Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1845-11-12
PICTURES OF THE PAST.
"Roll back the tide of time"


Four hundred years ago, in a dark
chamber Of German city, there sat a
man absorbed IN silent meditation. He
was alone. with his high thoughts and
dreams Of glory. Around him were
thrown rude blocks, carved not with
quaint images and strange devices, but
with the simple letters Of the Latin al.
phabet. Before him lay an ancient man
uscript, and beside it a beautiful copy.
1t was the first printed Bible, the Book
Of Life, the burning words ofthe proph.
cts and the martyrs Of old, fresh from the
iron grasp Of that magic instrume Mt
whose influence was destined to be great.
er than that Of the sceptre or the sword
It was an hour Of pride for that lone in.
ventor. The book, as the artist has por.
trayed it. was open at the words-"And
there ,Uas light" And as he gazed upon
that prophetic sentence, and seemed lost
ia dream Of ambition, we might imag.
inc that there, in that still midnight hour,
and beneath that lamps dim ight, he
saw far onward in the path of coming
time, the honor given to his memory:
We might suppose tina. he felt, that, as
the morning Of creation. light in its first
splendor broke upon primeval darkness
as the mandate Of Omnipotence, even SO,
there in that dark chamber, and at the
call Of Genius, the light of truth had
risen to pour its beams on all the world,
as free and fadeless as the light of heav-
On. But it was not SO. Although, as
he looked upon that sacred volume. he
felt the proud consciousness that he had
: conferred on man a great and lasting
benefit; yet he knew not, he dreamed
not, Of the power which future ages
were destined to develope in the tremen>
Gus engine he had forged. He dared
not hope that the rude offspring of his
own unfettered thought should prove the
mlghtiest instrument in the hand of civ>
ilization. Yet, there in that lone stu
dent-cell, there in the mystic recesses
of that single human mind, occurred the
grandest scene in mental disenthra alment,
the proudest era in the history of human
improvement.
More than three hundred years ago,
fraii and storm-wor bark was strug
Cling onward through the western waters
Of the wide Atlantic. She plowed the
waves Of an unknown sea. She sailed
in silence where human eye had never
gazed before. Her only guide was the
stars OF heaven, and the compass, ever
pointing to the pole with it's mysterious
finger. Despair was resting, like pail,
on all the hearts she bore, save one-
Columbus stood alone upon her bound
Ing prov, with his eye still beaminr
with the light Of hope bent on the west
ern sky. Behind him was his home, IFS
memories and its joys; around him was
the waste Of waters; and before him
not dreary blank, not mere exparse
Of blending sea and sky--but the fairy
land that filed his boy.hood's reveries;
the full realization Of his manhood
dreams! For even when he gazed, he
caught. far in the west. the token oc his
Triumph light fickerIng in the dark
horizon. For a moment he hesitated,
fearing that he saw star just sinking
10 is ocean pillow; but no, it was the
day star of his glorious destiny. He
neaFed those unknown shores; he Ieaped
upon the strand; and as he bowed in
thapksgiying amid his wonderous well
coWerss he seemed to see the future
With prophets vision; he seemed TO
feel that though disgrace aud elooms
should sbadowhis decling years, Yet The
sIngls step frem that, frail boat 10 the
sb9fs of. that strange land, was mighty