The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1857-05-11

And smiles that clothe the earth In flowers,
Come with thy bright and fairy band,
And scatter glAdness FER the land
Come summer, come
The ONWARD MarcA.
Mr.. Gushing, in his great speech here last
week, spoke os the destiny Of the two col
umns pushed out from Plymouth and Jam.s-
town, and their mission Of progress for the
redemption of the continent. No one can
have failed, however, to observe the unequal
step with which they march, march, march.
Plymouth stands seventeen millions to-day
to Jamesto WINS eight millions and what
will be the result when, at no distant day
speaking Of the life Of nation--it shall
stand seventy five millions to twenty. 6vep p
The jamestown column, as it has passed
along, has devoured what was before, aud
killed what was behind. As with the hoof
OF the ancient conqueror's horse, the grass
has not grown where it passed. Virginia 10
but the shadow Of what it was, and fading
out at that. The Plymouth column has ele-
waited, strengthened and aivanced--com,ng
like the breath Of spring, making the wilder
ness to blossom, the solitary places to be
glad, and the veice Of singing to be heard in
the land. While jamestown 10 blotted out,
and has left no mark where it was, Plymouth
and its school house, as two hundred years
ago. While Norfolk is ia decay, and its
spacious harbor given up to few oyster
gatherers and the .'cutter' for the collection
Of the Virginia negro tax, Boston 10 full of
palace warehouses, where are gathered the
riches Of the Indies-of princsly houses
where merchants surprising those Of Tyre
and Venice, reside-of temples Of religion
and schools Of learning and works Of art,
that entitle her to be called the Athens of
America, while commercially she stretches
her arms to the end Of the earth, and opens
hor broad bay to receivethe commerce Of the
nations. Virginia has dwindied at every
census, and is destined yet more to dwindle,
tilla new race shall infuse new blood and
new life into her veins; Massachusetts has
grown stronger, sturdier, richer, and 1t the
last apportionment for members OF Congress,
was the only State upon the Atlantic that in
creased its number.
There are two columns moved by destiny,
it is true; but the one travels in Virginia
two wheeled cart, without springs, without
evidencing that there was wheelwright or
blacksmith in the world where it ssgreU,"
drawn by a half-fed donkey, with prime
val yoke upon his neck, and negro driver
behind more stupid than the jackass; and the
other goes by steam with the iron horse snort
ing over the railroad track, and ~ IL forty
miles an hour was not fast enough, holds
the telegraph wire in its hands, and breathes
lightning from its nostrils to announce its
progress to the distant places ahead. The
Plymouth column starts from the Atlantic
with one wing touching Jamestown, and the
other resting upon the great lakes, and when
it has leaped the Rocky Mountains, stands
alone upon the Pacific shore. The James
town has no northern side, and tapers away,
narrowing to the single State of Texas, Of
which it holds but the south eastern side !;
and when it "marches, marches, marches''
beyond that, it must take short turn down
over the Rio Grande to plumber the half
breed Mexicans. Tamaulipas must be it's
next State and BY the time it reaches there,
the point whence it started will be lost, and
like the tempestuous cloud, We shall see it
sinking away into the dark south west, while
all the heavens about are given to the sun
shine Of freedom.
The Age.
Generations like individuals usually know
more of their virtues than their faults. They
are quick to discern their advantages and to
make the most of every supposed element Of
superiority. The lights rather than the
shadows Of life engross them. They linger
fondly around the tokens of growth, but
avoid those Of decay. Pride has it's root in
the sense of expanding power and advancing
greatness. Blind conceit and vain glorious
Boosting are the spontaneous outgrowth Of
eras distinguished for novel combinations Of
old forces, for restless activity and brilliant
results in the sphereo Of national achievement.
ia N I'm al FL n hat "a.
mated with great plans in government, in
dustry and science, and identified with unex-
ampled triumphs in every field OF human en-
ergy, to claim more for itself than it ought,
to oyer-rate the present as compared with
the past, and to adopt false standards Of
Judgment In order to give currency to extray-
agant pretensions.
Our own time certainly furnishes no ex.
ception to remarks Of this character, but
rather . most apt instance Of their truth
Its strength isvitiated by vanity. Its glory
is soiled and degraded by indiscriminate
Boosting. 1t is an age OF wonders and IN
age Of platitudes, remarkable at once for
good sense and folly, vigor and weakness,
realities and shams. Judging from much OF
the published thought OF the day, to say
nothing of the aniuus Of social and indus
trial life, one would suppose il to be among
the established convictions Of this generation
that the human race had just broken its shell,
and began to comprehend the machinery OF
progress, that civilization and literature, hu-
mainly and brotherhood were original crea
tions OF the present, and that the past sur
vived only as treasury Of interesting his-
torical incident. IL cannot be doubted that
such views have much to do with the admit.
ted self suihciency Of the age, and that they
prevail to degree which renders the work
ing million well nigh insensible to the debt
they owe preceding generations.-Rey A. N.
Li,tlejohn.