Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-07-06

world. And to-day my friends, we live in the
light of the fullest, freest, grandest civiliza.
tiOn ever given by the centuries to mankind
There is an ancient legend which has strug
gled down to US through the thick mist OF
ages and the changing phases of empire, tell.
ing of the desperate endeavor of the sturdy
sons of Coelus to scale the heights of High
Olympus" and meet the deitiea themselves
face to face, and foot to foot, upon
the very battlements of their lofty lodge
in these "latter days" there is that parallel
which goes far towards demonstrating to OBJ
servation and reflection. that their vaulting
aspiration was not SO wholly arrogant and pre-
posterous-not 80 utterly beyond all bounds OF
seeming possibility. For the IS sons of science
and of philosophy" in this century of ours have
heaped the Ossa of persistent discovery upon
the Pelion of previous knowledge, until the
developed, exalted thoroughbred" mind OF
man, assimilating itself continuously and un.
faggingly to the greatness and granduer OF
that source whence it came, as if gifted with
celestial ken and inspiration, seems almost to
have seized upon the very vitals of Universal
Truth
While Nature has opened her secret portals,
science has disclosed the Arcana of her mystic
ries. Sciolism and ethical empiricism are en-
tombed in the past. The swift, eager, far
soaring intelligence of man has annihilated dis
tance and immensity, and astronomical skill
has rendered determinate not only the revolu-
tions and regulations of6ur own planetary
system, but of every other within the weep of
teloscOpic intensity and human calculation.
Deep into the recesses of the oldest strata
geological research and reason have pressed
their analysis, and the very mountain cliffs
and ocean caverns have yielded their long
treasured secrets to the graphing grasp OF that
profound application, which, as
it acknowledges no cessation,
tOlerates, likewise, no resistance. The shim-
mering glance of the lightning has been shorn
of its terror, and fire, air light and water are
all bat bridled meniels to the use of man.
Truth In its purity, and knowledge in its per-
fection, are fast unveiling the radiance of their
features to the philosophers and rigid, un-
swervipg scholars of the century In faith
does it seem to be an age in which the nations
should strike hands in the great work of human
regeneration and all-embracing enlightment.
1t is day of benevolence, brotherly forbear-
ance and broad-hearted philanthropy, 1t is,
however, a lamentable fact, but patent, never
theless to the understanding of every rational
and observant thinker, that hows0ever great
has been the advancement and exaltation of
human reason and intellect, as an aggregated
whole, there are to-day no names upon the
scroll of the present comparable to some OF
those which may be found in the broad
annals of the past. The Tyre of Orpheus
is unstrung and the rust is gathering
redly on the sword of Coeur de Leon. No living
minstrel can wake the ''tranced melodies of
the one-no living warrior can uphold the pom
derous weight of the other. No monarch like
Charlemagne-no cavalier like Bayard-no
Stratford- on Avon. Who can lead the conquer
ing armies of Gustavus or Napoleon?
Where the statesman whose eloquence can
make the hearts of nations and of senates
thrill and tremble to the magic OF his master
touch as did the sage of Ashland? Whittier
shall we turn for such genuine, generous, un-
selfish patriotism as stirred the soul of that
calm, just, moderate, dispassionate hero whom
in that fitting tribute to his memory, Allison
has called s'Scylla without his crimes and a
a Cromwell without his ambition
OUR own inimitable Washington? Loud
aud continuous applause.I
My friends, Fourth of July orations
seem to have, in great measure,
gone out of fashion. When we were
boys there was no village or town, 80 small or
so insignificant, that it did not have on July
4th its reading of the Declaration of Indepen-
dence, aud public speech called an Grafton,
full of National glori6cation over the past and
boastful prophecies of the future. All the peo-
pie turned out and attended on these patriotic
expressions. No matter how mediocre the talent
of the towns best speaker, If he could reterate,
in the merest crude and homely language, a
few of the British expressions and insults that
led to the Declaration of Independence, and
could refer to battle or two where his fore
fathers ''ft" for their country, he was sure to
touch the simple hearts Of our dear old ances-
tors and make them beat anew to the sentiment
that we were q great people and the American
Eagle grand and majestic bird.
There was no diversity of amusement in those
days on the Fourth of july 1t was not picnic
here, and an excursion there-there was no
question as to how the day was to be spent.
Anything in the shape of q dance in the even
ing, or a game of ball on the town meeting
grounds in the afternoon, were only after incl
dents of the day which might recur when all
the people had first attended the strictly patri-
otto demonstrations and, as it were, thereby
publicly taken the oath of National allegiance
anew and freshly sworn to defend the
country's flag against all enemies or op-
posers. There was great dignity about these
occasions-a dignity that almost amounted
to solemnity. We can even now recall our
boyish awe as we seemed to stand in the pres
ence of those great principles of rightful suv-
ereignty, popular representation and equita-
BILE taxation. And when those daring steps
taken by our forefathers were recounted to Us
steps which if crowned with success would
make them WOrld-Wloe Iamed herOeSs but IL
terminating in failure, would constitute them
rebels to be hung by the neck until they
were dead-we can recall how our youthful
hair would stand on end and chilly waves sport
up our boyish spines.
As time rolled on, however, and the Fourth
of July repeated itself and repeated its music
and its cannon, it also reiterated in our ears
the inevitable ''oration." Every boy in the
land almost got the declaration of indepen-
dence by heart; and none of us were 80 dull as
not to be able to forecast what the orator of the
day would say, to what incidents he would re-
fer and how grandiloquently he would at last
affirm that this was great country and des-
tined to last forever. In fact we all
knew Just where the American eagle
would flap its wings, just where it would
Shrek and just where it would soar aloft and
light on the top of the lofty pinnacle the
speakers imagination was building in the sky.
/ utter TO slander on the times to which I
allude when say that just prior to tho war of
the:rebellion, Fourth of July orations had al
most come into disrepute. The men who
talked on the Fourth of July were called spread
eagle orators. A man could hardly address his
fellow citizens on that day in the most sober
forms of congratulation for the past and assur-
ance for the future without being suspected of
a sort of national fanaticism. People seemed
to think that the facts attending our country 8
birth, after all, did not warrant much enthusi-
asm. Washington grew to be very plain sort
of a man who commanded yery small army