The Van Buren press., 1870-06-07
The Van Buren, Press,
VAN BUREN,. ARKANsAs.
GLExLEE, June, 1870.

.fHN obh<'Hsi|p ~eHNt
EDITOR OF PREss - 6soa isc
In late nu.nber Of the Missouri Re
publieaa read graphic description Of
the Great Bridge, now building at Saint
Louis, taken from German paper On
reading said article, was forcibly struck
with the idea, that a strong infatuation
pcrvades mankind at the present time.
If anything great is undertaken. or ac-
complished, there is no end to the praise
that is piled upon the agents, the country
and age. Indeed. people now a-days,
seem to think, that other people and
other ages knew uothing--and that oul
our country, and ous age know every
thing. If history is to be relied upon,
such is not the fact. Hcrod the Great,
before the birth of Christ, accomplished
a work, in my opinion, even more difficult
than the bridging of the Mississippi at
st. Louis. ! quote from Josephus :
"Now, altho' the place where he built
was greatly opposite his purposes, yet
did he so fully struggle with that difficult
ty, that the Grmness of his building could
not easily be conquered by The sea, and
the beauty and ornaments of the work
was such. as tho he had not had any dif
ticuty in the operation, for when. he had
measured out rs large space as we have
before mentioned, he let down stones into
twenty fathom water, the greatest part
of which were fifty feet in length, nine in
depth, and ten in breadth, and some still
larger, but when the haven was filled up
to that depth, he enlarged that wall which
was thus already extant above the sea,
till it was two hundred feet wide, one
hundred OF which had buildings before IT.,
in order to break the force ofthe waves,
whence it was called Procumatia, or the
first breaker of the waves, but the rest of
the space was under stone wall that ran
round it, on this wall were very large
towns, the principal and most beautiful
of which was called Drusium, from Dru
sus, who was son inlaw to Caesar; there
were also great number of arches, where
the mm incrs dwelt, and all the PLACES be-
fore them round about was a large val
ley, or walk, Paraguay (or landing place }
to those that came on shore, but the en-
trance was on the north, because the
north wind was there the most gentle Of
all the winds at the mouth OF the haven
were on each side three great clossi that
that are on your left hand as you sail into
the port, are supported by a solid tower,
bat those on the right hand are support
cd by two upright stones joiued together,
which stones are larger than that tower
which was on the other side of the en-
trance Now these ever continual edi-
fees Joined to the haven which we're also
themselves Of white stone, and to this
haven did the narrow streets of the City
lead, and were built ut equal distances
one from another, and over against the
mouth of the havon,l upon an elevation,
there was a temple Of Cesar, which was
excellent both in beauty and largeness,
and therein was a colossus Of Cesar, not
less than that Of Jupiter Olympus, which
it was made to resemble. .'af afis lVa
II we would pay little more attention
to the achievements OF the ancients, per-
haps we would not be so vain. glorious.
Respectfully, ., JUSTICE. :
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