Wichita eagle., 1889-12-29
THE COURT REPORTERS.
The Stenographers Conclude Their Annual
Convention Organization Effected
Speeches by Reporters and
E,pio

surprised by an invitation from certain
Wichita gentlemen to take ii. carriage
drive over the city. which was thoroughly
enjoyed, Notwithstanding a little dust that
the gentle Kansas zephyrs kicked up, and
each and every one registered a VOW to in
vest the proceeds of their next fat tran
script in Wichita real estate.
Returning to the convention parlors they
Immediately went into session and were
ably entertained by an interesting address
by Miss Florence Hartley of the Thir-
tenth district on the "Trials of the Court
Reporter"
After which the following officers were
elected for the ensuing year:
President-John 81. Fazel, Court Com
mon Pleas, Wichita.
Vice President-Benj. F. Martin, Twen-
ty-frst district
Secretary-F. K. Raymond, Eighteenth
district.
Assistant Secretary-Mrs. Ella c. Porter,
Treasurer-Carey E. Carroll, Thirty
fifth district.
EVENING SESSION.
The feature of the evening session was
the address of Hon. p A. Rohrbaugh, of
the Wichita lar. MIR. Rohrbaugh spoke
as follows:
WHIP AND SPUR.
The childhood of old Father Time is
fraught with freaks of singular SIM
plicity, when compared with the complex
relations he sustains to the present in his
vigorous manhood. For many centuries
time maintained this simple nomadic
character. There was no reaching out
after the impossible, no peering into the
hidden things. no struggling for the ideal.
The tawdry trinkets which adorned a saw
age chief, it is true, gave way to the royal
splendor Of a Solomon and the conquering
sword of Napoleon, but the people, the
masses, were simply the driveiing clowns,
the abject slaves of royal magnificence.
The world presented the splendid specta-
Gle of the snail and the tortoise running a
race. There came no Quickening OF
thought. no moving of the imperial i'm
pulse of man, no jostling aside in the race
of life until after the world felt the inter
nal revolution of empire, until the Grecian
had destroyed the barbarian vandal, until
Caesar had crossed rubicon, a Cromwell
had overthrown an English monarchy and
pushed aside the mobiles and the people
alike and stood for man alone in the very
forefront of place and power, until
the immortal Washington and his
followers dedicated continent to
freedom. Aye. until the shock of the
American rebellion, mankind had not
fully learned that the possibilities OF in
dividual man was not as limitless as the
sky, as awful as the thunder's roar, and as
potent as the lightning flash. Until then
men had at best trOtted a ceaseleSs round
beneath the vide spreading branches OF
some shelterinR tree.
McCauley has well said that after every
great revolution, or internal shock of gov
eminent, comes activities. Arts, lltera-
ture and science move as caught in the
whirlwind of disturbed powers, and with
hurried feet and restless wing tread the
Highway and cleave the air, as if the foot
man would outSDeed the wing of thought
and pass under the wire at the goal OF
human perfection.
There never WAS revolution, in govern
ment, never violent agitation of thought,
that did not result in the enlargement Of
human liberty. Old shackles were broken,
old prejudices were throtled, and new
wings were plumed for flight. The old
walls were BROKEN down, and the surging
masses of the empire of thought, rushed
with eager haste out into the boundless sea
of human possibilities; there battling with
the tempestuous waves of truth and
error, until wearied with the view of an
over arching sky, whose horizon seems as
distant from the mid ocean as from the
pebbled beach, thought again drifts with
the tide, until touched by the storm king
and awakened to new energies.
Yet whether IN the cradle of its infancy
or wearing the scepter of a majestic man
hood, it has left the impress of its power
in every land on all times and among
every people, and erected monuments of
its best efforts, all along the ages, from
the Sphynx to the Pyramids, Cleopotra' 9
needle to the Washington monument and
the Ethel tower 1t makes the printing
press, that compendium of its achiev-
ments may remain to mankind. One of
its sons holds the hghtenig by the tail
while his companions adjusts the harness
and couples the fiery steed of the skies to
the coach in which he rides. or makes him
carry his masters thought around the
globe, or catch on a OFFENDER of revolving
metal the last will and testament of the
dying man and preserve forever not only
the words, but the actual sound of the
voice, thus literally making the dead
man to speak.
Thought curbs with clanking chain the
iron horse of fiery breath and chains it to
the commerce of the world. With its i'm
proved missiles of destruction it mows
down the armies of the world at one fell
swoop, and with an internal machine not
larger than a wine glass, blows a nation 8
navy out of existence in twinkllng.
Thought congregates, fraternizes and
combines, and pushes its combined and
accumulated energies into all the ramifi-
cations of business, until time and distance
is annihilated, and he who lives must live
in the present only.
Such is the age in which we live, such
the age that made the stenographer ne
cessity, such the age that demands a faith
full record of the acts OF generation, too
busy tosmake that record itself, which sets
aside part of itself to record the doings of
the other part.
A Demosthenes could prepare with the
minutest care his memorable orations; he
could practice with pebbles in his mouth,
in the deep roar of the sea, the most effect
i've cadence of the voice. and before the
mirror study the gesture best suited TO the
word and most likely TO captivate the au-
dience.
Anthony, could weigh well each word that
should fall ike a tear over the dead body
of a Caesar. aud pierce like a dagger the
hearts of Caesars enemies, but swept on in
the current of restless energies, Lincoln
had no time to consider Of the effect OF his
wonderful words, with charity to all and
malice toward none" Grant could not
stop to anRlyze the sentence, Reform the
lines and attack them at day break" Fisk
when he telegraphed to the captain OF the
vessel TO &c" condensed in a word of
two letters a speech that felt the pulse Of
finance and commanded a fortune of
wealth, because he touched the shores OF
the English and reached their money cen
ter before another could carry the news of
fallen nation.
This is prominently an age of coneen-
trated thought and condensed energy.
Men have no time to prepare the thoughts
thrown from the furnace of heated debate.
Yet they go bounding through the age like
an avalauce Of fire. Or bursting from the
lips of some enthusiast they strike the
flood at its tide and lead on TO fortune.
And these burning words, the vehicles
of electrified thought, but for the