St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-02-24
which they were clothed. In the exor-

which they were clothed. In the exor-
dunn he said:
When arrangements were inaugu-
rated for this celebration, we antiei-
pated only a joyous hour IN rehearsing
the influence of the nations first mar
tial and civic hero, but there have been
sad professions both at Washington and
i'll st. l. ouis. We have been called to
mourn the removal from among US
OF the chlefeSt of our remaining naval
and military heroes. Porter, who shared
with the immortal Farragut, the dis
tinctions OF our navy struck his flag at
the order of the fell destroyer,
and Sherman, who was the last
OF the renowned trio. joined Grant and
Sheridan in answering the final roll
call:
'Muffled drums (have been busy beating
funeral marches to the grave
In the midst of such soIemnities there
is consolation in the thought that the in
f1uence of great life is not confined to
the brief years Of human living, but ex-
tends in prolonged and germinant pro-
greSsiOnS through the age. George
WaShington'S influence in stimulating
true manhood is to-day as potent as at
any period of his history; though all
else has changed. the history of the
world, the conditions of national and
and social life are changed, and so
changed as to be almost unrecogniZa-
Bile, If he were permitted to return to us.
In his day there were none Of those po-
tent factors of civilization which result
from steam, electricity and photography.
Homes were confined to the SeabOard,
and limited in their appointments.
Coasting smackS, and few ships from
Ind nd
stituted the only commerce. Manufact-
ures scarcely existed; the women
whirled their spinning wheels, or piled
the shuttle in the loom in almost every
house, while the AK and the pillow were
the tools of nearly all the men.
News Was Slow Traveller,
and it took weeks and even months to
receive intelligence of the heroiSm of
the Lewises and their Virginia compa-
triots, and Of the foolish, not to say
treacherous, peace which the Scotch
earl had made with the red man. Our
grandsires and grandanS talked of
George Ill, and the autumnal congress
in Philadelphia, the Boston tea party,
the ministry and parliament. wondering
If paper was still to be levied on, and
tea still taxed, and if the righteous souls
of the loyal people were to be further
veXed by such injustice.
Of the men of that day, afterwards
famous, John and Samuel Adams and
James Otis were aspiring young law
yerS in Boston, where John Hancock
was merchant prince. Alexander
Hamilton was at Kings, now Columbia,
college in New York; Benjamin Frank
lin was in London representing the
postal necessities of his native col
ony: the Lees were on their eS-
tates on the Potomac; Patrick Henry
and Thomas Jefferson were members
of the house of BurgesSeS in Virginia;
the Pinekneys and Rutlidges were on
plantations III South Carolina; George
none of them anticipating their great
future. No sage or statesman, then
living, could have cast the horoscope of
a century and foretOld what these gen
eratiOnS have brought forth. Europe
dispossessed of continent, and Amer
lea, from the st. Lawrence to the Rio
Grande, the abode of many peoples
speaking one language, swearing feaIty
to one political faith, and under one
flag, in which all the hues of heaven are
mingled. Sixty millions of people,
gathered from every zone on earth, of
every hue and race and tongue, are
fused into one nationality. Kings and
counsellors of Europe gaze in astonish-
ment on the activity of our Atlantic
coast Asa arising from the sleep of
ages, behOlds in startled wonder the
civilization of our Pacific shore; Amer
lea is recognized in the tourney of the
world as gallant knight, who, though
young, has fairly won his spurs upon
the field, and calmly stakes his ac-
CT in tirt,
among the mobiles of history. This
wonderful transformation is attributed,
by the undercurrent of religious thought
and feeling which pervades the nation,
to an Overruling and gracious Provi-
dence and to God be all the glory. For
they got not the land in possession by
their own sword neither did their own
arm save them, but Thy right hand and
Thine arm, and the light of Thy coun-
tenance, because Thou hadst a favor
unto them" Yet under His benignant
sway, many agencies have been used
and many instruments made available;
indeed, the whole world has been laid
under contribution. in one or another
form, of cooperation or of opposition
Many great men have contributed to the
result whom the nation highly honors,
and whose tame, with pious care, she
will ''embalm to Immortality" but one
has eXcelled them all, and to him the
nation owes, and will always owe, its
largest debt of gratitude. AS there are
geographical peaks which represent to
the traveller the ideal of sublimity, as
Mt. Blanc is typical of Switzerland and
ChimboraZo of the CordilIeraS. so the
citizen of America, when he summarizes
III his thought his country'S greatness,
breathes the name of Washington.
Here Dr. Tiffany reviewed the life
and character of Washington in match
less style, and from the literature of
every European country drew forth an
opulence Of praise. He said: