The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1874-01-30

Edissrta chtsc~Prof. DO. Z: King.
Assoc1ass EShors-Aiss Ida Potter md Jae
Powell.
The Thread Of Civilization.
] IAN Grafton By Geo. Myers delivered before tn
Teachers Association Of Andrew County, tn
1th Of December, 1875, ut the Methodi,
Church, in Savannah
All civilized nations have rules an,
regulations or laws by which the mem
bers of society are controlled, and tn.
rights of persons and their property ar,
protected. Rome and Carthage, the tw'
cities that figure so largely in history
Rome, the city that tell and rose agair
forty different times. Rome was one
the center Of the world. the seat-o
learning. But Notwithstanding the grea,
success and splendor Of the Romans and
Carthagenians at that day and age o
the world, everything was rude and un.
developed. We might say that it was
| civilization in its infancy, for it frs
arose there and cast its efulgcnt rays
westward across the eastern continent
finally. slowly but surely, it made u path
way across the Atlantic Ocean; then i
rapidly spread over the New World o
western continent until it reached thu
Pacific coast; and on until it reached
| and is still reaching the islands of TIT
Pacific. Glorious civilization! you ART
like the vision of that wonderful I'M.
stinted, iilimitable elysian realm, spark.
ling with hopes undried dews and gold.
en- with the hues of morning, more
beautiful than that fabulous landscape,
rs described in eastern stories, whose
skies are luminous with the arch of rain
bow and the drapery of sunlit clouds,
whose waters CLEAN with q crystal wave
amid rose-fringed borders, and whose
breezes are ladened with the songs of
birds aud the perfume of perennial flow.
ers. bright. but alas! too bricfa vision.
On such an occasion and under such
circumstances rs we meet here tonight,
l would seek to direct your thoughts to
a subject harmonious to the feelings and
e%nlivening to the soul of all here assem-
bled. Forty-one years ago where you
and ! meet tonight was then an unex-
plored region, ruled by the wild beasts
and the Indian the buffalo and the red
mai contested the right to more than
one-half Of the Mississippi Valley. The
eye of civilized man had not yet looked
upon ths fruitful fields and thriving
cities beyond the Ohio and the Missis-
sippi. No Anglo-Saxon hail hitherto trod
the majestic heights Of the Rocky Noun
tains; no hand of averice had gathered
from the treasure III their unseen gold.
All was yet in the obscurity of nature,
waiting for the adventurous pioneer TO
discover, and the artisan and craftsman
to bring into use for civilized man but
now, in the .'laud of Hiawatha," the
lightning, the water and the wind does
his bidding. In 1929 steam, as an in
dustrial agent, was rapidly coming into
use. Steamers along the coast and i'll
were rapidly appearing. marching
forward in the civil conquest of the con-
tineut. Steamers We're rapidly appear
ing on our western rivers, upon the
Ohio, the Illinois, the Mississippi. the
Arkansas and the Missouri. The white
of the engine mingled with the
,moke of the wigwam, rs civilized man
went forth from tn ir parental homes to
he wilds of the distant west, to carve
,ut an empire. But the genius of man
n this. as in all other efforts, could not
&c contiued to rivers aud oceans; auoth-
II growth Of mind gave birth to the
and this milst be considered
3 one of the greatest aids TO civilization
he arts have produced since the inven-
ion of the steam engine. In 1880 there
but twenty-thrce miles Of railway
D the United States. and moi until 1881 ,
ras an engine placed upon Il track. At
hat date there were no railroads in Mis-
in the Mississippi Valley
nd no human mind to predict their
no genius had yet foretold the
triumphs steam WIS about TO
on the American Continent.
Vebster's dictionary had just been pub
she'd; the elementary -~spclling-book
I'D reached the log school-housc as 4
ew evangel of knowledge; churches i
nd colleges were rapidly following the
of empire as the Anglo-Saxon
loved forward in the civil conquest OF ,
world. Mechanical industry, like
he blood OF the human system, has RAM I
led every quarter and locality of Il ,
giving vitality and strength to ,
nr national life; muscle and brain have /,
nited with the mechanical forces and ,
our different kinds Of machIn- r
mower and reaper, the thresh- /
lg machine. the mill. III" sewing ma :
nine and the printing press, and 4 thou :
md and one other things that are all 1,
DIV in motion and doing the bidding of !
man. Everywhere is being $
lpidly organized one and all prevailing :
stems of mechanical industry in har- I
with the bOundless productions Z
I'D resOurce of Our country. whether )
pom the eastern decliyity Of our CONT !
eDt. or Oh the Pacific slope, or here in !,
central plain. With all this vast =
Of capital. labor. mechanical a
ill and commercial development. cdu- e
has kept pace; and with the pow n
of the epehlntsr wand. has con- !
antly refined the citizens and elevated r
@ State-wbat IN auxiliary to mans :
Iceess has been and are now our COM a
on schools. Behold them moulded a
10 existence by the Wrbsters, :,
c BeeebeYs, the Msnns and other great n
,nIr- educational srSfcm =
iruit from 1.-THE tree of kn0wl-
Ige" aud giving it to the children of
e Republic. like the divine beneiicence
the sim. which rises in the east and
SITS its effulgcnt rays westward to light
the world. 80 did our common
.ools rise in the east and go forth on
mission to the west. lighting up the
inds of the millions of children that
arm upon the prairies and throughout
G forests of America. Wonderful
angel commissioned from on high to
3 human race. in peace more power
for the civil conquest Of the world.
an army or navy. Up to 1870 there
d been 49, 900 copies Of the cle-