PROPOSED APPLICATIONS OF SMITHSON'S BEQUEST. 871 



lessly, from loom and forge and mill and warehouse, from 

 street and stream, there is one great roar and clangor and 

 tumult of business. 



But, we ask, is thie all that shall be said of us ? Shall the 

 monuments which we build up in this vast arena, and with 

 all our elements of power, be nothing but magnificent 

 fabrics — evidences only of our wealth and our phijsical 

 strength? Shall we cleave archways through the solid 

 granite, and link distant regions with bands of iron, and 

 rear splendid dwellings, and build forges and wharves and 

 bridges and mills — shall we do all this, and yet add nothing 

 to the treasury of mind f Shall we make no discoveries in 

 science — shall we open no new, broad fields of knowledge ? 

 We trust that we shall not so forget the nobler ends of 

 man — that we shall not be so false to the great Idea of the 

 age. We trust that we shall pile up monuments more 

 durable than fabrics of marble. We entirely agree with 

 our correspondent, in the opinion that in disposing of this 

 bequest, the design of the testator should be ascertained 

 and strictly carried out. We agree with him also thus far, 

 that if much that is taught under the present system of 

 education is not useless, much is not taught, or is but 

 slightly heeded, that is eminently essential to true knowl- 

 edge and to progress. He thinks us "too literary" to coin- 

 cide with his views. We are not so much so as to disagree 

 with him in his idea of the objects of the institution pro- 

 posed below. Literature and science, in our view, go hand 

 in hand, and both have their mission to perform in develop- 

 ing all the faculties of " The Mind." Let the disposition of 

 this legacy in the way proposed by Delta, be one step which 

 our legislators shall take towards accomplishing something, 

 in this highly favored portion of the globe, for the mental 

 welfare not only of the country but of the age — of the race. 

 We beg pardon of our readers if we have detained them 

 too long from the article of our correspondent. Once more 

 we request them to peruse it attentively and reflectingly. 

 Independent of the cause which it advocates with so much 

 power, they will find it a choice specimen of strong and 

 manly composition. Let them be prepared to act, and to 

 act rightly, upon the question of the Smithsonian Bequest. 

 —Ed. So. Lit. Mess. 



