402 The Man for the Times. September, 



Paradise Lost. The magnetic telegraph is a lovelier and loftier crea- 

 tion of true poetry, than " Spenser's Fairy Queen," or Shakespeare's 

 "Tempest." Genius has flung her flowery garlands off, and gone 

 forth with a branded cheek, and hard hand, .to work for a race in the 

 very van of advancing civilization, and whether it be in literature, 

 politics, or religion, the man of dreamy speculations, or subtile meta- 

 physical theories, is but a mummy of a by-gone generation, and should 

 be excluded from the busy world, or put into a glass case as a remark- 

 able specimen — a wonderful curiosity. 



Second/i/, A man for this age, and this country, should be emphati- 

 cally a decided man, not a man of sham chivalry, who talks loudly of 

 his honor, and resents insults, and practices pistol-shooting. But a 

 man of true moral courage, who dares to do right, and stand by the 

 right, who fears neither to explode an old dogma, though adored for 

 cenluries, if it be a falsehood, nor to stand by an old custom against 

 a world, if it be not honorable or truthful. If a religious man, he 

 should not mereli/ mourn over our national degeneracy, and fast over 

 national sins, and pray for our national prosperity, but should rise 

 up from his fasts and prayers, and work for our national reforms, 

 and put forth vigorous and persevering efforts, for the securing, 

 through practical righteousness, our national well-being. 



It is high time that the true friends of humanity and man, use their 

 best efforts to diffuse true practical morality into our national politics: 

 when the selfishness of personal ambition, and the low intrigues of 

 partizanship, should be cast out, and the spirit of honest patriotism and 

 genuine philanthropy abide as the alone conserving presence over the 

 entire national and political economy. 



Third, A citizen of such a country, and of this age, should be edu- 

 cated, iRtelligent ; no one will question this postulate. And when we say 

 he should be educated, we do not mean to apply the common standard a? 

 understood among the ignorant, or adopted among the educated. We 

 do not mean that every man should become a literary man or a class- 

 ical scholar. But by education and intelligence, we mean an under- 

 standing of the operation of human governments, and the philosophy 

 of human society, an acquaintance with the history of the past, for 

 the sake of witnessing the recorded development of a progressive hu- 

 manity, and not for an ostentatious display of classic quotations and 

 encyclopedian statistics. Men who will study to apply knowledge to 

 some useful purpose. We have science enough; we have a sufficiency 

 of literary lore. What we need most is applied knowledge. The 

 scientific laboratory should be planted along-side of the work-shop 



