The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1881-06-24
THE PRESS.
Reply to the Address of Welcome
OF the Mississippi Press to Alb
erdeen.
BY COL. G. d. sIIANDs.

BY COL. G. d. STANDS.
4 islSss and Gentlemen Of .iberdcea:
tje,noS polished utterances and fin
ho,,,' periods OF the gentleman
: Is just preceded me, we're
Tor tue tcessary to assure us that the
a Cbss OF the State is welcome in
Aberdeen. The hearty haud-srasp,
( the beaming countenances OF your
citizens, and the wide.strelcned
doors oi your homes, make an ex.
preston OF hospitality that needeth
not utterance.
We recognize that this welcome
is not to us as individuals. Nan
is transitory, letters are everlast.
ing. John Wilson, in his " NocteS
AmbroSiang,' puts into the mouth
OF the Ettrick Shepherd these
words: "There never leeved n man
the warld missed, ony mair than a
great, green spreading simmer tree
misses a leaf that fp'S down on the
moss anoath It's shadow" THIS
welcome is not because of any ex.
alted worth OF our own, but be-
cause we have entered the mystic
portals OF Minerva, aud are ust
at this time the mouth-pieces OF the
great throbbing heaIt of the giant
Progress, the chroniclers OF that
mighty sweep OF events that now
condenses years into moments.
How far the world is indebted to
men OF like occupation with US has
been eloquently and iorcibly cx-
pressed by him who welcomed lis.
Verify, "the schoolmaster is
Abroad" and the dark places of
earth are made luminous in ne.
spouse TO the labored breathiugs of
the steam printing press, yea, as
an educator the haud.press has not
yet outliyed its usefulness, tor it is
of the people, near to the people,
and comes home to the greatest
number Cf the common people.
1t bath been said that the legis.
lalure is the heart of the State,
the judiciary the brains, aud tue
executive its head, To this ana.
tonical analogy we would add that
the church represents the soul, and
the press the circulating life blood.
| think ! utter the opinions of
those who have commissioned me
to speak tor them to-day, when |
say that the click of the types,
which hath always heretofore
meant ele, q ion, will Indicate the
feverisb pulse. beat OF moral, social
and national decay whenever Ing.
ersollism shall supplant the Babe
OF Bethlehem in the thoughts Of
those who poud public sentiment
through the press. There should
be no room for inhdelity in our col.
umus, for unbelief means license,
and license means death.
Gathered together as we are,
from The counties that border on
the mighty commonwealth north OF
us, even down to those whose
southein conRues are ever musical
with the harmonious beat of Da.
ture's pulse, as it strikes IN liquid
notes on the glisteuing sands OF
the mighty gulf from whence come
loving zephyrs with healing on
their wings, tanning the ruby color
OF health iuto the cheeks of Mlssis.
sippi's sous aud daughters; gath.
cred also ffoui the banks OF that
mighty current OH our west. which
,leldeth to the power OF man when
it is commanded to dig for itself a
deeper bed; but is broad, swift,
and irresistible, fifty typefying the
mighty current of general knowl.
edge that took it's rise in Germany
cotemporaneously with the inven-
tion of movable type, across even
to the boundary of that lovely land,
where the aboriginal heart pro.
nounced it a place good for rest
from all this expanse of goodly
land, do We not, here gathered IN
| Aberdeen in our annual conyoca-
ton, in some measure, represent
the life blood sent out from the
heart to the extremities, to be peri
odlcally returned to the living toun-
tain, aud there purified aud reani-
mated, and sent thenceforth again
to carry with it life aud health and
yigor. For the true realization oil
this picture my brothers OF the
Press are earnestly laBoling, and
since It is an immutable law OF ma
ture's god, that he who expends
effort for the amelioration of his
fellows, is himself strengthened,
purified, and bettered thereby, SC
surely will honest effort in this
direction OH the part Of my cola
borers bring about the actual con.
summation of our fondest iancies
Man cannot make himself equal te
God, but it is his bounden duty te
be God-like in humanity and char
ity. lift be true that he is entitled
to be called a phllauihrophist who