THE LOCOMOTIVE AND THE VIOLIN.

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 154, 3 May 1873, Page 2

THE LOCOMOTIVE AND THE VIOLIN.

(AITOKAMSIAN.) | AsoMi.wuvr unnsiial (liscusmoh has lately taken place in Knglnnd. MVn hi high places have boon disputing upon tlio 'comparative vuluo to mankind of tlie steam-engine and the Mr Gladstone, in hi* address nt Liverpool, observed, thai "to period that nuirvcl of travel, the locomotive, has, vrhaps, not required an expenditure of more mental strength, application^ and deu-tion than to perfect that marvel of uumc — the violin." The Dnke of Somerset has asked in ioply, " Wlutt the violin hns done for the civilisation of mantind." His Grace continue.-. la 1 remark that "men hare been scraping on these «}ue:iViiig strings for the last 300 inn ; but what good lias the world gained b\' it? " There are few questions the answer to which it concerns us more i/O know than those that the Duke of Somerset has thus -aised. Their treatment, indeed, mv exceeds the limits at our disposal, but there are sonic points couuecled with them to which we may briefly refer. The real question involved in> the debate amounts to this — what is the nature, and what arc the uses of wealth ? On this miitLer we conceive that, strange as from their antecedents it may seem, the middleclass Premier entertain* truer and wiser notions than his ducal opponent. Mr Gladstone's family has been engaged in making money. Yet the Duke has no eyes for anything but the means of cnjoymiiv The commoner, or: the other hand, looks steadih beyond the mere instrument to the enjojment itself. The locomotive, anJ nil that it employs and represents, is only useful in so fur as it enables men to obtain more and larger means of satisfying fieir wants, or as it enables them, to satisfy those wants at a loss coat of time and trouble thnn before. But the violin represents not the means of obtaining enjojmont, but the actual enjoy incut. No num would willingly take trouble to procure a locomotive for its own sake, and without the view of some ulterior profit from its use. But hundreds of thousands gladly pay to listen to these "squeaking strings," which the Duke of Somerset so scorns, for tiie sake onl y of the exquisite plcasurt which those strings afford. Iti»thc-uM contusion between the means and the end. Employment, production, capital, riches, these, and a host of similar term*,, imply the immediate md indefinite command over instruments of enjoyment. But they are not themselves sudi instruments \Ve, however, insist on treating them ,\* if the\ were. Our conduct in doing so is on a par with the conduct of the miser who accumulates money while he denies himself everj thing beyond the barest necessaries of life. In our eagerness to be rich we forget the use of riches. The possession of wealth is only useful to us in so far as it affords us the means of enjoyment. If those enjoyments are taken away, the motives for the accumulation of wealth disappear with them. But another question presents itself. What are these enjoyments which it is the function of wealth to procure for us 9 We reply, everything which the owner of that wealth considers enjo} able. But although in this respect every man is necessarily a law unto himself, it is not a matter of indifference what may be the ehiraeter of those objects on which he chooses to expend his wealth. They must be either of the body or of the mind. If they are not the one they will be the other. Men eminot always accumulate. They w ill have some gratification ; or if a man's whole life is spent in the pursuit of moiiey that he never enjoys, his heirs will probably spend it for him ; but if the money is spent it must be spent either in the higher pleasures to which we have referred or in mere sensual dissipation and waste. It is surely of importance to a commnnity that the wealth of its members shall not be lavished in the latter form. It is, consequently, desirable that higher and more intellectual pleasures should occupy the phwe thus empty, just as good grasses are planted to choke out noxious weeds. This, then, is the function in our social economy of the violin and all that in this discussion we must take the violin to represent. It supplies an innocent and refined means of human enjoyment. It substitutes skill, culture, art, arid the- appreciation, of these things, for tho coarse gratification of appetite. Is there no difference to the country between the shearer who kuoeks down his cheque at the nearest public-house and the- working man who spends the same amount of his earnings in attending the theatre or the concert room, or in adorning his house with works of art ? If the locomotive represents the means of acquiring wealth with rapidity and case, the violin represents tho expenditure of that wealth in a manner which an intelligent cultured man need not be ashamed. That is, therefore, but a shallow philosophy which plnccs tho end and aim of civilisation in the accumulation and reproduction of material commodities. We should, indeed, faro ill without these commodities, and no sensible man will undervalue our obligations to the locotnoth c, or to the other great triumphs of material prosperity. But human happiness, tho end at which civ ilisation constantly aims, is not in these things. It implies the full and free exercise by every human being of all the faculties that he possesses. The possession of wealth supplies the moans of attaining, at least to some extent, this- end. The diffusion of wealth places these means within tho reach of as many human beings as the case admits. To the loeomotivo these hu nan beings owe much of their wealth, and, what is still more important, much of their leisure, and of their exemption from thit hard drudgery which toi often crushes out tho workman's higher life. But it is to the violin, and to tho art and the science of which for our present purpose we must take the violin as the type r that we owe some of our best and highest motives to exertion. A negro will work hard to earn a gaudy scarf or a white waistcoat. It is a good thing that any adequate motive can bo found to encourage bis feeble industry. But it is not a less good thing that a white man should work equally hard to visit a picture gallery or to hear an opera. If tho negro were influenced by th<» same motives as the white man, we should not hesitate to conclude that lie had made no small step in civilisation, and yet the question is now seriously asked, of what good to mankind are the fine arts ? Thore is no danger that men will f.iil to appreciate the \itility of tho greaL mechanical inventions Wants and enjoyments will ulwa} s continue to be tho great agents of , human society. Men must satisfy their wants, and must consequently labour, and, as a further consequenco, will always seek to increase the efficiency of their lubour. Wo have, therefore, no fear for tho future of the locomotive. But it w ill be nn evil day for society if the iolin be regarded as a mere bundle of squeaking strings, or if the pursuit of the fine arts sink into neglect. Whei> the pood seed has failed evil weeds will spring up apace. Men will always desire to be rich and prosperous, but they may differ as to the nature of the things which make richer and prosperity worth having. If they do not enjoy the higher pleasures they will find their enjoyment in tho lower, in eating and drinking, m senseless luxury and in coarse dissipation. It is the nature of the fine arfs, and it is the great benefit that they confer upon society, to guard iii from these vices. Thej do not permit men to Milk to the level of hearts. The loeomotivo is a valued und trusty sla^e, but the \iohn we hold j iv our hearts as the most loving and constant of friends.