AND SUBORDINATION. 73 



starveling shoot, as well as the powerful branch with its 

 innumerable branchlets, rich in sap and luxuriant in foli- 

 age, have helped to build up that tree. Each has labored 

 to the extent of its capacity, and has done some good to the 

 community, although it may be only a little. 



In like manner it is for the interest of society that all 

 the varied talents of its individual members should be 

 called forth and employed. Some authors have written 

 on human perfectibility, as if all men could be made phi- 

 losophers, statesmen, orators, poets, &c. But this is con- 

 trary to all analogy. Among all the forms of life, there 

 is variety in the degree of development, and man is no 

 exception. All men are subject to the same general laws, 

 yet it is undeniable that there is an individuality about 

 each, and that their mental capabilities and dispositions 

 are as dissimilar as their faces. Life, in fact, is but the un- 

 folding of the peculiar laws of the individual organism. 



As we progress in science and civilization, more and 

 more of this individual talent will be evolved. Any in- 

 stitutions which are calculated to call it forth, are a bless- 

 ing to the world. They ought to be encouraged. The men 

 who found them will live in the memory of mankind. 

 Hence, Public Schools, Lyceums of Natural History, and 

 such institutions as have for their object the dissemination 

 of knowledge amongst the people, are all movements in 

 the right direction. ]^et the fountains of knowledge be 

 made as public as possible, so that all may drink freely. 

 Let the healing streams be circulated in all directions, 

 until they impart their treasures to every destitute locality ; 

 for it is certain that there is no man, however poorly gifted, 

 who may not be made a useful citizen if those gifts are 

 properly cultivated. 



It is not possible that the community should be disturbed 

 in its present social relations by this generous diffusion of 

 information. Depend upon it, inequality of condition is 

 an eternal, unchangeable law of nature. It does not admit 

 of a doubt, that some men are much more richly endowed 

 with native talent and energy than others, and these will 

 always be the leading branches in the social tree ; others 



