the acquisition of knowledge concerning those things 
 which he has made for man, by the right use of 
 our faculties and opportunities, is a duty laid at the 
 door of every reasonable creature. The development 
 of my body, mind, and heart in the study of those 
 things which God has made for me and for my happi- 
 ness is itself an act of reverence and praise, and, to 
 the extent of capability and opportunity, is as much 
 a Christian duty as any other. Ignorance of these 
 things, resulting from abuse or neglect of the talent 
 which God has given us, is therefore not only inex- 
 cusable, but is sinful. But without dwelling longer
 
 122 Ignorantia IvEGis Neminem Excusat. 
 
 upon this subject, though the solemn duties and re- 
 sponsibilities which attach to it would justify the use 
 of all my time in its discussion, I pass to the consid- 
 eration of the last sub-division of my address. 
 
 MUNICIPAI. LAW. 
 
 Civil society and the laws which control it, which I 
 have designated municipal law, are the offspring of 
 vice. Simple or primary society, as in the case of the 
 early patriarchs who dwelt in tents and traveled from 
 place to place without any political union jivhatever, 
 may be said to be the natural state of man, and cer- 
 tainly was coeval with his existence ; and if men had 
 always yielded to the influences of divine law as it is 
 impressed upon their hearts, if they had always prac- 
 ticed virtue and justice toward their fellows, and prop- 
 erly apprehended the dut}^ of personal sacrifice for 
 the general good, there is no reason why this primitive 
 condition of society should not have been continued 
 to the present time. The work of benevolence might 
 have been as well performed, the marriage tie and pa- 
 rental relations could have been as sacredly observed, 
 learning could have been acquired, fields tilled, and 
 all the pursuits of life &s happily and successfully 
 prosecuted without the restraints of municipal regu- 
 lation as with them. But the simple and unrestrained 
 pursuit of happiness did not last long, and very early 
 in the history of the race much of human liberty was 
 sacrificed to the juggernaut of municipal law. Men 
 would not practice virtue. Might became right. Av- 
 arice disregarded the voice of justice, and mercy 
 pleaded in vain with revenge. I do not insist that 
 these were the sole causes that brought men to- 
 gether in political union. A variety of causes united
 
 Ignorantia Legis Neminem Excusat. 123 
 
 to produce civil society — relationship, social propen- 
 sities, the advantages which the reason of man would 
 €nable him to see would flow from union in labor — 
 but beyond all these and lying at the very base of po- 
 litical society is the sense of fear which induced men 
 to seek security in political combinations against the 
 rapacity, licentiousness, and wrong acts of the indi- 
 vidual. 
 
 But perhaps it is unnecessary to discuss the ori- 
 gin of civil society. A great variety of opinions 
 have been expressed upon the subject, and it is the 
 prolific source of endless speculation and profound 
 philosophical research. No matter what cause or com- 
 bination of causes may have called it into being, it is 
 now established throughout the earth, and it will be 
 more profitable to consider the objects of its creation 
 and the obligations and duties which it imposes upon 
 the citizen. 
 
 Its object is to maintain rights and advance a com- 
 mon good, or, as defined by another, it is an associa- 
 tion of men for the production and preservation of 
 good order — a good order which is to be purchased by 
 yielding up in some degree the liberty of self-control, 
 but which 3'ields in return the advantages of secured 
 liberty and property, and of the tranquil discharge of 
 all acts and purposes essential or convenient to human 
 happiness. The very idea of government involves 
 the existence and enforcement of laws. Indeed, it is 
 for the purpose of obtaining the benefits of wise and 
 beneficent legislation in the protection and enforce- 
 ment of rights that society is organized. The indi- 
 vidual who becomes a member of it binds himself to 
 take the will of the community as the guide of his 
 own, and acquiring thus the advantage of having on
 
 124 IGNORANTIA lyEGIS NemINEM ExCUSAT. 
 
 his side a combined force for the assertion of his civil 
 rights, he is held obliged to renounce all resort to his 
 own. To understand the laws of the society to which 
 one attaches himself as a citizen, at least to the extent 
 of having a fair comprehension of his obligations to 
 the state, his duties and rights in relation to his fel- 
 lows, it seems to me, is the first dut}- of good citizen- 
 ship. And when we remember the fact that the 
 maxim, Ignorance of the law excuses no one, applies 
 with nearly its full force to municipal law, it would 
 seem also that every dictate of oommon prudence 
 would demand familiarity with its requirements. 
 
 The law of God, with its divine sanctions, is fixed 
 by no territorial limits, measured by no periods of 
 time, rests upon every creature, and as the Creator is 
 above the creature, so infinitely above the devices of 
 men is his divine law. It has searched the hearts of 
 men from the foundation of the world and prohibited 
 ever)^ thing that is evil, and threatens the violator 
 with the condemnation of eternal death. Yet the wis- 
 dom of the world is sufficient to discern that the fear- 
 ful judgments of God to be visited upon the offender 
 in the world to come are not sufficient to restrain the 
 evil-doer in this. It is indeed a sad commentary upon 
 humanity that men fear God less than man, and that, 
 while they openly defy the wrath of the Omnipotent 
 Judge, they tremble in the presence of human tri- 
 bunals, and as men will not heed the voice of God, 
 nor take counsel of virtue, justice, and mercy, laws 
 for the control of society, with penalties enforceable 
 in this life, become a necessit3^ These laws mainly 
 rest upon the law of nature written in the hearts of 
 men, which fact explai^is the similarity of laws which 
 we find in all systems for the control of human so-
 
 Ignorantia Legis Neminem Excusat. 125 
 
 ciety. And as the likeness of human laws to those 
 of nature depends upon the enlightenment of the 
 minds and consciences of men, we find more uniform- 
 ity and greater excellence in the laws of Christian 
 communities than among those that are without the 
 illumination of the Scriptures. 
 
 But it must not be thought that human laws have 
 come up to the measure of divine laws in the re- 
 straint of evil. On the contrary, they fall infinitely 
 below the moral standards of the higher law of GCd. 
 
 Human laws are not made in vindication of the 
 honor and attributes of God, but only for the punish- 
 ment and prevention of offenses against the good 
 order of society, and in an infinite variety of cases, 
 grave violations of the law of God are not condemned 
 by municipal law, nor triable in human tribunals. 
 The law of God holds man accountable for the unex- 
 pressed purposes and thoughts of his mind and heart ; 
 human law holds him to answer only for the expres- 
 sion of those thoughts and purposes in overt acts that 
 injure or tend to the injurj'- of society. 
 
 The law of God, in so far as it regulates our moral 
 conduct toward our fellows, acknowledge but one 
 principle, and that is the duty of doing to others what 
 we would that others should do to us. This is a per- 
 fect standard, and although the unremitting efforts of 
 the world's best men have enabled them to approach 
 it, the testimony of all is that none have attained, or 
 can attain it. Its excellence and perfection exclude 
 all fraud, all oppression, all overreaching, all crime. 
 
 If human laws were molded after the fashion of this 
 one, all men would be criminal, and if the law were en- 
 forced, all would be under sentence of condemnation. 
 But municipal law is not so fashioned. Outside of
 
 126 Ignorantia IvEgis Nkmimem Excusat. 
 
 and untouched by it are vast fields of human action 
 governed alone by the sanctions of the higher law of 
 God. It is constructed as all other human institu- 
 tions, for time and not eternity, and in the applica- 
 tion of its principles there has been left a wide mar- 
 gin for human imperfections. If every thing was 
 lawful, as some philosophers, and some who are not 
 philosophers, have insisted, except what human law 
 by positive enactment condemns, the imperfections 
 of civil codes would be a matter of more serious mo- 
 ment. But none but the fool hath said in his heart 
 there is no God. We know that God is, and that what- 
 ever may be the judgment of human courts, his will 
 be just in truth, eternal in duration. 
 
 Notwithstanding the prime importance which at- 
 taches to the existence of the human family in the 
 world hereafter, God has so made us intellectual and 
 emotional beings, capable of entertaining desires and 
 prosecuting plans for our temporal happiness, of ap- 
 prehending and appreciating the relations of family 
 and friends, and of expressing in numberless ways 
 our tastes, love, envy, hate, that it is impossible for 
 any man to look with indifference upon the things of 
 this life, and particularly to so regard the laws which 
 control his actions in the pursuit of happiness or the 
 redress of wrongs. 
 
 I wish to emphasize bj^ repetition this statement : 
 The first duty of good citizenship is that one acquaint 
 himself with the obligations that are imposed upon 
 him and the rights secured to him under municipal 
 regulation ; and I now add he will thereby be admon- 
 ished of the danger that awaits the transgressor in this 
 life, enabled to discharge with intelligence the duties 
 of his allegiance, to arrest the wrongs that lie in wait
 
 Ignor 
 
 for ignoranc 
 antees of sue- 
 When mank 
 of organized so«. 
 control of humai 
 vine origin, were 
 one being the nati 
 ical law of God ; th 
 conscious crime onl 
 ments upon sentiem 
 conscious violations ( 
 the cry of mercy, the . 
 
 One vv^ould have suppc 
 versally condemned undei 
 in need of mercy in their av 
 have been anxious to exten. 
 dealings with each other. But l 
 the physical law with its merci- 
 pattern after which to fashion a h 
 the race presents the spectacle of ont 
 and visiting vengeance at one and 
 How wonderfully is this inhumanity ot nu 
 in the words of Christ, in the parable of the t. 
 ing account of his servants : "And when he had D 
 to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed 
 ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had 
 to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and 
 wife and children and all that he had, and payment 
 be made. The servant therefore fell down and wot 
 shiped him, saying: Lord, have patience with me and 
 I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was 
 moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him 
 the debt. But the same servant went out and found 
 one of his fellow-servants which owed him a hundred
 
 t 
 
 :;usAT. 
 
 k him by the 
 
 And his fel- 
 
 c'besought him, 
 
 I will pay thee 
 
 4d cast him into 
 
 it." The solemn 
 
 : "picture of human 
 
 thou also have had 
 
 : even as I had pity 
 
 arred to the mind of 
 
 atutes are absolutely 
 
 J. 
 says ever}^ person con- 
 
 u degree s/ia/l suffer death 
 *' convicted of involuntary 
 ..go confinement in the peni- 
 jositive regulations apply in 
 ./y, robber}-, larceny, and indeed 
 .alogue of crimes. It is true that 
 'jCS mentioned is malum in se, having 
 ' oi evil of which the perpetrator, as a 
 n?, is alwavs conscious, but he does not 
 '^ jw to what extent he jeopardizes his life or 
 .5 a citizen by its perpetration ; and indeed as 
 nis it does not matter whether he knows any thing 
 the subject at all, or even knows of the existence 
 the law, he suffers the penalty all the same. 
 But the case grows still more serious where the law 
 prohibits the doing of a thing not in itself of evil nat- 
 ure, and which is only malum proJiibitum. Here the 
 violator has no internal promptings to guide him 
 aright, and it is impossible for him to have anj^ sense 
 of duty touching the thing commanded or forbidden, 
 unless he have a positive knowledge of the law. There
 
 Ignorantia IvEgis Nemixem Excusat. 129 
 
 are but few laws of this character in the field of crimes. 
 I mean to say the law declares but few acts criminal 
 which have in them no element of evil, so that igno- 
 rance of the criminal regulations of society does not 
 exist so fully and so generally as it does in relation to 
 civil rights and duties. There is an astonishing apti- 
 tude of men to understand the criminal codes, which 
 may be explained by the fact already stated, that it 
 relates chiefly to those acts which are enjoined or for- 
 bidden by the law of nature, a few minor police regu- 
 lations constituting the chief exception to the rule. 
 
 But the citizen should not feel himself free from dan- 
 ger of punishment because he has conformed his ac- 
 tions to the criminal law. Numberless dangers beset 
 him upon every hand, involving many times the most 
 sacred rights, and lying so near the path of dail}- prac- 
 tical life, that it is impossible for all even of the most 
 wary to escape, and whereby thousands of the unwary 
 and ignorant do in fact fall into ruin. 
 
 It must be remembered that the State is not a school- 
 master who has assumed the duty and responsibility 
 of enlightening the citizen in a knowledge of the law. 
 On the contrary, that duty and responsibility is fixed 
 "upon the citizen himself. The State presumes that he 
 knows the law, and however the fact may be, this pre- 
 sumption prevails. The extent to which this pre- 
 sumption has been carried and applied, even in cases 
 where there was a moral impossibilit}' of knowing the 
 law, may be a matter of a.stonishment to some, but it 
 affords the clearest evidence of the existence of the 
 rule itself, and of the unmixed truth that is in the 
 maxim, ignorantia legis nemincm excusat. Until within 
 comparatively re'cent time all acts of the English Par- 
 liament took effect by relation from the first day of the 
 9
 
 130 Ignorantia Legis Neminem Excusat. 
 
 session at which the act was passed, and which might 
 have been weeks or months before it was in fact en- 
 acted, and while it still slumbered in the brain of the 
 lord or commoner who brought it forward. This rule, 
 which because of its great and manifest injustice was 
 repealed, was not less unjust than was the odious con- 
 duct of Caligula, who is said to have written his laws 
 in such small characters, and fixed them on such high 
 places that it was impossible to read them. Yet un- 
 der the English rule, while it existed, men were con- 
 victed of the violation of laws occurring before the 
 laws themselves were enacted, thus presenting the 
 strongest possible case of unavoidable yet inexcusa- 
 ble ignorance of law. 
 
 And under a still more recent rule, and which pre- 
 vails at present in this country, laws maj' be made to 
 take effect from their passage, and before they are 
 promulgated, and in the absence of any period being 
 fixed in the act, the State constitutions generally pro- 
 vide that it shall take effect within twenty to forty 
 days after the adjournment of the legislature. This 
 latter constitutional provision is a marked improve- 
 ment upon former rules, but it is manifestly improba- 
 ble if not impossible that laws should be so quickly 
 known throughout this vast country, and j^et it is still 
 true that the responsibility of knowing the law is with 
 the citizen, and he is liable an}^ day to suffer the pen- 
 alty of a law of which he has no knowledge. And if 
 this be so of current legislation there certainly is no 
 escape through ignorance from the penalties of those 
 general principles of municipal law which are monu- 
 mental of the ages. 
 
 And yet with these startliflg propositions staring us 
 in the face, the ignorance of law that prevails among
 
 Ignorantia Legis Neminem Excusat. 131 
 
 the masses of the people is as dense as the darkness 
 of Eg3'pt. Of all the vast litigation that is now crowd- 
 ing the dockets of our civil courts, one half proceeds 
 from ignorance mixed with meanness, and the other 
 half from ignorance unmixed with an}- thing. It is 
 impossible for us to escape the law, or to ignore it. It 
 surrounds us upon every hand. It is with us in our 
 pleasures and our toils, in domestic, social, and polit- 
 ical relations. Almost every word and action of our 
 lives have a legal significance and effect. At home 
 and abroad, waking and sleeping, it is our shield to 
 protect, our executioner to redress. 
 
 Mr. Parsons, in speaking alone of the law of con- 
 tracts, says "it is the basis of human society; all so- 
 cial life presumes it, and rests upon it. Even those 
 duties or acts of kindness and affection which may 
 seem most remote from contract, are nevertheless 
 within the scope of its obligation. The parental love 
 which provides for the infant when in the beginning 
 of its life it can do nothing for itself, would seem to 
 be so pure an offering of affection that the idea of con- 
 tract could in no way belong to it. But even here, 
 although these duties are generallj' discharged from 
 a feeling which borrows no .strength from a sense of 
 obligation, there is still .such an obligation." And 
 thus, beginning in the cradle, rights are acquired and 
 obligations assumed which follow us through life in a 
 thousand different forms, and which many times live 
 after we are in our graves, as wrongs unredressed and 
 promises broken to harass those who take our shoes. 
 
 It can not, of course, be expected that all should be 
 lawj^ers, or that all should acquire a knowledge of the 
 science of law, or indeed explore any very great part 
 of its vast fields of complicated learning; but it is de-
 
 132 
 
 Ignorantia IvEGis Neminem Excusat. 
 
 sirable, and should be expected, that every man should 
 make the elementary principles in their application to 
 the rights of person and property a part of his educa- 
 tion. It is a kind of learning which better fits a man 
 for the performance of duty in any calling or station, 
 from the humblest blacksmith who wields the sledge 
 to the President who may control the destiny of this 
 great nation. It increases one's usefulness in church 
 and state. It makes him a better citizen, and it opens 
 the way to distinction and the highest honors. These 
 are only a few of the temptations and allurements 
 which it addresses to ambition, but on the other hand 
 // pays in teaching one how to make a bargain, and 
 how to secure his rights under one when made ; how 
 to acquire title and how to part with it ; how to de- 
 fend your person, how to protect j'our good name and 
 property when 3'ou have earned them. What num- 
 berless calamities which wreck character, fortune, and 
 life, and overtake the ignorant, I can not attempt to 
 enumerate. The right to vindicate your character 
 through the courts from the foul accusation of the 
 slanderer is lost in six months. Six years of indul- 
 gence to your debtor, though it proceed from benevo- 
 lent kindness, will rob you of the earnings of a life- 
 time. The failure to put in writing the contract for 
 the purchase or sale of lands will make you the victim 
 of villainy. Equitable liens and trusts, express, im- 
 plied, constructive, and resulting, the children of fraud 
 and fear, the nurslings of a court of conscience, will 
 steal the home that shelters you and your children. 
 And equitable estoppel will shut the mouth of even a 
 married woman, the only thing on earth that can, but 
 this can only do it by an application of the equitable 
 fiction which says " whatever ought to be done is con-
 
 Ignorantia IvEGis Neminem Excusat. 133 
 
 sidered as done." And so on and on I might prolong 
 the enumeration of pitfalls and snares laid for the ig- 
 norant. But I must desist, the bias of professional 
 preference and the vast importance of this branch of 
 my subject would lead me on to such elaboration as to 
 provoke your criticism. 
 
 The man, young or old, who thinks but little of the 
 life which he should live here, has an appreciation poor 
 indeed of the life which awaits him hereafter. The 
 earth, thronging with its millions, has no man in it 
 without a destiny, a destiny to be molded with his 
 own hands. However devious the ways of men, and 
 inexplicable their turnings about, some pressing this 
 way, some that, we are all surrounded by the walls of 
 the same life, through which there are but two gate- 
 ways, one opening into higher life, the other into 
 ruined life. Through which gateway shall you and I 
 pass? God has given you the power of election, and 
 your destiny and mine will be the destiny of election. 
 Love God and keep his commandments, is the whole 
 duty of man, and to do this as God requires it should 
 be done demands the highest development of which 
 man's intellectual and moral nature is capable. Search 
 out God in the laws of his moral government and obey 
 his voice. Find him and adore him in the secret 
 places of a world of matter. Praise him with human 
 statutes and with an intelligent appreciation and ob- 
 servance of municipal laws. The will of God, a world 
 of matter, and mankind, a knowledge of these three is 
 the sum of human wisdom. Study these. This is my 
 message of admonition.
 
 LAUGHING AND CRYING. 
 
 BY J. I. D. HINDS, 
 
 Professor of Chemistry. 
 
 Although these two acts of man are apparently so 
 different, they are still intimately associated with each 
 other in various waj's. Like the transition from the 
 sublime to the ridiculous, there is but a step from one 
 to the other. Psychologically they are the result of 
 closely related emotions, and physiologically they dif- 
 fer from each other chiefly in the expression of the 
 countenance during the act. We often see the child 
 smiling through its tears, and with men and women 
 the same circumstances may make one weep and an- 
 other laugh. 
 
 Of the two acts, laughing is peculiar to man, is 
 more intellectual and refined, belongs to society, and 
 is publicly manifested. Crying, on the other hand, is 
 common to many animals, is more sensual in its nat- 
 ure, is rather a source of embarrassment, and is con- 
 cealed when possible. It is generally regarded as an 
 evidence of weakness, and hence is strongly resisted, 
 particularly in man. There are circumstances, how- 
 ever, under which it is generally acknowledged to be 
 manly to cry. Both acts are the results of the emo- 
 tional nature, and hence, as a rule, those who laugh 
 most easily cry most easily. 
 
 I. PHYSIOLOGICAL. 
 I. The Act. — The physiological action in laughing 
 and crying is much the same. It consists of forcible 
 
 (134)
 
 Laughing and Crying. 135 
 
 intermittent expirations, accompanied by peculiar 
 sounds and characteristic facial expressions, followed 
 by deep inspirations. In laughing the expirations are 
 sudden, short, and explosive ; in crying, the intervals 
 are longer, and they are not explosive. The two acts 
 shade into each other through repose. The number 
 of muscles brought into action will depend upon the 
 violence of the emotion. In the smile and the ex- 
 pression of sadness only the muscles of the face move,- 
 with perhaps a slight inclination of the head. In vio- 
 lent laughing and crying the body sways, the hands 
 and feet move, and indeed almost every muscle of the 
 body may be brought into action. 
 
 2. The Sound. — The sounds accompanying the laugh 
 and the cry correspond to the physiological action. In 
 laughing we have a series of short, explosive sounds, 
 rapidly succeeding each other, and usually descending 
 in the major scale. In crying, on the other hand, the 
 sounds are prolonged, and the descent is in the minor 
 scale. After an inspiration, if the emotion is increas- 
 ing, the next series of sounds begins higher up in the 
 scale ; if the emotion is decreasing it begins lower 
 down. An ordinary laugh may be represented by the 
 descending major third, either with or without the 
 chromatic intervals, as : 
 
 --% 
 
 :i-:^s= 
 
 Oi 
 
 fe-e^^-^ 
 
 The character of the sound depends upon the interval 
 between the first and last notes. Again, the sound 
 may run through a still greater interval. 
 
 The cry is characterized bj' a legato movement, in- 
 cluding the descending minor third, either with or
 
 136 Laughing and Crying. 
 
 without the chromatic interval. The extreme notes 
 again give the peculiar intonation, as : 
 
 As in the other case, the successive series of sounds 
 may begin higher or lower, and run through larger 
 intervals. 
 
 Either the laugh or the cry may be expressed in two 
 notes. In this case the laugh will be a major second 
 and the cry a chromatic interval. The laugh again 
 may be expressed as a trill rising at the end. 
 
 That, when the emotion is increasing, each cry be- 
 gins higher up in the scale is illustrated by the analo- 
 gous case of one person's calling another. The fol- 
 lowing cases are given bj^ Spencer in his essay on 
 " The Origin and Function of Music : " 
 
 " If two men living in the same town, and fre- 
 quently seeing one another, meet, say at a public as- 
 sembly', an}' phrase with which one may be heard 
 to accost the other, as, ' Hallo, are 3'ou here ? ' will 
 have an ordinary intonation. But if one of them, 
 after a long absence, has unexpectedly returned, the 
 expression of surprise with which his friend may greet 
 him—' Hallo ! how came you here ? ' — will be uttered 
 in much more strongly contrasted tones. The two 
 syllables of the word ' Hallo ' will be, the one much 
 higher and the other much lower than before, and the 
 rest of the sentence will similarly ascend and descend 
 by longer steps. 
 
 * "Again, if, supposing her to be in an adjoining 
 room, the mistress of the house calls ' Mary,' the two 
 syllables of the name will be spoken in an ascending
 
 Laughing and CrVIng. i 
 
 o/ 
 
 interval of a third. If Mary does not reply, the call 
 will be repeated probably in a descending fifth, imply- 
 ing the slightest shade of annoyance at Mary's inat- 
 tention. Should Mary still make no answer, the in- 
 creasing annoyance will show itself by the use of a 
 descending octave on the next repetition of the call. 
 Supposing the silence to continue, the lady, if not of 
 a very even temper, will show her increased irritation 
 by calling in tones still more widely contrasted, the 
 first ^'liable being higher and the last lower than be- 
 fore." 
 
 3, Expression.— "^Yi^ expressions accompanying the 
 acts of laughing and crying are quite different. In 
 moderate emotion they involve only the face. In ex- 
 cessive emotion the whole body participates more or 
 less in the expression. 
 
 In laughing, the lines are turned downward toward 
 the central portion of the face, forming gentle curves. 
 The angles of the mouth, the cheeks, and the under 
 eyelids are drawn upward and outward, and the mouth 
 is slightly opened. 
 
 In crying, the lines of the face are turned down- 
 ward toward the sides, and form acute angles on vari- 
 ous parts of the face. The angles of the mouth are 
 drawn downward and outward, the middle of the 
 lower lip is thrust upward against the upper lip, and 
 thus both are pressed outward, giving the expression 
 of pouting. The cheeks and the outer angles of the 
 eyes are drawn down. The inner ends of the eye- 
 brows are drawn up, and vertical wrinkles appear in 
 the forehead. The eyes are firmly closed and the 
 mouth wide open. One can not cry with the eyes 
 open. Thus it is that a child is hushed by attracting 
 its attention and causing it to look at some object.
 
 138 lyAUGHING AND CrYING. 
 
 The closing of t\\e eyes is to protect the delicate ves- 
 sels of the eyeball, and to prevent their being bursted 
 by the rush of blood into them. 
 
 As the acts become more violent other portions of 
 the body are brought into action. These are in order 
 about as follows : The head, the hands and arms, the 
 trunk, the feet and legs. In immoderate laughter, 
 the head is thrown forward and backward, with a 
 tendency to remain back ; in great grief, it is turned 
 slowly from side to side, with a tendency forward. In 
 laughing, the neck is extended and the shoulders^ de- 
 pressed ; in grief, the neck is shortened and the shoul- 
 ders elevated; in both, the body .sways back and forth, 
 the difference being that in grief the forward move- 
 ment predominates, while in joy the other does. 
 Hence, grief bows a man ; joy makes him erect. The 
 movements of the hands and feet are peculiar. In 
 pleasurable emotions, the hands are clapped together, 
 raised to the mouth, or chin, or beard, placed upon 
 the sides, or slapped upon the knees ; in grief, they 
 are clasped together, wrung, carried to the eyes or 
 forehead, lifted above the head, or clasped in front of 
 the knees. If the feet are brought into motion, in 
 grief this motion will be spasmodic and irregular, 
 often involving only one limb, as when one stamps 
 the foot in vexation. If both are moved they will be 
 moved together or in rapid .succession, as when one 
 jumps up and down in rage, or when the child stamps 
 alternate feet when its mother dares to cross its will. 
 In joy, on the contrary-, the motion is alternate and 
 generally rhythmic, as when one dances for joy or 
 keeps step to music. The former movement is life- 
 less and dull ; the latter, buoyant and vigorous. 
 
 4. T/ie hnmediate Cause. — Muscular contraction is
 
 Laughing and Crying. 139 
 
 the immediate cause of all the expressions which ac- 
 company joy and grief. The motion of the body and 
 limbs need no special attention, but we must consider 
 the muscular movements in the facial expressions. 
 
 In order to understand facial expressions we must 
 know something of the muscles of the face. Those 
 particularly concerned in the expression of emotions 
 are as follows : 
 
 (i) Occipito-frontalis, or frontal muscle, covering the 
 whole scalp from the superciliary ridge to the back of 
 the head ; raises the eyebrows and the skin over the 
 root of the nose, and makes transverse wrinkles on 
 the forehead ; used in laughing. 
 
 (2) Corrugator Supcrcilii, or corrugator muscle of 
 the eyebrows, extending from the inner portion of the 
 superciliary ridge upward and outward and inserted 
 on the under side of the occipito-frcntalis; makes 
 vertical wrinkles in the forehead, and draws the eye- 
 brows down^ward and inward ; used in crying. 
 
 (3) Orbicularis Palpcbraruui, or orbicular muscle of 
 the &ye ; forms the eyelids and blends with the occipito- 
 frontalis and corrugator supcrcilii; closes the eye ; 
 used in laughing and crying. 
 
 (4) Pyraniidalis Nasi, extending from the occipito- 
 fro?i talis to the compressor nasi — a pyramidal muscle 
 on either side of the nose ; draws down the inner 
 angle of the eye and assists in dilating the nostrils ; 
 used in laughing and crying. 
 
 (5) Levator Labii Supcrioris Alcrque Nasi, extending 
 from the nasal process of the malar bone to the alae of 
 the nose and the upper lip ; raises the lip and nose and 
 shows the teeth ; may be used in laughing or crying. 
 This is the principal muscle used in the expression of 
 contempt.
 
 Muscles of the face after Henle. 
 
 A. Occipito-frontalis, or frontal 
 muscle. 
 
 B. Corrupator supercilii, or corru- 
 gator nuiscle. 
 
 c. Orbicularis palpebrnrum, or or- 
 bicular muscles ot the eyes. 
 
 n. Pyraiiiidalis nasi, or pyraiiiiJal 
 muscle of the nose. 
 
 E. Levator labii superioris alasque 
 nasi. • 
 
 (140) 
 
 F. Levator labii superioris. 
 
 G. Zygomatic. 
 
 I. Little zygomatic. 
 K. Depressor anguli oris. 
 L. Depressor labii inferioris. 
 M. Kisorius, part of the Platysma 
 u.yoides. 
 N. Orbicularis oris. 
 
 o. Masse ter.
 
 Laughing and Crying. 141 
 
 (6) Levator Labii Superioris, extending from the lip 
 to the infra-orbital ridge ; elevates the lip and draws 
 it somewhat outward ; used in laughing. 
 
 (7) Zygomaticus Major, extending from the malar 
 b'one to the angle of the mouth. 
 
 (8) Zygomaticus Minor, extending from the malar 
 bone to the angle of the mouth, inside of the zygo- 
 maticus major. These two muscles raise the angle of 
 the mouth and draw it out, and are used in laughing. 
 
 (9) Levator Labii Infcrioris. — Raises the lower lip ; 
 used in pouting ; when relaxed produces the dropping 
 of the lip. 
 
 (10) Depressor Aiiguli Oris, from angle of the lip to 
 the lower jaw ; depre.sses the angle of the mouth ; 
 used in crying. 
 
 (11) Depressor Labii Inferior is, from chin to lower 
 lip ; depresses the lip ; used in laughing. 
 
 (12) Orbicularis Oris, or sph*ncter muscle of the 
 mouth ; closes the mouth firmly ; used in expressions 
 of grief and sorrow when resisted ; also used for the 
 purpose of bringing the lips into the position proper 
 for osculation. 
 
 (13) Risorius. — Rises in the fascia over the masseter 
 muscle and is inserted in the angle of the mouth ; 
 draws the angle of the mouth backward; used in 
 laughing. 
 
 (14) Masseter. — Closes the mouth. 
 
 (15) Digastric. — Opens the mouth. 
 
 It is by the action of these fifteen muscles chiefly 
 that all facial expressions are produced. They are the 
 medium of expression not only for joy and sorrow, 
 but also for all the emotions which move the human 
 soul. 
 
 The laughing muscles are: Risorius, zygomatic
 
 142 IvAUGHING AND CrYING. 
 
 -major and minor, levator labii siiperioris, orbicularis 
 palpebrarum,, and occipito-frontalis. 
 
 The crying muscles are : Corrugator supercilii, or- 
 bicularis palpebraricm, pyramidalis nasi, levator labii 
 superioris alccque nasi, depressor angiili oris, and de- 
 pressor labii inferioris. 
 
 The change from the state of repose toward joy is 
 in order about as follows: The occipito-frontalis con- 
 tracts, raising the e3^ebrows and slightly furrowing 
 the forehead horizontally. It carries with it also the 
 pyramidalis nasi, dilating the nostrils and brightening 
 the countenance. Next follows a slight contraction 
 of the orbicularis palpebrarum, the effect of which is to 
 raise the lower eyelid and the portion of the cheek 
 just below it, partially closing the eye and giving it a 
 peculiar twinkle. The face has now put on a cheerful 
 look. The risorious now contracts, and immediately 
 afterward the two zygomatics, carrying the angles of 
 the mouth outward and upward. The muscles take 
 on a quivering motion, and the face is no longer in re- 
 pose, but is wreathed in smiles. We next observe the 
 lips part, on account of the relaxation of the masseter 
 muscle and the contraction of the digastric, the lower 
 jaw being slightly depressed. This is the broad 
 smile. Now follows a deep inspiration, and the laugh 
 bursts forth. If the excitant is sufficiently powerful 
 the bodily movements follow each other in succession 
 as already described. 
 
 The change from repose to grief, on the other hand, 
 is as follows : The movement begins, as before, at the 
 forehead, but this time by the contraction of the cor- 
 migator supercilii, causing a vertical corrugation of the 
 skin of the forehead between the eyebrows. The re- 
 sult is simply a frown. The orbicularis now contracts.
 
 Laughing and Crying. 143 
 
 partially closing the e)-es, and the central portion of 
 the occipito-frontalis contracts, raising the inner ends 
 of the eyebrows, giving them the peculiar oblique po- 
 sition sometimes seen in profound grief. This ex- 
 pression is not generally well marked. When it is it 
 gives a peculiar corrugation to the brow, both hori- 
 zontal and vertical, the horizontal wrinkles only effect- 
 ing the central portion of the forehead and turning 
 abruptly down- to meet the vertical furrows at the 
 sides. This is the peculiar expression of grief, and 
 Darwin calls these the "grief muscles." 
 
 Next follows the contraction of the depressor angidi 
 oris, carrying the corners of the mouth down, while at 
 the same time the middle portion of the lower lip is 
 closely pressed upward, giving the mouth the peculiar 
 curved position seen so often in the child beginning 
 to cry and in the chronic grumbler. The mouth now 
 begins to open. The zygomatic muscles act against 
 the depressors so that the open mouth takes a shape 
 almost square. Thus Mrs. Gaskell says, in describing 
 a baby crying while being fed: "It made its mouth 
 like a square, and let the porridge run out at all the 
 four corners." — J/ary Barton. 
 
 Respiration now becomes irregular, the eyes close 
 firmly, the mouth opens wider, and the cry bursts 
 forth. Here again may follow the movements of the 
 body and limbs as described above. 
 
 The order of expressions here outlined varies some- 
 what in different individuals and at different periods 
 of life. This is due to the control which the will 
 exerts over the muscles which enter into the expres- 
 sions. Indeed, they may all be brought more or less 
 under the control of the will. The last to be brought 
 into action are the first to be subdued. Thus the
 
 144 lyAUGHING AND CrYING. 
 
 bodily motions are first controlled, then the audible 
 sounds, then the expressions about the mouth, and 
 then those about the eyes, and finally those on the 
 forehead. The hypocrite and the deceiver cultivate 
 this power until the movements of their muscles of 
 emotion are almost entirely subject to the will. The 
 only thing that renders transparent their disguise is 
 the fact that thoughts long indulged form fixed ex- 
 pressions upon the face, and these can not be con- 
 trolled. Hence, we hear of the " deceitful counte- 
 nance," the "hypocritical face." We unconsciously 
 distinguish the expression which is natural from 
 that which is assumed. As transitor}- emotions and 
 thoughts find temporary expression on the face, so 
 habitual feelings will make a permanent one. It is 
 thus that character is read in the face. In children 
 the expression has not become fixed, and only reveals 
 temporary emotion, giving no indication of character. 
 In later life our very hearts are written upon our 
 faces, so that he that runs may read. 
 
 A word may be said in this connection about tears. 
 They are the usual accompaniment of crying or grief 
 not expressed by the audible sound. They are also 
 shed in violent laughter. Babes do not shed tears 
 when they cry. The age at which the}' begin to do 
 so is various, ranging from three to seven months. 
 In middle life tears are rare ; in childhood and old 
 age they are easily shed. 
 
 II. PSYCHOLOGICAL. 
 
 I. Cause of the Action. — The ultimate cause of all 
 of the physiological actions which have been described 
 is emotion. The action, however, is not always in 
 proportion to the emotion. The minimum of emotion
 
 Laughing and Crying. 145 
 
 is found when the action is caused by simple physical 
 contact, as when one's foot is tickled, or when one 
 receives a slight bodily hurt. The maximum of emo- 
 tion is no doubt when it is strongly subjective, as 
 grief at the loss of dear ones, or joy at the accomplish- 
 ment of long-cherished purposes. It is thus seen that 
 the maximum of emotion does not always accompany 
 the maximum of action. 
 
 If the emotion is pleasurable, it gives rise to the 
 laugh in some of its degrees ; if it is unpleasant, the 
 result is the cry. 
 
 The cause of the emotion may be objective or sub- 
 jective. It may come from the external world through 
 the senses — that is, it may be a sight, a sound, a smell, 
 a taste, or a touch. On the other hand, it may have its 
 origin within the mind. It may be the pure result of 
 intellectual action, or it may be aroused by the remem- 
 brance of past events or the anticipation of future joy 
 or sorrow. In children, in uncultivated races, and in 
 animals the emotion comes largely through sense per- 
 ception. Since the senses are so intimately connected 
 with the motor nerves, the external expression of the 
 emotion is strongly marked. In adults and among 
 cultured people emotions of intellectual origin pre- 
 dominate. In these the emotion may be much deeper 
 and more profound, with but little external expression. 
 This is partly due to habit and partly because of the 
 remote connection of the cerebral with the reflex cen- 
 ters of the nervous system. 
 
 2. The Cause of the Emotion. — The emotion being 
 the cause of the ph^^siological act, we must next look 
 to find the cause of the emotion. Crying may come 
 from physical pain, sorrow, grief, or sympathy. One 
 may even cry for joy, but this is rather exceptional. 
 10
 
 146 Laughing and Crying. 
 
 With laughing, however, the causes are more various, 
 and it is uncertain whether they can be reduced to a 
 single principle. Various attempts have been made 
 to find a single cause for laughter under all circum- 
 stances, but without complete success. The best the- 
 ory is, perhaps, that of Bain. He makes laughter the 
 result of release from a state of nervous constraint. 
 
 I will make a provisional threefold division of the 
 causes of laughter as follows : 
 
 (a) Physical Stimulation, (d) Advantage, (c) In- 
 congruity. 
 
 (a) Physical Stiinulation. — We laugh or smile when 
 we are tickled, when we feel well physically, when we 
 perceive pleasant odors, when we hear harmonious 
 sounds, when we see unusual sights that give us pleas- 
 ure, as in fireworks, exhibitions, etc. We may include 
 under this head any pleasure which we receive through 
 the senses. This is, perhaps, the most universal cause 
 of laughter and operates upon people of all ages and 
 all nations. Laughter of this sort is not at all intel- 
 lectual, but may become so when the object of sense 
 appeals to the intellect, as when we look at a picture or 
 listen to music. If, however, the intellectual element 
 predominates, the sensation no longer produces 
 laughter. 
 
 {b) Advantage. — The second cause of laughter may 
 take the form of (i) advantage over an opponent; (2) 
 triumph over an adversary ; or (3) consciousness of 
 power. 
 
 In the case of advantage there may be actual con- 
 test, or the superior may impose on the inferior. This 
 is illustrated in ridicule, practical jokes, etc., by which 
 one gets the advantage of another and puts him to 
 confusion. This also explains the charm of the horse-
 
 Laughing and Crying. 147 
 
 race, the card-table, chess, and games of all sorts. 
 Amusement of this character is innocent as long as it 
 is accompanied by good-will and looks simply to tem- 
 porary annoyance. 
 
 Whenever it is of such a nature as to do real injury 
 then it assumes the character of triumph over an 
 enemy. At the same time the fun becomes inhuman 
 and barbarous. This is the shout of victory, the laugh 
 of triumph over the- fallen foe, the glee of the savage 
 as he applies his instruments of torture. The desire 
 of man for such entertainment is seen in the gladia- 
 torial combat, the tournament, the bull-fight, the cock- 
 fight, etc. This source of pleasure belongs to barba- 
 rism, and j-et it is, even in our day, too prevalent. 
 As evidence of this we may but mention base-ball, 
 fi.st-fighting, and walking-matches. It is also this relic 
 of barbarism in the boy and the young man which 
 gives rise to the practical jokes so common in small 
 towns — such as breaking windows, painting fences, 
 abusing stock, defacing walls, etc. The same vaga- 
 bondage is seen among college students in the pranks 
 they play upon each other and upon the professors. 
 That people find pleasure in such things is simply an 
 evidence that they belong rather to the age of sav- 
 agery than to the nineteenth century. 
 
 In the third cause of emotion in this class, on the 
 other hand, there is nothing barbarous. This is the 
 pleasure we feel in consequence of a sense of power. 
 We enjoy labor and delight in overcoming the ordi- 
 nary obstacles in the way of our advancement. The 
 accomplishment of a desired end, in spite of great 
 difficulties, is a source of exquisite enjoyment. There 
 is no higher worldly pleasure than that which we feel 
 when we honestly win success in business or profes-
 
 148 lyAUGHING AND CrYING. 
 
 sion This pleasure, too, is heightened when our suc- 
 cess tends to the good, rather than to the injury, of 
 others. 
 
 (r) Inco7igruity. — The third cause of laughter is in- 
 congruity. This principle, no doubt, extends its op- 
 erations to the cases included under the last head, but 
 is not sufficient to explain them all. There is certain 
 incongruity in the position of the victor and the con- 
 quered foe, but this is not the real source of the ex- 
 ultation of the one, nor of the debasement of the 
 other. 
 
 Under incongruity maj^ be classed all sorts of 
 humor, jokes, puns, repartee, etc. This is the most 
 common source of laughter, is largely intellectual, is 
 innocent and exhilarating ; is not accompanied by any 
 special injury or debasement of the one who gets the 
 worst of it, and is also that which has the most salu- 
 tary hygienic effect. Hence, efforts to entertain, 
 whether in society, on the platform, or on the stage, 
 usually appeal to our sense of the incongruous. 
 
 As examples of incongruity we give the following : 
 A dog in church, a high hat on a little man, a woman's 
 bonnet on a little girl, bravado of a weak individual 
 in the presence of a strong one, the barking of a little 
 dog at a train. If both objects are presented at once, 
 it is an example of simple incongruity. If one is pre- 
 sented after the other, the occasion of the laughter is 
 the insignificance of the result compared with the ex- 
 pectation. This is the secret of most humor. It is 
 the sudden release of nervous tension, an unexpected 
 turn of thought. 
 
 The incongruous becomes ludicrous when there is 
 the degradation of some character of dignity. It is 
 comic when there is a reaction from the serious, or
 
 Laughing and Crying. 149 
 
 when much is made of a little thing. It is ridiculous 
 when the action is unbecoming, and more so when the 
 actor thinks he is doing the proper thing. 
 
 An incident in church will cause laughter when it 
 would attract no attention elsewhere. The dignity of 
 the occasion and place are profaned. A dog entering 
 a school-room will set the whole school to laughing. 
 For a person of great dignity, particularly if he is 
 well dressed, to fall down in the mud is quite ludi- 
 crous, while if the cart driver, already muddy, were to 
 do so it would occasion no laughter. A child seriously 
 mimicking its elders is comical, and a boy carrying a 
 cane and smoking a cigarette is ridiculous. 
 
 Let us look at some illustrations of the effects of 
 advantage and incongruity. First take some examples 
 of simple incongruity : 
 
 A minister one day said in his pulpit : " We pursue a 
 shadow — the bubble bursts and leaves ashes in our hands." 
 
 The incongruity here lies in the mixing of rhetorical 
 figures. 
 
 An Irishman apologized for running away from a fight in 
 these words: " Bedad, I 'd rather be a coward for fifteen min- 
 utes than a corpse for the rest of my life." 
 
 Here the incongruity is so mixed that its full force 
 is not seen at once. As the mind dwells upon it, it 
 becomes more and more amusing. This quality adds 
 richness to humor. 
 
 A Cape Cod fisherman calls his boat " The Kiss," because it 
 is nothing but a smack. 
 
 A Western bo}' ran for Congress when he was only fourteen 
 years old. He was page in the House. 
 
 A hawk may get the rooster after breakfast, but before 
 breakfast the rooster alwaj'S takes a crow.
 
 150 Laughing and Crying. 
 
 In these three examples the humor consists in a 
 simple play upon words. This is, indeed, the poorest 
 of humor. There is no release of tension and not 
 sufficient incongruity to produce much emotion. The 
 following is better, because more complex : 
 
 Harry (horrified at seeing Kate puffing at a cigarette): 
 "Mercy! Do you smoke, Kate?" Kate: "Not because I 
 enjoy it, Harry. I want to fill the room with smoke, so that, 
 should a burglar break in, he '11 think there 's a man in the 
 house." Harry: "Well, you're only losing your time and 
 soiling your lips. A man never smokes cigarettes — leastwise 
 no man that a burglar need be afraid of." — Bosiott Transcript. 
 
 We may mention the conundrum as the next ex- 
 ample of humor. It is a little better than the pun, be- 
 cause it brings in the element of expectation, or 
 search for the answer, and when the answer is given 
 there is a feeling of surprise or release of tension. A 
 simple example is the following : 
 
 Why would a barber rather shave three Irishmen than one 
 German ? Because he would get forty-five cents from the 
 three Irishmen, and only fifteen cents from the German. 
 
 The following is not so good, because it is only' a 
 play upon words : 
 
 What kind of a field is older than you? One that is pastur- 
 age. 
 
 Here is one that is particularly rich, because of the 
 mixed elements which enter it. It is at once a co- 
 nundrum and a pun, and gives surprise and release 
 of tension. Furthermore, it has the peculiar excel- 
 lence of not letting its full force be seen at once. It 
 is this : 
 
 " What is the difference between the fate of the barber and 
 that of the sculptor ? " " One curls up and dyes and the other 
 makes faces and busts."
 
 Laughing and Crying. 151 
 
 We may take some examples in which advantage is 
 the chief element of humor : 
 
 " I move — " begaa a member of Congress, when a voice in 
 the gallery called, " Not until you pay your rent." — Harper's 
 Bazar. 
 
 Here are combined the double meaning of the 
 word " move " and the exposure of the Congressman. 
 
 " I never saw my hands so dirty as yours," said a mother to 
 a little girl. " I guess grandma has," was the quick reply. — 
 Boston Journal. 
 
 This is an example of simple advantage, and its ex- 
 cellence consists in the disparity between the mother 
 and" the child. 
 
 The following are examples of mixed advantage 
 and incongruity : 
 
 " Gentlemen of the jury," said counsel in an agricultural 
 case, " there were thirty-six hogs in that lot — thirty-six. I 
 want you to remember that number — thirty-six hogs — ^just 
 three times t'he number that there are in the jury-box." — 
 Albany Law Jour7ial. 
 
 Daughter, aged thirty-three (facetiously) : " Papa, I found a 
 dozen gray hairs in my head this morning and pulled them 
 out. Don't you give me away, though." Father (sighing 
 heavily) : "Give you away, Emily? I've abandoned all hope 
 of it." — Chicago Tribune. 
 
 "Lulu, dear," said the lovely Widow Hoskins, "at last I 
 have settled my last summer's ice bill. It was an outrageous 
 amount, but I had to meet the emergency." " How did you 
 ever settle it?" inquired Lulu. "I have married the ice 
 man." — New York Dispatch. 
 
 " Hold on, sis ! " exclaimed one of the little Rambo boys, as 
 he paused at the door ; " do n't go into the house. The min- 
 ister is making a call." "How do you know?" inquired his 
 little sister. "Can't j'ou hear ma talking? She's got her 
 Sunday voice on." — Chicago Tribune.
 
 152 Laughing and Crying. 
 
 Corroboration. — Said Paddleford to his wafe, on the way 
 back from the museum : " I am firmly convinced that women 
 have an innate, natural, constitutional love of the horrible." 
 " Good thing for you," she retorted, " or you might have been 
 a bachelor to your dying day." — Life. 
 
 Ex-Secretary Evarts tells a good story at his own expense 
 about a small donkey which he sent up to his country-seat 
 some years ago for the use of his children, of whom some 
 were then quite young. One of his little daughters, going 
 out with her nurse to admire the animal in its paddock, was 
 sorely distressed when the donkey lifted up its voice and 
 brayed dolefully. " Poor thing ! Poor thing ! " exclaimed the 
 sympathetic child ; but, suddenly brightening up, she turned 
 to her nurse and said, " O I am so glad ! Papa will be here on 
 Saturday, and then it won't feel so lonesome." 
 
 The foregoing examples are sufficient to illustrate 
 these sources of laughter. If such things are con- 
 tinuously brought before the mind, it soon tires of 
 them. This is because they fail to raise the nervous 
 tension, and no longer create surprise, just as one can 
 not be frightened when one is expecting a scare. 
 They are rather the spice of life. A lecture or a book 
 wholly composed of them would be like a dinner of 
 pepper, salt, and vinegar. 
 
 III. PSYCHO-PHYSIOLOGICAL. 
 
 We have seen that the immediate cause of laughter 
 is muscular action, and that the cause of the muscular 
 action is emotion. We have also briefly considered 
 the sources of emotion. We are next met with the 
 questions : How does emotion produce muscular ac- 
 tion ? Why does it affect one muscle rather than an- 
 other ? Why are the muscles of the face the muscles, 
 by pre-eminence, of emotional expressions ? Why do 
 certain muscles act in laughing and others in crying ?
 
 Laughing and Crying. 153 
 
 Why do the same muscles act for the same expression 
 in all men and in all nations? 
 
 The full answer to these questions would lead me 
 far beyond the limits of this paper, I can only make 
 a few suggestions, and refer you for further informa- 
 tion on the subject to Bain's Emotions and the Will, 
 Bain's Senses and the Intellect, Sir Charles Bell's 
 Anatomy of Expressions, Spencer's Phj-siolog}' of 
 Laughter, Darwin's Emotional Expressions in Man 
 and Animals. 
 
 To the question, " How does emotion produce mus- 
 cular action? " we have as yet no satisfactor}- answer. 
 It must remain unanswered until the mystery of the 
 connection of the mind and body is explained. 
 
 In regard to the second question, " Why does emo- 
 tion move one muscle to action rather than another ? " 
 I submit the following general explanation : 
 
 Emotion means an accumulation in the nerve cen- 
 ters of nerve force which has a tendency to flow out- 
 ward through the motor tracks to all parts of the body. 
 The law of the flow of the nerve stimulus is that it 
 takes the direction of least resistance, and if its flow 
 in one direction is impeded, it takes another. If 
 the emotion is slight, the motor effect is small, and 
 the excess of energy is readily dissipated along those 
 tracks through which it finds easiest flow. If, how- 
 ever, the emotion is powerful and the charge of en- 
 ergy very great, the stimulus may flow to all parts of 
 the body, and not only bring all the muscles into 
 action, but, through hihibition and stimulation, affect 
 the organic and vital processes of the body. Thus 
 the heart's action, respiration, digestion, and assimila- 
 tion may be interfered wath. The vital processes may 
 even be suspended, producing death itself
 
 154 Laughing and Crying. 
 
 If the emotion is restrained, and the nervous flow 
 in any channel is impeded, there will be a tendency 
 to escape in some other direction, It is thus that pro- 
 longed grief affects the vital processes of the body 
 and the health of the individual more when restrained 
 and concealed than when allowed to produce its nor- 
 mal effect, weeping. If the restraint to the nervous 
 flow is general the tension increases until there is an 
 outburst. This is illustrated in the outbursts of laugh- 
 ing and crying in children when under restraint. 
 
 In reference to the next question, " Why should 
 emotional expressions be primarily in the face? " the 
 following is a possible explanation : The nerves which 
 supply the face have their origin in the medulla ob- 
 longata. This is the nearest motor center to the 
 brain, and the 'nerves which leave it reach their desti- 
 nation in the shortest distance. The direction of 
 , least resistance would then naturally be toward the 
 muscles of the face. The course of the nerve stimu- 
 lus once started in this direction would finally be- 
 come fixed by habit and use. 
 
 Darwin, consistently with his theory, explains all 
 expressions of emotion by three principles, as follows : 
 
 1. The principle of serviceable associated habits. 
 
 2. The principle of antithesis. When an act has 
 been found serviceable in a certain state of the mind, 
 there is a tendency to an opposite act when the oppo- 
 site state of the mind ensues. 
 
 3. The principle of actions due to the constitution 
 of the nervous system, independently from the first of 
 the will, and independently to a certain extent of habit. 
 
 This last is the same in essence as the one I have 
 given, and no doubt is the correct proximate answer 
 to the question.
 
 Laughing and Crying. 155 
 
 As to the other questions, " Why do certain muscles 
 act in laughing and others in crying? " and, " Why 
 do the same muscles act for the same expression in 
 all men and in all nations?" I think they find suffi- 
 cient explanation in habit and heredity. This expla- 
 nation is the more probably true, since we find, in fact, 
 that there is a degree of variety in the expressions of 
 different individuals and in people of different nations. 
 For example, the shrug of the shoulders so common 
 in Europe is seldom seen in America. Again, the 
 degree of emotion which would cause merry laughter 
 in an American would scarcely call forth a smile in a 
 German. Thus, while the structure of the muscular 
 and nervous systems locates expression in the face, 
 individual variety and national differences depend 
 upon habit and heredity. 
 
 IV. EFFECTS. • 
 
 We next come to consider the reflex effects of 
 laughing and crying upon mankind. The}^ are (i) 
 individual, (2) social, and (3) national. 
 
 The individual ^ects are of the greatest impor- 
 tance. They are hygienic, and de.ser\'e the closest 
 attention. There is profound physiological wisdom 
 in the old adage, " Laugh and grow fat." There is 
 no fact better established than that cheerfulness is 
 conducive to health. It is not only so- in a general 
 way, but it has a special direct influence on the vital 
 functions, and the effect is immediately felt. A cheer- 
 ful conversation in genial society is better than any 
 digestive preparation that can be devised. So there 
 is no better preparation for a sound sleep than a hearty 
 laugh. 
 
 On the other hand, grief interferes with digestion
 
 156 Laughing and Crying. 
 
 and assimilation, and depresses the vital energies, and 
 causes loss both of flesh and activity. The jolly man 
 is the fat man, and the grumbler is the lean man.*' 
 This is a general rule to which we must of course 
 admit exceptions. Here it is pertinent to ask the 
 question whether it is the fat that makes the man 
 jolly, or the jollity that makes the man fat; and 
 again, whether it is the leanness that makes one cross, 
 or the crossness that makes one lean. In answer I 
 say, " In both cases it is both." Cheerfulness and 
 good health go together, and each assists the other. 
 There is a point, however, in the injunction to be 
 cheerful, for this is to a certain extent under the con- 
 trol of the will. We can yield to our annoj^ances and 
 griefs and make ourselves continuously miserable. 
 On the other hand, we can resist this disposition and 
 preserve a cheerful mind even under very trying cir- 
 cumstances. Unfortunately, too, many of our ills are 
 imaginary, and we are continually distressing ourselves 
 without cause, to the injury of our health and the dis- 
 comfort of those with whom we are associated. Ill- 
 health brings sad and gloomy feelings, and these are 
 often the only signs we have of the waning health. So 
 you see grief, sadness, and crying are sometimes the 
 legitimate subjects of medical treatment. 
 
 Now, it is not the laughing nor the crying which 
 produces these hygienic effects. It is rather the emo- 
 tions or states of mind of which these acts are the 
 expression. Grief leaves the system prostrated, while 
 joy buoys it up and has a tonic effect. 
 
 From the social point of view, crying need not be 
 considered, since it is not usually publicly exhibited. 
 Laughing, or rather the cheerfulness of which it is 
 the index, is, however, a most potent factor in all
 
 Laughing and Crying. 157 
 
 society. Society without laughter would be dull and 
 stupid. Here the object is to please, and one must 
 seem pleased whether one is or not. One laughs to 
 please and the other laughs to appear pleased. Hence, 
 there is a great deal of artificial laughter mixed up 
 with the genuine article. 
 
 Looked at from a national point of view, we see at 
 once that there is a great difference in the amount of 
 laughing and crying done in different countries. The 
 Americans are pre-eminently the laughing, smiling 
 people of the world. They are, on the whole, more 
 cheerful than any other people that I have met. The 
 French are more talkative and polite, the English 
 more bent on enjoyment, and the Germans more given 
 to self-gratification, but nowhere are found so many 
 pleasing, smiling, laughing faces as in this happy 
 land of ours. This is because our people are better 
 fed, better clothed, make a living more easily, and 
 have more freedom of life than is the case in other 
 countries. Another, and perhaps a better, reason is 
 because the American people, as a whole, have more 
 culture, have a higher standard of morality and Chris- 
 tian life, have a better knowledge of the Bible, and 
 look more closely to the moral training of the children 
 than do the people of any other nation. Righteous- 
 ness not only exalts a nation, but also fills the mouths 
 of its people with laughter and song. 
 
 V. MEANS USED FOR THE PRODUCTION OP LAUGH- 
 ING AND CRYING. 
 
 Since it is through our emotional nature that we re- 
 ceive or experience chiefly our joys and our sorrows, 
 it is not surprising that w^e find various devices sys- 
 tematically arranged for arousing these emotions, or,
 
 158 lyAUGHING AND CrYING. 
 
 in other words, for causing laughing and crying. 
 Among the means so used I may mention (i) litera- 
 ture, (2) conversation, and (3) the stage. The joke, 
 pun, etc., are special means which may be used in lit- 
 erature or conversation. 
 
 1. Literature. — Fiction is the literature that is chiefly 
 used for entertainment. To this we may add true 
 stories, historical incidents, jDurely humorous writ- 
 ings, comic songs, etc. The primary object of fiction 
 is to arouse the emotions. Useful information is also 
 imparted in the lines of history, science, n;orals, phi- 
 losophy, etc., but these are usually a secondary consid- 
 eration. A novel which will cause one neither to 
 laugh nor shed a tear would generally be a failure. It 
 would have to have very peculiar excellences of other 
 kinds to make it attain popularity. 
 
 2. Co7iversation.—\t is a fact too well established 
 that the object of conversation is generally simply to 
 entertain. In society this may be said to be almost its 
 sole object. Among the older people it loses this 
 character to a certain extent. But this continues al- 
 ways to be one of the ends in view in all conversation. 
 Even the soberest colloquies are often spiced with 
 repartee which brings the smile or burst of laughter. 
 
 3. The Stage. — Under this head is included the 
 theater, the opera, the circus, the minstrel show, pri- 
 vate theatricals, the lecture, etc. These grade from 
 the purely instructive in the didactic lecture and ser- 
 mon through the humorous, in the popular lecture, 
 the comedy and the comic opera, and the pathetic in 
 the drama and opera proper to the highly pathetic 
 and tragic in the modern society play and the tragedy. 
 To this may be also added the music concert and re- 
 cital.
 
 I^AUGHING AND CrYING. 1 59 
 
 VI. HISTORY. 
 
 The study of the history of the development of 
 laughing and crying in the human race would be an 
 interesting one, but I have space here to make only a 
 few suggestions. 
 
 In earlier man and in the uncultivated races crying 
 was almost wholly an index of physical pain, and 
 laughing was rather the manifestation of delight at 
 the overcoming of an adversary than the result of 
 pure humor. 
 
 At the present day these acts are more intellectual 
 and refined. The delight of the savage in the tor- 
 ment of his captive has given place to the exhilara- 
 tion of seeing one's adversary smart under the lash 
 of ridicule. 
 
 These brutal and savage enjoyments have, however, 
 not all disappeared. The life of an individual is but 
 the life of the human race in miniature. The practical 
 joke is a relic of ancient barbarism. It is mostly in- 
 dulged in by the young and uncultured — those who 
 have not yet passed out of the period of savagery. 
 When the young man allows himself to be led into 
 such acts as defacing public property, lifting gates, 
 turning bridges, shooting at windows, etc., he is but 
 doing in a milder way what the savage did when he 
 put his prisoner to torture, and his pranks are no 
 more amusing to the sober people of the community 
 than are the writhings of the Indian's victim. 
 
 Let us hope and pray for the time when sorrow and 
 mourning shall be known no more ; when the laugh 
 of the bacchanal, the glee of the victor, and the sneer 
 of the scorner shall give place to the smile of affec- 
 . tion, and when the whole earth shall be filled with 
 pleasure and innocent joy.
 
 SUPERSTITION. 
 
 J. D. KIRKPATRICK, D.D., 
 
 Murduck Professor of Church History. 
 
 This is a most interesting theme to the student of 
 history. The study of the history of man is, to a large 
 extent, the study of his religion and his religious con- 
 dition. 
 
 It is said that "man is a religious being or ani- 
 mal." This is true, and if we take the Bible for our 
 guide in reference to his beginning, we find that he 
 came from the hands of his Creator endowed with a 
 knowledge of his duty in paying homage to the Deity. 
 We have an account of God walking in the garden 
 and talking to the first man. Thus the impression 
 was made upon him very early that there was a higher 
 power, before which he should bow down and wor- 
 ship. There this principle was instilled into him, and 
 his mind went out after and up to the unseen, and this 
 disposition has been a part of his nature ever since — 
 in the darkest and deepest ignorance, as well as in the 
 light of civilization. As Adam was taught to com- 
 mune with God, so his posterity, in almost every con- 
 dition in which they have been found, seek the 
 invisible and bow down to the supernatural. 
 
 My theme, however, is superstition, and not re- 
 ligion ; but let us see how nearly they are the same. 
 Webster gives a long definition of superstition, thus : 
 " False religion, or excessive exactness or rigor in re- 
 ligious opinions or practices, extreme and unnecessary 
 {i6o)
 
 Superstition. i6i 
 
 scruples in the observance of religious rites not com- 
 manded." 
 
 Taking this definition, we have a subject of wonder- 
 ful interest and scope, and which can not be more 
 than touched in a lecture of ordinary length. 
 
 For some years past there has been increasing in- 
 terest in the study of archaeological subjects. Nu- 
 merous recent discoveries concerning the early con- 
 dition and history- of the human race have directed 
 much attention to these subjects. Traditional his- 
 tory, crystallized in myths, superstitious beliefs, rites, 
 and ceremonies, omens and prognostications, throws 
 much light into a past which written history' has not 
 penetrated. Mythology is becoming an important 
 branch of anthropological science. In its broadest 
 sense, mythology includes all pagan religious beliefs, 
 generally called superstitions. It .should not be con- 
 fined, however, to collections of fables and traditions. 
 In studying myths, should we not study the supersti- 
 tions which have found expression in them? The 
 myths, fables, and traditions are the folk-lore of peo- 
 pleSj pointing back to superstitions which, if thor- 
 oughly studied, might prove a common origin of all 
 the tribes and races of men. There are those learned 
 in archaeology and mythology who are now studying 
 the various forms of folk-lore as an important help in 
 finding the true history of the race. 
 
 Professor George Rawlinson, one of the most re- 
 liable writers on the religions of the ancient nations, 
 says: 
 
 " Our ' advanced thinkers ' advance to the farthest 
 
 limits of human knowledge, sometimes even beyond 
 
 them, and bewitch us with speculations which are as 
 
 beautiful and unsubstantial as the bubbles which a 
 
 II
 
 i62 Superstition. 
 
 child produces with a little soap and water and a to- 
 bacco pipe. Nor does even religion escape. The his- 
 torical method of inquiry into the past facts of re- 
 ligion is in danger of being superseded by speculations 
 concerning what is called its. 'philosophy,' or its 
 science. We are continually invited to accept the 
 views of this or that theorist respecting the origin of 
 all religions, which are attributed to a common, in- 
 nate idea or instinct, or else to a common mode of 
 reasoning upon the phenomena and experience of 
 human life. While the facts of ancient religions are 
 only just emerging from the profound obscurit}^ that 
 has hitherto rested upon them, fancy is busy con- 
 structing schemes and systems which have about as 
 much reality as the imaginations of a novelist." 
 
 The patient toiler, the true scholar, the real scien- 
 tist, are not seeking the " short and easy method " of 
 jumping at conclusions and laying down as certainties 
 what are " mere guesses at the truth," but proceed in 
 the more prosaic way of collecting material in facts 
 which are found pointing to great truths. There is no 
 branch of history which is more instructive and en- 
 tertaining than that which deals with religious beliefs 
 and practices. Religion is the most important el^- 
 m^nt in the thought of a nation ; and it is by studying 
 their religions that we obtain the best clew to the 
 inner life and character of the various peoples who 
 have played an important part in the drama of human 
 affairs. 
 
 So far as we can learn, nearly all the religions of 
 the ancient world were polj'theistic, but in them all 
 the careful student may. find the evidence of a mono- 
 theism in their origin. It is believed that there never 
 was a polytheism that was not monotheistic in its
 
 Superstition. 163 
 
 origin, and that a monotheism can be traced in all the 
 polytheistic systems of which we have any knowledge ; 
 and the similarity of these systems is used as evidence 
 of the unity of the races. 
 
 The most ancient* religion of which we have any 
 history is one of the most prominently polytheistic, 
 yet the best scholars and those most reliable upon this 
 subject claim that it is really monotheistic. 
 
 Emanuel Rouge, who is high authority upon this 
 subject, says : 
 
 " No one' has called in question the fundamental 
 meaning of the principal passages by the help of 
 which we are able to establish what ancient Egj^pt 
 has taught concerning God, the w^orld, and man. I 
 said ' God, not the g-ods? The first characteristic of 
 the religion is the unity (of God) most energetically 
 expressed : ' God, One, Sole, and Only ; no others with 
 him. He is the only Being — living in truth. Thou 
 art One, and millions of beings proceed from thee. 
 He has made every thing, and he alone has not been 
 made.' The clearest, the simplest, the most precise 
 conception. 
 
 " But how reconcile the unity of God with Egj-ptian 
 'polytheism? History and geography will perhaps 
 elucidate the matter. The Egyptian religion compre- 
 hends a number of local worships. The Egypt Avhicli 
 Menes brought together entire under his scepter was 
 divided into nomes, each having a capital town. Each 
 of these regions has its principal god, designated by 
 a special name, but it is always the same doctrine 
 which reappears under different names. One idea 
 predominates — that of a single and primeval god. 
 Everywhere and always it is one substance, self-ex- 
 istent, and an unapproachable God."
 
 164 Superstition. 
 
 Our author then says "that from, or rather before, 
 the beginning of the historic period, the pure mono- 
 theistic religion passed through the phase of Sabaism. 
 The sun, instead of being considered as the symbol 
 of life, was taken as the manifestation of God himself.. 
 In most of the hymns we find the idea of a double 
 Being who engendereth himself — the soul in twins. 
 A hymn in the lyeyden Museum calls him * the One 
 of One.' Were these doctrines the result of centuries? 
 Certainly not, for they were in existence more than 
 two thousand jxars before the Christian era. On the 
 other hand, polytheism developed itself and progressed 
 without interruption until the times of the Ptolemies. 
 It is therefore more than five thousand years since, in 
 the valley of the Nile, the hymn began to the unity 
 of God and the immortality of the soul, and we find 
 that Egypt in the last ages had arrived at the most 
 unbridled polytheism. The belief in the unity of the 
 supreme God and in his attributes as Creator and 
 Law-giver of man, whom he has endowed with an 
 immortal soul — these are the primitive notions, en- 
 chased like indestructible diamonds in the midst of 
 the mythj'ological superfetations accumulated in the 
 centuries which have passed over that ancient civili- 
 zation." 
 
 Even in their corrupt polytheism we see that in 
 pre-historic times tlie Egyptians had the knowledge 
 of the one only true and living God ; but this knowl- 
 edge had degenerated until, when history finds them, 
 their religion has become nothing more than super- 
 stition. 
 
 The most striking characteristics of the Egyptian 
 Pantheon were its multitudinousness and complexity. 
 Wilkinson, who does not pretend to exhaust the sub-
 
 Superstition. 165 
 
 ject, mentions seventy-three divinities and gives their 
 several names and forms. Birch has a list of sixty- 
 three principal deities, and says there were many oth- 
 ers. It is not too much to say, perhaps, that the 
 Egyptian Pantheon contained some hundreds of gods 
 and goddesses. They had a god over almost every 
 single thing. The early Christians were charged by 
 the Romans of atheism, because they believed in only 
 one true and living God, and consequently denied 
 their gods many. 
 
 This superstition had, at the dawn of the historic 
 period, taken such a hold upon the world that God 
 called and set apart one man and his descendants 
 after him, and made them his peculiar people, that he 
 might teach them the knowledge of the one true God, 
 and that they might become a light to the world to 
 lead it away from polytheism, and consequent idol- 
 atry, to this true knowledge and original worship. 
 Idolatry was considered the greatest sin, as it led to the 
 basest superstitions, as well as to the denial of the 
 existence of only one God. 
 
 It might be interesting to mention some of the 
 strange notions and practices of the ancient Egyp- 
 tians and other peoples who held to a plurality of 
 gods, but time does not permit. Many of the false 
 notions and superstitious rites and ceremonies of the 
 Roman Catholic and Greek churches have descended 
 from these corrupt systems of religion and philoso- 
 phy and these ancient heathen forms of worship. A 
 devout Roman Catholic, according to our estimate, is 
 apt to be very superstitious. The doctrine of purga- 
 tory, of absolution by the priest, the wicked folly of 
 indulgences, exorcism, the belief in the actual pres- 
 ence of the body and blood of Christ in the eucharist,
 
 i66 Superstition. 
 
 the sacred candles and holy water, monasticism, the 
 celibacy of the clergy, and the sign of the cross and 
 counting the rosary in times of danger, are nearly all 
 relics of old heathen superstitions. 
 
 As an illustration of the depth of the superstition 
 of the ancient Egyptians I mention some of their 
 divinities. Many scholars have attempted to educe 
 order out of the multitudinous confusion which, to the 
 modern mind, attends the whole system of Egyptian 
 polytheism. Some have tried to classify the deities 
 and divide them into certain ranks or orders, each 
 comprising a certain definite number. Herodotus 
 speaks of a first, a second, and a third order, and 
 assigns to the first order eight gods, to the second 
 twelve, and to the third an indeterminate number. 
 Each one of these was only a leading or principal 
 god, and under each were many inferior divinities. 
 
 According to the earliest traditions, the names of the 
 eight in the first class were : " Pthah, Ra, Shu (or 
 Kneph), Seb, Osiris, Isis, Set, and Horus." Accord- 
 ing to recent discoveries, there were at Memphis 
 Pthah, Shu, Tefun, Seb, Nu (or Nut), Osiris, Isis, 
 and Athor, while at Thebes were Ammon, Mentur, 
 Tum (or Atum), Shu, Seb, Osiris, Set, and Horus. 
 There are so many different opinions upon the sub- 
 ject that it is difficult to determine the names cer- 
 tainly and especially at different places. 
 
 Ammon, for instance, is said to have meant etymo- 
 logically " the concealed god,'' and the idea of Ammon 
 was that of a recondite, incomprehensible divinity, 
 remote from man, hidden, mysterious, the proper 
 object of the profoundest reverence. Practically this 
 idea was too abstract, too " high-flown," says Rawlin- 
 son, " and too metaphysical for ordinary minds to
 
 Superstition. 167 
 
 conceive of it; and so Ammon at an early day was 
 conjoined with Ra, the sun, and worshiped as Ammon 
 Ra, a ver>' intelligible god, neither more nor less than 
 the physical sun, the source of light and life — ' the 
 lord of existences and support of all things.' 
 
 " Khem was the generative principle, the power of 
 life and growth in nature. He was rudely and coarsely 
 represented as a mummied figure, with phallus in front 
 and forms unsightly objects in the sculptures. He 
 presided primarily over the vegetable world, and was 
 the giver of fertility and increase, the lord of the har- 
 vest and the patron of agriculture. Man and all kinds 
 of animals were also under his charge, and from him 
 received life. He is called the ' king of gods,' ' the 
 lifter of the hand,' ' the lord of the crown,' ' the pow- 
 erful.' " 
 
 A low and degrading superstition among the an- 
 cient Egyptians was their worship of animals. At 
 first it seems that in the minds of the worshipers cer- 
 tain animals bore a fancied analogy to certain gods, 
 and they used them as emblems ; but in course of time 
 the animals themselves became sacred. Specimens of 
 these were attached to their temples and kept in shrines 
 and carefully fed and nurtured during life, and at death 
 embalmed and laid away in sacred repositories, and 
 sometimes the whole species was held as sacred. It 
 was unlawful to kill such animals, and when they died 
 there Vv^as general mourning. Of these the cow was 
 the most prominent as a sacred animal. The worship 
 of the cow was not so degrading, however, as that of 
 the cat, the bat, and other animals of low order, which 
 they held in high estimation. 
 
 By studying the religions of the Assyrians and Bab- 
 ylonians, of the Iranians, and ancient people of India,
 
 i68 Superstition. 
 
 the Phcenicians and Carthaginians, the Etruscans and 
 the ancient Greeks and Romans, we find all the sys- 
 tems, or all the religious principles, represented in the 
 different sj^stems of the ancient world While devo- 
 tees of these different religions — these different and 
 widely separated peoples — knew little or nothing about 
 one another, there were similarities in their systems 
 and in the inner thought and primary ideas concern- 
 ing the subject of religion and the supernatural and 
 spiritual, which indicate a common origin. 
 
 I think the careful student will find that with cer- 
 tain ancient peoples the tendency in religion and con- 
 sequent civilization was backward or downward, while 
 with others the progression was upward, at least in 
 science if not in religion. . Much of the ancient sci- 
 ence, however, was mere superstition. 
 
 The superstitions of the Assyrians and Babylonians 
 were numerous and strange. They believed in charms 
 of various kinds, in omens, in astrology, in spells, 
 and in a miraculous power inherent in an object 
 which they called the " mamit." What the " mamit " 
 was is uncertain. According to a sacred legend it 
 descended from heaven, and was a " treasure," a " price- 
 less jewel," infinit'cly more valuable than any thing 
 else on earth. It was ordinarily kept in a temple, 
 but was sometimes brought to the bedside of a sick 
 j5erson to drive out the evil spirit that caused the dis- 
 ease. 
 
 Among the sacred legends the following were re- 
 markable : They believed that at a remote date before 
 the creation of the world there had - been a war in 
 heaven. Seven spirits, created by the god Anu to be 
 his messengers, took counsel together and resolved 
 upon a revolt. They unexpectedly made an attack
 
 Superstition. 169 
 
 " against high heaven." The sun, the moon, and Vul, 
 the god of the atmosphere, withstood them, and after 
 a fearful fight beat them off. They had several fights, 
 when at last the leader of these wicked angels was 
 slain by means of a thunder-bolt thrown into his open 
 mouth, and his followers took to flight and were driven 
 into the abode of wicktd demons, where they are con- 
 fined, and man was made in their stead. 
 
 The ancient Iranians held the religion of Zoroaster, 
 but just what that was it is difficult to say. They 
 anciently held a dualism, a belief in the eternal exist- 
 ence of a good and an evil principle, which were repre- 
 sented by spirit and matter. Here also we find a sys- 
 tem of fire-worship and all kinds of magic. It is 
 interesting to study the peculiar superstitions of the 
 Hindoos, the Phoenicians, and Carthaginians, and 
 others of their times; but we must come nearer home. 
 
 In the Christian church there have been many 
 ridiculous superstitious beliefs and practices. It is 
 strange how people could be led to embrace such 
 follies. In the primitive church there was but little 
 less superstition than in the middle ages.. Saint wor- 
 ship, pilgrimages, veneration for sacred relics, belief 
 in blessings from the intercessions of martyrs, and in 
 the virtue of poverty and monkery — all are but igno- 
 rant superstitions. ,^ 
 
 Who now could be led away by the teachings of 
 the Pillar Sai7its of the fifth century, yet they had a 
 large following in their day. One Simeon, of Sisan, 
 called Simeon Stylites, a vSyrian mystic monk, after 
 doing many foolish things, for which he was expelled 
 from the monastery, betook himself to a high mount- 
 ain near Antioch, and there erected a pillar, first nine 
 feet, then eighteen, then thirty-three, then fifty-four.
 
 lyo Superstition. 
 
 and at last sixty feet high, upon the top of \vhich he 
 lived for thirty-seven 3'ears in the most uncomfortable 
 manner, fasting, praying, and exhorting the people. 
 It is said he did this that he might get nearer to 
 heaven and suffer for Christ's sake. He became very 
 popular, and great crowds flocked to him for lessons 
 of wisdom and truth and to receive his blessings. 
 This habit became the rage with many, and the Pillar 
 Saints were held in great veneration. 
 
 As great a man as Augustine believed there was 
 virtue in the bones of the martyrs in healing the sick 
 and in driving away evil spirits. Who was more 
 superstitious in his day than the great reformer, Mar- 
 tin Luther ? He had many a hand-to-hand combat 
 with the devil, and in the little room where he wrote 
 and prayed in the castle at Wartburg, the traveler is 
 shown the splotch on the wall where he threw his 
 inkstand at the devil. He was studying and praying 
 and trying to prepare himself and Germany for the 
 great conflict with error and its mother, papal Rome, 
 when the devil kept making his appearance, grinning 
 at him and making ugly faces. He told him to go 
 away and let him alone, but the fiend kept grinning 
 and making faces at him; so he threw his inkstand 
 with all his might. I do not know whether Luther 
 broke Satan's head or not; if he did it has been 
 mended — the wound got well. Would it not be well 
 for people in this day to believe as firmly as Luther 
 did in the personality of the devil, whether they throw 
 their inkstands at him or not? It is said he goes about 
 like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 
 Sometimes we hear his mighty roaring, and we are 
 sure he devours as he goes. 
 
 It is said Mr. Wesley, the father of Methodism, was
 
 Superstition. 171 
 
 exceedingly superstitious, and who of us are not, at 
 least upon some subjects and at some times ? Joseph 
 was not the last dreamer, nor the last one to believe 
 his dream. Joseph lost his pretty coat b}' telling 
 his dream, and we ought to learn a lesson by this. 
 To the young men especially I would say, If 5'ou have 
 a dream that you will be a great man some day, do 
 not, like Joseph, tell it to every one you meet. Keep 
 it to yourself, and act as though you had received no 
 intimation of future greatness, otherwise you may get 
 ^'sold," or even get into an Egyptian jail. 
 
 The ancieiits filled the world with spirits, and their 
 belief in spirit life manifests and unfolds itself in all 
 their varied superstitions. The places of the living 
 were haunted with the spirits of the dead. The proc- 
 ess of tracing all superstitions to a common origin, 
 and discovering the sources of error and ignorance 
 of the truth, will always prove an interesting labor 
 to the anthropologist. 
 
 The oriental doctrine of transmigration of souls, 
 the animal worship of the Egpytians, the Sabaism of 
 the Persians, are but stages of progress in a religious 
 evolution. The ancient religions never remained the 
 same during a long period. They were moving their 
 adherents either upward or downward. The pagoda 
 of the Orient, the pyramids of Egypt, the temples of 
 Greece are but the representations in art of a super- 
 stition that finds its first expression in a more primi- 
 tive form. 
 
 Among the primitive peoples the cure of diseases 
 was given over to sorcerers, who were supposed to 
 have some power over the evil-disposed spirits. Sor- 
 cery, under higher culture, developed into the priest- 
 craft. Exorcism of evil spirits still survives as one
 
 172 Superstition. 
 
 of the offices of the priests. In our own day those 
 peculiar diseases which have defied medical skill, 
 such as insanity, hysteria, and epilepsy, are relegated 
 in many countries to the priesthood for cure. 
 
 In tracing the origin of superstitions among savage 
 peoples, we will gee the error of any writer who has 
 affirmed that this or that people has no religion or re- 
 ligious feeling. Many such writers have contradicted 
 themselves, unwittingly, by giving a list of the super- 
 stitions of the peoples whom they say are without a 
 religion. Perhaps they mean to say that these sav- 
 age races know nothing of true religion. 
 
 The American Indian tribes furnish fine illustra- 
 tions of religious superstitions. With them the 
 world was full of spirits, which they imagined they 
 often saw sitting upon the limbs of trees, or skipping 
 about in the moonlight. They had a great fear of the 
 spirits of the dead. Their superstition about names 
 originated in their fear of the spirits of the departed. 
 So, when any one died every one who had the name 
 of the deceased person would at once change it, for 
 fear this spirit would hear the name called and come 
 and try to take possession of him. They believed 
 that two spirits often inhabited the same body, and 
 had terrible contests for possession of supremacy. 
 Many of them would pull down or burn the house in 
 which any one died, and move away as far as .possi- 
 ble. Sometimes they would change the appearance 
 of the house so the spirit would not recognize it. 
 They sometimes made holes in the coffin for the 
 spirit to pass out, supposing, perhaps, it had not left 
 the body. 
 
 " The Algic tribes believe that sleep is produced 
 by fairies, the prince of whom is Weeng. Weeng
 
 Superstition, 173 
 
 scarce!}^ ever operates directl}-, but he exercises his 
 power through gnome-like beings, who are every- 
 where present." These diminutive beings are invisi- 
 ble. Each one is armed with a tiny club, which he 
 always carries. When he observes a person sitting 
 or reclining in a position favorable to. sleep, he nimbly 
 climbs upon his forehead and inflicts a blow with his 
 club. The first blow only creates drowsiness, the 
 second makes him close his eyes or nod, and the 
 third puts him to sleep. It is the duty of these little 
 emissaries to put every one to sleep they possibly 
 can — men, women, and children. They hide them- 
 selves everywhere, and fly out and begin their work 
 whenever a favorable opportunity offers, but they, 
 like some other spirits, love darkness rather than 
 light, and in the night they do most of their work. 
 
 With us this drow'sy deity goes to church, and there 
 finds a good opportunity to do his work. To keep 
 from disturbing public worship, he creeps upon his 
 victim carefully and noiselessly, and strikes his blows 
 so quietly that sleep is produced insensibly, and very 
 often the one who sleeps does not realize the pres- 
 ence or operations of the little worker, and denies 
 that he was asleep at all. Weeng is not only the pro- 
 ducer of sleep, but he is also the author of dullness. 
 If an orator fails, he is said to have been struck by 
 Weeng, or if a warrior lingers, or is not successful, 
 he has been influenced by the sleepy god. If chil- 
 dren begin to nod or yawn, the Indian mother looks 
 up smilingly and says they have been struck by 
 Weeng, and puts them to bed. Sometimes the mother 
 is uneasy for fear the sleepy god will .strike the little 
 infant too hard a blow, and either cause it to sleep 
 too much, or make it intellectually dull. Is it not pos-
 
 174 Superstition, 
 
 sible that Weeng has struck a great many white men, 
 as well as Indians, too hard a blow ? 
 
 The fear of spirits has characterized all people in 
 every age of the world. The more intelligent the 
 race or nation the less superstitious it is, and conse- 
 quently the less the fear of spirits and the supernat- 
 ural. 
 
 The fear of being left in the dark is a superstitious 
 feeling of the same kind. " The Western Indians sup- 
 posed that evil spirits loved the dark, and that the 
 good and great spirits love the light. Therefore they 
 believe that when the moon is full evil spirits begin 
 nibbling at it to put out its light, eating a portion of 
 it every night until it is all gone. Then a great spirit, 
 who will not permit the evil spirits to take advantage 
 of the darkness and go about the earth, doing mis- 
 chief like burglars and assassins, makes a new moon, 
 working on it every night until it is finished, when he 
 leaves it and goes to sleep. No sooner is he gone 
 than the. bad spirits return and eat it up again." 
 
 The American Indians are particularly superstitious 
 in reference to the dead, and consequently avoid grave- 
 yards and places where their people have died. I 
 would believe we had inherited this superstitious fear 
 from them if I did not know that our English fore- 
 fathers were as superstitious in this respect as the 
 wild aboriginal tribes of the West. I have seen refer- 
 ence made to Addison's statement concerning the 
 grave-yard superstitions and ghost stories of old En- 
 gland. The intimation is made that these things have 
 all disappeared ; that all such false terrors have been 
 dispelled by the light of science and letters; but if we 
 go into the inner life of the people we will find that 
 these superstitions have not all disappeared. Their
 
 Superstition. 
 
 /D 
 
 corpses are still here, if we do not find them in living 
 existence. 
 
 What old castle in England, Wales, Scotland, or 
 Ireland, what old house in this country, has not its 
 ghost? What terrible tales are told of "haunted 
 houses?" We read of them or hear of them in 
 almost every part of the countrj-. A few j-ears ago 
 St. Louis and Memphis had what seemed rival houses 
 of this kind, to which crowds gathered for a few 
 nights to hear tlie mysterious sounds. These visitors 
 .became so frightened that after a few evenings the 
 bravest of them could hardly be induced to go near 
 these buildings. Many families are said to have 
 moved away from the haunted neighborhoods on 
 account of the disturbances made by these ghosts or 
 demons. We generally only hear of these supernat- 
 ural visitc^ts. It is usually some bod}' else who saw 
 them. 
 
 Modern spiritualism is nothing more than supersti- 
 tion or legerdemain. I attended a seance once when 
 I was a boy which admirably illustrates the true char- 
 acter of spiritualism. The medium was a school-mis- 
 tress, and the public was invited to her school-house 
 out in the country one night to see her performance. 
 The spirits refused to respond until a certain skeptical 
 young man would leave the house ; then every thing 
 worked charmingly. Many spirits of departed friends 
 came, and some of them made wonderful revelations. 
 After a while the unbelieving 3'oung man became tired 
 of waiting out-doors alone,; so he crept under the 
 floor and stopped immediately under the table where 
 the spirits were rapping. An eccentric old woman 
 had died a short time before in the neighborhood, and 
 she was called for. The school-mistress medium very
 
 176 Superstition. 
 
 gravely and with a solemn tone called her up. She 
 said: " If you are present, manifest it b)'- three dis- 
 tinct knocks." All waited in breathless silence to 
 hear. The medium waited a moment, to make it im- 
 pressive, when the young man under the house gave 
 three distinct raps upon the floor with his knife. All 
 heard it distinctly. The school-teacher looked around 
 and began to turn pale. With a trembling voice she 
 said: "If the spirit of Aunt Polly is certainly here, 
 will she please give four distinct raps." After a mo- 
 ment's silence 07ie, two, three, four raps came, and then 
 all was as still as death. The school-teacher, now pale 
 and trembling, turned to those nearest her, and, with 
 a voice quivering, said: ''What is that?" Some one 
 answered: "It is the spirit of old Aunt Polly, I sup- 
 pose." She answered: "I believe it is, sure enough, 
 for I tell you I didn't do it." "Well," they asked, 
 "have you been making the raps heretofore?" She 
 said: "Yes, but I didn't do that." After a good deal 
 of persuasion she was induced to ask the spirit an- 
 other question, and when ihe answer came with the 
 required number of raps she hurriedly left the room 
 without ceremony, and hastened home without mak- 
 ing another appointment. She came very near faint- 
 ing and falling down as did the witch of Endor when 
 Samuel's ghost appeared, to her great astonishment, 
 when she called him for Saul. 
 
 Some spiritualists in Nashv;lle a few j^ears ago in- 
 sisted that the late Dr. A. J. Baird should attend one 
 of their seances and give the matter a fair trial. After 
 much persuading he agreed to go. He took a faith- 
 ful and reliable friend with him and went. It was 
 promised that a tangible or materialized spirit would 
 appear, and that Dr. Baird should at least hear it
 
 Superstition. 177 
 
 breathe and feel its breath. When they got the com- 
 pany arranged in a circle and every thing ready the 
 lights were turned off and every thing left in darkness 
 and silence. Hands were joined all around and the 
 spirit made its appearance. At the first appearance 
 Dr. Baird said : " Yes, it passed round just behind me. 
 I heard it breathe and felt the w'arm breath upon my 
 cheek, and I also smelt its breath, and found that the 
 spirit had been drinking whisky." The next time 
 when it came around and he heard and smelt it, he 
 quickly disengaged his hands, and suddenly threw up 
 his right hand and caught the spirit by the beard and 
 held him' until the lights could be turned on, and they 
 found the supposed supernatural visitor to be the 
 ■tnedhim, as the performer was called. 
 
 The world is full of error in regard to spirit exist- 
 ence and spirit life, and so long as this is the case 
 superstition will exist. We all believe in the exist- 
 ence of spirits, but I doubt whether any one of us has 
 a very clearly defined idea or system of belief upon 
 the subject. 
 
 You all remember the history of the prophet Elisha 
 and the young man, when they were surrounded at 
 Dothan by the Syrian army which had come to capt- 
 ure the prophet. When ,the yoimg man saw the 
 hosts of the enemy encompassing them he was 
 alarmed and cried out: "Alas! master, how shall we 
 do?" But Elisha said: "Fear not, for they that be 
 with us are more than they that be with them." The 
 young man could not understand that, until the 
 prophet prayed the Lord to open his eyes that he 
 might see the invisible army with which God had en- 
 compassed the mountains. When his eyes were 
 opened he saw that the " mountain was full of horses 
 12
 
 178 Superstition. 
 
 and chariots of fire, round about Elisha." This invis- 
 ible army was made visible to the young man that he 
 might know the power God had for the protection of 
 his servant. If our eyes were opened to see all that 
 is passing around us, as this young man's were on that 
 occasion, is it not possible that we would behold 
 things as wonderful as he saw? 
 
 It is this universal belief in spiritual existence, 
 joined to such meager and limited knowledge on the 
 subject, that causes so much superstition. Man's dual 
 nature — spiritual and material — makes him believe in 
 spirit existence, and therefore makes him a religious 
 animal. The higher and purer his religion or relig- 
 ious belief, the less superstitious he becomes ; but the 
 more ignorant he is the nearer his religion approx- 
 imates to mere superstition. 
 
 We find an illustration of this proposition here in 
 our own country and among our own people. The 
 more ignorant the community, family, Or individual 
 the greater is the superstition. But in some things 
 most people are superstitious. Who has not at some 
 time consulted the faith doctor, and witnessed how 
 gravely and carefully this wonderful magic practi- 
 tioner will pass his hands over the diseased part a cer- 
 tain number of times, mentally repeating some for- 
 mula. Perhaps he will rub the affected part with a 
 stick and tell you to go and bury the stick in some 
 secret spot, and as you come away from the place of 
 deposit not to look back, and, above all, not to tell 
 any one where you buried it. You are told that if you 
 will follow these directions carefully in a given time 
 the warts, or sty, or whatever it is that troubles you, 
 will disappear. Have you not tried it? And has it 
 not always effected a cure?
 
 Superstition. 179 
 
 Have you not seen sick horses cured by faith ? 
 How solemnly the doctor walks around the animal a 
 given number of times, stroking him in a particular 
 manner, and a cure is effected at once. 
 
 What neighborhood has not one or more water- 
 witches, as they are called ? With mien as solemn 
 and important as a judge sitting on a case of life and 
 death, he walks around with a sv/itch in hand, and 
 when he passes a stream deep underground the 
 switch will bow, nod, or twist, according to the char- 
 acter of the stream. Who would be so foolish as to 
 attempt to dig a well without first consulting .the 
 water-witch ? But you say this is not superstition, it 
 is science. W^ell, perhaps it is, and so I suppose 
 planting potatoes, and many other things, in the 
 dark of the moon, or when the moon is full, is science 
 also. But who wishes to start on a journey, or begin 
 a new enterprise, on Friday? If you see a rabbit or 
 squirrel run across the road in front of you, going to 
 the left-hand side, will you not make a cross in the 
 road and spit on it, or turn round and go back? If 
 the little animal ran to the right-hand side, you are 
 safe in going on, as you will be sure to have good 
 luck. In almost every family there are signs for good 
 luck and bad luck, and while all declare there is noth- 
 ing in these signs, all are more or less governed by 
 them. If a chicken crows near the front door, a 
 stranger will come before night ; if you sneeze at the 
 table during a meal, somebody is coming. There are 
 niany such signs, the occurrence of some of them 
 indicating the coming of a visitor, or the marriage or 
 death of some one in the family or neighborhood. 
 So there are signs of various kinds for good or 
 ill-luck. Sailors are not the only people who believe
 
 i8o Superstition. 
 
 the horse-shoe is a protection and an assurance of 
 good luck. Has any lady in this audience ever 
 consulted a fortune-teller, or looked into a well 
 or coffee cup to see her future husband? Perhaps 
 there is more than one present who have by some 
 such method essayed to read the future. 
 
 The African is peculiarly superstitious, whether 
 you find him in his native lands or in other countries. 
 It seems to be a part of his nature and of his religion, 
 and no amount of education entirely eradicates it. 
 It is said that climate has much to do in making a 
 people more or less superstitious, and that in tropical 
 countries more superstition is found than anywhere 
 else. This may be true in the East, but I doubt if it 
 is a rule that wall always hold good. What tribe of 
 men is more superstitious than the Esquimaux? 
 With the negroes here in our own country supersti- 
 tion has much to do in controlling them, not only in 
 their religion but in nearly every thing they do. 
 As a rule, they believe in ghosts, witches, and hob- 
 goblins. They often imagine they are bewitched, and 
 when one concludes he is under such a spell it af- 
 fects him as seriously as if it were true. Many a poor, 
 deluded negro has suffered for months under the 
 spell of an imaginary witch, and pined away and 
 died. If one of their number is supposed to be a 
 witch, all fear and avoid that one as they would Satan 
 himself Many of them carry charms of some kind 
 about their persons, to keep off the witch, or avoid the 
 spell. 
 
 But how many intelligent white people do the same 
 thing ? A man will tell 3'ou that he carries a charm 
 for good luck. Well, that is the object the ignorant 
 negro is seeking in the same way. He wants to keep 
 
 /
 
 Superstition, i8i 
 
 off disease and secure health — to bring to himself good 
 luck. There may be those here to-night who have 
 some charm or talisman in their pockets or about 
 their persons. 
 
 The negroes mix their superstition into their re- 
 ligion, until with some of them it constitutes the ma- 
 jor part. This is forcibly illustrated by the story of 
 an old negro's prayer. He was in his cabin alone late 
 at night. He was in the habit of praying very loud 
 just before going to bed. In these prayers he often 
 told the Lord how he had to suffer, and how badly he 
 was treated by his master. In pouring out his griev- 
 ances he would beg to be taken away at once from 
 earth, declaring that he would like to go immediately 
 up to heaven. On one of these occasions, when he 
 had waxed warm in his complaints, and had come to 
 his usual petition : " O Lord, come take dis pore ole 
 nigger up to heben right now; he's tired libbin in 
 dis worle ob sin an' 'pression. He wants to go right 
 now up to heben whar he can get some res' an' 
 some 'en fit to eat. O Lord, do please come an' take 
 dis ole Ned right dis minnit." Some young men had 
 been listening, just outside of the cabin, to Uncle 
 Ned's prayer. As he made this petition they knocked 
 violently upon the door. The old man stopped his 
 prayer suddenly, and said : " Who dat knockin' at dat 
 doo' ? " The answer came very solemnly, and from a 
 deep, guttural voice: "It is the Lord." "What de 
 Lord want?" said Uncle Ned. "He has heard the 
 prayer of old Uncle Ned, and has come to take him 
 away from this sinful Avorld." Uncle Ned blew out 
 his candle as quickly as he could, and .said : " Ole Ned 
 not heah ; he 's done gone off to see some de folks ; 
 he 's not heah. He 's jokin' 'bout wantin' de Lord to
 
 i82 Superstition. 
 
 take him 'way anyhow ; he done tola me to tell you 
 so. No, he doan wan' ter go ; he 'd heap ruther stay 
 heah." Is Ned the only one who ever prayed such a 
 hypocritical prayer, or sung a song amounting to the 
 same thing. 
 
 The three or four centuries immediately before 
 Christ saw the greatest confusion in religion that the 
 world has ever produced. It was a struggle between 
 the philosophers and the priests. The old religions 
 had lost their hold upon the mind and heart of the 
 better classes in every country. The wide dissemina- 
 tion of Greek learning had changed the current of 
 thought everywhere. The schools of the philosophers 
 became popular and were crowded by the youth of 
 every land. The effort of these masters was to bring 
 order out of the confusion into which the mind of 
 man had drifted. This was a hard task. The dark- 
 ness which had .settled over the world was so great 
 that scarcely a ray of light penetrated it. 
 
 The only source of light that might have illumi- 
 nated the benighted races of men was itself eclipsed 
 and obscured, despised by the other nations of the 
 earth. The Jew had become the blind leader of the 
 blind, and all had fallen into the ditch together. In 
 this condition it is not surprising that the thought of 
 the world was turned to Greek philosophy. Greece 
 allowed other people to control the commerce of the 
 world, but gave herself to the cultivation of the mind. 
 Her achievements in intellectual development and 
 culture surpassed even those of the Phoenicians in 
 commerce. They are to-day the wonder of the world. 
 Socrates gathered around him the best intellect of that 
 W'Onderful age, and if he did no more he unfolded to 
 those ambitious youths the fields for intellectual feats
 
 Superstition. 183 
 
 and the possibilities of mind in its sway over matter. 
 Lifting the curtain and giving a view of the mind and 
 what it might do, he set the brain on fire to secure its 
 accomplishment. 
 
 Plato surpassed his master and all others in bring- 
 ing order out of confusion and giving to the world a 
 system of belief. But he fastened upon the world 
 errors that will last, perhaps, as long as time itself. 
 Upon the old doctrine of the dual nature of the uni- 
 verse, and of the eternity of mind and matter, he 
 built his system. It was not a new doctrine, but old 
 beliefs molded into shape. It taught that there is a 
 struggle between the visible and the invisible, and 
 that the only hope of success and happiness is in the 
 mastery of spirit over matter. This imaginary war 
 between the two created a real war, and it resulted 
 only in error and superstition in regard to the nature 
 of spirit and the relation between it and matter. 
 
 Platonism, as all the different forms of belief were 
 called that emphasized the powers of mind over mat- 
 ter, became the popular, and, in some way, the almost 
 universal belief of the people. It entered into the 
 teaching in science, in religion, in politics, and into 
 the very life of the people. Platonism has perhaps 
 been the parent of more error in religious beliefs and 
 in religious life than a^l other systems combined. It 
 had greater influence upon the thought and life of the 
 people in the early part of the Christian era than any 
 other system, and it was its introduction into Chris- 
 tianity under its various forms that did more than any 
 thing else to corrupt the faith and the life of the 
 church. Platonism did much in shaping the thought 
 of the church, leading to all kinds of wild notions 
 and mvstical theories. It was Platonic beliefs that led
 
 184 Superstition. 
 
 the church into anarchy and superstition until it was 
 enveloped in a cloud so thick and dark that there 
 seemed no hope. Then the Reformation broke the 
 cloud and let the light in. 
 
 This heathen philosophy has produced more error 
 and superstition in the church and in Christian lands 
 than any other system of thought. Like a corrupt 
 fountain, it has poisoned every thing with which it 
 has come in contact. Teaching the doctrine that mat- 
 ter is inherently corrupt, and that the only way to sub- 
 due the passions of the body is to weaken and abuse 
 the body and thereby give strength and power to the 
 spirit, it led to sins and follies unnumbered, and to 
 superstitions which yet control the opinions and lives 
 of multitudes in the church even in our own countrj-. 
 Mj'stic theology and philosophy have not lost their 
 influence, and perhaps never will until we all see 
 through other eyes than those of the body, and under- 
 stand what is meant by spirit, spirit life, and spirit in- 
 fluence.
 
 ^
 
 ^toitBiMmm.BM
 
 ODR ENGLISH ANCESTORS. 
 
 By E. E. weir, A.M., 
 Professor of Belles-Lettres and ^lental and Moral Sciences. . 
 
 The three great historic divisions of men are : The 
 Semites, or Shemites, the Hamites, and the Aryans, 
 or Japhethites. To the Aryans belong the Europe- 
 ans and their descendants. Let us briefly trace the 
 origin of these, beginning at a distant period when 
 they tilled their lands and fed their flocks in their 
 primitive home, located somewhere, no man can say 
 just where. 
 
 Many reasons have inclined the majority of recent 
 writers to accept the Baltic or Scandinavian region as 
 the primeval Aryan home. Perhaps the least objec- 
 tionable theory, in the light of recent investigations, 
 would locate the cradle of this race in southern Ru.s- 
 sia around the Caspian Sea. 
 
 From this old home two branches of this race proceed- 
 ed, one toward the Indian peninsula, where was laid the 
 foundation of the peculiar civilization, language, and 
 literature of the Hindoos; the other toward the north 
 and west, and from the latter came the various nations 
 that peopled Europe. For our present purpose we 
 have need to notice only this second branch. It is 
 generally' agreed that the nations spread over Europe 
 in successive waves. With respect to the chronolog- 
 ical order of these waves; however, there is less of 
 agreement. The opinion which seems most prevalent 
 
 (185)
 
 i86 Our Kngi^ish Ancestors. 
 
 is that first came the restless Celts in quest of new 
 fortunes. Just here the question may be asked, Was 
 the country inhabited before the coming of the Celts? 
 To this I shall attempt no certain answer. Momsen, in 
 his History of Rome, states that the results of German 
 antiquarian research lead to the conclusion that in 
 England, France, the north of Germany, and Scandi- 
 navia, before the settlement of the Indo-Europeans in 
 those lands, there must have dwelt, or rather roamed, 
 a people perhaps of Mongolian race, gaining their sub- 
 sistence by hunting and fishing, making their imple- 
 ments of stone, clay, or bones, adorning themselves 
 with the teeth of animals and with amber, but unac- 
 quainted with agrict:lture and the use of metals. Be 
 this as it may, the conclusion is warranted that the 
 Celts were driven westward by a succeeding wave. 
 
 The Greeks and Romans followed the Celts, driving 
 them from the wide territory which they occupied to 
 remote districts. These two races took possession of 
 the southern portions of Europe, and were an impor- 
 tant element in the formation of the nations which 
 now occupy Greece, Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal. 
 Next to the Greeks and Romans came that aggressive 
 people from whom are descended the Servians, the 
 Bulgarians, the Bohemians, and the Russians. 
 
 Last, but to us most important, came the Teutons. 
 The principal branches of these are: The Scandina- 
 vians, embracing the Swedes, the Danes, the Norwe- 
 gians, and the Icelanders; the High Germans in south 
 German}^; and the Low Germans in the lowlands of 
 north Germany. To the Low Germans belong the 
 Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes. These are the 
 tribes of our English ancestors. They occupied the 
 low-lying country immediately north of the Elbe.
 
 Our Engwsh Ancestors. 187 
 
 Angleland, Saxlaud, and Juteland were the countries 
 now known as Friesland, Holstein, and Jutland. 
 
 On the wild waste of heather, and amid the sand- 
 flats and marshes of their sea-girt home, let us leave 
 these our ancient ancestors and turn our attention for 
 a time to Great Britain. From this the latest home 
 of our ancestors came our language and many of our 
 institutions. It will be interesting if not profitable to 
 notice some of the legendary stories respecting this 
 island. We are told that the Britons are sprung from 
 Trojan ancestry — that they took their name from 
 Brutus, who, an exile and troubled wanderer, was 
 directed by the oracle of Diana to come to Albion. 
 This island, not yet called Britain, was ruled over by 
 a giant, the son of Neptune, who called it Albion 
 from his own name. It is said that Brutus, standing 
 before the altar of Diana with a vessel of wine and the 
 blood of a white hart, repeated nine times: 
 
 "Goddess of woods, tremendous in the chase 
 To mountain boars and all the savage race, 
 Wide o'er the ethereal walks extend thy sway, 
 And o'er the infernal regions void of day; 
 Look upon us on earth, unfold our fate. 
 And say what region is our destined seat. 
 Where shall we next thy lasting temple raise, 
 And choirs of angels celebrate thy praise?" 
 
 He was answered in a vision of the night: 
 
 " Brutus, there lies beyond the Gallic bounds 
 An island which the western sea surrounds ; 
 By giants once possessed, now few remain 
 To bar thy entrance or obstruct thy reign ; 
 To reach that happy shore thy sails employ — 
 There fate decrees to raise a second Troy, 
 And found an empire in thy royal line 
 Which time shall ne'er destroy nor bounds confine."
 
 1 88 Our English Ancestors. 
 
 Earl>'» historians tell us that one British king flour- 
 ished in the time of Saul; that another lived con- 
 temporary with Solomon. King Lear had grown old 
 in government when Romulus and Remus were 
 suckled. 
 
 Leaving to historical science the task of bringing 
 to light whatever of truth may be contained in these 
 stories of the prehistoric Britons, let us pass to a 
 period of more authentic history, beginning about 
 fifty-five years before Christ, when Julius Caesar led 
 his brass-mailed legions into Britain from Gaul. An- 
 cient authority gives to the Britons a Celtic origin. 
 They perhaps had migrated to this western land be- 
 fore the Teutons left the common parent home in the 
 East. Although Caesar conquered the Britons, it was 
 not until about the year 85 A.D. that the central and 
 southern portions of the island were reduced to a 
 Roman province. This province remained under 
 Roman rule nearly four hundred years. 
 
 When the Roman empire began falling in pieces 
 the legions which had protected the Britons from the 
 incursions of the Picts, the Silures, and the Scots were 
 withdrawn for the defense of Italy. In this helpless 
 condition the Britons applied to the Germanic tribes 
 for aid. Then sad relief came from the bleak coast 
 of the German ocean. The strong, yellow-haired and 
 blue-eyed Saxon came and drove back the enemies of 
 the Britons; but, falling in love with the beautiful 
 country, they determined to become its possessors by 
 conquering the inhabitants. So the weak Celts, under 
 their semi-fabulous hero, were driven, like the In- 
 dians of North America, to the remotest corners of a 
 kingdom which they had occupied with undisputed 
 sway. If to-day you would see the once warlike race
 
 Our Exgush Axcestors. 189 
 
 of King Arthur, go to the wildest parts of Ireland and 
 the Highlands of Scotland, to Wales and Cornwall, 
 Brittany and the Isle of Man. The Anglo-Saxons have 
 taken possession of a land which they still hold. The 
 Danes overran the country in the ninth century. In 
 the year 1017 they succeeded in taking the throne. 
 After a brief dynasty of three Danish kings, the 
 Anglo-Saxons regained the government. 
 
 In the year 1066 William, Duke of Normandy, led 
 his soldiers into England, and at the noted battle of 
 Hastings completed the subjugation of the Anglo- 
 Saxons. These disturbances by the Danes and Nor- 
 mans produced no radical change in the race, lan- 
 guage, or institutions of England. 
 
 It will be interesting here to speak of the spirit 
 and genius of the people whose origin we have thus 
 traced. I should like to follow this great people from 
 the cradle of their infancy and speak, not of the 
 tramp of armies, nor scenes of bloodshed and slaugh- 
 ter, which only disgust, but of the more interesting 
 and instructive events which would give us a view of 
 their manners and customs, their language and litera- 
 ture, their beliefs and home life. 
 
 History fails to give any facts respecting the primi- 
 tive life of the Aryans. The sciences of philology 
 and ethnology afford some relief to this great want. 
 According to these the Aryans had not only the near 
 and dear relations of father, mother, son, and daugh- 
 ter, but even the more conventional affinities of 
 sister-in-law, father-in-law, and mother-in-law. In ad- 
 dition to the family they had a state organization. 
 They also possessed abundant flocks and herds, which 
 were pastured upon their grassy commons. The 
 cow was their most valued domestic animal. They
 
 I90 Our EngivISh Ancestors. 
 
 had the pig, the sheep, the goat, and the horse. It is 
 probable that the horse was not ridden. The dog 
 seems to have been known only in its wild state. 
 Their chief ordinary drink was the milk of the cow, 
 sheep, and goat. The daughters of the primeval 
 home were the milkmaids. Dawn was the mustering 
 time of the cows, and evening was the time of bring- 
 ing home the herds. The earth was broken with a 
 rude plow drawn b}^ the ox, or possibly the horse. 
 They cut their hay and grain with the sickle. At least 
 two kinds of grains were cultivated; just what grains 
 is not knovv'n. Wheeled vehicles brought the harvest 
 from the field. Pottery was in common use. Vessels 
 of wood and leather were also probably employed. 
 Music on stringed instruments softened their hours 
 of rest and leisure. Quails and ducks were eaten and 
 salt was used. They had our trio of domestic pests — 
 the fly, the flea, and the mouse. Hunting was re- 
 garded a noble pursuit, and they delighted in the 
 combat with the savage bear and wolf. 
 
 The ax appears to have been the chief weapon of 
 warfare, but they fought also with the club and the 
 sword. They wore the helmet and buckler for de- 
 fensive armor. They counted by fives and tens, with 
 their fingers and toes as guides. The j'ear was di- 
 vided into lunar months, the moon being their meas- 
 urer of time. 
 
 Much that has been drawn from philology concern- 
 ing the primitive liv^s of the Aryans is open to doubt. 
 That the whole story is much richer than can be 
 learned from our scanty stock of words is highly prob- 
 able. Fancy would lead us to suppose that often, 
 when night had come on, the good man spoke of his 
 growing crops, while the good wife's shuttle went
 
 Our English Ancestors. 191 
 
 merrily flashing through the loom. In this familiar 
 circle was the uncle, rich in- lore of fields and brooks, 
 and the dear old aunt, delighting in her girlhood 
 memories. The young members of the family were 
 near, and, gathered in a circle, they all sped the night 
 away with stories old. 
 
 We may suppose that on the banks of their native 
 rivers, when breezes were soft and skies were fair, 
 they stole an hour from their busy cares. There, too, 
 was the honest country lad, with toil-rounded shoul- 
 ders, and the innocent lassie, his companion in the 
 harvest field. In the evening when the toilers return 
 from their work he loiters behind with her, and Vvdth 
 a joy he can not explain he sits by her side and picks 
 from her little hands the cruel nettle stings and 
 thistles. But fancy must be checked. I shall not 
 speak further of our ancestors while on the continent. 
 If history had recorded all that we could desire, still 
 space would forbid our entering so delightful a field. 
 
 Let us notice some of the peculiarities of the Celts, 
 Romans, Anglo-Saxons, and other races which enter 
 into the composition of the English people. With 
 good reason we may conclude that the civilization of 
 these races on the Island of Great Britain was in the 
 main that which belonged to them on the Continent. 
 The blue-eyed Briton inhabited a mist-enveloped land. 
 His house was a circular hut of timber and reeds, sur- 
 rounded by a conical roof, which served at once to 
 admit daylight and to allow smoke to escape through 
 a hole in the top. Into these huts the horseman 
 rode, conversed with the inmates, then made his exit 
 without having alighted. At meals they sat in circle, 
 each witli his block of wood and piece of meat. 
 Around the central fire the whole family lay down to
 
 192 Our English Ancestors. 
 
 savage dreams, while the wolf's long howl broke the 
 silence of forest depth, or wild fowls screamed across 
 the wilderness of shallow waters. Their property- 
 consisted of arms and cattle. Their weapons were 
 bronze swords, spears, axes, and chariots with pro- 
 jecting scythes. Each tribe had a chief. The sum- 
 nions to war was made with the crantara — a stick 
 burnt at the end and dipped in blood, carried by a 
 dumb messenger from hamlet to hamlet. 
 
 There is an old Celtic story which says that they 
 mixed the brains of their slain enemies with lime and 
 played with the hard balls they made of them. Such 
 a brain-stone is said to have passed through the skull 
 of an Irish chief, who lived afterward seven years 
 with two brains in his head, always sitting very still 
 lest in shaking himself he should die. In the mounds 
 of these old Britons are found vases containing their 
 bones and, ashes, together with swords and hatchets, 
 arrow-heads of flint and bronze, and beads of glass 
 and amber. They believed that things useful and 
 pleasing here would be needful in the shadow}^ realms. 
 
 The Druids, with consecrated beads and linen 
 tiaras, were the priests of their religion. The" au- 
 thority of the Druids was great. Controversies 
 among states, as well as individuals, were decided by 
 them. The sentence of excommunication was pro- 
 nounced against persons refusing submission to their 
 decrees. Even death afforded a relief to the severe 
 penalties inflicted upon those thus doomed. The 
 Druids would not worship their gods under roof. At 
 noon and night, within a circular area marked by enor- 
 mous stones and of vast circumference, they made 
 their appeals with sacrifices, the victims being cap- 
 tives and criminals, or the innocent and fair.
 
 Our English Ancestors. 193 
 
 Besides religious topics, the Druids also discussed 
 many things concerning the stars and their revolu- 
 tions, the magnitude of the globe and its various di- 
 mensions, the nature of the universe, the energy and 
 power of the immortal gods. It was the aim of the 
 Druids to keep their dbctrines enveloped in the deep- 
 est mystery; consequently they strictly forbade the 
 committing of them to writing, lest at any time they 
 should be read by the uninitiated. 
 
 The Romans made many improvements in the 
 civilization of the Britons. The rude hut was 
 changed into a more stately and commodious house. 
 Better forms of government and worship were estab- 
 lished. Agriculture and commerce w.ere greatly im- 
 proved. Traces of Roman thought have been trans- 
 mitted through the Britons to us. They may be seen 
 in the names of our months, in our marriage ceremo- 
 nies, and funeral customs. The Romans had the veil, 
 the ring, and the wedding gifts, the groomsmen, the 
 brides-maids, and the bride-cake. With them cypress 
 was an emblem of death. They strewed flowers upon 
 the graves of their friends, and wore black for mourn- 
 ing. "The girl who, when her ears tingle says, a dis- 
 tant one is talking of her recalls the Roman belief in 
 some influence of a mesmeric nature which produces 
 this effect. Many a Roman has been intensely ex- 
 cited by the screech-owl at midnight. The tender- 
 ness and sweet melancholy of the Britons are exhib- 
 ited in the words of their bards, setting forth the feel- 
 ings of the father who has seen his son fall in battle. 
 
 The Danes were a sea-faring people. We are told, 
 in story, of their sea-kings who had never slept under 
 the smoky rafter of a roof, who had never drained the 
 ale-horn by an inhabited hearth. The waves were their 
 
 13
 
 194 Our Engush Ancestors. 
 
 territory, the two-sailed ships their dwelling. They 
 laughed at the storm, and sang, "The blast of the 
 tempest aids our oars; the bellowing of the heavens, 
 the howling of the thunder hurts us not ; the hurri- 
 cane is our servant, and drives us whither we wist 
 to go." The Danish code of honor was that a brave 
 man should attack two, stand firm against three, give 
 ground a little to four, and only retreat from five. 
 They fondly looked to an immortality in Valhalla, 
 where they expected continually to drink ale from 
 large hollowed skulls, and forever to hew each other 
 in bloodless conflict. 
 
 Among the Anglo-Saxons the orders of society were 
 two — the bond and the free. Serfs or slaves were 
 either the captives of war or those who had outraged 
 law. Freemen were divided into two classes — earls 
 and churls. The Anglo-Saxons have always been a 
 nation of farmers. To be without land was to have 
 no hope for distinction. Ten men grouped by kinship 
 formed a tithing, also known as "ten men's tale." 
 Ten tithings constituted a hundred, and several hun- 
 dred a shire. 
 
 Every crime was held to have been committed by 
 all who were related to the doer of it, and against all 
 who were related to the sufferer. A number of his 
 kinsfolk are the sole judges of the accused. By their 
 oath of his innocence or guilt he stands or falls. In 
 this we have the germ of the jury system. 
 
 The duel and ordeal were other modes of appeal. 
 They believed that fire and water were deities. The 
 gods are just; therefore, plunge the accused into 
 water, and if innocent he will escape; or drive him 
 over red-hot plowshares, and if guilty his burns will 
 furnish an infallible sign of it.
 
 Our English Ancestors. 195 
 
 The Anglo-Saxons lived in villages — knots of farms 
 — surrounded by a common ground, across which 
 none must go except he blow his horn, else, being 
 considered a foe, he may be lawfully slain. Their 
 court-houses and legislative halls were moot hills 
 or sacred trees. Here the farm was transferred to 
 the purchaser by the delivery of a turf cut from its 
 soil. Justice was administered in accordance with the 
 unwritten code, " Eye for eye, life for life, or for each 
 fair damages." Capital punishment was inflicted for 
 treason, desertion, and poison. Sentence was pro- 
 nounced by the priest. The king and the witan, or 
 wise man, who limited the jurisdiction of the king, 
 convened under some tree to settle questions of peace 
 and war, or transact other important business. The 
 parliament of a great nation has its origin in this un- 
 couth assembly. The king had a chosen confidant, 
 the knower of secrets. This one is now called prime 
 minister. 
 
 If we would know the fountain whence flow the 
 outward actions of a people we must study their re- 
 ligion. Being asked the origin of the universe and 
 man the Anglo-Saxon theologian would explain as 
 follows : 
 
 In the beginning there were two worlds — Niflheira, 
 the frozen, and Muspel, the burning. From the fall- 
 ing snowflakes, quickened by the Unknown who sent 
 the heated blast, was born Ymer, the giant. 
 
 When Ymer lived 
 Was »and nor sea, 
 Nor cooling wave ; 
 No earth was found, 
 Nor heaven above ; 
 One chaos all. 
 And nowhere grass.
 
 196 Our English Ancestors. 
 
 Fallen asleep, from his arm-pits spring the frost 
 giants. A cow, born also of melting snow, feeds him 
 with four milk rivers. While licking the perspiration 
 from the rocks there came at evening out of the stones 
 a man's hair, the second day a man's head, and the 
 third the whole man was there. His name was Buri. 
 His grandsons — Odin, Vili, and Ve — killed the giant, 
 Ymer, and, dragging his body to the abyss of space, 
 formed of it the visible universe ; from his flesh, the 
 land; from his bones, the mountains; from his hair, 
 the forests; from his teeth and jaws, the stones and 
 pebbles; from his blood, the ocean; from his skull, 
 the vaulted sky, raised and supported by a dwarf 
 under each corner — Austere, Wester, Nordre, and 
 Sudre ; from his brains, scattered in the air, the mel- 
 ancholy clouds. The flying sparks and red-hot flakes 
 cast out of Muspel they placed in the heavens and 
 said, "Let there be light." As the sons of Bor, pow^- 
 erful and fair, were walking along the sea-beach they 
 found two trees, stately and graceful, and from them 
 created the first human pair — man and woman — Ask 
 and Embla. 
 
 The Anglo-Saxons had two heavens. Valhal was 
 the most glorious. Thither the valiant soldiers who 
 fall in battle shall be transported. Valhal is the airy 
 home of Odin, upheld by spears, roofed with shields, 
 and adorned with coats of mail. In this supernal 
 abode these savage ancestors of our English race ex- 
 pected to have daily com.bats in the listed field. After 
 the day's slaughter victor and vanquished shall meet 
 unscathed around the festive board to partake of the 
 ample banquet and quaff full horns of «beer. The 
 dying hero, with eyes fixed upon Valhal's wide-flung 
 door, says:
 
 Our English Ancestors. 197 
 
 Cease, my strain ; I hear a voice 
 
 From realms where martial souls rejoice; 
 
 I hear the maids of slaughter call, 
 
 Who bid me hence to Odin's hall. 
 
 High seated in their blest abodes, 
 
 I soon shall quaff the drink of gods. 
 
 The hours of life have glided by — 
 
 I fall ! but laughing will I die. 
 
 The hours of life have glided by — 
 
 I fall ! but laughing will I die. 
 
 He who fell not in battle entered a more peaceful 
 but less glorious elysium. The vicious are punished 
 in the cave of the giantess, Hell. This cave, built of 
 serpents wattled together, with heads turned inward, 
 is situated far from the sun, ever downward and 
 northward. But all the horrors you can not know 
 that Hell's condemned endure. 
 
 The Saxons, though true, valorous and liberty-lov- 
 ing, were blood\'-minded. They sacrificed sometimes 
 those taken in battle. Their disputes generally ended 
 in blood. They were great eaters. Six meals a day 
 were barely sufficient for them. Before King Ethel- 
 bert's time murder was expiated in three ways — by 
 blows, from five to ten thousand, by a fine of gold, or 
 by a gift of a female to the offended party. In the 
 sixth century King Ethelbert established the first code 
 of written laws that exists in any modern tongue. 
 The following are some of his laws : 
 
 If in the king's town any one a man slay, fifty shil- 
 lings must be paid. 
 
 If any one in an earl's town a man kill, twelve 
 shillings shall be paid. 
 
 If an ear be cut off, twelve shillings shall be paid. 
 
 If an eye be gouged out, fifty shillings shall be paid. 
 
 If a rib be broken, three shillings shall be paid.
 
 198 Our English Ancestors. 
 
 Woman was respected among the Anglo-Saxons. 
 She was allowed to associate with the men at their 
 feasts. The law accorded to her protection. She in- 
 herited property and bequeathed it. The men were 
 contented with one wife. Woman's devotion was 
 strong. The maid died on the grave of her lover. 
 
 The Normans were superior to the Saxons in refine- 
 ment of manners, in taste, and intellectual culture. 
 The men were studious and desirous to gain the ap- 
 plause of the ladies. Woman's vastly becoming smile 
 and perfumed breath impressed them. Nature was 
 pretty rather than grand to the Norman. He was 
 polite, elegant, graceful, talkative, dainty, superficial. 
 
 I have given but a few facts respecting our English 
 ancestors. In many things the English people are 
 the greatest under the sun. They have acquired ter- 
 ritory in every quarter of the globe. The world from 
 one end to the other has felt the tread of their mili- 
 tary forces. In commerce there are none greater. In 
 politics their statesmen rank first. "In literature," 
 says Shaw, " their novelists paint the finest portraits 
 of human character, their historians know the secret 
 of entrancing and philosophic narrative, their critics 
 have the keenest acumen, their philosophers probe 
 far into the philosophj- of mind, their poets sing the 
 sweetest songs." 
 
 While crossing the sea to their island home they 
 were an unimportant tribe ; now they fill many lands. 
 Receiving additions from the Celts, the Romans, the 
 Danes, and the Normans, they formed a composite 
 nation, but they did not lose their liberty-loving spirit. 
 As a nation they have always upheld with increasing 
 strength the principle that power is derived from the 
 governed for the general good. In literature and life
 
 Our English Ancestors. 199 
 
 they have furnished the moral pioneers and teachers 
 of the world. 
 
 From the elements which enter into the composition 
 of the English people we may expect the bold imagina- 
 tion of the Celts, the tacit rage and adventurous mar- 
 itime spirit of the Danes, the drawing-room polish of 
 the Norman, and the energetic sense of truth, the as- 
 sertion of the right of individual liberty, the resolute 
 habit of looking to the end, the deep power of love 
 and grand power of will which are peculiar to the 
 Saxon.
 
 y 
 
 ^
 
 Bww GpEit^t LLD
 
 THK OLD OUARD. 
 
 By N. green, LL.D., 
 
 Chancellor and Professor of Law. 
 
 "And There Were Giants in Those Days." 
 
 It has been thought well to preserve in this place, 
 by brief mention, some facts and dates in reference to 
 some of the men who began and carried on for a 
 time the institution from which this work emanates. 
 It is impossible, of course, to name all to whom credit 
 is due. Want of space confines the compiler to a few 
 names, and he has chosen to select the more promi- 
 nent of those who were actually connected with the 
 University as teachers, and those only who have passed 
 away. 
 
 It is proper to say that many of the facts and much 
 of the identical language used in the following sketches 
 are taken from " Cumberland Presbyterian History," 
 by J. Berrien Lindsley, M.D., D.D. 
 
 Those who desire a more elaborate histor>' of Cum- 
 berland University and the men connected with it are 
 referred to the October number, 1876, of the Theolog- 
 ical Medium, Rev. M. B. DeWitt, D.D., editor. 
 
 ROBERT LOONEY CARUTHERS. 
 
 Beyond all question to Judge Caruthers more than 
 to any other man is due the credit of establishing 
 and perpetuating Cumberland University. His large 
 means and his larger heart and his wise head made 
 
 (201)
 
 202 The Old Guard. 
 
 him a leader in even' enterprise in which he engaged. 
 He was eminently an unselfish man. His heart was 
 set upon the good of the community, of the town in 
 which he lived, of the church to which he belonged. 
 He was a man among men. It was he whose magnet- 
 ism and persuasive influence gathered around him and 
 Cumberland University such men as F. R. Cossitt, 
 Nathan Green, one of the Judges of the Supreme 
 Court of Tennessee, Thomas C. Anderson, Abraham 
 Caruthers, Richard Beard, N. Lawrence Lindsley, 
 Bromfield h- Ridley, B. W. McDonnold, and others. 
 With this accumulation of intellectual and moral 
 power to propel it, how could the enterprise fail? 
 
 Judg« Caruthers was born in Smith county, Ten- 
 nessee, July 31, 1800. After attending the old-fash- 
 ioned country schools of the time he studied for a 
 while at Columbia, and also at Washington College, 
 East Tennessee. He read law under the direction of 
 Judge Samuel Powell, in Greenville, and practiced his 
 profession first in Carthage, in the county of Smith, 
 and afterward in Lebanon, Tennessee. He was elected 
 clerk of the House of Representatives in this State 
 in 1823. 
 
 In September, 1S27, he was elected Attorney-General 
 of his district, and in 1834 was made Brigadier-General 
 of Militia. He serv^ed in the legislature as a member 
 from Wilson county in 1S35, was in the United States 
 Congress in 1841, and in the Confederate States Con- 
 gress in 1 86 1. He was elector for the State at large 
 on the ticket of his party in 1844. In 1849 he was 
 made Grand Master of the Masons for the State of 
 Tennessee. He was appointed Supreme Judge of 
 Tennessee by Governor Campbell in 1852, to fill the 
 vacancy occasioned by the resignation of the Hon.
 
 Robert Looney Caruthers. 203 
 
 Nathan Green; was re-elected by the legislature in 
 1853, and the following year, on a change of the con- 
 stitution, was again re-elected by the suffrages of the 
 people of his native State. 
 
 In the spring of i'86i, when the peace congress was 
 held in the city of Washington, over which ex-Presi- 
 dent Tyler presided, Judge Caruthers was appointed 
 by the authorities of Tennessee one of the delegates 
 to that important body. But the country was in no 
 condition to listen to propositions of peace. The war 
 was inevitable, and he sided with his State and his 
 people. 
 
 Judge Caruthers was alwaj's the friend of temper- 
 ance reform and of all movements looking to the ele- 
 vation of the people to a higher point of moral and 
 intellectual progress. It is not surprising, therefore, 
 that he should have been elected b}' the Grand Di- 
 vision of the Sons of Temperance, in 1S49, Grand 
 Worthy Patriarch of the State. 
 
 Judge Caruthers was the first president of the 
 Board of Trustees of Cumberland University, having 
 T^een elected upon its organization. He continued to 
 fill this position unril his death. In 1S68 he was in- 
 duced to abandon a lucrative practice and acccept a 
 position as Professor of Law in the University, where 
 he did much effective and vigorous serv'ice, softened 
 and directed by the wisdom and grace of a very green 
 and happy old age. 
 
 He was a ruling elder and a devoted member of the 
 Lebanon congregation of the Cumberland Presby- 
 terian church. He was often a delegate to the church 
 courts, and seemed as much at home among the eccle- 
 siastics in the General Assembly as he was among the 
 judges upon the Supreme Bench. His influence for
 
 204 The Ol,d C?uard. 
 
 good in State, in church, and in society was wide- 
 spread, deep, and permanent. He was, no doubt, 
 raised up in the providence of God for a great and 
 noble work, which he grandly performed. He died at 
 the advanced age of fourscore and two, in the month 
 of October, 1882. 
 
 This brief and imperfect sketch may afford food for 
 thought, and, to the future biographer, be of value for 
 reference. Of its subject there is no hesitation in 
 writing that his is eminently clarum et venerabile nomen, 
 
 FFL\NCEWAY RANNA COSSITT, D.D. 
 
 Dr. Cossitt was the first president of Cumberland 
 University. He entered upon his work in February, 
 1843. At that time there were but few students, and 
 consequently there was but little for him to do. He 
 assumed the office, however, and presided in the fac- 
 ulty when necessary, but held the position only one 
 year, when he resigned to enter into another field of 
 labor. While, therefore, his connection with Cumber- 
 land University was brief, and for the most part nom- 
 inal, still he should be mentioned here as one of those 
 great men who gave to the institution the weight of 
 his influence, as well as his active support. 
 
 Dr. Cossitt's work as an educator was performed 
 while he was president of Cumberland College, at 
 Princeton, Ky. Indeed, he was a pioneer in the mat- 
 ter of education among Cumberland Presbyterians. 
 He was born at Claremont, New Hampshire, April 24, 
 1790. He came South in his youth, and, falling among 
 Cumberland Presbyterians, became enamored of their 
 doctrines, and was soon established as a regular mem- 
 ber and minister in that church. 
 
 It js well known that the people of the South and
 
 Franceway Ranna Cossitt. 205 
 
 West in that day had but little education. They were 
 brave, hardy, honest, and uncultured. The few min- 
 isters of the Cumberland Presbyterian church were 
 somewhat above the masses in these respects, but, 
 after all, were very much like them. Dr. Cossitt, on 
 the other hand, was refined, cultivated, and scholarly. 
 He was not arrogant, however, but modest and meek, 
 associating heartily and freely with his newly-made 
 brethren. He made himself one of them, and they 
 in turn admired, respected, and honored him, and at 
 once placed him at the head of the educational inter- 
 ests of the church. In this position he labored many 
 years earnestly and patiently. He might, indeed, be 
 denominated a missionary as well as a pioneer. He 
 was no doubt the only genuine scholar among his 
 brethren at the time referred to, and was therefore the 
 father of letters and literature in the Cumberland 
 Presbyterian church. 
 
 After he had resigned the office of president of 
 Cumberland University he established the Baniier of 
 Peace at the town of lycbanon, which he conducted 
 vigorously and successfully for many subsequent 
 years. Dr. Cossitt belonged to that old school of 
 courtly gentlemen who are fast passing away. He 
 had great dignity, and at the same time great gentle- 
 ness. He was a fine disciplinarian and a chaste and 
 vigorous writer. New England, among its hosts of 
 emigrants to the West, has sent out no worthier son 
 than the indefatigable, high-spirited, indomitable, 
 scholarly, and 3'et unobstrusive Cossitt. 
 
 No one can go through the long records of his edi- 
 torial and educational labors without forming the high- 
 est opinion of his intellectual and moral worth, nor 
 without astonishment at his patience and heroism.
 
 2o6 The Old Guard. 
 
 Cumberland University may well take an honest pride 
 in the character of its first president. He died at 
 lycbanon, February 3, 1863. 
 
 THOMAS C. ANDERSON, D.D. 
 
 Dr. Anderson was the second president of Cumber- 
 land University. He was born October i, 1801, in 
 Sumner county, Tennessee. His father was the Rev. 
 Alexander Anderson, who was the first candidate for 
 the ministry licensed by old Cumberland Presbytery 
 under protest against the doctrine of eternal election 
 and reprobation as taught in the Westminster Confes- 
 sion of Faith, and who, after a brief but brilliant ca- 
 reer in the ministry, died when his son Thomas was 
 only three 5-ears old. The boy's training, therefore, 
 devolved entirely upon his mother, who was a devoted 
 member of the Presbyterian church. In his twenty- 
 fourth year he became a member of the Cumberland 
 Presbyterian church. 
 
 The principal part of his education was received 
 under Dr. King, a successful educator at Gallatin. In 
 his 3^outh ill-health prevented his constant attendance 
 at school, and it was not until he was a mature man 
 that he entered college. In 1829 he entered Cum- 
 berland College at Princeton, Kentucky, as tutor, but 
 he applied himself closely to his own studies during 
 the year and graduated at its close. He was then 
 elected Professor of Languages, and returned in the 
 fall of 1830 to assume his new position. In 1831 he 
 was licensed to preach, and he left the professor's 
 chair for the varied experiences and responsibilities 
 of a "circuit rider." The General Assembly in the 
 following May appointed him assistant editor of The 
 Cumberland Presbyterian, edited and published by the
 
 Tho-mas C. Anderson. 207 
 
 Rev. James Smith at Xashville. In 1S33 he was or- 
 dained by the Xashville Presbyter5\ 
 
 He spent four jears as editor, and then withdrew to 
 take charge of the Male Academ}^ at Lebanon. He 
 was soon after called to the care of the church at Win- 
 chester, Tennessee, and in the fall of 1838 entered 
 upon his first pastorate. In connection with his duties 
 as pastor he was principal of the Female Academ}'. 
 The double tax upon his energies was too much for 
 his strength. 
 
 About the 3'ear 1841 he assisted Rev. Herschel S. 
 Porter in a camp-meeting at Old Goshen, near Win- 
 chester. The two preached alternately. The result 
 was a very great religious awakening. Dr. Anderson 
 was remarkably successful in explaining the way of 
 life to the penitent. One day Dr. Porter preached an 
 eloquent sermon on the jailer's conversion as narrated 
 in Acts xvi. It so happened that the jailer of the 
 county, who was a very wicked man, and who was a 
 neighbor of Dr. Anderson, was present and was much 
 wrought upon, and rushed to the altar when the peni- 
 tents were called and fell at Dr. Anderson's feet. His 
 own overworked condition and the remarkable coin- 
 cidence were too much for the Doctor. He raised 
 his hands, exclaiming, "And here is the jailer!" and 
 immediately fainted away. This was the beginning 
 of a chronic heart failure, and prevented him ever 
 afterward from preaching. 
 
 He accepted, however, in 1842, the chair of Lan- 
 guages in Cumberland Universit}'. In October, 1844, 
 Dr. Cossitt having resigned the presidency of the 
 University, Professor Anderson was elected to fill the 
 vacancyi* and entered at once upon his new duties. 
 Under his able and judicious administration the insti-
 
 2o8 The Old Guard. 
 
 tution had a most prosperous and fruitful career unti 
 the outbreak of the Civil War. 
 
 Just preceding that contest the University was the 
 pride and crown of its friends everywhere. Its last 
 catalogue previous to the time of its suspension ex- 
 hibited more than four hundred and eighty students. 
 Its aliwmi by hundreds adorned all ranks, positions, 
 and professions of society. President Anderson held 
 his high position until 1866, when he resigned, and 
 B. W. McDonnold, D.D., succeeded him. In his ad- 
 ministration Dr. Anderson's course was distinguished 
 by a magnanimous, liberal, and Christian view of his 
 great responsibilities and duties. He was noted for 
 his wisdom in dealing with all the interests of the 
 University, common sense being one of his peculiar 
 characteristics in all matters of counsel, whether pub- 
 lic or private. The nobility of his nature kept him 
 far above the narrowness of bigotry or the petty preju- 
 dices of party. 
 
 His domestic life was as beautiful in its simplicity 
 and easy dignity, as real and firm in its purity of char- 
 acter, and as godly and consistent in its Christianity 
 as his public career was honorable in its conduct and 
 commanding in its influence. 
 
 He was a man of great courage. He never quailed 
 before mortal, and yet he was remarkably easy of ap- 
 proach. He had no concealments. His great heart 
 was always open and full of sympathy for those in 
 need. He died February 3, 1882, in the eighty-second 
 year of his age. 
 
 Tennessee never gave birth to a nobler son, Cum- 
 berland University never had a more faithful servant, 
 nor the Cumberland Presbyterian church and .the cause 
 of Christ a truer friend than Thomas C. Anderson.
 
 /?, 
 
 d. J/: J.', ^L2V/.2-^..^^^^^
 
 Benjamin \V. McDoxnold. 209 
 
 BENJAMIN W. McDONNOLD, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 Dr. McDonnold, the third president of Cumberland 
 University, was born March 24, 1827, in Overton 
 county, Tennessee. When six years old, under the 
 guidance of a pious mother, he had memorized the cat- 
 echism. He was received into the church in his tenth 
 5'ear, and at twelve began preparation for the minis- 
 try, and became a candidate for that holy office in his 
 sixteenth year. Like Felix Grundy, he learned books 
 at night by the light of the fire, and while at the plow- 
 handle studied the classic grammars. 
 
 His father moved to West Tennessee, and there his 
 industrious son learned more Latin and Greek under 
 David Cochrane, a classic teacher of repute. When 
 seventeen years of age he actually memorized the 
 New Testament and could repeat it. In 1847 he went 
 to Princeton, Kentucky, to college, and graduated in 
 1849. He was then elected Professor of Mathematics 
 in Bethel Seminary and taught one ^^ear. He next 
 went to Philadelphia as successor of the eloquent Dr. 
 H. S. Porter, but, his health failing, he returned South 
 an invalid. In 1852 he resumed the teaching of Math- 
 ematics in Bethel College. In i860 he accepted the 
 chair of Pastoral Theology in Cumberland University, 
 and removed to Lebanon, Tennessee. • 
 
 During the early part of the Civil War he became for 
 a short time pastor of the church at Lebanon, after 
 which he was a chaplain in the Confederate army, and 
 so remained until the war closed. He was now a third 
 time connected with Bethel College, but this time as 
 president one year, when he resigned and became the 
 pastor of the church at Lebanon. In 1866 he was 
 elected president of Cumberland University. 
 14
 
 2IO The Old Guard. 
 
 Dr. McDonnold entered upon this very important 
 work under the most trying circumstances. A deso- 
 lating war had swept over the country. The survivors 
 of that unhappy strife, upon their return, found their 
 fencing gone, shade trees cut down, houses burnt, and- 
 the people impoverished. As to the University, it had 
 but little left. The endowment, which consisted for 
 the most part in notes and other securities, was almost 
 entirely lost. Splendid buildings, the pride of the 
 country, had been completed just before the strife 
 began. These were all swept away by the flames. 
 Dr. Richard Beard and President Anderson, under the 
 direction of the trustees, had collected a few students 
 and taught them in hired buildings, but the prospect 
 was unpromising indeed. 
 
 Dr. McDonnold was a frail man physically all his life, 
 but he possessed what was of more value to the pub- 
 lic than health itself — a will to work. He at once 
 brought to bear all his energy and all his learning 
 upon the task before him. By his correspondence, 
 which was immense, he revived an interest in the in- 
 stitution all over the church. He conceived and car- 
 ried forward the plan of a "cash endowment," as he 
 was pleased to term it, which simply consisted in tak- 
 ing up collections for the purpose of paying the cur- 
 rent salaries of the professors. 
 
 Of course, such a scheme could not last long, but it 
 tided the University over what had appeared insuper- 
 able difficulties. Perhaps no man ever connected 
 with the University labored more for its prosperity. 
 He toiled night and day for seven j'ears. ' During his 
 administration, due to his own efforts and the heart}'- 
 support of the noble men who stood around him, there 
 was quite a revival. Friends were awakened far and
 
 Benjamin W. McDonnold. 211 
 
 near. Buildings were provided and all the depart- 
 ments of the University put in working order, so that 
 in the collegiate year of 1870-71 there were three hun- 
 dred and thirty-five students in attendance. No one 
 claims for Dr. McDonnold alone the credit of all this. 
 He used to say that the Board of Trustees was the 
 best board in the world. 
 
 Dr. McDonnold was distinguished not only as a 
 scholar and educator, but as a preacher and a writer. 
 As a preacher he was remarkable for his clearness, 
 not only in stating and establishing his propositions, 
 but in the distinctness of his enunciation. He pro- 
 nounced every word so that no one in the largest audi- 
 ence could fail to hear him. He seemed to comprehend 
 that when a preacher preached he should take pains to 
 be heard, if indeed he should saj^ any thing worth 
 hearing. After listening to one of Dr. McDonnold's 
 sermons or addresses any intelligent hearer could al- 
 most repeat it, so clear was the impression. 
 
 As a writer he was remarkable. His History of the 
 Cumberland Presbyterian Church, recently published, 
 and numerous newspaper and magazine articles, bear 
 testimony to his ability as a writer. A distinguished 
 editor who published many of his articles said of him 
 that there was an unction about his style which was 
 found in that of few other men. 
 
 Dr. McDonnold's ill-health compelled him to resign 
 the presidency of the University in 1873. Afterward 
 he became an evangelist, earnest, devoted, and suc- 
 cessful, laboring with gracious results not only in his 
 native State, but in Texas, California, Pennsylvania, 
 and elsewhere. Hundreds still living are ready to 
 rise up and call him blessed. He died at his home on 
 the 27th day of February, 1889.
 
 212 The Old Guard. 
 
 NATHANIEL LAWRENCE LINDSLEY, LL.D. 
 
 Dr. Lindsley was elected Professor of Greek and 
 Latin in Cumberland University in 1844. He was 
 born at Princeton, New Jersey, September 11, 1816. 
 In 1824 his father, Philip I,indsle3^ D.D., who had re- 
 cently declined the presidency of the College of New 
 Jersey, removed to Nashville, Tennessee, to accept 
 that of Cumberland College, afterward the University 
 of Nashville. President Jackson, his warm personal 
 friend, nominated his son, Nathaniel Lawrence, to a 
 cadetship at West Point in 1833. Two years of rig- 
 orous climate and the exposures then incident to cadet 
 life impaired a robust constitution, inured to all manly 
 sports, so that in 1835 3'oung Lindsley resigned his 
 appointment and entered the senior class at Nashville, 
 and was graduated in 1836. He then served two years 
 as tutor. 
 
 His college life was at the most brilliant period of 
 his father's splendid career, and he became fully im- 
 bued with classic culture and a burning zeal in the 
 work of education. 
 
 In 1 841 he was married to Julia, daughter of Moses 
 B. Stevens, eminent as a classical instructor and lead- 
 ing Mason. He was then a citizen of Wilson county, 
 having opened a farm upon a tract of land donated to 
 his grandfather, Nathaniel Lawrence, of New York, 
 by the State of North Carolina for military service in 
 the line of that State during the War of Independ- 
 ence. 
 
 His chief work in Cumberland University was as 
 Professor of Greek and Latin from 1844 to 1849. To 
 the duties of this station he brought all his energies, 
 and against the protests of his friends worked too
 
 Nathaniel Lawrence Lindsley. 213 
 
 hard, but made his impress indelibly upon the institu- 
 tion for good. 
 
 After resting a while he commenced, upon his beau- 
 tiful farm, a school for young ladies, limited in number 
 of pupils and characterized by his own peculiar and 
 sound educational ideas. This became widely known 
 as Greenwood Seminary, and under his accomplished 
 widow, so long his skillful colleague, continued to do 
 excellent v.ork until her death. After the war, with 
 characteristic energy, he refitted and greath- enlarged 
 Greenwood Seminary, and was apparently about to 
 reap the rich harvest merited by long years of patient 
 preparation, v.'hen a short illness removed him to a 
 higher school; October 10, 1S68. 
 
 He was in a marked degree without guile, fearless, 
 bold, and determined. For years he had been a de- 
 vout, consistent member of the Cumberland Presby- 
 terian church. He was very warmh- attached to the 
 eminent clerical and lay members of that church with 
 whom he was so intimately associated at lycbanon, 
 and they without exception regarded him as a coun- 
 selor and a friend. 
 
 As an educator he possessed in an eminent degree 
 the two great qualities so wonderfully adorning his 
 distinguished father's life, to wit: thorough, exact, 
 profound classic culture, and the facult}- of inspiring 
 an enthusiastic devotion toward himself in all his 
 scholars. All the ten years previous to 1861 these 
 qualities gave him influence and reputation with the 
 hosts of youth assembled at Lebanon. 
 
 He was the friend and valued correspondent of 
 Worcester, the lexicographer, -and Everett, the most 
 polished of American orators. In conversation he 
 was gifted and interesting. With the pen he was
 
 4-, 
 
 214 The Old Guard. 
 
 ready and convincing. His articles in the Banner of 
 Peace and elsewhere always commanded notice. He 
 ought to have written more; but his reason for not 
 doing so was that for years before his decease he had 
 expended much time and labor in collecting materials 
 for a new and complete dictionary of the English lan- 
 guage under the name, "Encyclo-L<exicon." The 
 plan, though original, was very similar to that since 
 carried out by Littre in his celebrated French diction- 
 ary. 
 
 This brief outline of Dr. Lindsley's career will show 
 that he was eminently worthy of the mention made of 
 him in that standard work, "The Resources of Ten- 
 nessee," as a man "long recognized throughout the 
 country as Tennessee's great educator and scholar." 
 
 ABRAHAM CARUTHERS. 
 
 Judge Abraham Caruthers was the first law pro- 
 fessor in Cumberland University. The Hon. N. 
 Green, of the Supreme Bench of Tennessee, was 
 elected Professor of International I^aw and Political 
 Economy in 1845, but declined the position. 
 
 Judge Caruthers. who was subsequently requested 
 to establish a law school, entered upon that work in 
 the month of October, 1847. He was born in Smith 
 county, Tennessee, January 14, 1803. While he was 
 yet a child his father died. By the help of friends and 
 his own strong will he acquired a respectable educa- 
 tion, studied law, and commenced the practice in 1824 
 in the town of Columbia, Tennessee. Remaining 
 there but a short time, he removed to Carthage, and 
 was appointed by Governor Carroll, in 1833, judge of 
 the Circuit Court, to fill a vacancy occasioned by the 
 death of Judge Williams. He was barely eligible on
 
 
 '^^^mi e^fwitip*ft,U
 
 \ 
 
 / 
 
 \ 
 
 V
 
 Abraham Caruthers. 215 
 
 account of age, and was at the time of his appoint- 
 ment the youngest judge in Tennessee. He rose rap- 
 idly to distinction, and soon won the admiration and 
 confidence of the entire bar throughout his large cir- 
 cuit, and was chosen as judge for another term by the 
 legislature without leaving his home to attend the 
 election at Nashville. 
 
 At the expiration of his second term so great was 
 his^. fame that he was re-elected without opposition. 
 Few of his decisions were overruled, and many of 
 them are incorporated into the opinions of the Su- 
 preme Court. As a judge he was a^terror to evil- 
 doers and a strong bulwark to the innocent. He re- 
 signed in 1847 to enter upon his new work. 
 
 The attempt to establish a law school w^as an experi- 
 ment in this part of the country. After but little ad- 
 vertising a few young men were gathered at the feet 
 of this Gamaliel. No room as yet had been prepared 
 for the law class. In the law oflSce of his brother, 
 Hon. Robert L. Caruthers, the new professor was met 
 by seven students, the number increasing during the 
 term to thirteen. The finst lesson recited was in " The 
 History of a L,aw Suit," a little w^ork of only forty 
 pages which he had just published, and which he 
 modestly denominated "The Primer." 
 
 The old system of lectures, which had been uni- 
 versally adopted in the professional schools in the 
 United States, was utterly discarded. Judge Caruth- 
 ers held that the science of law should be taught in 
 the same w-ay that mathematics, or chemistry, or any 
 other science is taught; so that, instead of adopting a 
 new method, he simply returned to the old paths. He 
 assigned a given portion of the text every day, and 
 upon this he rigidly examined every student. He also
 
 2Y6 The O1.D Guard. 
 
 adopted a system of. moot courts, and his students 
 were made practicing lawyers from the first. The}' 
 had their sheriff, their- jurors, their fictitious cHents, 
 and their professor as judge. 
 
 This plan soon became popular. The second year 
 of its existence Judge Green, of the Supreme Court, 
 and the Hon. B. ly. Ridley, of the Chancery Court, 
 were made additional professors. The latter, however, 
 taught but little, and that only for a short time. The 
 success of the school under the administration of 
 these teachers was unparalleled. In 1861 one hun- 
 dred and e;ighty students attended. On the 13th day 
 of April, 1 86 1, President Lincoln's proclamation to 
 suppress the "insurrection" in the Southern States 
 resulted in an immediate suspension of the exercises 
 and the scattering of the students to their homes, and 
 thence to the armies of the respective belligerents. 
 
 Judge Caruthers had been a pronounced friend of 
 the Union and an opposer of secession. On several 
 occasions, in addressing the students before the pub- 
 lic, he uttered the most burning and eloquent senti- 
 ments in favor of an undivided country. When, 
 however, the proclamation of the President came ask- 
 ing Tennesseans to volunteer to fight their brethren 
 of the seceded States, and it became evident that 
 every man must make his choice, he determined to go 
 with his people, and did not hesitate to advise resist- 
 ance. He reluctantly consented to represent the 
 county of Wilson in the legislature in 1861, and 
 served in the body that pronounced a separation of 
 the State from the Union. This to him was no pleas- 
 ing task. It was simply what he considered a choice 
 of evils. 
 
 When the country became occupied by the soldiers
 
 Richard Beard. 217 
 
 of the Union, apprehending an arrest, he left his home 
 and went to the town of Marietta, Georgia, where, 
 away fro^ his family and friends, he died among 
 strangers on the 5th day "of May, 1862, in the sixtieth 
 year of his age. Thus departed one of the purest 
 men and one of the greatest lawyers ever produced in 
 this country. 
 
 Hon. John M. Bright, a distingjiished contemporary, 
 said of him: "He was modest as^e \\^' meritorious, 
 consistent as he was conscientious, useful as he was 
 laborious, exalted in principle as he was liberal in 
 spirit, profound as he was accurate, sound as a lawyer, 
 able as a jurist, popular as a professor, successful as 
 an author, irreproachable as a citizen, exemplary as a 
 Christian, and the founder of the law department of 
 the Cumberland Universit5^" 
 
 Such was Abraham Caruthers. 
 
 RICHARD BEARD, D.D. 
 
 As early as 1849 the establishment of a Theological 
 Department of the University was discussed in the 
 General Assembly, but no definite action was taken 
 till 1852, when Dr. Beard was elected Professor of Sys- 
 tematic Theology by the Board of Trustees and con- 
 fir^med by the succeeding General Assembly, but did 
 not immediately enter upon the duties of his chair.' 
 
 Dr. Beard was born November 27, 1797. in Sumner 
 county, Tennessee. His early education was not with- 
 out care, yet limited. He was licensed and commenced 
 preaching in 1820. He had many difficulties to over- 
 come — a slender physique, a slender purse, but little 
 learning, an embarrassing impediment in his speech, 
 and no rich kinsfolk to help him. 
 
 It has been said of him by those who witnessed his
 
 2i8 The Old Guard. 
 
 first efforts that he was the reverse of promising. 
 His manner was ungainly and his delivery difficult. 
 As he often said of others when intending to compli- 
 ment them, he had the "root of the matter in him." 
 That is to say, he felt that he was called of God, he 
 had brains, and he had pluck. He taught school some 
 and preached some and studied much. He finally en- 
 tered Cumberland College, Princeton, Kentucky, and 
 after two years and a half was graduated. 
 
 He was immediately appointed Professor of Lan- 
 guages in that institution. He afterward spent five 
 years at Sharon, Mississippi, in connection with a col- 
 lege there, but was recalled to Cumberland College in 
 1843, this time as its p'resident. There he remained 
 ten and a half years and did an important work for 
 the cause of learning. 
 
 In 1854 he began work as the first regular theolog- 
 ical professor in Cumberland University. He was 
 called especially to the chair of Systematic Theology, 
 but, not having sufiicient assistance, it became neces- 
 sary for him to teach almost the whole course. He 
 gathered around him and instructed a number of 
 promising young men, some of whom have now be- 
 come not only gray, but great. Dr. Beard's heart was 
 greatly set upon this enterprise. He wrote, labored, 
 and prayed unceasingly for its success. ^ 
 
 Often he was deeply discouraged and almost in de- 
 spair, fearing that the church would never take hold 
 in earnest and build up a theological school. He cer- 
 tainly was one of those who "sowed in tears." It 
 was a great comfort to him, therefore, that he lived to 
 see a faculty of competent instructors and lecturers 
 associated with him and a large increase in the attend- 
 ance of pupils.
 
 Richard Beard. 219 
 
 Dr. Beard gave to the church an able and standard 
 work on systematic theology, which was regarded 
 as the crj^stallization of Cumberland Presbyterian 
 thought and faith. Besides, he published two volumes 
 of exceedingly interesting biographical sketches of 
 ministers, a small volume of popular divinity in an- 
 swer to the question, " Why am I a Cumberland Pres- 
 byterian?" and a large volume of " JNIiscellaneous 
 Sermons, Reviews, and Essays." His contributions 
 to the general literature of the church were constant 
 and valuable. \ 
 
 Dr. Beard deserves to be held up as a model. His 
 great dignity, purity, and gentleness of character 
 marked him as a representative man. He was a gen- 
 tleman in every sense of the word. Those little acts 
 and deeds, so often overlooked and yet so necessary to 
 a perfect character, his courtesy upon the street and 
 in the parlor, his punctilious attention to strangers, 
 his cordial hospitality, were remarkable indeed. He 
 was always '.considerate of the feelings of others, and 
 full of sympathy for those in distress. Hundreds of 
 heavy hearts have poured their sorrow into his listen- 
 ing ears. As for purity, it is safe to venture the asser- 
 tion that in a long life of fourscore years no corrupt 
 communication proceeded out of his mouth. 
 
 Dr. Beard's whole life was a demonstration of the 
 superiority of mind and goodness over matter and 
 sense. He enjoyed the pursuit of knowledge with 
 the keenest zest, while he initiated hundreds of others 
 into the same delights. He did not relax even in 
 his old age. As an evidence of this is the fact that he 
 actually wrote and published his elaborate system of 
 theology when over sixty years of age. He thus ranks 
 high in the list of "old men eloquent." As a theo-
 
 220 The Old Guard. 
 
 logian he was eminently successful, and did a great 
 work for sound evangelical doctrine. 
 
 As heretofore intimated, he labored till the last. 
 He died the second day of December, 1880. He died 
 at his post. He died as might have been expected of 
 one who had lived such a life. When the power of 
 speech was gone he was still conscious, still intelli- 
 gent. When asked by his weeping wife, "What shall 
 I now do? To whom shall I now look?" unable to 
 speak, he raised his finger and pointed upward. That 
 hand has perished, but the good deeds, the noble life, 
 the pure example, the spotless reputation of that great 
 and good man, are pointing upward still. 
 
 NATHAN GREEN. 
 
 Judge Green was born in Amelia county, Virginia, 
 on the 1 6th of May, 1792, and died at his home in 
 Lebanon, Tennessee, March 30, 1866. He studied law 
 and began the practice in his native State, but shortly 
 after removed and settled in the beautiful mountain 
 town of Winchester, Tennessee, where he engaged in 
 a vigorous and lucrative practice. 
 
 At that time there was a low state of morals in the 
 profession. Gambling for money was a common vice. 
 He was enticed by professed friends to engage in a 
 game of cards for amusement, then to risk a small 
 sum, and finally a great one, so that in a few years 
 he lost quite a fortune. His severe reverses, added to 
 the faithful, loving patience and prayers of his wife, 
 brought about a sincere repentance. He abandoned 
 forever the habit of gambling, became a devoted 
 Christian, and then an elder in the Cumberland Pres- 
 bvterian church.
 
 Nathan Green. 221 
 
 From this time forward his influence at the bar and 
 upon the bench was distinctly and powerfully upon 
 the side of virtue. Tall and imposing in person, with 
 a deep-toned and impressive voice and a most earnest 
 and dignified manner, from the first he commanded 
 that respect and attracted that attention which usually 
 follow the later developments of ability. 
 
 As early as 1826 he was made a member of the 
 State Senate. There he had no superior. He was 
 soon elected one of the Chancellors of the State, when 
 there were but two who occupied that honorable posi- 
 tion. In 1 83 1 he was made a judge of the Supreme 
 Court, and for more than twenty years, by election and 
 re-election, until his voluntary retirement, he re- 
 mained upon the bench without stain or reproach. 
 There he was associated with such men as Catron, 
 Reese, Turley, and McKinney. During that score of 
 years it is not too much to say that he did his full 
 share in building up the judicial system of Tennessee. 
 Some of his admirers have called him the Hardwick 
 of Tennessee. Others have said of him that he was 
 the father of equity in his own State. Certain it is 
 that no man has made a greater impression upon our 
 laws or left a more lasting record. He was a great 
 judge, indeed, taking rank with Gaston, Shaw, and 
 Kent. 
 
 In 1852 he retired from the bench to enter fully 
 upon his work as Professor of Law in Cumberland Uni- 
 versity. He had become well known to the profes- 
 sion in Tennessee and to the country in general, and 
 was in the fullness of his intellectual manhood. As- 
 sociated in this work with Judge Abraham Caruthers, 
 the two could not have failed to attract the youth of 
 the country. They flocked around them until the
 
 222 The Old Guard. 
 
 breaking out of the war in iS6i as the youth of Athens 
 used to gather around their great philosophers. Dur- 
 ing the time of hostilities Judge Green remained 
 quietly at home. He had all his life deplored seces- 
 sion and disunion. He loved the Union, and in his 
 youth had given proof of his devotion by enlisting 
 and serving as a soldier in the war of 1812-15. 
 
 In all his speeches and lectures before the students 
 he had argued and spoken for the integrity of the 
 Union of our fathers. He denied, however, with great 
 vehemence the right of the people of the North to in- 
 terfere with the domestic matters of the people of the 
 South. When, therefore, the issue came he took dis- 
 tinct and unequivocal ground in favor of resistance. 
 Though his opinions were well known and freely ex- 
 pressed he was not molested either in person or prop- 
 erty by the United States troops. 
 
 Judge Green paid much attention to the study of 
 the Bible, and was pronounced by those who knew no 
 mean theologian. He was often a delegate to the 
 various church councils. It was his habit, whenever 
 called upon by his pastor, to conduct the religious ex- 
 ercises at the ordinary prayer-meeting or the more 
 public service, or even at the great camp-meetings 
 which were common in his day. On these occasions 
 he spoke with' great fluency and earnestness. His 
 heavy voice, somewhat elevated, with his exceedingly 
 rapid enunciation, reminded one of a mighty torrent. 
 He had no anecdote, no fancy, but his reasoning was 
 irresistibly eloquent. 
 
 Whatever he did he did with all his might. In the 
 spring of 1866 Judge Green undertook to work in the 
 law school, which had just been revived. Although 
 feeble, he thought he could do something. It was a
 
 Nathan Green. 223 
 
 saying with him that he could not bear the idea of 
 "rusting out." That is, he desired to be bright and 
 actively at work till the last. But alas ! the labor that 
 he had attempted was too much for his strength. He 
 taught a few weeks only. He went to his bed, and 
 after a confinement of seven days passed away in the 
 seventy-fourth year of his age. His last words were, 
 "I trust in Jesus; all is well."