The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1878-01-03
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS
DELIVERED BY HON. W. II. SMALLWOOD,
AT THE CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL OF
LINCOLN LODGE |. o. G. T.,
VANCOUVER, 1877.


chosen as the principal reader of the
evening. He selected the humorous
book entitled "The Rise and Fall of
the Mustache," by Burdett, the funny
man of the Burlington Ho,oheye. AS
Introductory to the reading, he deliv-
cred the following address:
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN
If you expect me this evening to en-
ter into a discussion of the life and
character of him who, nearly nineteen
hundred years ago was born at Bethle
hem, in Judea, you will be disappoint-
ed; for while Christmas is observed as
the birthday of Christ, there are 50
many opinions, honestly entertained, re
garding the character and mission of
Christ himself, that it would probably
be more profitable for us to put these
differences out of sight this evening.
At the time Christ was born, Rome
was the proud mistress of the world
Her empire extended over the greater
portion Of Europe, Western Asia and
Northern Africa. The tramp of her
legions resounded from the British Isles
to the Euphrates, and her eagles spread
their victorious wings from Carthage to
the Rhine. Her statesmen made laws.
and the world oheyed. Her poets wrote,
that the world might read. Her phi
losophels reascLed, and the world learn
ed. Her orators spoke, and the world
listened Her Generals fought battles,
and the world trembled. To-day the
| language of the Roman of nineteen
hundred years ago is the language Of
science and the foundation of belle let
ters. The work of this proud and
mighty nation still survives. Her great
men still move among lis. Their words
and deeds can never die. The tongue
with which they spoke their burning
words, though dead, still lives. 1t lives
to lend charm to every language; it
lives to enrich jurisprudence; it lives
to strengthen knowledge; and it even
lives to sanctify superstition. 1t lives to
embalm forever the classic thoughts of
its immortal heroes. The empire has
long since fallen in pieces, but the seed
of the old stalk has continued to pro
duce and reproduce successive nations
that have come and gone like the waves
of the sea. 1t is sometimes claimed
that the world has advanced but little
during the past nineteen hundred years.
Many, indeed, believe that mankind is
perpetually changing, but not improv-
ing in the aggregate; that nations and
individuals are continually advancing
and receding, and that this advance
ment and retrogression is ever recur-
ring, again, and again, and that It will
continue as long as human life pos
sesses the inherent power of reproduc-
ton. These theorists assert that the
high state of civilization which once ex-
listed in Egypt was fifteen thousand years
old before Cadmus carried letters into
Greece; and that the arts and sciences
of to-day We're known and lost by the
darkness of the intervening ages long
before the most ancient traditions were
woven into our most ancient history.
| cannot believe this to be altogether
true. Observation and reason must
teach us that the world moves. For
one, believe that the earth, itself, is
growing. That as planet it is grad
ually but steadily increasing in size,
and that its physical growth is but typ
ical of the moral and intellectual growth
! of mankind | cannot believe that the