The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1857-05-28
RESULTS ouTsrR1pp1Na ANr1o1pAr1oNs

connecting the Mississippi with the Atlantic
by Railroad. In twenty years you will be
talking about connecting the Mississippi
with the Pacific" And we well rccollect
with what stare Of incrcduity hundreds
of the intelligent mon then present, states
men, Judges, editors &C., looked up to the
great Carolinian and expressed in their
countenances, almost as plainly as if they
had embodied the sentiment in so many
words, "that is another of Mr.. Calhoun's
vagaries." The idea Of the union of the
Mississippi with the Atlantic by means Of
iron bands was considered by many grave
and enlightened members of that BODY rs
little better than Utopian dream, to be
realized perhaps by future generation, or
perhaps never. But to talk about building
Railroad to the Pacific, they considered
rs one of those ridiculous airy nothngs
suitable to be indulgcd in by poets and the
inmates Of mad houses in a state of partial
convalesccnce.
Well, what of the results thus far? This
convention was held in the fall of 1916. A
period of a little more than ten years only
has, therefore, elapsed, and the grand epitha-
lamium that celebrates the completion of
the first part of the work mentioned has
been chantcd. The cars now run regularly
from the shores of the Atlantic to the bluffs
of the Mississippi. Their waters are united.
The vague and misty future has become the
tangible and sold realities of the present,
and glidcs, though we cannot say noisclcss-
| lv, into the past. And the still future
what of it? The rites Of IIymen celebrat
ing the union Of the great River with the
fair young giantess of the Pacific-shall
their epithalamium he cllantcd, and when
There be prophets of evil, and they cry out
a dream, a dream! We tell them nay; or,
if it be n dream, it is one that will be real
lied, as the other has been, when we awake.
Events crowd on. Mr.. Calhoun said that
in twenty years they would be talking about
building railroad to the Pacific, and they
thought him almost crazy for making such
prediction. One half Of that period has
elapsed, and the road has not only been
talked about, but the rails have actually been
laid down upon it at several points, and all
the important. steps taken to construct it to
the Rio Grand, far on towards the Pacific.
Results outstrip anticipations, even of tho
most sagacious, Of those who penetrate
farthest into the future. What it took ten
years TO perform when Louisiana was ad-
mittcd into the Union, is now accomplished
in one. The journey that consumed a month
twenty years ago is now made in week.
And still the ratio Of comparative rapidity
is onward, still onward.
1t took ten years to complete the railroad
from Charleston to Memphis. But frac-
ton of this time is now necessary to map
out, lay down the track, and equip road
of greater length. 1t took half of this time
to talk about the enterprise There was no
faith, and there must be faith before they
can be living works, for works do but follow
faith. Besides, learning one language gives
the student increased facilities for learning
another. So the experience gained in build
ing one ,ailroad comes in powerfully to
shorten the time necessary to the construc-
ton of another. The mishaps of doing and
undertaking, of a want Of calculation, of
necessary precedence and sequence Of meas
uge are all avoided by the light which the
practical knowledge gained by experience,
and it alone, sheds upon the actual.
There be those who talk of the realization
of our Southern Pacific railroad by the next
generation. Slow coaches we say. They
snuff not the breezes, all instinct with a
changed condition Of things, all alive with
the ceaseless din of energies at work with
Titanic power, with something approaching
desperation, as though the destinies of the
world depended upon the completion of a
given amount Of facts accomplished in a
given time. Enterprise grows by what it
feeds upon, like the passions of love or hatred.
Let the prophets of inRction or blindness
open their eyes and see, and get out Of the
way. The engine bell keeps time to the
lullaby Of the placid waters of the Pacific.
Let them go over to Algiers, and placing
their ears upon the ground listen! The
sound will be indstinct at first, but with the
aid of little of the faith of the times it will
gradually become more perceptible, and.
before they have time fully to realize it, the
engine, with its train Of cars, laden with the
rich silks ard diamonds Of India and the
gold Of California, will come dashing along
through solitudes-nowssolitary po longer
making another epoch, another grand
|; the "march, msrch, march, Of the
ages.
||sss % visionary, e you please. SO people