Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1868-01-16
Che gepnblifan.
THURSDAY, JANUARY le, 1888.
The Drift Period.


in the creation of the world all of the
elements were convulsed. The old
landmarks were torn up and removed.
The mountains slipped away and
we're hurled into the sen, the bed of
the sea was lifted up by commissions
and became mountains.
The old order of things, the old
class of animals and of trees passed
away. and general ruin seemed stamp
ed on the face of the earth. Even
the atmosphere itself was changed.
This was the drift period. But out
of this seeming wreck was evolved
higher and nobler race of beings and
anewerand more perfect flora. What
seemed chaos was only the birth
throes of nature So we to-day
stand amid the drift period. of the
moral world. The ideas that our
fathers held are fast drifting away.
The faith they anchored upon is to
us imperfect and insecure. The gov
eminent they trusted in seems to our
vision feeble and faulty. Their ideas
of social life we look upon almost
with sneer. Over the whole earth,
from the farthest bound of the Old
World to the just explored recesses
of the New, is felt the quickening
pulses of a new spirit. A general
restlessness-a vague presentiment
of some coming change overshadows
us. We look about and ask "what
next?" The fertility of invention,
and the era of manufacturing have
revolutionized society. Frightful
crimes that were once heard of vague
ly, are now heralded abroad by
means Of an active press-quick to
seize upon startling incidents, and
brought home to our doors. In the
great change that is now upon us, the
unclean is thrown upwards, and We
scan it in all its sickening details.
Peculation succeeds peculation. Sci
ence has been called to aid the villain
no less than the artizan. Fraud,
crime, turmoil and faithlessncss seem
to be rampant Through the means
of the railroad and telegraph, the
evils of trans Atlantic cities, swarm
ing with population, and fostering
with sin, are brought home to our
own doors. Our fashions are set by
Partisan women, who sell their beau
ty as merchant sells his wares. The
dress stitched by scheming member
of the Paris demi monde, one week,
to enchain some boor who can sup
ply the money for her reckless ex-
travagance is copied and worn in
London and New York the next, by
women whose checks would blush at
the mention of her whom they so
slavishly follow. The old ideas of
economy are forgotten. The old
habits of living are lain aside
Nine-tenths of the community are
engaged in break-neck race to out
shine the other. The example set by
the fashionable world is followed
through all grades even in the home
of the mechanic and farmer Fashion
rules. 1t not only dictates what we
shall eat, and what we shall wear.
but what we shall do, talk, and al
most think. At first sight this seems
discouraging enough. Some old TO-
gies have been misled by the appal
ling outlook, to imagine that the
world was going to speedy ruin. But
these forget that the world does not
ruin itself The operations Of nature
are as sure in guiding the destinies of
empire as in the formation of the
soil beneath our feet Progress is
the great law of humanity. Over the
fallen fortunes Of Kings and States,
through the crumbling dust of fac
tons and individuals, the great spirit
of enlightenment holds its sway. We
are on the eve of new dispensatiop
What appears to us to be national de-
terioration may be but the tangled
threads of new web of destiny-but
bats and moles suddenly dragged
shrieking into the light of the new.
To every man who has faith, the
drift period of our society offers gold
en- promise. As the geologic changes
ground the rocks into powder, thro'
its resist,ess force, thus preparing q
perfect soil, so the present turmoil
and social confusion may be but the
preparation from which shall arise a
new social fabric more glorious than
the last