Daily Republican., 1881-10-17
One Hundred Years Ago.

IEccUOlu anu llboits "htSa wv >''J ..
One hundred years ago this day, foun
the allied armies of the wasted colonit
and France entrenched before Horl
town, hurting shot and shell into
beseiged hostile camp. One hundre
years ago tomorrow found that cam
in the possession of the army of free
dom, land the independence of :he L mite
States secured. After the lapse of on
hundred years in the prosperity of tn
great American nation that has sprea,
her arms out over the whole continen
and grasping in all the shores, wei
may We pause in our prosperity an,
celebrate the great crowning action o
the revolution that gave us our free
dom and the world the creates
republic that ever existed. Wei
may our soldiery repair to Yorktown
and reconsecrate the spot where our lib
critics were achieved. Well may the de
scendants of illustrious sires rear tn,
monumental shaft and engrave upol
tablets Of marble, the deeds of herci,
Americans and their noble allies the
French.
National like human destinieS often
hang on slender threads. How slender
the thread that held the hopes and hap.
piness of our battling ancestors is the
purpose Of the celebration Of the pres
ent week. A hundred Octobers ago the
air was heavy with an impending
event. 1t was the soft second summer
of the south and the red cross of war
blazed in the Southron sky. Seven
years of wars bitterest vicissitudes had
tried the hearts and souls of the anx.
ious millions that made up the patriot
people of that Homeric period. Other
men had braved and endured the re.
taliatlon Of such vengeance as Great
Britain measured out to her revolted
subjects, but no society ever remained
80 true to the central and inspiring idea
of the creed of liberty as the wondrous
little army that deted King George and
all his power. When time has brought
us tosuch changes as the STUDENT of to-
day sees between the England of bloody
Elizabeth and the England of good,
peaceful, God blessed Queen Victoria,
the deeds of our fathers, their sagacity,
their foresight, their homely wisdom,
and manly valor will form he motives
of such creations as make Homer live
in song and Shakespeare in tragedy.
"It is sweet to die for ones country"
was an antique falla y that smoothed
the rough way TO the tomb for the he
roes OF classic romance, but the races
of our foretathers were rot reared in
neither song nor romance. Practical
to the last degree our fathers threw
themselves into revolt not for a mere
sentiment, inspired by an impulsive
dream, but that they might shake oil.
the destroyer of nations and erect
Union of States to defend each other
from Invasion and from being deprived
Of the liberties to which they, by the
great laws Of nature Were entitled.
They deiied the mighty forces of the
mistress OF the seas, because the pro-
lection and sovereignty of that mis-
tress cost more than 1t came to.
These memories of one hundred veal =
ago, come upon us with sacred force
The deeds of our fathers only come to
us inscribed upon the pages of history.
None are living to-day who took part
in the stirring events of one hundred
years ago, and yet it does not seem long
it is not long-only one hundred
years ago. Washington, the great cen.
tral figure Of that event;ul time, the
gallant generous, youthful Lafayette,
the lover of liberty and bosom friend Of
washington had passed away, but
their actions will never die. Years
give Legendary charms to events as age
gives tavor to wine. Time is teacher
AS well as a tanner. It's wizard trneh
transforms the commonplace If the pas,
ih'o the romanra of the present. The
things mel ) ava dane men continua 1o
o ~ all times, but the halo of other
ana other times lends them poetic
shape and potent force. The American
race which reads with wonder the
myths of Tell and similar intangible in
ventioIs passes by almost unh<sded the
infinitely more thrilling chain of ac-
tiOns by which their fa.t hers evoked
from misfortune, established in adver-
sity the first principles of freedom upon
an unknown continent. The events
are too near yet, and the persons that
took part in them TOO closely allied in
blood to the present age to invest them
with the awe struck reverence and Won
der with which actions are treated COM
ing to US through untrustworthy hear
say or the ro5eate fragments of ro-
nance. The time VIII come, however,
when that struggle which began in
Massachusetts, aud ended at Yorktown
will forn the basis Of legends as thrill
ing and i'm DOSING az the story Of Tell
But a truce with these reveries Of the
past. We are not actors in the great
drama that closed in October, one hun.
nred years ago. but we are tie inherit
ors Of the grand estate left to us by oul
patriot fathers. The nation gathers to
day at Yorktown not to fight over TIM
battles there fought one hund ed year
II