The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 01 (of 12): Dresden Edition—LecturesIngersoll, Robert Green
Religion
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 01 (of 12): Dresden Edition—Lectures
Ingersoll, Robert Green
Free thought
I do not know that I can better illustrate the great truth that only
part of the world is adapted to the production of great men and women
than by calling your attention to the difference between vegetation
in valleys and upon mountains. In the valley you find the oak and elm
tossing their branches defiantly to the storm, and as you advance up the
mountain side the hemlock, the pine, the birch, the spruce, the fir,
and finally you come to little dwarfed trees, that look like other
trees seen through a telescope reversed--every limb twisted as though
in pain--getting a scanty subsistence from the miserly crevices of the
rocks. You go on and on, until at last the highest crag is freckled with
a kind of moss, and vegetation ends. You might as well try to raise oaks
and elms where the mosses grow, as to raise great men and great women
where their surroundings are unfavorable. You must have the proper
climate and soil.
A few years ago we were talking about the annexation of Santo Domingo to
this country. I was in Washington at the time. I was opposed to it I
was told that it was a most delicious climate; that the soil produced
everything. But I said: "We do not want it; it is not the right kind
of country in which to raise American citizens. Such a climate would
debauch us. You might go there with five thousand Congregational
preachers, five thousand ruling elders, five thousand professors in
colleges, five thousand of the solid men of Boston and their wives;
settle them all in Santo Domingo, and you will see the second generation
riding upon a mule, bareback, no shoes, a grapevine bridle, hair
sticking out at the top of their sombreros, with a rooster under each
arm, going to a cock fight on Sunday." Such is the influence of climate.
Science, however, is gradually widening the area within which men
of genius can be produced. We are conquering the north with houses,
clothing, food and fuel. We are in many ways overcoming the heat of the
south. If we attend to this world instead of another, we may in time
cover the land with men and women of genius.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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