Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1882-07-13
TRIBUTE TO The PRESS.

A&AUkS COUNTY 1y 4AUAAs ICDAEb NOA-
tan, the following eloQuent-tribute
70 tire Press
The wonderful developments of
huEnan powers, resulting mainly
3rom the discovery o. the printers
art. has made IL popular 70 de-
n0flnce the ages which preceded
This as q midnight Of ignorance,
while under the blighting snfIuence
f Eeudalisln, placed man on q
MlEI lIa@ brute exeMli1lE ana
excluded him from those higher
realms Of thought and knowledge
which he at present enjoys. But
to my mind the "dark age,Y aswe
call il, was essential to human
progress. 1t was the age that
made bone and sinew and muscle.
Ii dominated by animal force, but
IL laid the foundation upon which
the intellectual structure Of to-day
il built. m
believe human thought was
always bold, expansive aud az
gressive. 1t could not be other
wise; as part of this great and
mysterious universe, the human
mind must ever find an affinity
with the supreme intelligence that
called il into existence; the hu-
1nan heart must ever pulsate in q
glad response to the throbbing life
springs Of nature. Knowing truth
to be eternal and unalterable, !
believe that it found its expression
in that past age as surely as it does
to-day. ] believe there we're men
then who looked out over the
white crested ocean, and beheld,
in imagination, the wonder lands
which the feet of succeeding gen
eratiOns should tread. Who saw,
when the sunlight draped the sky
with a tapestry of gold. adorned
with the sparkling domes and min
arets Of celestial cities, a vision of
another world, beyond the narrow
confines of their home, beyond the
limits of their daily existence. /
believe there were men who dared
tn gaze upon the lightning; TO
brave the fury of the storms to
rejoice in the roar of the waters ;
and to whom there came grand
conceptions of those possibilities
which, to-day, grow into realities,
consequent upon the domination
OF intellectual force.
This yearning after the ideal,
this mysterious consciousness of a
better condition, which is a char
acteristic of fhuman thought, found
expression in the "dark age" OF
individual effort.
Science was imprisoned in the
convent cell, music breathed in the
wild notes of the minstrel's harp,
or the solemn tones Of the priest.
" anthem. Architecture loomed
mp in the majestic cathedrels
and ponderous castles. Painting
was represented in the allegorical
conceptions Of the old masters
The science of navigation was
learned from the raised PROV of .
lordly galley, which, with laborine
oar and spreading sail, crept along
the coast3 of the old world, arld
dealt out, death and desOlatiOn tC
inferior foes. Human government
was the autocratic assertion of per
soilal right, strong and imposing
because within its narrow limits
il cOmprekended the inalienablC
rights of man. Human pursuit.
were narrowed down to individu
al conceptions; grand and maies.
tic indeed were the results, ad0rn.
ed at all times with, exalted ideas
of the beautiful. as, the ruins Of
that age will demonstrate but
lacking that expansion, that uni
versal application to society, which
is the Characteristic of to-day
This age has distributed the re
suit of human thought, it has mad,
more expansive the application O
individual ideas, and the agen
that has mainly produced these re
suits is that marvellous combina
ton of human skill and invention
the modern press.
Il is due to the dissemination O
ideas through the press, in work
of architecture and construction
that the intelligence and labor ex
pended on the massive walls of
castle, now creates n thousan.
dwellings, less pretentious, bu
far more serviceable, and, in thei
aggregate, infinitely more impos
ing.
The press, applied to art, adorn
thewalls ofthose dwellings, howey
er humble, with pictures Of ever
conceivable fancy, more attraC
tive, appealing more directly {
our common nature than the mos
labored efforts of the old master
il fills every home with music an
song. IL has taken a dome, and
spire, and a chancel from some oil
cathedral, and, all over the world
it has multiplied temples for th
worship OF Almighty God.
1t educates the eye and the han
of the mariner to unerringly gnid
his vessel over watery wastes |
his desired haven.
ii has taught the world that I
man lives for himself alone, th,
his thought is the thought 0f u
race, and the property Of the az
that produced him.
lit has said to monarchs and
lords your titles are the heritaE
of personal lust Of power whiC
crushed humanity for self-aggral
Is~nwwnm~.t Vrnsss KAaEt. mani It'll,