Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1872-12-25

bitter and most vituperative that the
country has ever witnessed and yet
a recent writer says: Upon the even.
ing of the election, just at its close,
walked the busiest street of the eoun
try's great metropolis, and, savethat
here and there were a few anxiou:
faces scanning the bulletin boards, yoU
would not have dreamed that q great
nation had that day been doing what
might oYerturn a ministry, and over.
throw their ruler and put another in
his stead. A thing, which were it tC
occur to-day in France, in Spain. in
Italy, or zen in Germany, the streets
would be barricaded, and troops upon
troops of armed men would have been
required to keep down the turbulent
pOpulsce."
And this is not all. The labors Of
the husbandmen have been blessed in
an unusual degree; the earth has Civ
en- forth her products abundantly, and
| the nation rejOices over a bounteous
| harvest. And there is call for needs
of lnudest praise from US, His favored
creatures, to Him who sends the rain
upon the just, and upon the unjust
| who has promised that Seed time
and harvest shall not fail :" who
showers His blessings upon His friends
and upon His foes, and who asks so
little in retl IN for His manifold mer-
cies and manifold blessings unto men.
Again: "The lines are fallen to us
| in pleasant places,n in our being per-
mitted to live in the Age in which we
live. 1t is an age of progress, Edu-
cation, and the sciences, and the arts
have risen to a grahdsr heigi than
ever before. And Religion, the gos.
pei of the glorious and exalted God
Man, the Prince of Peace. is penetrat-
| ing to the darkest recesses of heathen-
dom, in a manner which is an aston
| ishment to its foes. The stars, which
were counted by hundreds when the
Psalmist wrote our text, are counted
by thousands now, with that power
ful instrument, the telescope, the re-
suit of mans God-given ingenuity
Aud with it he will show you a star,
whose light, travelling at the rate OF
two hundred thousand miles in a Sec
ond Of time, has been thousands OF
years coming to earth and with the
aid of the SPECTRUM, he will tell YOU
/ the nature and the quality of light
each star emits.
To day, the scientist is more famil
lar with the starry worlds, which
twinkle like the eyes Of angels in the
blue vault above, than many of us are
with the counties in which we live.
To day, a man will sit in his little
office, near the home of the North
Wind" and flash along a tiny wire
permeating through the length and
breadth of the land, that "Storm-
King" is marshaling his forces for
the onset; and the sailor trims his
sails ana speeds for port and safety
and the merchantmen sleeps soundly
in his bed. For both wind and wave
have yielded the mastery to the sci
ence of man. He will go into the
depths of the earth and bring there
from a filthy looking liquid, and from
1t the refiner will furnish light for the
million. The chemist will take the
residue, q repulsive mass, and from it
bring forth the colors of the rainbow,
and the royal purple of Babylon's
haughtiest Eing cannot vie with it in
beauty. And he will take the harm
less elements we eat and drink and
breathe every day of our lives, and
AAL ANAOfC lhC
penetrable rock, and make highway
through the mountains, over which
be will speed with the swiftness of the
eagles flight, and defy the storms of
heaven in his progress.
To-day, iron, and steel, and fire, and
water perform the tasks which, but a
century ago, the busy fingers of women
and the strong arms of men performed,
doing in hours what then required
months of ceaseless toll.
And this is also an age of Peace.
No war clouds darken the horizon in
the east or the west, the north or the
south. The drum-beat does not dis
turb our slumbers in the morning, nor
the boom of artillery resound Ger the
hills and echo through the valleys,
ushering out the day-kIng, and usher.
ing in the night, whose sable veil
throws a friendly shade DER scenes of
carnage and blood, where the piteous
walls of wounded and dying men
make the night hideous with their
cries for help; while thousand homes
are made desolate, and a thousand
wives widows, and thousands of child
rem are made orphans, aud q thousand
loved ones find nameless graves
We, my dear friends, can surely
peace" 1t is too brief a time
since the tramp of armed men was
head upon our own highways; since
the wall of bereaved ones was heard
in our own homes, for us to have for
gotten what GUdr means. The wounds
of battle-scarred veterans are scarcely
healed and hallowed memories of
loved ones, who went forth in the
beauty of brave manhood, TO return 10
US no more forever. are still green on
the affairs of our hearts.
1t is too brief time since some of
us stood upon the smoke-cOvered bat
tle-field, while carnage and death ran
riot all around US, and brave comrades
fell at our sides to rise no more-a saeri-
flee upon the altar of their country
to forget how we loDged, and worked,
and fought for peace, and PRAYED the
God of battles 10 stay the t'Angel of
Death in his mad career, and spare
our country and our homes. And the
God Of battles heard the prayer of His
people; and after the foul stain for
which he punished US was wiped from
liberty's fair face, the "Angel of
Peace" again unfOlded her wings, and
gladness filled the hearts Of millions,
and a need of thangsgiving went up
from thousands of homes to Him
" who doeth according to His will, in
the army of heaven, and among the
inhabitants of the e:Tth," and glory,
and honor, and praise were ascribed
to Him forever and ever.
And may we not hope that the world
will see no more such bloody wars as
the last decade has Witnessed A lit
tie cloud no larger than a mans hand
Is visible, il is true, in the distant east
ern horizon. The Russian Bear is
growing for share of the British
Lions game; but let US pray Him,
who weighs the nations as in bal
ance, to avert this fearful calamity.
Already has peaceful arbitration been
inaugurated to settle the difficulties
between great nations.
Science, and art, and enterprise are
bringing the nations into closer COM |
munion with each other; the tele-
graph and the locomotive are cement |
ing bonds of friendship between ma !
tiOns hitherto strangers to each other. |
The Celestial " empire, so long
closed against the world, has thrown !
off her cloak of exclusiveness, and in |
vites the barbarians of the east and of |
the west to come in and sit at her fire |
sides, to eat at her tables, and to bar |
ter at her shambles and sends her |
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