The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1876-11-09
Centennial Lesson.

all Of US that viii bring forth Its
practical fruits, and in a speedy way
has dissolved the illusions of the ru-
raj masses in regard to the world
Living in their country homes a vii
lage wonder was an ever present in
stitution. With mouths agape his
teachings were received as law, and
the older he grew the more absolute
his sway The whole range of hui
man knowledge was submitted, with
out appeal, to his determination
From hobgoblin to a horse-rake he
was authority. Ambitious to retain
it he picked up scrap acknowledge
here and a scrap of romance there,
until no question in Art or Science,
Politics or Religion, Finance or Nor
ais was beyond the grasp of his plas-
tic mind. The only thing about
which he wasanchangcable was that
his neighborhoOd, out Of which he
had never strayed, was the only spot
in the world that God had kissed,
and that his people, of whom he was
the greatest, were the chosen people
of all the earth. He looked upon
strangers with suspicion, especially
if they had the indications Of intel
ligence or gcntility about them
Their new ideas and starched boSoms
generated all the antagonisms of his
simple nature. He priced his pow
or as much as the grandest potcntate
in Christendom and would contend
for its retention with an adroitness
that could only result from a knowl-
edge of all his followers.
To indulge in slang phrasc-the
Centennial has busted him: 0thello's
occupation is gone. The boys have
seen the world in miniature, and his
incongruous admixturc of romance
and fact will be the sport of the many
for all the future. Town and County
magnates have dwindlcd by practical
comparison, The Son of Vulcan in
the country village understands that
there are greater men in the world
in mechanics than the worthy mas
ter who instructed him; the carpenter
appreciates that the heather Chince
about whom he had never thought,
was a boss workman and knew a
thing or two; the boy on the farm
found that outside of his district
they did farming on principles that
were fully up to his conceptions as a
farmer; The village shoemaker has
learned that more artistic touch
could fashion the shoe of the dainty
belle or the boot of the country beau
than he in his widest flights Of fancy
ever formed; the village schoolmaster,
growing old in a worthy service, un-
willing for q day to leave the home
of youth, manhood and old age, will
find the positions reversible be-
comes the pupil and the scholars the
tutors, in short, by practical lesson
our people have learned how large
and how great the world is, and in
the future their ambitions will not
be bounded by township or county
lines. Their mngnatcs have lost
their Importance; the world opens a
broader view than a township, coun-
ty or state; there is excellence out
side of this county in the United
States and outside Of the United
States, among both heather and
christian nations, that they had never
dreamed of before. There life hence
forward; is new departure. At one
blow all the follies and the prejudiceS
of locality or education are swept
away, and they start anew, with a
proper conception of their own want
of importance and the immense thea
tire upon which they are but indifler-
ent actors; and in learning this the
whole mass are emancipatcd from To-
cal prejudiccs and local ignorance
The field is larger and the range of
correct ambition more boundless.-
While the village wonder has been
entertaining, he has retarded rather
than advanced us; vanity and fancy
took the place of knowledge and use
fulness. Let us now bid him an af-
fcctionate but eternal farewell, and,
hereafter, when our peacock spreads
his neither garments tell him that it
| is very pretty, but it won't.p2y-that
lin tbc i,,;::rc the nurst:y is the only
place where his wares gre useful;
The millennium will come wnvm-
ever all the people ofthe broad earth
can understand and appreciate each
other. Because we are practical and
when we fight go to hurting, the
heather Chincc calls US Western
cut-throats. Because we are practi-
cal and cut.throats indiifercntly well
and our Chinese brother is far below
us in skilled labor of this character,
we think there is no excellence in
China, while the fact is we can be
mutually useful. Chinaman All Sin,