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LEABNIN Q ANDWORKED Learning and Working...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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German Mythology And Legend. ; , I, Odin...
t ) i «^^ i i *(*^ Mrt ^ eSNbiM *^ it ^ ta ^ S bdbifit ^^ oieaaa »^ ssKin thatr nowyrohen ample materials for studying it & omtesent ^ L rur «; populisr form / it fails to * arrest / attention except'in minds of cohwrenehsive culture . And yet the Odin religion has a strong attraction bet » nd iits vjphitosophicunteireit as a phase m the development of the human-race : it has 'the poetic elements of power , ' terror , wildly capricious imagination , some tinges of pathos , and even a vein of- humour . What is more grandly . ^ avs ^^ iiiW'f ^^ sotion-thiat . tlief ' fe ' ast- ' of the Walhalla and the tettdtobBj ^•^ B ^ i ^^^^¦ < W 0 W •^^ 'those < ¦ ald ^ e ¦ w 16 o died in battle , while the £ & B }^^ i ^ B ^^& 'iiSUiw ^ dL peaceful death to overtake them must go down to < 3 im / Helheim ? Whatemore pathetic than the story of Sigune ' s devotion to her husband -the malignant 7 Lbki--+ how she perpetually holds a vessel to <; atch the Tiper * s venom which would else drop on his face ? What more fantastic extravagance thanthe rope that binds the terrible wolf Fenris ,
made , amongst : other materials , of a maiden ' s beard and the sound of a cat's fceead ? ' To i the'many excellent works through which the student may make himself acquainted with the Northern Mythology , Menzel , the well-known historian , added , just before his recent death , an admirable monograph on Odin , in which he has not only assembled all the myths relating directly or indirectly to Odin , but has treated the subject in that widely philosophic xmdhistorieal spirit which makes it far more than a study of Mythology . One of the points which he brings into due clearness and . prominence , is the unmoral character of the German as of the Greek Mythology . The highest god , Odin , was T > y no means the highest because he was good : the German was as far-from holding « , nv distinct Dualism as the Greek . The world was
to him a battle * field where the law was death to the weak ; Odin was chiefly the personification of warlike force , and to be " filled with the god" was to Aiave that * age of the warrior which the appalled Romans namedthe furor leutonicus . / Jdienzel also traces the reminiscences of Odin which stilt survive -among ihe : people— -travestied in their course through twenty centuries ; and thisiis : not tnesfeast interesting part of bis interesting book . ^ Another field in the history of the German popular imagination is opened upsto us in OPanfcer ' s diligent work on the Legends and Customs of Bavaria , Catholicism-not only absorbs into itself all Pagan legend , but retains the popular ^ mind at-that stage in which it is the ever-teeming souree of new legends : ; and'Bavaria is of all countries the most prolific in these often pretty weeds of an tmtilled ^ oil . A significant example of the state of popular -culturein , Bavaria is the following fact stated by Panzer : —
Whentm * tfce-year 1815 a Bavarian regiment m France was on the march , and it Tafcredm ^ eBSiantly , 'the superstitious among the soldiers clenched their fists against the ieavy clouds , and threatened St . Peter , -whom they regarded as causing the heavy fain in order . to < make their march difficult . "If we had him , " said they , " would make him run . the ^ gauntlatl" The regiment marched over a bridge on which stood the inaageof St . John Nepomuck . -A soldier hastily put the image under his cloak . "When the regiiaent'halted , several hundred men ran up -a-hill at a little distance , bound the image to the back of a comrade , made themselves into a wall on each side , « nd © b % edJSt . ' John Nepomueki to run the -gauntlet instead of Peter . Each soldier ^ av & the-image a « ut with his sharp sword until it was so hacked away that the bearer beganto fear for his own . back . We must find space ,-too , for a-legend which -is a very amusing specimen ¦ of what we zady call the Apocryphal Gospel of Bavaria . Legend , while lavish in incident , is often economical in personages , and loves to father all its ^ marvels onti feW ; prmcipal heroes . Thus we find Christ and Peter engaged in the most-unexpected adventures : —
^ Christ arid JPeter passed by a'smi thy where they saw Written up , "A Workman above all "Workman . " 'Peter waid to'the Lord , " ¦ Master , I believe there is no greater -workman ttoto'thoti . " «> Go , " answered the Lord , " and ask the smith why he has ^ written this Ab crv * his door ? " Thesmith answere d , " Because I am such ! " So the divine wanderers oame to the Bmith ,, who boasted that he was able to make everything apeeaily , arid ordered him to make an iron lattice round his yard . Straightway the amith set to work with hia journeymen , and in a short time there stood a beautiful ordn lattice round the whole yard . " Are you also smiths ? " asked the smith . " Yes , " answered the Lord , " and this , " pointing to Peter , " is my journeyman . " " Can you : also make something ? " further asked the smith . " We can make young women out < of old ones ' . " replied the Lotfd . " Well , then , make my old mother young , If you can ! " Bald the smith , thinking to himself , that they certainly cannot do . " Where is * he ? " asked the' ^ ord . u She is cutting grass cut' there in the meadow , " answered the smith . " Bring her hero ! " commanded the Lord . They brought a little old , consented when the Lord asked
black , ' humpbacked , withered woman , who readily her whether she would he made young again . The Lord went up to the little woman , fclfewupon her , and she was dead . Then he and Peter laid her in the smith ' s rornace , with many coals , upon her , and Peter blew the bellows so hard that the furnace was glowing . Hereupon the Lord drew her out of the fire , laid her on the anvil , commanded Peter to take the largest hammer , and both hammered so bravely that fire and shreds flew from her Then the Lord laid the little woman again in the furnace , Peter blew the bellows , the lEord * laid her ttgain on the anvil , and they hammered out the head , . body , bands , and feet all new . When that was done , the Lord blew in the wdttrtfn' * tttQutto , aAd immtediately a beautiful maiden stood there . They took but fimall ^ payment , " « nd went on their way . And now the women o ( the neighbourhood Tftn together ¦ and could not enough admire the beauty of the maiden . " I would give a Jjood deal of ittbriey , ' said a rich old dame , " ifc t could be so restored . " Said the smith : "'t also can , earn the money ; Thave " learned the whole'trick'from the two travellers ' . " Inmiiealately a beginning was made with the elderly dame . The smith 1 the
* blew uponher , ' but she -remained alive . Said the smith : ' « " If we once put her In ilre she- will 1 ) 6 ' < aeo < i They made a good fire , laid the dame living in the furnace With many < soal $ tfpon hqr , arid the journeyman had' to blow the bellows right well , l ) ttt the dame war terrtblybfcrflt . They ) laid her on the anvil and hammered her , so that she was beaten to pieces , and' great pieces flerrfrom her which they could not fasten to again . And they blew into her mouth , but all in vain . And when they saw no end to their trouble and fear , the smith told his journeyman to run after the travellers and beg them to turn back . At first tho Lord would give no ear to the journeyman , but at last he gavo way to his urgent prayer , and returned with Peter to tho smith . Here the " workman above all workmen" was almost in despair , and entreated the Lord' In the humblest manner . ' The Lord said : " Lot us see what is to bp made 6 f these shattered fragments . " They laid the pieces together , put them' in the fire , then on the anvil , and began again to hammer . When they had welded together all ! the bits , the Lord blew intdthe mouth : —what did the thing now b * oomo P Aftuiy'Ape . ^ Nothing else , " »« ld the Lord , " can ever bo made of it . "
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Leabnin Q Andworked Learning And Working...
LEABNIN ANDWORKED Learning and Working . Six Ledtures . Tim Religion of Borne , and'its Influence on Modern-Civilisation . By F . D . iMaurice , M . A . Cambridge : Macmillan . Th * s working classes are divided into circles no less than the more-fortunate orders of society . They present , separately , or in various degrees of union , the apolitical , the religious , the speculative element , the sceptical and the frivolous , the violent , the moderate , the optimist and cynical . No single person represents them , as a body . You may , indeed , hear men with noisy voices who assume to declare the opinions , of " the working classes , " but these are only sectional leaders , and often not leaders at all . In America every set of political ideas is labelled with a name , distinctive if not explanatory . Thus , in the State of Maine , there are Fusion Whigs , Anti-Fusion Whigs , Fusion Democrats , Morill Temperance Democrats , Nebraska Wildcat Democrats , Anti-Nebraska Old Line Democrats , Anti-Morill Democrats , Fusion Free Soilers , Hook-and-Ladder Democrats , and the variety is not yet exhausted . We suspect , nevertheless , that London would supply as many shades and tints , from Toryism to the most vivid of the Radical creeds . Consequently , when Mr . Maurice established the Working Men's College , he was careful to construct a polygon which should meet the tendencies of different minds , though even with this extended plan he could only cover a limited range of the industrious classes . The fanatics of suspicion , naturally , stood afar off , decrying the mystery of this middle-class plot . There were other incentives to distrust and jealousy which we will not now examine ; but an analysis of the small numbers who immediately responded to the invitation of Mr . Maurice illustrates the diverging tendencies to which we have alluded . During the first and second terms about a hundred and forty pupils entered the different classes . The majority of these attended
the lectures on Algebra , on Arithmetic , on English grammar , on Drawing , and on the Bible . A considerable proportion also frequented the class on Geometry . The Political , Geographical , Historical , and Practical Jurisprudence Classes attracted only few persons , and those of a very earnest and zealous cast of mind . French and Latin speedily became popular , as well as the more humble and essential instruction of adults in reading and writing . The system of the college is free from every taint of patronage , and from the dogmatic spirit of conventional philanthropy . Men are treated by the lecturers as men , and not as children—upon ; the ? ecclesiastical plan , or as criminals—upon the plan of the model lodging-house . ^ . The working classes , as a body , occupy a false position . They stand between two descriptions of teachers , both equally pernicious—the imitators of parental despotism , who expect canine docility in return for easy
benevolence ; and the ministers of suspicion , whose ignorance is concealed by a thin layer of reading—the native soil of declamation . Converse with untaught minds allows these agitators to be as superficial as they are violent , and their policy is to promise the industrious classes the millenium of a day when there shall be no legislators , orators , or writers , except working men . We have heard one of this class affirm that no individual had a right to sit in Parliament who had not worn a fustian jacket . - Another lately told his readers that " professional authors'' should be abolished , in order that " the pen might be driven by the hand of the labourer . " We thank Mr . Maurice , or any other gentleman who comes to the rescue of industrious Englishmen , and leads them from this field of thistles to pastures new . Mr . Maurice starts with a proposition which applies even more forcibly to the incidents of our times than to those which he had in view . When Louis Philippe
reigned , and when the entente cordiale was at its height , the servile journals and the lips of fluent speakers teemed with references to the material prosperity of France . The citizen king had his ovation . Public opinion worshipped -him as " the only man , " and no one dared , in polite society , to question the virtues of a ruler with whom Queen "Victoria maintained—until the Cabinets disagreed—an affectionate correspondence . From this fact Mr . Maurice argues for the superior worth of moral prosperity—the success of reason , the inviolability of public honour . No doubt Mr . Maurice asserts a personal theory which we do not expect , and do not desire , to see established'among the majority of men . We have no faith in patriarchal authority—if it implies a supreme representative—however it may contrast with that of the bee-embroidered robe . " Px-esbyter is but priest writ large , " and -the " divine fatherhood" to which Mr . Maurice points means only a spiritual control over nations , which no human beings are , or ever have
been , fit to exercise , unless , indeed , it means no more than tho general sense of religion . Still wo commend the teachings to thinkers and students among the working classes . They have the tone of the Norman culturethe tone of Alfred , of Alcuin , in as far as they appeal to the faculties and thoughts of men ; and we have little fear that when the working-classes are as'Cultivated and as free from prejudice as-Mr . Maurice desires them to be , they will look for shepherds , or submit , their souls to vicarious fatherly authority . The pivot ot Mr . Maurice ' s system is the truth that Loarnmg and Working are ' not ' incompatible . It is the common complaint that activity leads i men away from thought , deprives them of the leisure for research , confuses tho vision-of philosophy . It is said , again , that deep speculations abstract thencvfrom the practical duties of social life . The engineer " has no time for poetry , " the artist for literature—except he hunt for subjocts , hia
as Johnson . read Paradise Lost for words;—the mochanio must sacrifice tastes , the printer his opinions . By the experience of men in every class this fallacy is contradicted . Dante was immersed in practical politios , yot Uo was " a profound schoolman and a divine poot ; " Bacon , a laborious lawyer and statesman , composed one philosophic treatise after another—not in hh retirement only . The Benedictine monks , whose manual toil was woven into the tissue of their lives , explored the farthest recesses of learning , fti « l Burns received inspiration between the stilts of tho plough . But Mr-Maurice adds , with appropriate emphasis , that if a man bo a restless bustler , he can neither learn nor work . Ho may be devoured by his material occupations and not fulfil them well . Every line , of pursuit , from that of tho agriculturist to that of tho silver chaser , or the weaver of delicate fabrics , supposes a number of exact and successive processes , regulated by method , and proportioned to tho length of tho day . Fortune , in some oasos , forbids
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 22, 1855, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_22091855/page/18/
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