Etc. [pp. 107-109]

190.1
Etc.
ETC.
THERE has been a curious shock each time in the
death of one after another of the great men that have
made the literary distinction of this century. They
have been a singularly fortunate group in living to
serene old age, and Emerson, and Longfellow, and
Browning passed away at a time when in the nature
of things men were expecting it to happen before
very long, and when we could look for little more addition to the world's possessions from them. Yet
to find know ourselves in a world without Emerson in
it, without Longfellow ini it, without Browning in
it, does not fail to bring the shock and sense of readjustment to new conditions, perhaps a little
more in this case because Browning went so suddenly out of an activity that had not, so far as we
know, given a hint of change or failing. It is
something like the feeling with which middle-aged
people see the generation before them, in their kindred and acquaintance, disappear, and realize that
they themselves "stand in the foremost rank of the
advancing generations." It is a grave reflection,
that to us of today descends from the hands of the
elders the charge of the world. We are not going
to repeat the well-worn inquiry as to where are the
successors of these particular great men; in some
form or other, with or without any important literary
activity in our way of managing it, the destiny of
humanity descends to us,- "under Providence,"
as the phrase goes, - to manage. Yet it is also an
impressive thought that it will never be, in one
sense,- and that the chief one, —"a world without
Browning in it "; it never has been since they lived a
world without Plato in it, or without Chaucer in it.
We do not think ourselves able to define, for all the
overflowing help offered by the Browning critics,
just how greatly he will continue to live and work;
each generation is so limited in perspective that it is
well not to dogmatize on the exact dimensions of the
greatness of a great man. He is not likely to
mould the minds of the next generation of young
people as he has those of the present. One need only
note how the minds of men that were in college
thirty and forty years ago are stamped with the imprint of one set of authors, and of those that were in
college ten years ago with another, to realize this.
The guiding lights of the impressible period in the
elder men's lives have become only individual stars
in a galaxy of great names tolthe younger men, whose
guiding lights, - whether for better or for worse,shine from some other quarter.
Aphorisms from the Hebrew.
Translated by G. A. Danziger.
I.
NATURE OF THINGS.
ALL things live, even things that, to our conception, are dead. Death changes only the form and
aspect of things, not their being and life. The very
changes that objects undergo in Nature prove the
existence of life. These changes are constant in a
grain of sand, as well as in the expanse of the skies;
in the living, as well as in the dead.
Everything is good, though it may appear to be
bad. An object may appear bad to one and good
to another; be disliked today, liked tomorrow, for
man's nature is so changeable that if he rejects a
thing today he may desire it tomorrow. Man, unstable in his pleasures, likes variety and change.
Pleasure is enjoyed more after sorrow, plenty after
hunger, hope after anxiety.
Everything is beautiful, even that which at first
may appear homely. If only we look at an object
rightly and do not expect too much at first, its appearance of homeliness will fade away. A colorblind man will praise all colors, while a weak-eyed
man will see no beauty in the purity of the blue of
the skies nor in the brightness of the sun.
All things are wholesome, even poison and wormwood, if only they are taken in proper measure, time
and season.
Everything is true, however strange and incomprehensible it may appear, for we behold daily what we
at first regarded as fiction now proved to be fact.
All is false, untrue, even the truth that two and
two are four, since there are absolutely no two
things in the world which are alike in all minuteness,
though the difference be only in their respective
place. Thus also arose that most perverted judgment,
the axiom that each cause has a cause, upon which
is based the entire structure of philosophical contemplation.
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