National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1877-01-01
l. Is;
NO CHI A RG E .
Father Time. the Indian 6tver.


Father Time is a veritable Indian gtver,
and peculiar uncertain and restless charac-
ter withal. He gives and takes away, some
times gently and oftimes with remorseless
grasp. He gives to youth an elastic step,
head with locks of gold and heart bounding
with bliss, and then with restless hand steals
them away. He gives to man in his prime
form erect, clear and piercing eye, strong
and steady tread, and then purloins that manly
beauty line after line, dims the clear eye,
takes light after light from the glowing cheek
and brow of manliness, pales the warm flush
of health and paralyzes the strong arm that
struck for manhood and manhood rights.
The inscriptions of love and memory which he
bounteously bestows upon the human race he
takes unfeelingly away as the shadows deepen
on the dial plate. He has given to US the
bright and happy faces of friends, and then
marred the precious gift with the pallor Of
disease and the lines of sorrow and care. He
has blessed US with kind hearts which beat in
unison and sympathy with our own in the
great battle of life, but by the cruel workings
of his strange laws their sympathy has been
turned to bitter hate and their kindness
to ungenerous impulses. He has given
us bright hopes, then shriveled and blasted
them at moment when they were about to
be realized. He has placed for us and for all
the world names on the roll of life which
seemed destined tos become immortal, but
swift as a shadow, short as any dream, he
struck them out, and they were lost forever.
And now as we pass the threshold of the new
year and enter another in the temple of Timehe
takes away from us the strifes, the pleasures,
the joys and happy scenes of the old year and
gives us the hopes, anticipations and uncer-
tainties of the new, and we IND our selves re-
luctantly accepting the things of to-day in e1-
change for the things Of yesterday and all time
that has flown.
Many years ago this alpha and Omega of
existence gave to US Republic better than
the sun ever shone upon before. He gave us
patriots and heroes and took them away that
the nation might live. He bound US with
peace in willing chains and sweet captivity,
and then snapped the chains With the desc
1ating hand of war. He gave the nation five
hundred thousand loyal hearts, and sacrificed
the priceless gift on the altar of preserved ma
tional unity. He gave four million of black
men the cruelties and pangs of human bond
age, and through the powerful medium of
public opinion took them away, and 1t was
the most glorious act Of his history since the
bright star rested above the humble roof at
Bethlehem. He gave our country in the nick
of time the martyred Lincoln, and when the
laurels of his magnificent triumphs were be-
ing tWined about his brow he snatched his
life away by the hand of foul assassination.
For one hundred years he has given US proud
nation which has brought honor to free insti-
buttons and glory to the name Of liberty, and
now as We stand in the morning! twilight of
our second century of national life he threatens
to take it away. But the patriotism which
swelled the first strains of Liberty's Anthems
cries, "Not yet nor for ages to come %
Strong hearts and free people stand ready
10 battle this grim fact of relentless time.
The Republic which he gave our fathers
through the blood and tears and sorrows of
the Revolution must not be destroyed by
political strife and intrigue and struggle for
power. The effect of that grand act shall not
be obliterated from the drama of human life.
Years to come will make its benign impress
on human liberty in song and story and pages
of noble deeds. Sturdy hearts and patriotic
counsels will pile high the granite pieces of
this splendid fabric of free government, strong
and firm against the would-be implacable
destroyer. We will stereotype the story of
its immortal heroes, so that the living present
may learn the love of country from their
resplerdent deeds. We will emboss it upon
the dial-plate, and make 1t citadel against
time. The Republic shall live. 1t shall live
hundred years to come. Five hundred years
shall it Withstand the onslaughts of the
political sappers and miners who are now
like leeches sucking at its life blood in order
to fatten in their partisanship and feast on the
spoils of power. 1t shall live, for should
demagogues and intriguers assail its temple
of peace two million freemen will beat back
the foe. They are now standing ready. Let
the enemies of peace beware.
A brave young student of Paris, who hear
ing that Mirabeau was dying for the want of
blood, cried, "Here, Frenchmen; take blood
from Frenchmsn's arm and let Mirabeau
live" And so will the patriot heroes of the
present, should political demagogues attempt
the destruction of our national unity by civil
strife, throw themselves on the nations altar,
crying, 'Hold, take our Iife's blood, if you
must, but let the Republic live"