Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-10-16

fair at Tyre until Ezekiel, who was a minis
ter of religion and not supposed to know
much about horses, cried out in admiration
''They of the house of Togarmath traded il
thy fairs with horses" Here in another de
partment of that fair at Tyre, led on b.
Ezekiel the prophet, we find everything al
ablaze with precious stones. Like petrifieC
snow are the corals; like fragments of faller
sky are the sapphires; and here is agat,
a. blush with all colors. What is that arom;
we inhale? It is from chests of cedar whict
we open, and find them filed with all styles
of fabric. But the aromatics increase as VIZ
pass down this lane of enchantment, anG
here are csssia and franklncense and balm
Led on 10y Ezekiel the prophet, we come tC
an agricultural fair with display of whea
from Minnith and Pannag, rich as that o
our modern Dakota or Michigan. And here
is mineralogical fair, with specimens Of
! iron and silver and tin and lead and gold
But halt, for here is purple, Tyrian purple
all tints and shades, deep almost unto the
black, and bright almost unto the blue
waiting for kings and queens to order il
made into robes for coronation day; purple
not like that which is now made from the
| Orchilla weed, but the extinct purple, the
lost purple, which the ancients knew how
to make out of the gasteropod mollusks ol
the Mediterranean. Oh, look at those casks
of wine from Helbon! See those snow
banks of wool from the back of sheep that
ones pastured in Gilead. Oh, the bswild-
ering riches and variety of that worlds fair
at Tyre!
But the world has copied these Bible
mentioned fairs in all succeeding ages, and
it has had it's Louis the sixth fair at Dsgo-
bert, and Henry the First fair on st. Bar
tholomew's Day, and Hungarian fairs at
Pesth, and Easter fairs at Leipsic, and the
Scotch fairs at Perth (bright was the day
when was at one of them), and afterwarG
came the London world fair. and the New
York worlds fair, and the Vienna worlds
fair, and the Partisan worlds fair, and it
has been decided that, in commemorstion
of the discovery of America in 1892. there
shall held in this country in 1892 world's s
fair that shall eclipse all preceding national
expositions. say, God speed the move
ment! Surely the event commemorated is
worthy of all the architecture and music and
pyrotechnics and eloquent and stupendous
planning and monetary expenditure and
congressional appropriations which the most
sa1guine Christian patriot has ever dream
ed Of. Was any voyage that the world ever
that of Columbus and his men? After they
had been encouraged for the last few days
by flight of land birds and floating branches
of red berries; and while Columbus was
down in the cabin studying the sea chart,
Martin Pinzon, standing on deck and look
ing to the southwest, cried: Gland! Land!
Landp' And "Gloria in Excelsis" was
sung in raining tears on all the three ships
of the EXPEDITION. Most appropriate and
patriotic and Christian will be q commem
orative worlds fair in America in 1892
Leaving to others the discussion as to the
site of such Exposition-and wonder not
that some five or six of cur cities are strug-
Cling to have it, for it will give to any city
to which it is assigned an impulse of pros
perity for a hundred years-I say, leaving
to others the selection of the particular To-
caIity to be thus honored, | want to say
some things from this point of Christian
patriotism which ought to be said, and the
earlier the better, that we get thousands of
people talking in he right direction. and
that will make healthful public opinion. L
beg you to consider prayerfully what feel
called upon of God as an American citizen
and as preacher of righteousness to utter
My first suggestion is that it is not wise,
IS certainly it is not Christian, to continue
this wide and persistent attempt of Ameri-
can cities to belittle and depreciate other
cities. 1t has been going on for years, but
now the spirit seems to culmiDate in this
discussion as to where the Worlds fair
shall be held, style of discussion which
has a tendency to injure the success of the
fair as great moral and patriotic enter
prise, after the locality has been decided
upon. There is such a thing as healthful
rivalry between cities, but you will bear
me ont in saying that there can be no good
to cone from the uncanny things said
about each other by New York and Chi
Gag, by Chicago and st. Louis, by st.
Paul and Minneapolis, by Tacoma and
Seattle, and all through the States by al
most every two prOximate cities. All
cities, like individuals, have their virtues
and their vices. All our American cities
should be our exultation. What churches! !!
What public Libraries! What asylums of
mercy What academies of music! What
mighty men in law and medicine and art
and scholarship! What schools and COL
leges and universities! What women radi-
ant and gracious and an improvement on
all the generations of women since Eve!
What philanthropists who do not feel salts
fed with their own charities until they get
into the hundreds of thousands and the
rnillio.s! What Goods acres'' for the
dead, gardens of beauty and palaces of
marble for those who sleep the last sleep!
Now stop your slander of American cities.
Do you say they aye the centers of crime
and political corruption? Please admit the
fact that they are centers Of intelligence
and generosity and the rnigbtiest patrons
of architecture and sculpture and painting
~f ,oI. .rx,x
fluence for ell the CO tinent. 1t will be
well for the country districts to cease talk.
ing against the cities, and it will be well
for the city of one locality to stop talking
against the cities of other localities. New
York will not get the Worlds fair by de-
preciatiog Chicago, and Chicago will not
get the Worlds fair b7 bombarding New
York.
Another suggestion concerning the com
| ing exposition; let not the msterialstic and
monetary idea overpower the moral and
religious. During that exposition, the
first time in all their lives, there will be
thousands Of people from other lands who
will see country without State re.
ligiop. Let us by an increased harmony
among al denominations of religion i'm
press other nationalities, as they come here
| that year, with the superior advantage OF
having all denominations equal in the sight
of government. all the rulers and chief
men OF Europe belong to the State re.
ligion, whatever il may be. Although our
last two Presidents have been Presby-
teriaps, the previous one was an Episco
palian; and the two previous, Methodists;
and going further back in that line oi
Presidents, we find Martin Van Bnren a
Dutch Reformer, and John Quincy
Adams a Unitarian; and mans religion
in this country is neither hindrance mol
advantage in the matter of political eleva
ton. All Europe needs that. All the
world needs that. A mans religion il
something between himself and his God
and it must not, directly or indirectly, bt
interfer5d with.
Furthermore, during that exposition
| Christian civilisation will confront barba
rsm We shall as nation have a greater
opportunity to make an evaDgelisiug i'm
preston upon foreign nationalities than
would otherwise be afforded us in quarter
of century. Let the churches of the city
| where the exposition is held be open every