ICINGS AND THOUGHTS

Otago Witness, Issue 2603, 3 February 1904, Page 70

ICINGS AND THOUGHTS

By John Chktstie. When a man of sense deliberately tall.s nonsense he pays the' person xoxsexse to "whom he speaks the coroas pliment of assuming that he A test. or she has sufficient good sense and a sufficient sen^e of humour to appraise nonsense at its right value as an element in tihe drama, of life. When the result shows this assumption to have boon unwarranted, then lie moy conclude that j he his been speaking to a, fool, and that he has behaved liko a fool in expecting a fool to appreciate non&er.&e in the spirit of a humorist and a. wise man. Many a man passes through manifold eccentricities and incor?ispaballels. tencies to emerge at last into a definite and harmonious character; as a musician, betcre reaching I some beautiful melodj', plays a tantalising i setting, which, however, leads up all the time to the melody itself. Is it not thus with human civilisation, as well as with human character? It is said that education colours character, but is it not equally a fact intellectual that character colours eduRaw cation? People often speak material, with dissatisfaction of ike qualifications of teachers and the results of their teaching ; but do they ever consider the raw brain-material upon -which teachers have to operate? Unless they do, surely their conclusions mu^t be at least comparatively worthless. Tin's raw material, this intellectual character-in- j grain, must have a most important effect upon education ; more, perhaps, than the latter has on it. To moderate this disposition to expect too much from education, let it be remembered that, with every generation, Nature pours into the schools, aca- i demies, and universities of every country : young people of Trhom comparatively r ew ' arc natively capable of true culture .- of 1 whom, indeed, the majority have, natively, ' a shallow smartness or deep stupidity which gives their minds an all but incorrigible ' bias against it. Shakespeare has a phVise which, though in itself paradoxical, suggests a philosophy which has a -rich significance ■ ii this connection : j A jest's prosperity lies ia the cor 1 Of him that hears it ; nevei 112 the torgtie ' Of him that makes it. j So it is, in a large sense, with education in . all its phases ; with children at school, pnd } with men in the world. Many a man has . a genius for discovering and setting forth j the principles of beauty and the laws of ' righteousness, but mankind do not possess, | on a corresponding scale, the capacity and 1 the v.'ill to assimilate and apply them. , Were it otherwise, it is possible that the : race would long ago have reached perfec- I tion. I 1 The admiration so oiten accorded to high- , vaymen fnd robbers proves arw.vKDLY the existence of false notions covdtct. concerning courage. "Where ] is the bravery in men fuliy ; armed sticking-up and robbing men who | are not equally well pi\ovided with vre?pons ' cf defence. ? Nothing could be more ■ cowardly than the conduct of tho aggressors ' in such cases. An attack made by an j armed man on an xmaimcd man is on a ' par with I'ha action of a full-grown black- ' gusrd who robs a Jittle schoolboy of his ' pocket money There it, quite as much , bravery in the one ca.»e as there is in the other. i The lover of reasonableness must find the unreasonableness of average '■ thk :.iO:>T men and women a sore j tNTtEASON"- trial ; and yet in expecting able man. or hoping for reasonableness n such persons is he not in ! reality more unreasonable than they? A ' traly reasonable mic would surely not look , for reasonableness in the unreasoning, but ■ would take their foolislmets and perversity i as matters of course. Yet a man must i bs like a wise parenl. A fath/r cannot ! leave his children to their primary leanings, I otherwise chaos will take possession of hi.r! j household ; and wise mtn must similarly j endeavour to work upon theii" natural .subjects and pupils, the crude chrracters- mid foolish creatures of the world, otherwise i progress and order and beauty may disappear from the ways of life j i Men seem to be the products of a force ] which appears to be eternal, I hoiax which is personally indifl iva. fereni to them, which — as a volcano throws forth sparks and dust and lava — throws them 'forth to war with each other, and to wear or waste themselves, to what end they know not ; a force which never rene^ s them personally — "they liave their day, and cease to be" ; but which is for ever supplying then places with things like themselves, to *are as they have fared, and be followed by successors as they have followed their predecessors. Knowledge may exist without wisdom, but wisdom can hardly exist ! knowledge without knowledge or a I axd genius for apprehending it. wisdom. A man may be well educated in the ordinary sense j and full of information, but unless the knowledge thus imparted to and possessed by him is used with judgment and ur- I banity, he is but a fool. Pope describes this person with admirable terseness Tive_ b'ookiul bloekheacl, ig -o^arrily lesci. "With lots of learned lumber m his head. ] Still, knowledge i~ necessary to wisdom. It • is the raw material without which wisdom ', cannot sufficiently realise itself the medium without which X cannot find ade- , quate expression ; just as the acorn cannot I

become an oak without soil or the bud a rose williout oxygen. Hence it is neces sary to cultivate and conserve knowledge in "the interest of those happy souls that arc born with a genius for » is«lom, however intrinsically us,dcss it may be to those who are devoid ot that genius.

Man i& the pilgrim of perfection, and unless

human nature changes he riLCßuis or will be a pilgrim to all eterrrKFECiiox. nity, for perfection, like the

horizon, is for OA'er beyond us, however f.ir we may travel towards it. Herein, however, lies uur human splvation, for though we c&n never absolutely reach the goal of our desire, yet v. itli the desire krvetci'dtely fixed Tullun us, we shall always have something glorious to strive for; a-id though there will be many sntisfpction-, by the way to keep us in heart and hope, a knowledge that the absolutely best still iies iihe.ul wiil save us from inebriation in the way?i.lc inns of conceit and egotism. And the bigger his brain and the better his heart, the more distinctively will this be the experience of the pilgrim. Surely, when he is clothed and in his right mind, man will realise that his lot has incktd JL-en cast in pleasant places.