The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1886-07-06

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existence. There were only six colleges in all
America. As a rule, only rich mems sons
could attend college. Woman was rigidly ex-
cluded from the colleges; she must be content with
the rudiments of an education. The newspaper.
that great educator of our day, was then only
weekly bantlinS, confined to the large towns of
Boston, New York and Philadelphia. Magazines
were unknown. Books were few and very dear.
The family library generally consisted of a Bible,
one or two volumes of sermons aud an Almanac.
To-day, mark the contrast: The free schoolhouSe
dots every hillside and prairie. There are thou
sands of Academies, and High Schools, and Col
leges; liberal education is accessible to the sons
of the poorest we'll the sons of the rich. The
doors of the College stand wide open for the
daughters as we'll as the sons. And forth from the
portals of these schools comes steady stream of
cultured men and women every year TO advance
the standard of intelligence. The daily newspa.
per now goes Into nearly every American home:
the best magazines and books lie upon the center
tables of the homes of Americas working men.
Certainly, educationally, these latter days are
Americas best days.
.. But not alone in the facilities for obtaining
an education. but in the things that may be known
do we stand higher intellectually that any other
generation.
Take single illustration: One hundred years
ago Science only a system of rude guesses:
now it is exact and far-reaching, and mans ser
want.
PythaSoras 800 Is. c., was nearly as advanced as
the scientists of the 18th century.
So il was in all the fields of scientific invsstlga
IOl. Inc SclOol-OOY OF uIIOSl CAL KNOW DOES
than the ableSt Professor of sciences IN Harvard
or Yale q century or two ago.
). Turn now and look for moment at mechln-
ical progress and investigation.
Here we see, as in no other field, the triumph of
mind, and the progress made. Men have thought
and miracles have been wrought. In the last
hundred years more progress has been made IN
mechanics, than in the previous ten centuries.
And these creations of mans practical thought
have revolutioniEed life.
lake illumination: The lamps which lighted
BelShaEEars feast were as brilliant and used about
the same materials as those which lighted Fanuel
Hall when our forefathers rocked the cradle of
liberty there. Pine knots, tallow. wax, and sperm
oil lightad the homes of the wealthy, alike eight
centuries before Christ, and eighteen centuries
after. Now We uSs gas: of which one burner Is
equal to twenty candles. And when gas is not
strong enough we use the electric light, hfty-fOld
more brilliant than the best gas. The streets of
cities which, from the days of Pharaoh TO those OF
John Hancock, were unsafe, and almost wholly
unlighted, now blaze everywhere almost with the
/ bTilliancy of MONDAY.
See the progress which practical thought in this
! century has made IN the methods of travel and
communication:
Nimrod and Noah, and Patrick Henry and John
Adams travelled by the same means and at about
/ the same rate of speed. When the messenger
| brought Abraham the news that SOdom had been
raided and Lot captured, he probably Salloped at
about the same rate did Paul Revere that night
after be caught the signal light in the old North
| Church tower, and started to alarm Lexington
and Concord.
| When our forefathers jouIneyed from New Eng
land to Philadelphia to attend the first Congress-
II was thought marvel of speed that one of them
averaged eight miles per hour. Their descendants
feel aggrieved If they do not average forty miles
an hour: and they cross the Continent in eighty
] four hours.
And II Is the same at sea Ulysses sailed as fast
as Paul Jones. But in 1907. Robert Fulton took
his first steamboat excursion on the Hudson. Now
/ the Atlantic greyhound makes $40 miles per
day-the average speed of on overland express
train. 100 years ago 1t took from to 10 weeks to
cross the Atlantic. Now cross IL IL less than
I SIX days. Take methods of communication:
Here the changes wrought by our practical
I thinking are more wonderful still When Naaman
I carried the letter from the King of Syria which
struck such terror to the King of Israel, he was
probably week in doing it. Our forefathiss
could do better. 1t took the news OF the Battle
Of Bunker Hill seven days 10 crawl from Boston to
Philadelphia But that was better time than Was
made oy the British courier with the news of Nell
sous victory of the Nile. he victory was won
Aug LIST, the news reached London Oct. ID IN two
months. NV our fast mail trains are so many
speaking tubes between distant cities, while the
I telegraph and telephone annlhllate space and
I time: A Newark broker steps into the office Of
wall St Banker. and asks If they wish to purchase
! $4,000 worth of German bonds. Inc city banker
engaged his friend in earnest conversation about
Newark. In few minutes a clerk appears, the
y. I. banker receives his message, and says:-Yes,
we viii take the bonds" And when the trans
action Is completed. ssys:-"It may interest yon
! 10 Know I1aI WDlle We were E2lkluG GOO1t NOlr
vide-asake city, l cabIed our German agents as
/ to whether they wished your bonds, and my clerk
EaO interrupted Us, brought their affirmative
answer" More wonderful still:
At the close of the Bsecher trial Dr.. Joseph
Parker's Church in London, al the close of their
Sunday evening hour of worship, bT vote. ordered
that congratulations be sent the Plymouth pastor.
The dispatch vas sent from London al Gals p. M;
Ii was read from Plymouth pulpit by Mr.. Beecher
az Is minutes before 9 O'Clock, or thirty minutes
before II was sent from London.
What wonders the telegraph, and telephone have
still Ii store for Us, who can tell! Edison now
amzzss rs By proposing 10 communicate with hE-
ing express trains at full speed and with ships
hundreds Of miles at sea
In every department of mechanics men have
been thinking with like practical purpose; Frank
Inns old wooden back-breaking Ramage press,
which If pushed could print IDl sheets an hour
gives place 10 the Automatic power press which
makes 5000 impressions II hO1rl Sam Adams
wooden pioE, and sickle and tail has given place
to the steam ploE, and grain drill, and the Cali
fOrnis harvester which cuts. threSheS and feeds
into bags fifty acres of wheat In q dayi John
Hsncocks primitive shoemakers kit has gwen
place TO enormous factories II which among other
machinery Is the pegger and stitcher, with ? man
and boy will sole three pairs Of boots II minute.
TIE noon-lnark and dial, and old wooden clocks
have been replaced by our American watches. In
the household, ths eOOk-stoFe and range mas
superseded the swinging crane. and ths Dutch
oven. The ssEing-machlne has supplemented the
needle The spinning wheel and handloom have
grown into the enormous factories OF Lowell and
Fall River.
Time would fail ne to even mention how AmerI-
cans have thought into existence machinery for
working in wood 50 def that the inanimats
wood and iron seem almost 70 think the wonder
ful Inventions connected With India Rubber how
the Piano and organ have displaced the spiunet
and hsrkpsichord how II war from the old flint
lock m1sket and pistol-Ehich did greater excel
ton 70 the men behind them, than the men IN
front and-.he wooden shell II which Pa1l Jones