Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1884-06-05

lih0 u Dual OfCI VIC otAi oiON Sesoo, s@AAN
before it's crescent CLEAN had paled |
the Gheber fires. Jew and Christian
had seen the glory and decline of
their religions; the Koran had sup
planted the Bible in the land of its
origin, and the Muezzin had called
the hour of prayer from the nina
rets of the mosque of Omar. The
empire Of Charlemagne had flashed
like a meteor across She troubled
skies of Europe and gone down in
blood and woe. The sciences had
been forgotten-but few of the arts
remained. Learning had sought
safety in the gloom Of retreat, and
found security only in the solitude OF
the cloister and the cave. Unread
the pages of the past; the gloom
unpierced by beacon CLEAN.
Might industrious, dark,
"Of every planet 'reft and palIed in clouds"
brooded over the deep repose.
Such was the condition of the
world when Gutenberg and Faust
and Caxton came to pull back the
curtains of the night and bid the
morning dawn. But one agency was
potent enough to force from their
hinges the iron doors of ignorance
and superstition, and let the light
CLEAN in on the prison cell OF the hui
man race. That agency was ''the
press, the power by which the world
is moved"
| Not five centuries have elapsed
since the lights which cleaned from
castle heights athwart the tranquil
Rhine, shown down on the spires OF
Mayence where the first of inventors
was perfecting "this mightiest engine
of human intellect-the Demiurgus
Of the moral world-the great levellel
of power Yet in this short space
of time, its achievements have beer
countless as the secrets told by the
ocean waves to the sands on the
beach; it's power has grown until M
man can curb or stay its onward
, sweep, nor can human forecast tel
, where It's last wreath will be gather
ed, or upon what starry height it
: throne will be established. Graded
in chaos, it sprung into existence
: crowned with blessings for mankind
, 1t broke the superstitions OF an lrol
a age, whispered of liberty and bad
s invention start. 1t marked crea
< ton and renewal-the beginning o
Y the epoch of human growth. Th
" industries, sciences and arts, stalke'
d from the shadows, discovered or re
d newed; literature shot forth like
V harvest; every province of human in
). teIligence was refreshed and invigol
It ated; thought stepped from its pri'
). on cage, dashed the rein from il
q crest, bounded amid the stars and gan
.e boled in the highways Of the planets
q the map of the world was reveale
d and America appeared. With tt
J. discovery of the western continent,
Is new era for man, indeed, begal
,e The flag of the Mameluke yet wave
,e from the ramparts Of the last stron'
ID hold of the Christians IN the land
ID the Bible, but the mailed knights
Id Christendom, content to let the Mo
i. lem quad the holy sepulcher. ar
ID watch over the graves Of the prop
lie cts, turned their backs on Asia ar
L. their faces toward the new worl
of The dream of the alchemist was nc
nd to be realized, and somewhere am
he the hills and wales of the ''land
be flowers sparkled the waters Of Z
be tabled spring. Hither, to search I
es gold and the fountain OF perpetu
en- youth, the Spaniard came, and abo
to The palace of the Incas and t
r. throne of the Montezumas u
adj furled the banner which in t
nd far south had waved IN triumph abo
a. the pennons of the Moor. The {
ms scendants of the Saxons and NJ
.s- mons, ehivalrous and with a love
hit liberty. came to plant here the fot
m dations of new and mighty empi
ed Across q thousand leagues OF oce
[n- waves undaunted, the printing pr
ks came. It came to tell of the 10
IRE struggle of the human race Tor IT
IAN dom to proclaim this the lost Atian'
md the land pictured in Utopian dreat
an the last hope of the ages; and {
he here must be solved, and forever.
ed problem Of self government. =