Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1870-03-11
EOSS
Essay Kead at the QuasquetOn In.
stitutc, Feb. 10, 1870.

Essay Wead at the Quasqueton IN
stitutc, Feb. 10, 1870.
All history is not written in books. Age
after age passed ere man existed. Where
then is their history? Where is the parch-
ment on which is written the story of the
long cycles that came and went, ere the
coruscation Of human intellect shot across
the horizon Of Gods fair creation? Where
shall we go for the lost relics of those for
gotten times? Are they not laid away in
old vaults, safe from destruction forever
Are there not countless leaves of history
folded in the concentric whorls Of giant for
est trees? Are not the rocks written all
over with the record of long gone but i'm
perishable centuries? What are the cav.
ems of the shelby ocean shore, but the
archives of the strange, primeval past?
What are the towering mountains, but
grand monuments raised over the dead that
walked the wondrous wildernesses and
swarmed the warning waters of the old pro-
gressive period of the worlds life? Roll
away the stone, and what resurrection
What countless forms Of strange, beautiful
existences rise from their long resting Sc.
pulchres. What myriad nations crowd in
to the light, bringing with them the records
of their laws, their habits, their customs.
Turn the leaves of the huge stone tones
and read, ye lovers of ancient literature.
60 down into the valleys-deep down into
| the exhaustless strata of the carboniferous
creation and 10! what grand old forests
tower and wave. What gigantic trees, thai
toss their verdurous crowns, where gorgeous
! vines cling and climb, and hang out their
weird and wondrous banners of blossoms.
What floral magni6cence, more marvellous
than any widest dream Of tropical mid
summer. And the inhabitants that throng
the cities OF these wide wildernesses what
giant forms of beasts; what strange rep
tiles creep among the tangled growths Of
| this grand creation. And the ages come
and 60, and slowly the great forest and the
inhabitants thereof, sink into decay, and
solemnly to the music of harmonious march
es, the waves come up and bury them, and
so were these records preserved. Fair pic
lures were painted on the surfaces of deli
cate green moses, and the eyes of the long
coming generations behold them in massive
frames, hung on the walls of mountain pal
aces, perfect aud beautiful. Poems were
written on frai forest flowers, and pressed
carefully between stone tablets, and we find
:hem to-day, unframed by the winds and
waves of thousand stormy centuries. The
music of low, sweet ballads was breathcd
into fair ocean shells, that a hostile wave
might shiycr, and now, down uncounted pc
RODS in the lapse OF time, some vandal
| hand breaks aSunder the clasp, and 10!
there they lie, unshattered and perfect, and
murmurous still with the melody of their
native waters.
And now those treasures histories, 20.
ems, pictures-what shall we say of them
Let them 90.
We will not turn gcologist and read the
pages of those histories, or drag from
their long restiag r ice those ancient ric-
tnres. But studying some of those fossil
remains, are you not impressed with the
similarity between them and fossil charac
terS, Yea, even some living characters in SO
ciety?
1t is the theory of biologists, that as each
succeeding species dies out, others take lis
place, sometimes possessing characters
slightly similar, and others very dissimilar,
and that each species prepares the way ior
another. Now the changes in society seem
like to this; and for convenience we might
consider our character fossils under three
great divisions first, the extinct; second.
those that are fast becoming so; third, those
that now exist. OF the first, the true poll
tician, of the Washington and Jefferson
species are examples; dilig mt research
has proven this species to be extinct, and
an order differing in every essential poin,
has taken their place. This species re-
minds one of the antediluvian mastodon.
In character they are bold, even to daring
when party interest, alias self interest is
pending At the same time they appear
like ungainly masses that tind it exceeding !
difficult to ascertain what is the right, when
they are in the wrong. Manitestoes com
posed Of huge swelling words, acclaimed
with great vim and gusto, are supposed by
them to insure success, and how compla.
Gently they contemplate the marvellous ef
feet Ct their dazzling declarations upon the
wondering rabble, who listen with gaping
mouths and wide-staring eyes, receiving as
pure gospel their high-sounding words OF
worldly wisdom, and stand in much awe OF
their greatness.
As the geologist pursues his research, he
fine in many rocks little "radiata," or an
imals having a center, from which proceed
radi, by means of which they provide
thems. Ives sustenance. In society we have
''rad;.ta," but they constitute the second
division. The good, old-fashioned mother.
who did not scorn to rock the cradle, or
disdain to prepare the evening repast
whose fingers piled the needle, preparing
garments from cloth Of home manufacture
for the hum OF the spinning wheel was
music in her ear, and the shuttle was guild
ed with unerring precision by her hand.
We might see her when the labors of the
day were completed, with countenance
that bespoke thoughts of purity and mind
at rest, teaching her infants tongue to lisp
its Makers praise. That mother was the
centre, kind words and smiles the radii
which drew to that centre its life. Its place
is being Supplied by one of the third class,
these are also "radiata;" in appearance
there is slight similarity, but it extends no
farther, indeed so dissimi,ar are they. thu,
the latter have been considered different
class, viz; Upper Tenata.' Self is tn,
center, pearls and diamonds the radii.
There is another species Of "radiata" tina,
is rapidly disappearing "A remnant of men
who feared God and Flowed their neighbor
as themselves, and their place is being
rapidly supplied by "a new and distinct spe-
cies. The precise time when this new spe-
cies first made its appearance has not yet
been decided, and tradition informs us they
we're at fist styled freaks of nature" S,
rapidly and perfectly is their verdant state
exchanged for maturity, that they are de,g-
mated 'iungi," or creatures of the "mush-
room" family. The geologist finds in the
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