Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1854-06-19

ana more Inau pnOuSdhV lhSh were uS1i1Ncu
of employment, will operate materially to clog
the wheels of enterprise or retard the rapid
growth and permanent prosperity of our city,
it must be that they are unacquainted with
the characteristics OF its people, the indomi-
table persevering energy of its business men,
the industry and thrift of its artisans and la.
borers. and its liberal minded and public spir-
tied capitalists.
The blow at our prosperity. is by no mean:
a"crushing one; and SO sudden is the re-
action, $50 hopeful and confident is the spirit
with which even the heaviest losers, set about
the PREPARATION of their losses, SO cool and cir
cumspect are their plans for the future, and so
strong Is the determination, manifest on all
hands, to rise above the reyerses of the present
hour, that none can believe that this great ca
lamity is to operate to the permanent injury or
distress of this community.
If the spectacle presented to the outward
vision, by the smouldering ruins is calculated
to awaken the saddest feelings, there are Other
aspects in which they may be viewed, that will
awaken far different emotions.
In moral point point Of view, no grander
aad more enrolling sight ever greeted our
eyes, than that which was presented by the
appearance and bearing of those men, whom
we have seen for the last three days of the past
week, standing among the wrecks Off their for
tunes and the ruins of their hopes, gathering
into heaps the almost worthless relics of long
years of toll, and, while they did so, planning
in their own minds, their course for the fu-
ture. There were no fearful eyes-there
were no indications of breaking or broken
hearts-Despair sat upon no mans visage-
Hope had fed from no mans soul
Strong, self-reliant, industrious, hard work
ing men, the artiGcers of their own fortunes,
and the builders Of this thriving and beauti-
tiful city there they were. Not for the pur-
pose of bewailing their hard fate, or exciting
the sympathies of the beholders of their mis-
fortunes. But hard at work again, before the
ashes of the confagration, which had brought
them to poverty, were cold, in order to retrieve
their losses, and lay anew the foundations of
future prosperity and success.
Such examples of true heroism are worth a
great deal to the community, and they show
to the world, better than any mere words can
show, the character of the men we have
among us. But this is not all. By this sad
calamity, the people are made more fully
aware, than any event of less magnitude could
make them, of the deep and lasting bond of
sympathy, which pervades all the members
Of this great community, which, it has well
been said. is ''a perfect hive of industry" As,
during the confagration, men of all classes, col
ors sects, parties, and conditions, seemed to vie
with each other in efforts to save property and
to stay the progress of the destructive element,
without reference TO the petty feuds and ami
mosities that sometimes influence their action,
~, since the full extent of each man losses has
been made known, have the sympathies of all
classes, sects parties and conditions been excit-
ed in his behalf, and many a generous and
liberal act has been done to the unfortunate,
since this great calamity fell upon US, the
memor of which shall endure forever. The
blessings Of men ready to perish eupon the
heads and homes Of some, who, until recently
wee thought to be less kindly than they really
are; and many man has had such blessed
experience Of the fact 'that it is better to give
than to receive" that it has seemed to him
ike the joy of a new found sense of delight.
Men have learned rapidly. since "Wednesday
last, to appreciate the good qualities of earl
other, and the ties which unite us in cont
munity have strengthened as they never were
before.
When the flames ragged the fercest, and
curled their fiery tongues from building to
building, what Native American or Know
Nothing was there, who felt any desire to scott
at the brawny sons Of Erin who piled the axes,
passed the water, and gave their broad shout
ders to the heaviest burdens that could be put
upon them, to be born to places of compare
tive safety: And what son of the Emerald Isle,
or other distant country, was there that stop
ped to inquire whether the property he was
saving belonged to friend or foe: Who, that
witnessed the prompt and energetic conducto of
the Mayor upon that occasion, felt any the
less regard for him, that he was democrat,
and who that saw Governor at the brakes, or
clergyman, with an axesor bucket of water,
that felt any less regard for him that he was
not member Of his party or his church,
There is valuable lesson for us all in the
experiences Of the pastfew days. and it would
be well for US all to heed its teachings. We
are all members Of the same great family; all
have interests IN common, all are more or less
dependant upon one another, not only in adj
verse but in prosperous times and now that
the hand of adversely weighs more heavily upon
some. than upon others, now that the partition
walls of nationality, party, sect, and condition
are partially bridged over by the all pcrvading
sentiments Of common sympathy, and a com
mon brotherhood, let US all endeavor SO to
live and SO to act, that the great calamity
that has befallen our city, and the great pri-s
vations that many Of our neighbors are called
upon to sustain. may be conducive to the gen.
sral good. and that Of every member of the
community ia which we live. a
The Springfield Post, the leading Demo-
ratio newspaper in Western Massachusetts.
"A fa3g 81, et,,or,o oro,,ssg .sf,a; a ~. n,-,