The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1878-05-15
STANDARD FAMILIES.

les, il is q matter of no small interest to re-
view the struggle, the ups and downs of the
many who have aimed in life to do some
thing more than merely to make their own
living.
The names of many of the families of the
land belong TO history. They form part Of
the nomenclature of our country's Justine.
tons. They have made the country more
than the country has made them. They
have been men of soul, OF public spirit, of
bold and practical enterprise, who
rut of personal and selfish emol-
ument, and have given, from time to
time, their best efforts to build up the insti-
tutions which have brought us to our present
civilization. They have not lived for them
selves alone. They have drank more or less
at the wells of public sympathy, and they
have given countenance and patronage to
the wheels OF public progress. Their
acts have given them conspicuity,
and hence they became known as
first class citizens because the
public mind reads in their lives the lessons
of patriotism and humanity. There is no
doubt of the fact that personal selfishness
always carries with 1t its own punishment.
1t dwarfs the intellect, crimps the soul, mar
rows the range OF thought and belittles the
entire man. No apology can excuse Its ideal
Ity, and no argument can give sustenance to
its public spirit. 1t is essentially beyond
the pale of the common sympa-
thies of the people, and on this
account the men and the families that have
lived chiefly, if not alone for themselves,
have failed to get in the book of history. IL
we even look over our own state we Will
find that the position we here assume is
fully INDICATED. From the incipient his
tory of the state down to the present, we
see that many of the families of our CON-
monwealth have had much to do in making
the state what it is. They have taken an
abiding and successful interest in the physi-
cal, intellectual and moral developments
and welfare of the people, and to their efforts
are we indebted to-day for much of the
good name and high standing of our state
among the commonwealths of the republic.
To some considerable extent, it may be said,
that selfsustenance was a prominent idea
with all these men in giving up so much of
their lives and so largely for the public
good. True, they had to live, and if they
made a living for themselves while they were
thus working to build up the institutions of
our state, honor and prosperity, so much the
better for their personal renown as well as
their family name.
Many of our good men never think of the
future. They act only ON the living present,
and in view of their present surroundings,
when the wants of the future are everywhere
peeping out of their innocent nesting places
and asking for help, as with living voice.
The cry of the future is only heard by the
thoughtful, and among these we always find
our best men and cur highest and purest
families. 1t is often the case that the men
who have labored for the good of the
public are seemingly forgotten, but time and
the pen of the honest historian will bring
them to the surface again. Long after they
have been laid in the narrow house the
finger of equity and justice will point to
them as to the benefactors of their race.
Christopher Columbus was but an ordinary
sea captain, but the noble purposes OF the
man enabled him to discover continent,
and he will now 1--we in history as one of the
patron saints of the ages.
We have had in Indiana many men and
many families that the state should always
honor. They have served as valuable stones
in the erection of our state edifice, and their
names and memories should not now be
forgotten. 1t matters not what divisions
political conflicts may have made among us,
or what personal faults they may have had,
they have made a record which has re-
fiected greatly to the credit of the state,
and the voice of truth and history
now places them on the roll of honor a. the
first men of their day and age. They were
of the old standard families, who worked
for the good of the state, and they have made
their marks all along the line of our state
history. We could name them by the scores
and by the hundreds.
But few of the old stock are any longer
among us. They sleep with their fathers
Their earthly pilgrimage is finished, and we
can not but ask now after their posterity.
Are their children and chIldren's children
still standing in the ways aud asking for
the old paths?' Are they guarding well the
state and the prestige of their fathers, and
keeping bright the honors and public spirit
of the ancient household? The great fame
won by many of these old citizens in politi-
cal. religious and agricultural life has made
for thano a monument which time will not
soon destroy, and we trust that the posterity
they haye left behind them will ever be
careful to guard well the gates of their tam
lily citadel.
Unduly Prejudfeed against John Hanna
louisville Courier-Journal.